Conclusion

Abstract

This book has shown that depicting and assessing paternal conduct—whether from the perspective of the child or that of the father—test the limits of autobiographical narration in comic book form and make compelling statements about the contemporary construction of fatherhood. The texts I read here offer multiple ways of thinking about fatherhood by showing the impact on paternal conduct of various factors such as trauma and precarious mental health (Carol Tyler, James Kochalka), radicalization (Nina Bunjevac), problematic sexual conduct (Alison Bechdel, Robert Crumb), aging (Joe Ollmann), fraudulent acts (Laurie Sandell), and religion (Jeffrey Brown). These cartoonists attempt to define what a good father might be, as well as answer important methodological and ethical questions about (auto)biographical representation and archival work, the employment of humor, caricature, and the grotesque in self-representation, the ownership of the stories they tell (and how that can be gained or lost), and their rights as self-appointed storytellers (sometimes in spite of open opposition from family members, as in Laurie Sandell’s case, or in the absence of the actual possibility of obtaining permission, as when the autobiographical subject is either dead or too young to be able to comprehend and provide consent). The answers these cartoonists implicitly or explicitly give to these issues reflect contemporary beliefs and expectations about paternal conduct, the therapeutic power of self-representation, confession and closure, and the ethics of autobiography.