Comics are a form of material art embedded in wider cultural processes. They usually appear in print form, but they have also populated the virtual world using social media to channel creativity and reach wider audiences.

Comics are part and parcel of contemporary museum exhibitions, TV series, films, music videos and, generally, consumer products within the circuit of culture. The endless possibilities of comics to narrate and their capacity to adapt and intersect with other media (photography, music, literature, theatre, poetry, illustration, games) make them an apt example of contemporary cultural production as cross-medial. Currently, comics are experiencing a great creative moment, with new aesthetic trends that broaden their horizon and strengthen their intermedial character. In both Spain and Latin America, new generations of authors are creating comics breathing new life into them and a desire to experiment. In this series of online seminars titled ‘Intermedial Narratives: Conversations with Comic Authors’, Jorge Catalá and Gerardo Vilches explore the multifaceted landscape of contemporary comics through conversations with comics artists, in which we will delve into their creative processes, their themes, and their references.

First conversation: María Medem

María Medem (Seville, 1994) started self-publishing her comics after studying Fine Arts. Her first long comic was published by Terry Bleu, a small Dutch editorial. She has been included in anthologies such as NOW (Fantagraphics), Cold Cube (Cold Cube Press) and Clubhouse (Colorama), and she has collaborated and continues to collaborate with various fanzines. In 2018, Cenit was published by Apa Apa, winning her the Best Newcomer Award at the 37thBarcelona Comic Fair and the ACDCómic Critics Prize to the Best Emerging Author.

She published Echos with French publisher Fidèle Editions. She has produced illustrations for publications such as The New Yorker and The New York Times. She has also made animations for musicians such as Rival Consoles and Hermanos Gutiérrez. Her latest comic, Por culpa de una flor, was published in February 2023 with Apa-Apa Cómics and Blackie Books. It has been translated into French by Rackham Editions and will be translated into English by Drawn & Quarterly in 2024.