Zane Elward's Comic Fascism: Ideology, Catholicism, and Americanism in Italian Children's Periodicals is an important study of how comics became ideological tools in Italy during the early twentieth century. Situating comics within their broader cultural context, Elward examines how Italian comics were used to fascistize young readers. Rather than presenting fascist indoctrination as a unified effort, Elward's examination of archival research demonstrates how the intertwining agendas of Fascists, Catholics, and conservative forces employed various strategies to indoctrinate young readers. Elward's book opens by exploring how the Fascist regime recognized the potential of comics as a medium for indoctrination. In the early chapters, Elward examines children's periodicals like Corriere dei Piccoli and Il Balilla to illustrate how fascist ideals were infused into stories, characters, and visual tropes. In this way, comics shifted from entertainment to indoctrination. Yet, these efforts were not harmonious. Elward's analysis makes clear that comics became a battleground where competing visions for Italy's future clashed. A strength of Comic Fascism is its detailed account of Catholic engagement with comics. Elward explains how Il Vittorioso responded to fascist ideology by producing content shaped by Christian values. This positioned comics as a contested, if not also competitive, ideological medium. While both Catholic and Fascist publications sought to shape young readers, their missions often conflicted, resulting in heated debates and shifts in narrative emphasis. Elward's work deftly traces these ideological negotiations and exposes moments where Catholic tradition both resisted and reinforced fascist dogma. One of the book's innovative contributions is its assessment of American comics and their reception in Italy. Given that Elward's book is the first of its kind in English, this discussion feels particularly resonant for comparative cultural analysis. Despite the censorship of American cultural imports, Elward demonstrates how American comics occasionally aligned with fascist values. When they did, Italian publishers strategically used them to serve fascistic goals. Conversely, Elward traces how American comics became symbols of resistance during World War II and in postwar years. American comics functioned this way by offering children glimpses of democratic ideals and alternative social structures. Elward discusses this ironic duality with a nuance that provides insight into the complex interplay of native ideology and popular culture globalization. Comic Fascism analyzes how comics responded to wartime anxieties, occupation, and the uncertainties of Italy's liberation. Elward demonstrates that even as the Fascist state collapsed, many of its visual and ideological tropes persisted in print. This specter of fascism is discussed in the book's later chapters, which detail how postwar children's periodicals attempted to frame a path forward while remaining haunted by fascist propaganda. Elward argues that an awareness of these contradictory ideological impulses is crucial for understanding the lingering effects of fascism on comics in Italy's cultural imagination. Elward's approach combines deep archival research with sharp cultural analysis. This makes Comic Fascism a rich resource for historians interested in comics, popular culture, political movements, and youth education. Elward's combination of periodical studies, ideological analysis, and narrative theory delivers a book that is relevant beyond the consideration of Italian political and cultural history. This approach invites comparison and further studies with other cultures where comics became a politicized and contested cultural medium. The breadth and depth of Elward's scholarship fills a notable gap in the study of modern Italian comics history by illuminating ideological continuities and exposing the long shadow of fascist indoctrination in the Italian cultural psyche. Elward avoids a common pitfall in comic studies: the tendency to discuss comics as cultural artifacts while leaving their actual visual and verbal content off page. Elward grounds his analysis with close readings of comic design choices. He demonstrates this approach most effectively when he discusses Corriere dei Piccoli's preference for captions over speech bubbles, noting that the latter “were considered a crude American invention” (196). In this way, Elward demonstrates how formal choices can carry ideological weight. Comic Fascism is an essential contribution to the fields of comic studies, history, and cultural analysis. Elward's book offers original perspectives on both the mechanisms of national ideological preferences, youth indoctrination, and the complicated and increasing transnational flow of modern globalizing popular culture. This makes Elward's book indispensable for anyone seeking to understand the intersection of ideology, comics, and children's literature in the twentieth century. Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.
Mark John Isola (Tue,) studied this question.