Hansen 591
intertextual pattern that arises from within texts themselves, the choice of question through which we assemble and read text becomes important. No comic generates by itself an IR question, nor is there ever only one question that can be asked to one or a body of comics. The choice of IR question can be driven by a range of theoretical and
empirical research concerns, and these concerns should, in turn, be considered when specific comics are selected for analysis. To connect to Aradau and Huysmans’s analysis, contra a Kristeva-derived approach, selection criteria do seem warranted, yet contra the approach advocated in
Security as Practice, these should be allowed to vary depending on the particular objective of the comics study. The choice of IR question and the choice of comics
selection criteria should, in short, be matched.
Within this more flexible, yet theoretically driven, approach to comics intertextual- ity’, the following selection criteria should be considered the number of comics (inter- textual analysis usually requires a thorough analysis of a smaller number of texts, yet one might also want to account for the dispersion of a phenomenon, which would require a larger body of comics the impact on foreign policymaking and diplomacy (there area few cases
of comics in this category, though not many circulation (comics as part of popular culture comics as marginal, critical discourse comics that are granted higher cultural legitimacy (through academic engagement and by critics comics that break the general practices of comics production, circulation and reception style and genre (similarity or variation and the ability to further theorizing in IR. The discussion so far has been centred on an intertextual model where an IR question guides the selection of comics. One should note, though, that comics might also be part of ‘mixed-media’ studies including other forms of textual and visual expression.
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