The business of hacking systems: Production at the cutting edge of global comics

In the digital networks of our computational age, comics artists might wield a unique form of agency that is both empowered and constrained by the technological and cultural landscapes they navigate. The integration of information technologies has expanded the comics artist's toolkit, enabling the creation of work that transcends the medium’s traditional forms and uses. Conceptual comics and other forms of technologically-mediated experimentation in the medium, leverage the capabilities of a comics industry- redefined as a set of various interlocking systems composed by multiple interconnected elements and components dictated by protocols. However, as media theorists have argued, technology possesses no agency independent of the hybrid social practices of which it is a part. The comics artist's agency in this realm is certainly shaped by the limitations and demands of the tools and the digital and network protocols that make such interactions possible, but also deeply intertwined with the political, economic, and cultural contexts in which these technologies emerge and operate. Yet, the very rhetoric of "agency" in relation to technology demands critical scrutiny; The present article explores how elements from hacking culture can allow us to reflect on the terminological and conceptual fluidity associated with new technologies and the unstable and historically contingent nature of these tools. By appropriating and manipulating technology, comics artists can reclaim the agency by repositioning their practice within a web of collaborative and contested practices. Comics artists are presented with the opportunity to redefine the boundaries of their craft, proposing new structures for disseminating and producing knowledge that is specific to their medium, while also contending with the ideological forces that shape the technopolitical landscape.