Mirranda Burton is a graphic artist and writer based in Melbourne. Despite delays caused by the corona virus pandemic and lockdowns, she finally succeeded in having her graphic novel, Underground, Marsupial Outlaws and Other Rebels of Australia’s War in Vietnam, launched in fine style recently at Melbourne Trades Hall.
Underground is a finely wrought graphic novel with a real density of layered content that melds the personal journeys of activist and former Victorian Labor MP, Jean McLean, Vietnam war veteran, Bill Cantwell, and Vietnamese refugee activist, Mai Ho . Australian artist, Clifton Pugh also features. And Wombats.
Most of us are used to absorbing historical detail and interpretation through words on the printed page or perhaps television documentaries. The graphic novel form, redolent of comic book visual language, is a distinctly different experience for many.
How does a graphic novel of 272 pages, focussed on the Vietnam War and the profoundly vexed policy of conscription, come together coherently and meaningfully?
Mirranda Burton speaks to Peter Clarke about the research underpinning Underground and the creative process that produced it.
MIRRANDA BURTON WEBSITE:
 https://www.mirrandaburton.com
PUBLISHERS WEBSITE FOR "UNDERGROUND"
https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/fiction/Underground-Mirranda-Burton-9781760631475
"THE NIB" WEBSITE
https://thenib.com
ARTIST KATHE KOLVITZ
https://illustrationchronicles.com/war-and-compassion-the-art-of-kathe-kollwitz
ARTIST OTTO NÜCKEL:
https://alchetron.com/Otto-Nückel
ARTIST LYND WARD
https://bookpatrol.net/the-library-of-america-goes-wordless-the-novels-of-lynd-ward/
"GUARDIAN" ARTICLE ON ART SPIEGELMAN AND "MAUS"
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/feb/05/art-spiegelman-maus-book-ban-interview-life-career