Polemic Collision: Race, Immigration, and Gender Violence in Olimpita

Coleman’s analysis of Hernán Migoya and Joan Marín’s Olimpita tackles two issues that have dominated Spanish news media since the 1990s: African immigration and gender violence. Coleman explains how the use of binary black and white drawings and various stereotypes takes readers on an emotional roller coaster with a crash ending. This polemic collision not only facilitates a better understanding of how race and gender are constructed and hierarchized, but also recognizes the importance of graphic novels within Spanish cultural production. Despite a fatalistic view in which the exploitation of immigrants and the abuse of women are ingrained into Spanish society, Coleman suggests that the novel leaves readers better equipped to spot the red flags that surround them in their daily lives.