They Who Build Monstresses: Tracing Folkloric and Literary Monster Motifs in E. M. Carroll's When I Arrived at the Castle

This article considers the main characters of E. M. Carroll's queer gothic horror comic When I Arrived at the Castle, The Cat and The Countess. I argue that Carroll melds literary and folkloric representations of monsters in creating their characters, understanding that readers will (and counting on them to) bring communal and cultural perceptions to the narrative. Using a monster studies lens paired with comic studies’ close attention to visual rhetoric, I analyze how Carroll calls upon familiar vampire, lamia, cat, and chimera motifs. In alignment with Michael Dylan Foster and Jeffrey A. Tolbert's formulation of the folkloresque, Carroll's deliberate blending of folkloric creatures speaks to broader conversations about comics and popular culture.