CFP: Geographies of the Book / SHARP (Nov. 30; Jul. 18-21)

Not specifically about comics, but plenty of room for comics-related proposals, I'd think...!

CFP:

Geographies of the Book

Society for the History of Authorship, Reading, and Publishing

(SHARP)

July 18 to 21, 2013
University of Pennsylvania

This theme can be approached from at least three perspectives:

1. Recent developments that take particular texts and use them to construct multiple histories including, but not limited to, the circulation of books, the plurality of interpretations and uses of the texts, and the forms of domination and resistance within the political and social spheres made possible by the written word.
2. Case studies exploring geographies of books and geographies within books. Geographies of books can refer to the role of the author, the history of publishing (including pirated editions and false imprints), the book trade (circulation of print, within cities, countries, and across continents), and the translation/transformation of texts into other languages, other forms (adaptations, abridgements, epitomes), and other genres (histories into plays, poetry into prose). Or the subject of the geography of reading might also be contemplated.
3. Geographies within books may invoke imaginative topographies or journeys within fictional works, the place of maps and images in travelogues and novels, or the circulation of type and ornament between print shops and cities, and variations or similarities in the regional or national habits of printers and compositors. Tensions between the universal diffusion of printing and its local instantiation might here be considered. 

The full Call for Papers is posted on the following web page: http://www.library.upenn.edu/exhibits/lectures/SHARP2013/SHARP2013_papers.html

On the CFP page, you will find a link to the Paper submission online form (note: all proposals must be submitted electronically. Deadline for proposals: November 30, 2012. The URL for the conference web site is: http://www.library.upenn.edu/exhibits/lectures/SHARP2013/index.html

If you have questions regarding the Philadelphia SHARP conference please contact the organizing team @ sharpupenn2013@gmail.com.

CFP: Science Fiction Media (Oct. 5; Apr. 10-14)

Note the explicit suggestion of "SF Comics and Manga"...

Call for Papers

April 10-14, 2013

Riverside, CA

Science Fiction Media

This conference—cosponsored by the Eaton Collection of Science Fiction and Fantasy (UC Riverside) and the Science Fiction Research Association—will examine science fiction in multiple media. The past several decades have witnessed an explosion in SF texts across the media landscape, from film and TV to comics and digital games. We are interested in papers that explore SF as a multimedia phenomenon, whether focusing on popular mass media, such as Hollywood blockbusters, or on niche and subcultural forms of expression, such as MUDs and vidding. We invite paper and panel proposals that focus on all forms of SF, including prose fiction, and that address (but are not limited to) the following topics:

• Mainstream Hollywood vs. Global SF Cinema
• SF Comics and Manga
• SF Anime and Animation
• SF on the Internet and the World Wide Web
• Multimedia “dispersed” SF narratives
• Fandom, Cosplay, Mashups, and Remixing
• Broadcast and Cable SF Television
• SF Videogames
• World’s Fairs, Theme Parks, and other “Material” SF Media
• Short-form SF film
• Afrofuturism
• SF and/in Music
• SF Idiom and Imagery in Advertising
• Webisodes and TV Games
• SF Art and Illustration

Abstracts of 500 words (for papers of 20-minutes in length) should be submitted by October 5, 2012. We also welcome panel proposals gathering three papers on a cohesive topic. 

Send electronic submissions to conference co-chair Melissa Conway at <Melissa.Conway@ucr.edu<mailto:Conway@Melissa.Conway@ucr.edu>> with the subject heading: EATON/SFRA CONFERENCE PROPOSAL. Please include a brief bio with your abstract and indicate whether your presentation would require A/V.

To insure that your proposal will receive consideration, please follow these instructions carefully:

1. Send your proposal in a separate WORD file. Proposals pasted into e-mail windows will be returned to the sender for resubmission. The file should be saved  as follows: Last name, first initial. 2013  (e.g, Doe, J. 2013).
2. Include your name and e-mail in the top left-hand corner of your WORD file.  The organizers need this information to correspond with you.
3. Send your 100-word biographical statemen as a separate WORD file.  Save the file as" Doe, J. BIO."
4. Use the subject line: Eaton/SFRA Conference Proposal. This helps the organizers to sort and search for proposals. Files without this subject line may be overlooked inadvertently.

For more information on the conference, including travel and accommodations, see http://eatonconference.ucr.edu/ 

CFPs (4): Comics at NEMLA (Sept. 30; Mar. 21-24)

Calls for Papers

44th Annual Convention

Northeast Modern Language Association

(NEMLA)

March 21 to 24, 2013

Boston, Massachusetts

Hosted by Tufts University

Panels and Pedagogy: Teaching the Graphic Novel

This panel works towards understanding and adding to emerging pedagogies of the graphic novel and other forms of illustrated works. What do these visual texts change about how we approach the classroom? Possible topics include but are not limited to adaptation and teaching across mediums and disciplines; the graphic novel as literature; approaches to visuality as composition; and the limits of genre and medium. Submit 250- to 500-word proposals by September 30, 2012, to Joel Simundich (joel_simundich@brown.edu) and Derek McGrath (derek.mcgrath@stonybrook.edu).

The Sequential Monster:  Reading Comics as Monstrous

Comic books, graphic novels and webcomics generally combine words and images to create narratives. Though comics are often considered a form in their own right, it is also possible to see them as an amalgam of disparate forms of communication. If we think of comics that way, perhaps we can see them, fruitfully, as monstrous: beasts that combine the elements of verbal and visual, narrative and static communication forms. This panel will examine a social understanding of the comics form (and the kinds of literacies required to accept it) using Scott McCloud’s and Will Eisner’s comics theories as well as Jeffrey Jerome Cohen’s monster theory. Abstracts of 300 words to lauere@sunysuffolk.edu by September 30.

Show and Tell: A Roundtable of Comic Book and Graphic Novel Creators

This event hosts artists from a wide spectrum of roles as related to the creation of comic books and graphic novels. This roundtable welcomes participants from around the world and regardless of genre, medium, or years of experience. Artists in the roundtable should bring visual materials to facilitate discussion with a diverse audience of students, professors, and overall fans of this art form. Submit resumes by September 30, 2012, to Derek McGrath at SUNY Stony Brook (derek.mcgrath@stonybrook.edu).

Comics Theory

This panel invites papers that explore comics theory. In what ways has comics theory evolved over the past twenty-five years? What are the current debates? In what ways have comics artists themselves shaped these debates? In what ways does American comics theory differ from comics theory that originated in France or Japan? In what ways have graphic narratives themselves taught readers how to understand the form? Please send completed papers or 300-word abstracts to Davida Pines at dpines@bu.edu. Deadline for proposals: Sep 30, 2012.

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Conference information

44th Annual Convention

Northeast Modern Language Association (NEMLA)

March 21 to 24, 2013

Boston, Massachusetts

Hosted by Tufts University

The 2013 NEMLA convention continues the Association’s tradition of sharing innovative scholarship in an engaging and generative location. The 44th annual event will be held in historic Boston, Massachusetts, a city known for its national and maritime history, academic facilities and collections, vibrant art, theatre, and food scenes, and blend of architecture. The Convention, located centrally near Boston Commons and the Theatre District at the Hyatt Regency, will include keynote and guest speakers, literary readings, film screenings, tours and workshops.

Interested participants may submit abstracts to more than one NEMLA session; however, panelists can only present one paper (panel or seminar). Convention participants may present a paper at a panel and also present at a creative session or participate in a roundtable.  A/V requirements include a $10 handling fee to be paid with conference registration.

For more information on numerous panels, please visit the NEMLA call for papers web site (http://www.nemla.org/convention/2013/cfp.html).

CFP: The Ages of the Avengers (collection; Jan. 15)

CFP - Collection:

The Ages of the Avengers:

Essays on the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes

in Changing Times

Edited by Joseph J. Darowski

Publisher: McFarland & Company

The editor of The Ages of the Avengers: Essays on the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in Changing Times is seeking abstracts for essays which could potentially be included in the upcoming collection. The essays should examine the relationships between Avengers comic books and the period of American history when those comics were published. Analysis may demonstrate how the stories found in Avengers comic books (and the creators who produced the comics) embrace, reflect, or critique aspects of their contemporary culture.

Essays should focus on stories from the Avengers’ 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 Avengers 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 Avengers comic books from the 1970s with Avengers comic books from the 1990s. Any of the spin-off Avengers titles or mini-series that focus on teams (West Coast Avengers, Young Avengers, Mighty Avengers) can be considered, but solo titles that feature members of the Avengers (Iron Man, Captain America, Thor)should not be used as the primary focus of an essay. The completed essays should be 12-15 double-spaced pages.

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

“Captain America Joins…the Avengers”: The World War II Hero Encounters a New Generation of Americans; The Kree/Skrull War: Conspiracies, Government Agencies, and Public Protests; The Avengers/Defenders War: Just What Are We Fighting this War for Anyway?; Korvac Saga: Gods, Religion, and Faith on the Comic Book Page; Affirmative Action and Tokenism: Falcon Takes a Stand by Leaving the Avengers; Race and Gender Issues on Superhero Teams: Captain Marvel and Team Leadership; “The War on Olympus” and Guilt for Collateral Damage; “Operation: Galactic Storm” and Proactive Versus Reactive Philosophies to Potential Threats; Avengers Forever: Questions of Time, History, and Meaning at the Turn of the Century; “Ultron Unlimited” and the Fear of Evolving Technology; “Red Zone”: Hidden Threats Right in Front of Our Eyes; The Ultimates: Fashioning Earth’s Mightiest Heroes for a New Millenium; “Breakout”: Rebooting a Franchise for Blockbuster Audiences; Young Avengers and Avengers Academy: Addressing Homosexuality in Superhero Comic Books; The Uncivil Debate Within of Marvel’s Civil War; Dark Avengers: Are There Good Guys Anymore?

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

CFP: Comics and the American Southwest and Borderland (collection; Jan. 31)

CFP:

Comics and

the American Southwest and Borderland

The editors of Comics and the American Southwest and Borderlands seek submissions for this collection, which has interest from the University Press of Mississippi. We hope the collection does for the Southwest and Border region what Costello and Whitted’s Comics and the U.S. South did for that region and Southern studies via mining, creating, and illuminating the intersections of comics scholarship and established academic writing on the Southwestern United States, the U.S-Mexico border, and their literatures, identities, and cultures.

Submissions might consider:

• The impact of comics creators from the Southwest or Border region
•  The work of Jaxon/Jack Jackson, specifically
• Characters or storylines set in and/or influenced by the Southwest or Border region
• Depictions of the Southwest or Borderlands in comics
• Examinations of how non-American artists have represented the American West (Charlier, Moebius, Blain, etc.)
• U.S-Mexico relations in comics
• Immigration; citizenship; nationalism in comics from or about the region
• Race, gender, sex and ethnic studies in comics from or about the region
• Nationalism; politics; violence in comics from or featuring the region
• Liminal spaces; contact zones; politics of the region in comics
• Westerns Adaptations of Southwest, Chicano, Latina, or Mexican literature
• Chicana/a or Latina/o studies as frames for analysis of comics
• Class and economic issues in comics from or featuring the region
• Depictions of Native peoples from the region in comics

Submissions may explore comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, web comics, and editorial cartoons. Submissions may focus on any genre.

Please send 300-500 word abstracts to both Dr. James Bucky Carter (jbcarter777@gmail.com) and Dr. Derek Parker Royal (Derek@DerekRoyal.com) by January 31, 2013.

Miriam Katin at Sage College (Troy, NY) Monday Oct. 22

Childhood in Black and White

Miriam Katin

Monday, October 22, 1 p.m.

Sage College

Bush Memorial, Troy campus

Miriam Katin is the author of the Holocaust memoir We Are on Our Own, the story of a mother and daughter’s survival during World War II, the forthcoming Letting It Go and several children’s books. Born in Hungary, Katin immigrated to Israel in 1957 and served in the Israel Defense Forces as a graphic artist. She has worked for MTV Animation and Walt Disney Studios. Her talk will be followed by a signing and reception in m.o.s.s. books.

For more information, contact Professor David Salomon at (518) 244-3118 or salomd@sage.edu.

CFP: International Comic Arts Forum (Nov. 9; May 23-25)

CALL FOR PAPERS 

INTERNATIONAL COMIC ARTS FORUM 

May 23-25, 2013

University of Oregon, Portland

ICAF, the International Comic Arts Forum, invites proposals for scholarly papers for its sixteenth annual meeting, to be held at the White Stag Building at the University of Oregon in Portland, from Thursday, May 23, through Saturday, May 25, 2013. The deadline to submit proposals is November 9, 2012. (Scroll down for proposal guidelines and submission information.)

• ICAF welcomes original proposals from diverse disciplines and theoretical perspectives on any aspect of comics or cartooning, particularly studies that reflect an international perspective. 
• Studies of aesthetics, production, distribution, reception, and social, ideological, and historical significance are all equally welcome, as are studies that address larger theoretical issues linked to comics or cartooning, for example in image/text studies or new media theory.
• In recognition of the University of Oregon’s new undergraduate minor in Comics and Cartoon Studies, we are hoping to schedule a special panel on larger issues pertaining to the teaching and study of comics. We are therefore particularly interested in papers that address the study of comics as an academic discipline by itself and within other disciplines.

PROPOSAL GUIDELINES: For its refereed presentations, ICAF prefers argumentative, thesis-driven papers that are clearly linked to larger critical, artistic, or cultural issues; we strive to avoid presentations that are merely summative or survey-like in character. We can accept only original papers that have not been presented or accepted for publication elsewhere. Presenters should assume an audience versed in comics and the fundamentals of comics studies. Where possible, papers should be illustrated by relevant images. Presentations must be timed to finish within the strict limit of twenty (20) minutes. Proposals should not exceed 300 words.

REVIEW PROCESS: All proposals will be subject to blind review by the ICAF Executive Committee. The final number of papers accepted will depend on the needs of the conference program. Due to high interest in the conference, in recent years ICAF has typically been able to accept only one third to one half of the proposals it has received.

AUDIOVISUAL EQUIPMENT: ICAF's preferred format for the display of images is MS PowerPoint. Regretfully, we cannot accommodate non-digital media such as transparencies, slides, or VHS tapes. Presenters should bring their PowerPoint or other electronic files on a USB key.

SEND ABSTRACTS (with complete contact information, including state, province, or country of residence) by November 9, 2012, to C. W. Marshall, ICAF Academic Program Director, via email at: toph (dot) marshall (at) ubc (dot) ca

Receipt of all proposals will be acknowledged. Applicants should expect to receive confirmation of acceptance or rejection by December 3, 2012. Please "like" our Facebook page for conference updates! 

CFP: Superhero Synergies: Genre in the Age of Digital Convergence (collection; Nov. 1)

Call for Papers: Collection of Essays

"Superhero Synergies:

Genre in the Age of Digital Convergence"

Edited by

James Gilmore (UCLA) and Matthias Stork (UCLA)

Publisher: Scarecrow Press

Since the late 1990s, the proliferation of digital media has opened up a seemingly infinite horizon of narrative possibilities in transmedia storytelling. Traditional ideas about the look and the texture of cinema, television, and comics have equally undergone striking revision in the age of digital convergence. New technologies--including 3-D, video on-demand, and electronic tablets--change the ways we think about media production, aesthetics, and consumption. Digital media have made popular culture a malleable entity to be modified continuously. As a result, popular media do not exist in isolation, but converge into complex multidimensional objects. The Internet further relays this multidimensionality via discussion forums, fan fiction, and video-based criticism.

Nowhere has this phenomenon been more persistent, more creative, or sparked more discussion than in the superhero genre. While the genre is home to many of the most financially successful films of the last 15 years, it has also developed life in video games, digital comics, Internet criticism, video essays, novelizations, television programs, and other forms of media. These media may speak to each other--as in a video game based on the film The Avengers which is, in turn, based on a series of Marvel comic books--or incorporate and critique forms of media--as when the television series Heroes consciously employs comic book aesthetics as a central narrative component. The superhero genre thus forms an ideal lynchpin to examine the contemporary landscape of popular media convergence.

The goal of this anthology is to explore the intricate relationship between superheroes and digital media in an era of convergence. Specifically, we encourage contributors to consider analytical, research-driven, and theoretical work that tackles the problems and possibilities of convergence culture as it relates to the experience and study of superheroes in the contemporary world of digital media. While the anthology incorporates a theoretical dimension, we predominantly seek submissions that emphasize the experience of superheroes and analysis of superhero images in this expanding and converging digital landscape.

Topics may include but are not limited to:

• How do conceptions of “genre” and “narrative” change amidst the interaction of multiple digital media forms?
• Adaptation: How might superhero texts accent themselves as acts of adaptation? How do digital media and transmedia storytelling transform the notion of fidelity?
• Reception study: What opportunities do digital media present for spectators to interact with each other and the media texts, and what are the scope and shape of those fandom culture interactions (i.e. avatar creation, fan fiction, video essay criticism)?
• Textual/aesthetic analysis: How do the texts themselves--comics, films, video games, etc.--employ digital media and technology? In what ways do their aesthetics and structures communicate a converging digital landscape?
• Cultural studies: How do digital media inform the discourse of socio-cultural issues within the genre, its texts, and their reception? How might digital media convergence foster a more complex discourse of these social, cultural, or political issues central to the genre--or do they?
• Marketing aesthetics: How do the advertising strategies for individual texts take advantage of an array of new media technologies?
• Film criticism: How does contemporary criticism use digital media technology to analyze and chronicle the development of the superhero genre?
• Gender analysis: How are male and female bodies figured in the superhero genre, and how have those representations changed over time and across different forms of media?

Interested writers should submit a proposal of approximately 400-600 words. Each proposal should clearly state 1) the research question and/or theoretical goals of the essay, 2) the essay’s relationship to the anthology’s core issues, and 3) a potential bibliography. Please also include a brief CV. Accepted essays should plan to be approximately 6,000-7,000 words.

Deadline for proposals: November 1, 2012

Please send proposals to both contact e-mails:

• James Gilmore: james.n.gilmore@gmail.com
• Matthias Stork: mstork@ucla.edu

Publication timetable:

• November 1, 2012 – Deadline for Proposals
• December 15, 2012 – Notification of Acceptance Decisions
• April 15, 2013 – Chapter Drafts Due
• July 15, 2013 – Chapter Revisions Due
• August 30, 2013 – Final Revisions Due

Acceptance will be contingent upon the contributors' ability to meet these deadlines, and to deliver professional-quality work.

If you have any questions, please contact the editors.