CFP: Michigan State University Comics Forum (Dec. 1; Feb. 21-22)

Call for Submissions

2014 Michigan State University

Comics Forum
Academic and Artist Panels 

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 February 21-22, 2014 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 award-winning comics creator, Stan Sakai, will be our guest of honor and keynote speaker on Friday, Feb 21st, 2014. Sakai is most known for his long-running anthropomorphic animal series, Usagi Yojimbo, which explores the culture and traditions of 17th century feudal Japan and has been published in 12 languages. Recently, Sakai completed an ambitious historical mini-series, 47 Ronin, a comics adaptation of Japan’s best known tale with publisher and writer, Mike Richardson. Sakai’s work has garnered him numerous Eisner Awards and in 2011 the Japanese American National Museum in LA presented a retrospective of his 30-year career.

On Saturday (Februar y 22) 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 strong visual component, and not simply rely on the recitation of a paper.

Proposals are due December 1st, 2013 by 11:59 p.m.

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