Joint International Conference of Graphic Novels, Bandes dessinées and Comics 2011 (UK)

A conference announcement of definite interest; I dearly wish I were able to attend! Click here for the conference website.

Joint International Conference of Graphic Novels, Bandes dessinées and Comics 2011

The comic strip, having been viewed as a lower form of art for decades, is increasingly being recognised as a phenomenon worthy of academic study. We are therefore proud to be hosting a major academic conference on comics, bandes dessinées and graphic novels at MMU from 5-8 July 2011.
We have had a fantastic response to our Call for Papers from people all over the world. This has enabled us to put on one of the very rare four day events of its kind , at what we hope is a reasonable price.

Given the response, we shall have two sets of parallel sessions running all day. The first two days will concentrate on Anglophone comics and manga. The second two days centre on European comics.

The keynote speakers are :

• the American artist Melinda Gebbie
• the English Artist and Writer, Hunt Emerson
• the French artist Edmond Baudoin
• Professor Pierre Fresnault-Deruelle from the Sorbonne University, Paris.

Other speakers include established experts such as Bart Beaty, Martin Barker and Ann Miller. However, we also pleased to welcome younger scholars and postgraduates.

The main themes of this conference are space and time in comics and audiences and readership. We also have panels on much else, including comics and gender, architecture and Francophone Africa. It is hoped that this conference will be a major landmark in the international study of comics.

The conference is being organised with the support of:

• the Alliance Française de Manchester
• Institute of Humanities & Social Science Research at MMU
• Manchester Institute for Research and Innovation in Art and Design (MIRIAD)

and under the aegis of scholarly peer-reviewed journals :

• European Comic Art
• Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics
• Studies in Comics

Papers given at conference will be considered for publication in one of these journals.

Studies in Comics - Issue 1 Online

The complete contents of the first issue of Studies in Comics are now available online in PDF format. I'm not sure if this is a limited-time promotion or if the journal will always offer its content online - but in any case, hurry on over to read the inaugural issue now!

CFP: Studies in Comics (journal; September 1, 2009)

Last night we posted the initial announcement for the new journal Studies in Comics. Here's their first CFP.

Call for Papers

Papers are invited for Studies in Comics, a new international and interdisciplinary academic journal that aims to describe the nature of comics, to identify the medium as a distinct art form, and to address its formal properties. The inaugural edition will launch our investigations with a selection of world-class academic articles that explore the formal properties of comics, advancing their own theory of comics or responding to an established theoretical model. We also welcome reviews of new comics, scholarship, criticism and exhibitions, as well as unpublished creative work.

We are now inviting the following submissions:

Articles of 4,000-8,000 words from any discipline. These should have a strong critical focus and seek to apply hitherto unexplored theoretical approaches to the medium of comics or respond to published theories about the medium’s formal properties. Possible areas include:

• Comics and visual language in the context of communications theory
• The grammar of comics
• Narrative structure
• The relationship between panel, page, and the multiframe
• Composition and panel transitions
• The treatment of time and space
• Responses to published theorists such as Scott McCloud, Will Eisner, Thierry Groensteen

We also welcome reviews of new publications and exhibits and short creative work of 1-5 pages in length. Creative work should be relevant to some aspect of comics, although there are no other thematic or stylistic restrictions. Metafictional submissions that deal with the processes and theories of comics creation are encouraged.

Please send all submissions to studiesincomics@googlemail.com.

Article submissions: please send 300 word abstracts and include the word ARTICLE in the subject heading. Submissions should be received by 1 September 2009 in the first instance. Please indicate the intended word count of the article. Completed papers will be required by 30 October 2009. All submissions will be peer reviewed. Papers must be submitted in English.

Reviews of publications and exhibitions: please include the words REVIEW PUBLICATION or REVIEW EXHIBITION in the subject heading.

Creative submissions: please include the word CREATIVE in the subject heading.

Reviews and creative work must be received by the same deadlines indicated above (1 September 2009 for statements of intention, 30 October 2009 for final work).

Submissions are welcome from both scholars and enthusiasts. Contributors are encouraged to approach comics from any discipline and to turn their attention to comics from all countries and in all languages. So whether you’re a semiotician, philosopher, scientist, historian, enthusiast, cultural, literary or film critic – Studies in Comics welcomes you!

Julia Round and Chris Murray (Editors)

M. Thomas Inge and Dean Chan (Associate Editors)
Paul Gravett (Review and Exhibitions Editor) and Roger Sabin (Consulting Editor)
Douglas Noble (Creative Submissions Editor)

Image credit: Cover to Studies in Comics, v1 no1, courtesy of editor Chris Murray. Artwork by Chris Ware.

New Journal: Studies in Comics

At this year's Popular Culture Association conference, my friend and mentor Tom Inge mentioned that this journal was in the works. And now, here it is!

Studies in Comics
a new, peer-reviewed journal
published by Intellect

Edited by Julia Round (jround@bournemouth.ac.uk), Chris Murray (c.murray@dundee.ac.uk), Dean Chan (d.chan@ecu.edu.au) and M. Thomas Inge (tinge@rmc.edu), Studies in Comics aims to describe the nature of comics, identify the medium as a distinct art form, and address its formal properties.

The emerging field of comics studies is a model for interdisciplinary research and this journal welcomes all approaches and methodologies. Its specific goal, however, is to expand the relationship between comics and theory and to seek to articulate a 'theory of comics'.

The editors welcome articles that explore the formal properties of comics, advance their own theory of comics, or respond to an established theoretical model. The journal will also contain reviews of new comics, scholarship, criticism, and exhibitions, as well as unpublished creative work.

For submission guidelines please write to studiesincomics@googlemail.com. Thank you.