CFP: The Comics of Charles Schulz / edited collection (Oct. 31)

Call for Papers
The Comics of Charles Schulz

edited by Jared Gardner

Abstract Deadline: October 31, 2013

The Comics of Charles Schulz: The Good Grief of Modern Life is a proposed volume in the new book series, Critical Approaches to Comics Artists, at the University Press of Mississippi. This volume will contain an array of critical essays on the comics of Charles Schulz, best known for Peanuts, the nationally-syndicated daily comic strip that ran for fifty years and which remains today the most recognizable strip worldwide. Essays from many disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives are welcome, including critical approaches from comics studies, art history, cultural studies, literary studies, philosophy, history, and political science.

Essays that address the following topics are especially welcome:

• Influences & relationship to earlier comics
• Philosophy & Ethics
• Suburbia
• Politics
• Repetition and seriality in Peanuts
• Psychological and social identities in Peanuts
• Peanuts & the 1950s, 60s, 70s, etc.
• Peanuts across media
• Peanuts and global merchandizing

Please send a 500-1000 word abstract, 3-page CV, and contact information to Jared Gardner at gardner.236@osu.edu by October 31, 2013.

Accepted abstracts will be used in a formal book prospectus, and the deadline for full-length essays will be negotiated shortly thereafter.

BD & Comics Passion in London (30 May - 2 June 2013)

A quick, last-minute announcement of an event in London I dearly wish I could attend...

BD & Comics Passion

30 May - 2 June 2013

www.bdandcomicspassion.co.uk

This year's edition will feature extraordinary creators including Posy Simmonds, Edika, Glen Baxter, Etienne Davodeau, Marc-Antoine Mathieu, Régis Loisel, Hunt Emerson, Pénélope Bagieu and more. Once again, the programme will prove “as imaginative as the work itself” (Metro) with talks, workshops, live drawing, and groundbreaking events such as Drawing Jams, and Drink & Draw, a one of a kind event mingling live drawing and wine tasting led by renowned British Master of Wine Tim Atkin.

CFP: Illustration and Narrative Construction (Sept. 10; March 28-29)

As posted on SHARP-L.

International Conference

Illustration and Narrative Construction

Hosted by the Université Paris-Diderot

28-29 March 2014

At a time of growing academic interest for the adaptation of fictional narratives across a range of different contemporary media (film, TV series, comic books, graphic novels), we would like to engage with illustration as the earliest form of visual adaptation of novelistic works.

The general aim of this conference is to explore illustration in its specifically narrative dimension. The notion of narrative construction provides an interesting paradigm to analyse the relationship between text and image within illustrated works of fiction. Though each illustration may be said to have a narrative potential of its own which is revealed by the eye perusing it, it is the sequential dimension of narrative which will be our particular focus here.

The object of the conference is to examine how a series of images accompanying a narrative does not simply illustrate separate moments singled out from the text but forms a visual narrative through its dynamic relationship with the text. We shall thus study the different processes at stake and the ways in which images, in their three-fold articulation to the work as a whole—namely to the passage which they illustrate, to what precedes and follows in the narrative, and to the sequence of interlinked images—suggest a reading of a text and open up one of its narrative possibilities.

The conference will focus on European novels from the early modern period to the present.

Possible topics include:

• The different illustrated editions of a text, targeting various readerships (bibliophiles, young people, etc.) and the type of visual narrative constructed to address each reading public
• Diachronic analyses of the illustrated versions of a single text and of the transformations of narrative over time
• Illustration as counterpoint to the text, constructing a parallel narrative, sometimes even contradicting the text
• Serialized novels and the specific narrative dynamic put into play by serialization
• The special cases of graphic novels and comic books adapted from works of fiction and the redefinition of the narrative dynamic brought about by these media

Submission for papers including an abstract (300 words maximum) and a short biographical notice should be sent to both Carole Cambray, Université Paris-Diderot (carolecambray@yahoo.fr) and Xavier Giudicelli, Université de Reims-Champagne Ardenne (xgiudicelli@yahoo.fr)

Deadline for proposals : 10 September 2013.

CFP: Global Manga: The Cultural Production of Japanese Comics outside Japan (collection; Aug. 31)

As posted on amrc-l.

Call for Book Chapters:

Global Manga:

The Cultural Production of

Japanese Comics outside Japan

According to Wikipedia, "'manga' as a term used outside Japan refers specifically to comics originally published in Japan." Yet careful inspection of the Manga section of any chain bookstore in the English-speaking world quickly reveals that the books on the shelf are not exclusively comics originally published in Japan. Svetlana Chmakova's Nightschool sits alongside Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto, the Soulless adaptation alongside Soul Eater. And beyond the Manga section proper, there abound comics and graphic novels published within the last decade or so whose very existence is possible only in cultural and economic contexts rich with Japanese comics in translation, such as Scott Pilgrim, Megatokyo, and Yen Press's Twilight graphic novels.

There is no one universally agreed-on name for these works; appellations include OEL manga, world manga, Amerimanga, international manga, and—the term used here—global manga. Some would dismiss global manga as "fake manga," as pale imitations of their Japanese counterparts, as unworthy of attention from readers, let alone researchers. This book aims, however, to take seriously the political economy and cultural production of these Japanese comics outside Japan.

The phrase "Japanese comics outside Japan" does not merely suggest manga published in translation or manga materially exported from Japan. At its most radical, it suggests, rather, manga without Japan. There is a sometimes globalized, sometimes transnational, and sometimes hyperlocal world in which manga can be produced without any direct creative input at all from Japan. And if something called "manga" that is not in any strict sense Japanese can be published, there are a number of important questions to be asked: What do these fields of cultural production look like? Why and under what sorts of conditions do they arise and flourish? Who gets to decide what counts as "manga," and who benefits from that decision? What are global manga's implications for contemporary economies of cultural and creative labor? And finally—perhaps most important of all—what does it mean, therefore, for manga to be "authentically" Japanese?

This anthology takes the problematic of what it means to have manga without direct Japanese involvement as its focus. Chapters addressing the theme of global manga outlined in the previous paragraphs are solicited, with a view toward the publication of a multi-authored volume consisting of between 10-12 chapters. A commissioning editor from a well-known academic press has expressed preliminary interest in this project.

Possible topics include (but are not limited to):

• OEL manga, GloBL manga, amerimanga, manhwa, and/or manhua creation/publishing
• local manga production in Korea, France, China, Indonesia, Germany, or other national territories
• single title case studies
• amateur manga/doujinshi publishing outside Japan
• theoretical analyses of "real" versus "fake" manga 
• first-person historical overviews/reflective essays by industry insiders
• the production of transmedia tie-in manga

SUBMISSION PROCEDURE:

Chapter proposals from authors with both academic and industry/practitioner backgrounds are welcome. Prospective contributors should submit 1) an extended abstract of 450-500 words, 2) an indicative bibliography, and 3) a short biographical sketch no later than August 31, 2013.
The deadline for full manuscripts of 5000-7000 words will be three months from notification of acceptance.

Please direct any inquiries and submissions to Casey Brienza, City University London (casey.brienza.1@city.ac.uk).

CFP: Mix 2013 (June 10; September 27-28)

Mix 2013

Call for Proposals

Keynote Guest: Jeff Smith

Symposium Dates: September 27-28, 2013

Proposal Deadline: June 10, 2013

Columbus College of Art and Design's Mix 2013 includes a comics symposium, an art competition for college students, an onstage conversation with our keynote guest, Jeff Smith, author of Bone and RASL, on Friday, September 27 at 7pm, and a never-before-seen exhibit of Smith's original artwork from RASL. Additionally, concurrent with Mix 2013, CCAD will exhibit the paintings of Gary Panter (Jimbo in Purgatory). Please visit our event page for updates: http://www.ccad.edu/events-2013/mix

This call invites proposals for the comics symposium, a celebration of comic books, graphic novels, comic strips and webcomics. Designed to bring together a variety of perspectives in an open and egalitarian environment, Mix 2013 seeks to create a public forum emphasizing the wide array of highly skilled, ambitious, and thoughtful work being done in the comics medium today. Therefore, CCAD welcomes submissions from artists, scholars, educators, publishers, graduate students, curators and critics alike. Note that proposals which emphasize cross-disciplinary approaches and/or formats will also merit special attention. All presentations at Mix 2013 should utilize significant visual elements.

We encourage proposals regarding the following key themes:

o   Independently-published or creator-owned comics (including small presses) from any time period, and the business of publishing those comics in the past, present, or the future.

o   Race and ethnicity in comics with a special focus on African-American writers and artists, characters, titles, and publishers, ranging from the mainstream to the indie and including historical and international perspectives.

o   The (im)materiality of comics, from mini-comics, the 'floppy,' and intersections between the graphic novel and the artist's book, to changing concepts in regards to digital comics.

o   Women and comics, including artists and writers, characters, titles and publishers; both historical and contemporary perspectives are encouraged.

o   Discussions of the tensions between "high" and "low" art in regards to comics, fine art, and literature, particularly as these tensions have played out in postwar American consumer culture.

These are suggested themes; we will consider all proposals on their merit and compatibility with other submissions.

We welcome proposals for the following presentation formats:

Panels and Presentation-Oriented Roundtables

o   Each format includes presentation and discussion, including time for Q&A;

o   Describe your proposal's ideal format. A traditional panel is composed of presentations/talks of twenty minutes per participant with some Q&A between participants and with the audience; a presentation-oriented roundtable uses shorter presentations and substantial Q&A;

o   Participants' topics must be related to one another;

o   Sessions will include at least three participants (including yourself) and last no less than an hour; additional time may be allotted based on need;

Q&A Roundtables

o   This format consists entirely of roundtable discussion on a central topic;

o   Propose a topic and structure for your roundtable;

o   Sessions must include at least four participants (including yourself) and last no less than forty-five minutes; additional time may be allotted based on need

Workshops

o   Hands-on practical workshops focused on subject matter related to comics;

o   Workshop sessions should be designed to last no more than two hours;

o   Proposals should indicate the ideal skill level of participants: college-student, recently graduated professionals, or more experienced professionals;

o   Special consideration will be given to workshops which connect symposium themes with hands-on practice, but not all workshops need do so

Individual Papers

o   Should be no more than twenty minutes in presentation length;

o   Will be grouped with other papers into panel or roundtables according to content

Pecha Kucha Presentations

o   Presentations will follow Pecha Kucha guidelines: 20 image-based slides, each displayed for exactly 20 seconds, creating a 6 minute-and-40 second presentation;

o   Presentations may be on any comics-related topic and will not be selected on the basis of compatibility with other submissions

Artists please note: if you are accepted to present in one of the above formats, you may sell your work—including comics, graphic novels, prose books, but not original artwork—at our MixStore during the symposium. We provide this service to help offset your travel costs.

Please read these instructions and additional guidelines before submitting:

• Submit one proposal as one electronic document containing the following information:
  • a 200-word maximum abstract or description of the panel, roundtable, workshop, or paper to be presented; please be sure to indicate the intended format of your presentation;
  • a copy of the presenter's CV or resume; if submitting a group proposal, include CVs or resumes from each participant

Important Notes:

Applicants may submit only one (1) proposal

Applicants must not include additional media files

• All sessions will have access to a projection screen and digital projector which can be run from an available desktop computer or a personal laptop. Any other audio-visual needs must be noted in the proposal and are subject to CCAD approval.
• If individual participation in the symposium must be limited to a certain time or day, it should be indicated in the proposal. CCAD cannot guarantee that the symposium schedule will be able to accommodate individual scheduling limitations. 
• Those selected to contribute to a panel or other symposium event will have their registration fees waived; however, no additional funding will be provided. Papers must be presented in person.
• Applicants will be notified of their proposal's status by the end of June.
• The symposium schedule will be finalized in early August 2013.

If you have read the above and agree to these terms, submit your proposal to: MixComicsSymposium@ccad.edu 

Questions should be directed to: Robert Loss, Programming Chair, rloss@ccad.edu

Mission Statement: 

Columbus College of Art & Design prepares tomorrow's creative leaders for professional careers. With a history of commitment to fundamentals and quality, CCAD advances a distinct, challenging, and inclusive learning culture that supports individual development in art, design, and the humanities.

About the College and the City:

Columbus College of Art & Design is located in downtown Columbus, Ohio in a thriving, up-tempo environment. Numerous hotels are within close proximity by cab, rental car or public transportation. Specific parking lots on the CCAD campus will be reserved for symposium participants. Columbus is served by Port Columbus International Airport, roughly 15 minutes from campus and the downtown area. Nearby attractions include the Columbus Museum of Art (across the street from CCAD), the Thurber House, the Ohio Statehouse, the Short North gallery district, and the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum at The Ohio State University.

CFP: Adapting Frankenstein / essay collection (June 30, 2013)

As posted on IAFA-L...

Adapting Frankenstein
The Monster’s Eternal Lives

in Popular Culture

 

We propose to edit a  book of new essays on the general subject of the many ways Frankenstein has been adapted in popular culture, including films, television, radio, graphic novels, comic books, newspaper cartoons, music, the stage, novels, short stories, children’s and adolescent literatures, new media, and so forth.

We are interested in what has made Frankenstein’s monster so indestructibly fascinating to the public mind through the many generations since his inception in 1818—almost 200 years ago! We are interested in essays that explore the creature’s versatile ability to appear as threatening monster or sympathetic high school loser, as Milton the Monster or Frankenweenie, as eternal outsider refined in a Tibetan monastery or as a cloned sheep. We are also interested in indirect adaptations: Edward Scissorhands, The Stepford Wives, The Golem, The Colossus of New York, Godzilla and other spawn of the atomic age, as well as zombies and the various replicants, androids, robots, and re-animations.

Paper proposals should be around 300-450 words and should reflect current inter-textual approaches in adaptation theory. They might ask such questions as how an adaptation engages its source(s), our culture, and, perhaps, other adaptations; the relevance of a particular adaptation in the context of its time and culture; the significance of the monster’s role as cultural icon or matrix figure; how an adaptation changes our view of the source text, etc. Studies on adaption such as Hutcheon, The Theory of Adaptation, Leitch, Film Adaptation and its Discontents, Perry and Sederholm, Adapting Poe: Re-Imaginings in Popular Culture, and Albrecht-Crane and Cutchins, Adaptation Studies: New Approaches provide model adaptation studies and theory along the lines we suggest. We expect that successful articles will be rigorous and scholarly, but accessible to a more general audience.

Send proposals to Professors Dennis R. Perry (dperry@byu.edu)  or Dennis Cutchins (dennis_cutchins@byu.edu) before June 30, 2013.

CFP: The Ages of Iron Man / Essay Collection (July 15, 2013)

CFP - Collection:

The Ages of Iron Man:

Essays on the Armored Avenger in Changing Times
Edited by Joseph J. Darowski
Publisher: McFarland & Company

The editor of The Ages of Iron Man: Essays on the Armored Avenger in Changing Times is seeking abstracts for essays which could be included in the upcoming collection. The essays should examine the relationships between Iron Man comic books and the period of American history when those comics were published. Analysis may demonstrate how the stories found in Iron Man comic books (and the creators who produced the comics) embrace, reflect, or critique aspects of their contemporary culture. This will be a companion volume to The Ages of Superman, The Ages of Wonder Woman, The Ages of the X-Men, and The Ages of the Avengers.

Essays should focus on stories from Iron Man’s comic book adventures, not media adaptations of the character. Furthermore, essays should look at a single period of comic book history, rather than drawing comparisons between different publication eras. For example, an essay that analyzed Iron Man comics from the early 1960s and contextualized them with what was happening in American society would be more likely to be accepted than an essay that contrasted Iron Man comic books from the 1970s with Iron Man comic books from the 1990s. Any team title or mini-series that features Iron Man prominently can be considered as source material for potential chapters. The completed essays should be approximately15 double-spaced pages.

Some possible topics for essays include, but are not limited to, the following:

• An Entitled, Womanizing, Weapons Designer is Our Hero?
• A Viet Nam War Superhero: Tony Stark, Industrialists, and the Cold War
• Communism and The American Superhero: Tony Stark’s Early Adventures
• The Mandarin: Cold War Stereotypes, and Supervillains
• "The Demon in a Bottle" and Social Relevancy in Superhero Comic Books
• Race Under the Armor: When James Rhodes Was Iron Man
• "Doomquest": The Changing Meaning of Heroism
• Armor Wars: Weapon Proliferation and Deterrence
• From Iron Man to War Machine: Rhodes’ Journey to Hero
• Force Works and a New Vision of Defense 
• Earth X Iron Man: Tony Stark as Millennial Doomsday Prepper
• "The Best Defense": Superhero Politics and the Aggressive Defense of America
• "Extremis" and the Biological/Technological Hybrid
• Marvel’s Civil War: Iron Man’s Quest to Control Potential Threats Post 9/11
• Iron Man – Director of Shield: A Weapons Engineer Leading the Military Industrial Complex
• Gender and Iron Man: Pepper Potts as Rescue

Abstracts (100-500 words) and CVs should be submitted by July 15, 2013. Please submit via email to Joseph Darowski, darowskij@byui.edu

CFP: Spyfi & Superspies: Cultural Responses to James Bond (June 1, 2013)

Call for Papers

Spyfi & Superspies:

A Collection of Essays Analyzing the Cultural Response 

to the James Bond Phenomenon

Abstract Submission Deadline: June 1, 2013

Since introducing himself to the world at the exclusive gambling club in London over fifty years ago in Dr. No, Bond, James Bond has become one the longest running film series in the history of cinema. The franchise has been very successful with 24 Eon Production films spanning six decades and 12 Ian Fleming books published several times over since their original debut at the height of the Cold War. It is not surprising then that the Bond influence on society has been a long and fruitful one in all media forms.

While there has been much written about the Fleming books and Eon Productions films since Bond’s literary and filmic inception, it is the goal of this anthology to explore other aspects of the Bond phenomenon. Hence, the editor is seeking entertaining, intelligent essays that explore and analyze the global cultural response to James Bond. All media forms are of interest: starting from the 1960s through to the present times. Please do not submit essays focusing on the Fleming books or Eon Productions films.

Here is a list of example topics and titles, but is by no means meant as an exhaustive list:

Films (any non-Eon Production Bond films)

• Amerospy films: Matt Helm, Jason Bourne, Spy Kids, xXx
• Eurospy to contemporary: Lemmy Caution series, Kommissar X, Agent 077, OSS 117, Johnny English
• Asiaspy: From Beijing with Love, James Bond 777, The Mahjong Incident, Agent Vinod, The Hero: Love Story of a Spy
• Parody: Carry on Spying, Spy Hard, Mystery Science Theater 3000 riffed spy films, If Looks Could Kill, Austin Powers series, Our Man Flint

Television

• The Man From U.N.C.L.E., I Spy, Get Smart, Chuck, MI5 (aka Spooks), Burn Notice

Literature (any non-Ian Fleming)

• OSS 117  (Jean Bruce), Matt Helm (Donald Hamilton), The Moneypenny Diaries (Samantha Weinberg), Young Bond (Charlie Higson), Jason Bourne (Robert Ludlum), Alex Rider (Anthony Horowitz)
• Non Fleming Bond: John Gardner, Raymond Benson, Sebastian Faulks, Jeffery Deaver

Comics

• X-9 Corrigan (IDW), Super Spy (Matt Kindt), James Bond Jr. (John Vincent), The Secret Service (Mark Millar), Danger Girl (IDW), The Secret Service (Mark Millar)

Cartoons

• Archer, James Bond Jr., Totally Spies!

Videogames

• Adaptations: GoldenEye, Quantum of Solace
• Ret-con Bond: 007 Legends, GoldenEye
• Original Bond Stories: 007:Blood Stone, 007: Everything or Nothing, 007: Agent Under Fire, James Bond 007:Nightfire
• Inspired by Bond: Alpha Protocol, No One Lives Forever, Alex Rider: Stormbreaker, Perfect Dark

Anime

• Najica Blitz Tactics, Gunslinger Girl, Master Keaton, Darker Than Black

Anti-Bond

• The Quiller Memorandum, The Ipcress File, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Music

• “When Nobody Loves You” (Kerli), “I’ll Take It All” (Joss Stone), “Miss Moneypenny” (Placebo)

Deadlines:

• June 1, 2013: Abstract of 300-500 words, 1 page CV, draft bibliography
• June 15, 2013: Notification of acceptance/rejection
• November 1, 2013: Papers due of 5,000-8,000 words in length (earlier submissions welcomed and encouraged), contributor release, and short biography

Accepted essays received on or before November 1^st will continue through to the editing process. The editor will correct grammatical and spelling errors, however edits impacting the essay’s content will be returned to the author for correction. 

The final manuscript will be delivered to the publisher late spring, 2014.  Contributors will receive a complimentary book copy when published.

Please direct all correspondence to:

Michele Brittany, Editor

Email: spyfi.superspies@gmail.com

Blog: http://spyfi-superspies.blogspot.com/

Facebook group: Spy-fi & Superspies

CFP: "Comic Theory" Book Collection (May 15)

As posted on the Comix Scholars list by Neil Cohn...

 

Call for Papers

"Comic Theory" Book Collection

While there have been a growing number of books on comics in recent years, very few have addressed aspects of structure, particularly from theoretical, cognitive, or experimental points of view and outside the realm of literary or sociocultural theory. I am working to organize a compilation of important papers on the understanding of sequential images. Most of the chapters will be either 1) summary papers that provide extensive bibliographies that can provide an overview to students and a resource to other researchers, or 2) reprints of significant research that remain under-recognized or hard-to-find.

This Call for Papers asks for proposals for papers of two types of chapters focused particularly on research outside of English, presented for an English speaking audience:

1. Chapters that summarize, in English, advances in comic theory from non-English speaking researchers. Such chapters should be large in scope with extensive reference sections.

2. Translations into English of significant non-English comic theory (structural, cognitive, experimental, etc.) from important papers or book chapters. (For example, from Gubern 1972, Fresnault-Dervelle 1972, Hünig 1974, Krafft 1978, Vidal 2004, etc)

Topics or chapters outside this scope may be considered, though best to contact me directly with inquiries: neilcohn@emaki.net. (Of interest may be: review papers of other types, historical development of comic “symbology”, grounded discussions of differences between comics cross-culturally, etc.)

Contributor Guidelines

1. Abstracts of 400-500 words accepted. Papers of 5000-9000 words, including notes and bibliography, accepted. Please also include a short biographical statement.

2. All documents should be submitted as Word or Word-compatible files. PDFs are also acceptable.

3. Submission deadline: May 15, 2013.

4. Materials should be sent to Neil Cohn via email: neilcohn@emaki.net

CFP: ImageTexT Special Issue: "Comics and Post-Secondary Pedagogy" (July 20, 2013)

ImageTexT Special Issue
"Comics and Post-Secondary Pedagogy"

Guest Editor: James Bucky Carter, Ph.D.
Co-Editor: Najwa Al-tabaa

The "Comics and Post-Secondary Pedagogy" special issue of ImageTexT is accepting paper submissions that address the teaching of comics with adult learners, defined as those in post-secondary settings such as colleges, universities, technical schools, community colleges, professional schools, etc., or in other settings in which adult education, enrichment, or training is a focus (prisons, the military, government, the workplace, extension programs, mutual aid movements, etc.).
Possible topics include but are not limited to:

• Teaching comics in university courses
• Teaching the self-contained or special topics comics course
• Comics in the ____________ course (History, Philosophy, Graphic Design, Literature, Media, etc.)
• Introducing students to comics/specific comics in courses that do not feature much comics content otherwise
• Advocating for the incorporation of comics in your discipline/field/class: What works and what hasn't?
• Using comics to inform or educate at the university level in ways beyond the traditional college course (student life, retention, etc.)
• Teaching comics with non-traditional students
• Using comics to educate in the workplace
• Teaching comics in prison settings
• Comics as educational materials in professional development or training programs
• Using comics to assist college student or adult learners in English acquisition
• Adults' concepts and precepts regarding comics and teaching comics
• Using comics in medical, law, and business schools.
• Using comics to teach those who teach others
• Teaching the works of a specific comics artist
• Using/creating comics as a medium of expression/critical thought for students/Integration of comics-creating assignments

Please send completed papers in MLA citation format to James Bucky Carter at jbcarter777@gmail.com by July 20th, 2013. Copy all submissions to Najwa Al-tabaa at naltabaa@ufl.edu.

Articles submitted should usually not exceed 10,000 words including notes and should be presented to generally accepted academic standards. Please submit all articles by sending an email with the submission attached (including images, video etc.). Articles should be submitted preferably in HTML, or as Microsoft Word, StarOffice, or OpenOffice documents. Webbed essays are encouraged.
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See this CFP also at: http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/news.shtml?/cfp/comics_and_pedagogy_cfp.shtml 

CFP: The Third Triennial Academic Conference at the Festival of Cartoon Art (Jul. 1; Nov. 14-15)

CFP:

The Third Triennial Academic Conference

at the Festival of Cartoon Art

 November 14-15, 2013

Beginning in 2007, the triennial Festival of Cartoon Art at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at Ohio State University added a one-day academic conference ahead of the weekend’s festivities. This year, 2013, the Billy Ireland will be hosting a special Festival to celebrate the Grand Opening of its glorious new home with a weekend of speakers, events and exhibitions. In honor of this momentous occasion, the academic conference this year will be a two-day event on Thursday and Friday, November 14th and 15th, leading up to the kickoff of the official opening festivities on Friday evening.

In honor of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, we will be organizing sessions focusing on some of the strengths and special features of the Library’s unparalleled collection. Toward this end we are inviting academic papers in comics studies, with a special interest in papers focusing on topics that connect with the Library’s collections and mission. (For information on the resources and collections at the Library, visit: http://cartoons.osu.edu). Some potential topics might include:

• 18th- and 19th-Century Cartoon art
• Editorial cartoons
• Newspaper Comic Strips
• Minicomics
• Underground Comics
• Walt Kelly and Pogo 
• Charles Schulz and Peanuts
• Will Eisner
• Jeff Smith and Bone

We will also be celebrating the ongoing partnerships between the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum and the pre-con’s co-sponsors, Project Narrative, the Wexner Center for the Arts, and Popular Culture Studies. Toward that end, we are also soliciting papers on:

• Graphic Narrative & Narrative Theory
• Comics and Contemporary Art
• Comics and Popular Culture

And last, but certainly not least, to honor the Billy Ireland’s teaching mission as part of Ohio State University, we are soliciting papers on “Teaching with Comics.”

Finally, we are delighted to announce that our keynote speaker for the academic pre-conference will be the one and only Henry Jenkins!

To be considered for the panels, please send a 250-500 word abstract and a one-page vita to gardner.236@osu.edu. The deadline for abstracts is July 1, 2013.

Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum: http://cartoons.osu.edu
Project Narrative: http://projectnarrative.osu.edu
The Wexner Center for the Arts: http://wexarts.org
Popular Culture Studies @ OSU: http://popularculturestudies.osu.edu
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See this CFP also at http://library.osu.edu/blogs/cartoons/2013/03/11/cfp-the-third-triennial-academic-conference-at-the-festival-of-cartoon-art/

CFP: The Graphic 19th Century / MLA 2014 (March 15)

CFP (final call and reminder)

The Graphic 19th Century

MLA 2014; deadline 3/15/13

Call for Papers for a panel at the Modern Language Association (MLA) Annual Convention, 9-12 Jan. 2014, in Chicago. Sponsored by the MLA Division on Nineteenth-Century American Literature.

The explosion of print media in the 19th century has become a critical commonplace; the impact of photographic images on the period been studied extensively. We invite submissions that take up the combination of word and image, as in The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck (1842), widely considered the first graphic novel published in the United States, and graphic work popularized in periodicals from Harper’s Weekly to Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper. Abstracts by Mar. 15 to Augusta Rohrbach (augustrohrbach@gmail.com) and Hillary Chute (chute@uchicago.edu).

CFP: Ethics Under Cover: Comics, Medicine and Society (Feb. 22; Jul. 5-7)

4th International Conference

of Comics and Medicine

Ethics Under Cover:

Comics, Medicine and Society
5th-7th July 2013
Brighton and Sussex Medical School

Brighton and Sussex Medical School in collaboration with Brighton and Sussex University Hospital Trust and Graphic Medicine invites papers for the fourth international conference on Comics and Medicine. Previous meetings have been held in London, Chicago and Toronto (more information at www.graphicmedicine.org).

This interdisciplinary conference intends to appeal to a wide audience, including healthcare professionals, comics creators, students, academic scholars, comics enthusiasts, and various stakeholder groups. The meeting will consist of a mix of peer reviewed academic papers, lectures and workshops. There will also be an exhibition and stalls for participants’ work.

We invite proposals for scholarly papers (15-20 minutes) or panel discussions (60 minutes) focusing on medicine and comics in any form (e.g. graphic novels, comic strips, graphic pathographies, bande dessinées, manga, and/or web comics). The theme of this year’s conference means we are interested in work with an ethical flavour. In particular, we seek presentations on:

• Ethics under cover (i.e. how ethical issues are tackled under the surface of graphic works)
• Illness narrative and the comic form
• Balancing humour and respect in comics about illness and disability
• Comics as resistance to the biomedical mainstream
• Comics as a way of seeing and representing illness and the role of healthcare professionals
• Comics in practitioner research and as a method of reflection
• Comics in cross-disciplinary education as both subject and tool
• Comics in literature, medicine and the bioethics classroom
• Comics within different healthcare systems
• European and international perspectives on graphic medicine and the scope for cross cultural analysis

We also welcome workshops (120 minutes). These are intended to be “hands-on” interactive workshops for participants who wish to obtain particular skills with regard to comics and medicine. Suggested subjects for workshops are:

• Creating comics
• Understanding, reviewing and critiquing comics
• Getting comics published
• Teaching and learning with comics
  

Proposals may be in Word, PDF, or RTF formats with the following information in this order:

• author(s)
• affiliation
• email address
• title of abstract
• body of abstract
• Sample images or weblinks to work being discussed

Please identify your presentation preference:

• oral presentation
• panel discussion
• workshop 

Please also specify equipment you might need (e.g. AV projection, whiteboard, easel, etc.)

300-word proposals should be submitted online by Friday, 22nd February 2013 to submissions@graphicmedicine.org

Abstracts will be peer-reviewed by an interdisciplinary selection committee. Notification of acceptance or rejection will be completed by 15th March 2013. While we cannot guarantee that presenters will receive their first choice of presentation format, we will attempt to honour people’s preferences, and we will acknowledge the receipt of all proposals submitted. Please note: Presenters are responsible for session expenses (e.g. handouts) and personal expenses (travel, hotel, and meeting registration fees). All presenters must register for the conference (maximum registration fee will be £70 or approximately US $115). Also see the CFP at the conference website.

CFP: A Comic of Her Own: Women Writing, Reading, and Embodying in Comics (UF) (Jan 15; Mar 15-17)

A Comic of Her Own:

Women Writing, Reading, and Embodying in Comics
10^th Annual UF Comics Conference

in association with ImageTexT
March 15-17, 2013

Keynote Speaker: Trina Robbins

Guest Artist: Leela Corman

Guest Artist: Megan Kelso

Trina Robbins’ A Century of Women Cartoonists responds to a comics history which often forgets women.  In the past few years, interest has grown around women working in the comics industry, perhaps best exemplified by Hillary Chute’s 2010 Graphic Women. Similarly, academia has made many inroads into comics and gender through scholarship on superheroines in mainstream comics. Mike Madrid’s 2009 The Supergirls: Fashion, Feminism, Fantasy, and the History of Comic Book Heroines and Jennifer Stuller’s 2010 Ink-Stained Amazons and Cinematic Warriors: Superwomen in Modern Mythology, not to mention works by Trina Robbins and Lillian Robinson, attest to this growing interest in the representation of women in comics. However, these two scholarly fields rarely engage in meaningful dialog, despite their mutual interest: the examination of women in comics, whether behind the scenes or on the page. This conference hopes to facilitate this dialog and foster the scholarly exploration of intersections between women’s writing in comics, women represented in comics, and the women who read them. To accommodate this goal, the conference will feature a mixture of formats: keynote lectures, workshops with guest artists, Q & A sessions, panel discussions, and traditional academic conference presentations.

We encourage scholarly submissions on any one of these topics, as well as proposals for papers that explore the apparent gaps between them. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• Superheroines in comics—how super are they, really?
• Good Girls vs. Bad Girls in mainstream comics
• Women’s writing as autobiography
• What women want—explorations of titles that are popular with female readers
• Queer women in comics
• Girly men and manly women in comics—how is gender drawn?
• Feminist readings of mainstream comics—are women still in the refrigerator?
• Monstrous women in comics—sexed/gendered readings of monstrous, radioactive, and generally othered bodies in mainstream comics
• Female sexuality in comics—from mainstream sex goddesses to queer alternatives
• Studies of work by particular women writers and/or artists
• Challenges to the “graphic women” canon
• Girls in children's picture books and children's picture books “for girls”
• Adaptation of comics superheroines to the big screen—representational differences and challenges in media adaptation
• Women in animation—the female form in motion

Please send 250-word abstracts to imagetext@english.ufl.edu by January 15^th, 2013.

CFP: Michigan State University Comics Forum (Jan. 31; Mar. 1-2)

Call for Submissions

Michigan State University

Comics Forum

March 1-2, 2013

The Michigan State University Comics Forum - http://www.comicsforum.msu.edu - is an annual event that brings together scholars, creators, and fans in order to explore and celebrate the medium of comics, graphic storytelling, and sequential art. This year's event is scheduled to take place March 1-2 at the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities in Snyder/Phillips Hall on the campus of Michigan State University.

This year the Forum is proud to announce that Nick Bertozzi, award-winning comics creator and professor, will be our guest of honor and keynote speaker on Friday, March 1st, 2013. Bertozzi received a Xeric Grant and multiple Harvey Awards and Ignatz Awards for his cartooning. He is the writer and artist of the graphic novel Lewis & Clark (First/Second). He collaborated with Jason Lutes on the graphic novel Houdini: The Handcuff King (Hyperion/CCS) and drew Glenn (The Colbert Report/Daria) Eichler's STUFFED! (First/Second). Bertozzi is author of The Salon (St. Martin's Griffin) a graphic novel about Picasso, the discovery of Cubism, and magical absinthe. He is hard at work on a cartoon biography of Lenny Bruce for Houghton-Mifflin, written by Harvey Pekar, and you can read his ongoing sci-fi/fantasy cartoon, Persimmon Cup, for free every week at ACT-I-VATE (http://activatecomix.com). For the past several years Bertozzi has been teaching cartooning at NYC's School of Visual Arts, as well as teaching stints at Rhode Island School of Design and at The Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont.

On Saturday (March 2) the Forum will feature scholarly presentations in a variety of formats as well as an artist’s alley spotlighting the best and brightest comics creators from Michigan and around the United States.

We seek proposals for presentations, which may include but are not limited to:

Individual Submissions

• Will have 15 minutes to discuss topic, 5 minutes for questions
• Presenter will be grouped with other participants into a panel

Panel Sessions

• The session will run for one hour
• Must include at least 3 presenters
• Presenters must discuss similar or connected topics
• Presenters are responsible for finding their own panel session members

Roundtables

• The session will run for 45 minutes to an hour
• Must include at least 3 participants
• Presenters must discuss one specific topic
• Presenters are responsible for finding their own roundtable session members 

Comic book and graphic novel related presentations from a broad range of disciplines will be considered.

Individual submissions require a 250-word (maximum) abstract of the topic as well as name and affiliation. Panel sessions require one 250-word abstract for the overarching topic and a unique abstract for each presenter’s specific topic, including name and affiliation, emailed together. Round table proposals should include an abstract, 250-word, that includes an explanation of the topic and the names and affiliations of participants. All proposals should be in PDF format.

Due to the strong community aspect of the Forum, we ask that all submitters' presentations have a substantial visual component, and not simply rely on the recitation of a paper.

Proposals are due January 31 by 11:59 p.m.

Please submit proposals to Ben Chabala at michstatecomicsforum@gmail.com
For more information visit comicsforum.msu.edu

CFP: Graphic Art: Violence and Healing in Comics and Graphic Novels [ROMOCOCO] (Mar. 1; May 28-30)

  Call for Papers
Graphic Art:

Violence and Healing in Comics and Graphic Novels
Rocky Mountain Conference

on Comics and Graphic Novels

(ROMOCOCO)
May 28-30, 2013
Contact email: cfp@romococo.com

 

Recent tragedies, including the Aurora shooting that struck close to the heart of the ROMOCOCO and Denver Comic Con family, have turned the national conversation towards the roots and consequences of violence. Though there are many sociological and psychological areas of study that theorize about the relationship between violence in the media and “real world” violence, it is also important to examine this pervasive topic through literary analysis. For ROMOCOCO 2013, we are particularly interested in essays that investigate the role, purpose and representation of violence in comic books and graphic novels and/or their subsequent film versions. Some possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• The Dark Knight Rises specifically; Batman generally
• Gender and violence
• Formal violence—how the medium itself encourages a visual assault on the eye and page
• Violence and ethics—how is violence justified?
• Postapocalyptic violence
• Rebuilding from catastrophe
• Verbal violence
• Critiques of violence in story or theme
• Cartoonish vs. realistic representations of violence
• Girard’s Violence and the Sacred and comics
• Violence and psychology/psychoanalysis (Freudian, Jungian, etc.)
• Resisting violence
• War and peace
• Violence and the environment/environmental violence
• Trauma Theory

Though we are looking to focus on this theme, any essays or panels on other topics current in comics scholarship are also welcomed. ROMOCOCO strongly encourages multimedia presentations, and will provide basic A/V equipment for all panels.

 

Deadline for submission is March 1, 2013. Abstracts of up to 500 words and a brief personal bio should be emailed to cfp@romococo.com.

CFP: Comics and the Multimodal World [Comics Grid] (Douglas College, Canada) (Jan. 15; June 13-16)

Call For Papers:

Graphixia and Comics Grid
Spring Conference 2013:

Comics and the Multimodal World
13-16 June 2013, Douglas College
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Deadline for proposals: 15 January 2013

This conference is a collaborative, multidisciplinary exploration and celebration of sequential art, multimodal narrative, and comics. We welcome submissions on any of the following themes:
 

Comics and Internationalism

• How can comics overcome the limitations of language by promoting an international language of the image?

Comics and Digital Culture

• What are the linkages between comics scholarship and the digital humanities? 
• Why are these linkages so prevalent?

Multimodal narrative and First Nations/Aboriginal Cultures

• What is the relationship between image and story in First Nations culture, and how does that relationship connect with other modes of graphic storytelling?

Comics, Information Design, and Skill Development

• How can we use comics to teach document use, visual culture, and new literacies?

As the themes suggest, the conference aims to attract scholars from a diverse set of disciplines who are interested in further defining this burgeoning academic area and linking it to other fields.

The conference will be international in scope: we will attract scholars from as many places in the world as possible. To this end, we will put out a far-reaching call for papers and announce the conference is as many ways as possible.

The conference will encourage student participation by including student-oriented sessions, workshops and/or seminars and “teach-ins” with experts in the field. The conference steering committee will investigate ways of making it as easy and desirable as possible for students to attend.

In addition to being an academic event, the conference will also be a cultural and community event, featuring a festival of sequential art alongside its academic forums, encouraging the participation of emerging local artists, comics practitioners, and book sellers.

While the conference will be centred at the New Westminster campus of Douglas College, we would like to involve other local venues, the Quay for example, in the event. Local schools and libraries may also participate. The conference will be an opportunity for Douglas College to assert itself as a community and cultural hub.

New Westminster, known as the Royal City, is a part of Metropolitan Vancouver, the third most populous urban region in Canada. Vancouver is known for its livability and for its beautiful geography: it is on the Pacific Ocean and ringed by mountains. The city is also famous as a “foodie” city, hosting notable high-end restaurants as well as more casual fare.

Douglas College is connected to the downtown core of Vancouver by the Skytrain rapid transit system. The journey takes 25 minutes.

While the conference is in session, though not connected with it, the Vancouver Art Gallery will be hosting Art Spiegelman Co-Mix: A Retrospective of Comics, Graphics, and Scraps.

For further information or clarifications, please e-mail Graphixia2013@gmail.com.
 
To submit a proposal, complete the proposal form and submit not later than 15 January 2013.

This message was originally published by Peter Wilkins on the Comics Grid (4 October 2012).
http://www.comicsgrid.com/2012/10/graphixia-comicsgrid-conference-2013/