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