CFP: Comics Forum Leeds Art Gallery (Aug 16; Nov 18-19)

Comics Forum

Leeds Art Gallery

18th and 19th November 2010

Women in Comics II

1030-1700, 18/11/2010

Following the success of ‘Women in Comics’ held at The University of Cambridge in 2009, and the significant support of both practitioners and academics, we are delighted to be holding a second ‘Women in Comics’ Conference.

The purpose of the conference is to provide analysis and insight into a field of culture that has traditionally been the domain of men. With an increasing number of female artists, writers, scholars and publishers of comics, this conference looks to celebrate women’s contribution to comics, and strengthen and investigate feminine perspectives within and surrounding comic art and narrative.

What are women creating within comics? How is female readership changing and evolving? What is the interface between women in comics and gender studies?

Our guest speaker is comic artist Suzy Varty who published the very first all-woman comic book in the UK in 1977.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

• Feminism and personal politics in comics
• super-heroines
• biographical and autobiographical comics
• female comics authors/artists in history
• manga
• female characters
• women in the alternative press
• women in the comics industry

Suggestions for panels or individual presentations of 15 minutes are encouraged, and all genders are welcome to submit. Abstracts of 300 words should be submitted along with a short biography (100 words max.) to: Rikke Platz Cortsen rpc@hum.ku.dk and Catriona MacLeod c.macleod.1@research.gla.ac.uk. Please include the words ‘Women in Comics’ in your subject heading. Deadline for submissions is 16/8/2010.

Any general emails about the conference please email: Sarah Lightman s.lightman.1@research.gla.ac.uk

Theory and Practice:

A Conference on Comics

1030-1700, 19/11/2010

There are strong ties between the production and scholarship of comics, from the seminal works of Will Eisner in Comics and Sequential Art and Scott McCloud in Understanding Comics to the theoretically informed comics of Chris Ware (Jimmy Corrigan), Dan Clowes (Ghost World) and Seth (Wimbledon Green), among others. ‘Theory and Practice: A Conference on Comics’ will seek to investigate those ties, considering how comics both influence and are influenced by theoretical discourses of communication, aesthetics and narrative.

Subjects for discussion might include (but are not limited to):

• The lives and works of comic creators who also theorise the form (or vice versa), e.g. Rodolphe Töpffer, Harry Morgan, Scott McCloud, Will Eisner, Benoît Peeters etc.
• The roles played by theoretical discourse in the production of comics, or by the act of producing comics in the understanding of theory
• The value of theory for practice and/or practice for theory in the field of comics
• Understandings of comics that address the relative positions of the reader, the author, the artist etc. e.g. Philippe Marion’s discussion of the graphiateur
• The concepts of breakdown and closure
• Methodologies
• The rise of practice-based research and its implications and/or applications for Comics Studies

Proposals of 250 words are invited for talks of 15-20 minutes in length, and should be emailed, along with a short biography (around 100 words) to Ian Hague (Department of History, University of Chichester) at I.Hague@chi.ac.uk.