The term grawlix refers to the series of typographical symbols (such as @#$%&!) used in cartoons and comic strips to represent swear words. Plural: grawlixes.Now granted, I could go just look up some old Katzenjammer Kids strips and come up with some, but I'd like an international perspective, in case the concept has been used in other comic traditions besides English.
Also known as jarns, nittles, and obscenicons, grawlixes usually appear in maledicta balloons alongside the comic characters who are uttering the oaths. The term grawlix was introduced by American comic artist Mort Walker (creator of Beetle Bailey) in the article "Let's Get Down to Grawlixes" (1964) and revisited in his book The Lexicon of Comicana (1980).
Comments
It would be fun to have a separate grawlixes style or a grawlixes substitution feature so that the underlying text would still be inferable to readers in the know.