CFP: Disability and Superheroes / essay collection (June 30)

Call for Papers

Disability and Superheroes

essay collection

We invite abstracts for essays to be published in a collection showcasing new work on the representation and conceptualization of disability in superhero comics. We encourage examinations of mainstream titles and characters (such as those published by Marvel and DC) as well as considerations of other texts that engage disability and the superhero genre in creative ways (such as Cece Bell’s El Deafo). We are especially interested in contributions that explore additional intersections of race, class, sexuality, and gender.

We especially welcome essays on specific characters, writer/artists or storylines, rather than essays more broadly conceived (for example, a proposal for an essay devoted to a particular issue of Lee/Colan-era Daredevil would have a higher chance of acceptance than one simply on Daredevil, a series published by Marvel for over 50 years).

The collection envisions a diverse selection of contributors (scholars from the humanities, comics studies, and disability studies; disability activists; comics creators; medical professionals; comics journalism; and so on) that represent a range of perspectives, methodologies, and communities. The contents of the collection may be likewise diverse, including essays by individual and collaborative authors, interviews, and/or creative work.

The editors welcome inquiries by email. Please submit 400-word abstracts and 50-word bios by June 30, 2016. After reviewing submissions, the editors will select contributors and then submit a proposal for publication by a university press.

Final essays will be approximately 5,000-7,000 words, but the editors are also open to shorter submissions.

José Alaniz, University of Washington, jos23@uw.edu
Scott Smith, Penn State University, sts12@psu.edu