Ian Gibson at Gosh London today

The artist behind one of 2000AD’s most ground-breaking series will be signing at Gosh Comics today

Ian Gibson’s work with Alan Moore on The Ballad of Halo Jones is lauded as some of the legendary weekly comic book’s greatest.

And to celebrate the latest edition of Halo Jones, complete with a new introduction by Zoo City author Lauren Beukes, Gibson will be signing at Gosh Comics on Berwick Street in London from 2pm to 4pm on Saturday 27th April.

The new UK edition of The Ballad of Halo Jones, due for release in May 2013, will have a brand new design-led cover by 2000AD head designer Simon Parr.

Dubbed “possibly the first feminist heroine in comics” by The Observer, the ground-breaking series introduced readers to a poignant, fascinating, and at times heartbreaking story of an ordinary woman who lives an extraordinary life.

Set in a future where the unemployed are herded into the Hoop, a floating ghetto off the coast of Manhattan, Halo is a young woman who dreams of escaping her boring life. When she gets the chance to do so aboard a luxury space cruiser as a hostess, it catapults her into an uncaring galaxy that will take her from the lap of luxury to a time-bending war of atrocity.

 

Call for Papers: Transitions 4 - New Directions in Comics Studies

A call for papers for Transitions 4 - New Directions in Comics Studies has just been published.

Transitions will be a one-day symposium at the University of London in November, promoting new research and multi-disciplinary academic study  of comics, comix, manga, bande dessinée and other forms of sequential art.


Now in its fourth year, the Keynote will be given by Dr. Ann Miller (University of Leicester, joint editor of European Comic Art), with response from Dr. Roger Sabin (Central St. Martins, University of the Arts London).

Transitions is currently the only regular academic comics event based in London.  The symposium provides a platform where different perspectives and methodologies can be brought together and shared.  As an event devoted to promoting new research into comics in all their forms the symposium provides a forum for research from postgraduate students and early career lecturers.

Comics studies occupy a unique multi-disciplinary middle-space, one that encourages cross-disciplinary pollination and a convergence of distinct knowledges: literary and cultural studies, visual arts and media, modern languages, sociology, geography and more.
By thinking about comics across different disciplines, we hope to stimulate and provoke debate and to address a wide spectrum of questions, to map new trends and provide a space for dialogue and further collaboration to emerge.

The organisers welcome abstracts for twenty minute papers of 250 - 300 words.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

International iterations: manga, bande dessinée , fumetti etc. – children’s comics – superheroes – non-fiction comics – the (im)materiality of comics – formalist approaches – cultural histories –adaptation/ remediation – autographics – early comics – comic strips – small press –alternative comics/ underground commix – comics narratologies – political comics – comics and cultural theory – contexts of production and circulation - audiences – comics and the archive – subjectivity in comics – graphic medicine – fan subcultures – comics as historiography – key creators

• Proposals for papers should be sent as Word documents, with a short biography appended. Abstracts should be submitted by the 30th July 2013 to Hallvard, Tony and Nina at transitions.symposium@gmail.com.

• Transitions will take place on Saturday 2nd November 2013 at the School of Arts, Birkbeck, University of London, London WC1E 7HX

Comics Forum announces 'Death and the Superhero' event

Comics Forum has announced the second event in its ‘Comics Forum presents…’ series. José Alaniz, author of Komiks: Comic Art in Russia, guest author for the Comics Forum website and the current chair of the executive committee of the International Comic Art Forum, will appear at the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds (UK) on the 25th March.

Proceeding in part from the writings of cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker, Death and the Superhero: ‘Strikeforce: Morituri’ examines the late 1980s Marvel Comics series Strikeforce: Morituri (originally written by Peter Gillis with art by Brent Anderson), which took as its premise the inescapable mortality of its superteam’s members, for a consideration of the ways “real” death warps and complicates the routinely death-denying superhero genre.

José Alaniz, is currently the Chair of the Executive Committee of the International Comic Arts Forum, the leading comics studies conference in the US. (He edited a symposium on Czech comics for the Forum in 2009).

His research interests include Death and Dying, Disability Studies, Film Studies, Eco-criticism and Comics Studies and his current projects include Death, Disability and the Superhero: The Silver Age and Beyond and a history of Czech comics.

He's the associate professor in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures and the Department of Comparative Literature (adjunct) at the University of Washington – Seattle, published his first book, Komiks: Comic Art in Russia (University Press of Mississippi) in 2010. His articles have appeared in the International Journal of Comic Art, the Comics Journal, Ulbandus, Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema and Kinokultura, as well as the anthologies The Ages of Superman: Essays on the Man of Steel in Changing Times, The Cinema of Alexander Sokurov and Russian Children’s Literature and Culture

• Entry to this event is free, but places are limited so registration is required. Places will be given on a first come first served basis, and early booking is strongly recommended. To register, send your name and the number of tickets you would like to comicsforum@hotmail.co.uk

72nd World Science Fiction Con to celebrate 'Diversity in Speculative Fiction'

The academic programme at Loncon 3, the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention which will be held in London next August at the Excel, is offering the opportunity for academics from across the globe to share their ideas - including their thoughts on comics - with their peers and convention attendees.

Running from Thursday 14th to Monday 18th August 2014, Loncon 3 has already announced authors Iain M. Banks, John Clute and Robin Hobb, SF editor and critic Malcolm Edwards and the highly influential SF artist Chris Foss, artist and designer Jeanne Gomoll  and comics creator Bryan Talbot as Guests of Honour.

In a Call for Papers for the event, organisers have announced that to reflect the history and population of London, the host city, the theme of the academic programme at the event is 'Diversity'.

"We will be exploring science fiction, fantasy, horror, and all forms of speculative fiction, whether in novels, comics, television, and movies or in fanworks, art, radio plays, games, advertising, and music."

Proposals are particularly welcome on the works of the Guests of Honour, the city of London as a location and/or fantastic space, and underrepresented areas of research in speculative fiction. Examples of these may include, but are not limited to:

• Representation of alternative sexualities
• Speculative fiction by writers and producers of colour
• Non-English language media and/or fandoms
• The fantastic in unexpected places (greetings cards, opera, football stadiums)
• Digital comics
• The role of speculative fiction in Live Action Role-Playing
• The fantastic in music videos
• Speculative fiction in advertising
• European horror

Academics at all levels are warmly encouraged, including students and independent scholars. Proposals for presentations, roundtable discussions, lectures, and workshops/masterclasses are welcomed.

The deadline for submission is 1st October 2013 and participants will be notified by December 31st 2013. All presenters must be in receipt of convention membership by 1st May 2014. Abstracts will be included in the Academic Programme Book, available to download from the Loncon website. It is anticipated that an edited volume showcasing the variety of topics presented will be published.

• To propose a paper, please submit a 300 word abstract to Emma England, the academic area head. To submit something other than a paper, please contact her first, for an informal exchange of ideas at emma.england@loncon3.org.



• Web: http://loncon3.org • Twitter: @AcademicLoncon3

Manga Studies: From Architecture to Female Otaku

The London Asia Pacific Cultural Studies Forum is organizing a free session at London's Birbeck College on 28th January 2013, devoted to Manga Studies with researchers and professionals visiting from Japan.

The global circulation of manga has attracted increased attention and Manga Studies has now developed as an international, multidisciplinary field that attracts researchers from a wide area of study from the visual arts to the social sciences. This session is expected to be a multidisciplinary event that invites scholars from a range of fields to observe the diversity of manga consumption as popular culture, worldwide.

The speakers are Dr Ryuichi Tanigawa, an Assistant Professor at the Center for Integrated Area Studies at Kyoto University who specializes in Modern Asian Architectural and Urban History, Architectural Theory; Dr Chie Yamanaka, an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Human Studies, Jin-ai University who specializes in Sociology, Manga Comics Studies, and Korean Studies; Mr Yu Ito, a Researcher/ curator of Kyoto Seika University International Manga Research Center, Kyoto International Manga Museum. He has organized many manga exhibitions and workshops over the past years. He specializes in Manga Comics Studies and Folklore.

Also at the event are Dr Sonoko Azuma, an Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University who specializes in Sociology of Culture and Gender Studies; Mr Simon Turner, a Ph.D student at Birkbeck College, University of London whose main research interest lies in the field of Japanese Cultural Studies and New Media Studies; Dr Shinji Oyama, a Sasakawa Research and Teaching Associate in Japanese Creative Industries Studies head of Japanese cultural studies at Department of Media and Cultural Studies, Birkbeck College; and Dr Mariko Murata, an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Sociology, Kansai University, Japan. She is currently a Visiting Scholar at Birkbeck.


The event has been co-organized by the Centre for Media, Culture and Creative Practice (Birkbeck, University of London) and LAPCSF, supported by the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research 2012 (Challenging Exploratory Research, Ryuichi Tanigawa, Grant No.24656343) MEXT, Japan.

Here's the full program.

Manga Studies: From Architecture to Female Otaku

Speakers: Dr. Ryuichi Tanigawa, Dr. Chie Yamanaka, Mr. Yu Ito, and Dr. Sonoko Azuma
Discussant: Mr. Simon Turner
Chair: Dr. Mariko Murata

Program

18:00-18:10 A Welcome from the Organizers (Dr Shinji Oyama and Dr. Mariko Murata)

18:10-18:30 Manga, Architecture, and Cities: Interpreting Space in JOJO's Bizarre Adventure (Dr. Ryuichi Tanigawa)

18:30-18:50 The Reception of Manga in the Republic of Korea: A Case Study on NARUTO (Dr. Chie Yamanaka)

18:50-19:10 Barefoot Gen in Japan: War and Boys’ Comics (Mr. Yu Ito)

Short break

19:20-19:40 How to Enjoy 'Yaoi' Texts: Manga Consumption of Female Otaku in Japan (Dr. Sonoko Azuma)

19:40-20:10 Discussion (Discussant: Mr. Simon Turner)

• Starting at 6.00pm, the talks will be in English and the discussion will be interpreted. Attendance is free of charge, but registration is required. You can book here: http://mangastudies.eventbrite.co.uk

Transitions 3 - Keynote announced

The Transitions symposium is fast approaching, taking place on Saturday 3rd November at Birkbeck College, London.



Transitions is a one-day symposium promoting new research and multi-disciplinary academic study of comics/ comix/ manga/ bande dessinée and other forms of sequential art.

The keynote will come from Dr. Julia Round (Bournemouth University) and Dr. Chris Murray (University of Dundee), editors of Studies in Comics and Dr. Roger Sabin (Central St. Martins).

Transitions is part of Comica 2012, the London International Comics Festival, and is organised in association with Birkbeck, University of London; the School of Film and Television Studies and the School of American Studies at the University of East Anglia; Studies in Comics (Intellect), European Comic Art (Berghahn), Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics (Routledge), the Contemporary Fiction Seminar and The Comics Grid: Journal of Comics Scholarship.

This event is free, but please register your attendance by email at transitions[dot]symposium[at]gmail[dot]com

• The programme can  be accessed here on the Comica web site and here. 

Brunel University's Screen Media Research Centre announces comics events

The Screen Media Research Centre at Brunel University has announced two upcoming seminars about comics

Il giallo a fumetti: Diabolik, fumetti neri and the 'Fantomas gene'
Presented by Leon Hunt, Wednesday 24th October, 4.00pm

The creation of Italian comic book character Diabolik in 1962 both looked back to one of the founding pulp supervillains Fantomas (enjoying a revival at the time) and spawned a wave of fumetti neri (dark comics) featuring masked characters whose names invariably featured the letter K (Kriminal, Sadik etc.) 50 years later, three editions of Diabolik (two of them reprints) appear every month on Italian newsstands as well as two Il Grande specials per year - with enviable market penetration, it remains a huge cultural phenomenon. 

Mario Bava's Diabolik/Danger: Diabolik (Italy/France 1967) adapted the comic into a much-loved cult film that outside Italy and France is probably the best known incarnation of the character. But in some ways the film, with its counter cultural hero, pronounced eroticism and pop art opulence, provides a misleading impression of the comic.   

Diabolik is a comparatively conservative and formulaic comic, mostly aesthetically unadventurous, its titular character never having undergone the kind of overhaul that American comic book heroes like Batman and Spider-Man have enjoyed.  Nevertheless, the character proliferates both as a comic and across different media - a triumph of the iconic and the formulaic.  This paper from Leon Hunt examines Diabolik as a continuation of the 'Fantomas gene' (pulp media's mystery-villain archetype), as Italian cultural phenomenon and as popular icon whose 50th anniversary is being celebrated this year.

Leon Hunt is a Senior Lecturer in Screen Media at Brunel University.  His most recent publications include Cult British TV Comedy (Manchester University Press 2013 forthcoming) and co-editor of East Asian Cinemas: Exploring Transnational Connections on Film (I.B. Tauris 2008) and Screening the Undead: Vampires and Zombies On Film (I.B. Tauris forthcoming 2013). 

The Superhero City: Film, Comics and Urban Imagery 
Presented by Federico Pagello, Wednesday 21st November, 4.00pm

For the last 15 years film adaptations of superhero fiction have been one of the most successful trends in Hollywood cinema. Influenced by features of the original comic books such as their peculiar approach to visual narrative, their work on time and space and their typical serial structures, superhero films reveal key characteristics of contemporary popular cinema. Thought the analysis of the varied and contradictory uses of the urban imagery of superhero fiction in films such as Superman (1979), Batman (1989), Spider-Man (2002) and The Dark Knight (2008), it is therefore possible to address the aesthetic and cultural meaning of the genre, to examine the connection between film and comics and to highlight the way in which influential directors such as Richard Donner, Tim Burton, Sam Raimi and Christopher Nolan have used superhero stories to express their personal take on contemporary American cinema and society.

Federico Pagello was awarded his PhD from the University of Bologna in 2009 and is currently a visiting scholar in film studies at King's College, London. His dissertation, focusing on the image of the city in the film adaptations of superhero comics, was published as a book in 2010 (Grattacieli e superuomini: L'immagine della città tra cinema e fumetto, Genoa: Le Mani). He was a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Bologna (2009-2010) and Limoges (2010-2011).

• For more details of venue, please contact: Geoff King, Director, Screen Media Research Centre, School of Arts, Brunel University, geoff.kingATbrunel.ac.uk

American Illustration, Comics, and Animation Conference announced

What is the future of illustration studies? What can comics scholars learn from animation studies and vice versa? Do illustrated books or graphic novels resist the supposed obsolescence of the book?

What do pictures want (now)?

These and related questions will be explored at the Illustration, Comics, and Animation Conference at Dartmouth College in the United States, to be held 19th - 21st April 2013.

Scholars interested in the illustrated image in all of its mediated guises are invited to participate in this interdisciplinary conference. Nearly all illustrated or drawn ‘texts’ are eligible for consideration:

• Comics and graphic novels
• Cartoons and animated films
• Picture books
• Illustrated books

And given the uniquely plenary nature of the conference, which brings together scholarship on static and moving illustrations, preference will be given to proposals that seek to bridge visual media.

Possible topics may include:

• Individual titles by prominent practitioners in the field
• Identity, subjectivity, authority, ideology or culture in or more type of illustration media
• The future of particular schools of criticism (psychoanalysis, critical race theory, phenomenology, Marxism, feminism, queer theory, post-colonialism, formalism, aesthetic theories, etc.) and one or more type of illustration media

The location of the conference may also be a source of inspiration for prospective participants. Not only does Dartmouth College lie in close proximity to the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, Vermont, but it is also the historic home of Theodor Geisel, Dr. Seuss, whose illustrated books continue to awe and amuse.

Interested participants may propose individual papers or panels. Individual papers should be no longer than 20 minutes. Panels shall be 90 minutes long and should be comprised of three presenters and one (ideally separate) panel chair.

• Interested parties should send 300 word abstracts and a brief bio for each proposed paper no later than 1st December 2012 to  Michael A. Chaney (michael.chaneyATdartmouth.edu)

Leeds to host Comics and Philosophy Talk

Later this month Comics Forum and the organisers of the Thought Bubble convention will be running an evening event in Leeds to discuss the philosophical questions posed by comics.

The speakers at ‘Comics and Philosophy: From Maus to She-Hulk’ wil be Aaron Meskin and Roy Cook, editors of The Art of Comics: A Philosophical Approach and the event will take place from 5-6.00pm on the 29th March at the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds.

Entry is free but registration is required.

Aaron Meskin is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Leeds and the author of numerous journal articles and book chapters on aesthetics and other philosophical subjects. He was the first aesthetics editor for the online journal Philosophy Compass, and he co-edited Aesthetics: A Comprehensive Anthology, published in 2007. He's a former Trustee of the American Society for Aesthetics and Treasurer of the British Society of Aesthetics.

Roy T Cook is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota, a Resident Fellow of the Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science, and an Associate Fellow of the Northern Institute of Philosophy (Aberdeen). He works in the philosophy of logic, the philosophy of mathematics, and the aesthetics of popular art. He blogs about comics at: www.pencilpanelpage.wordpress.com.

• To register for ‘Comics and Philosophy: From Maus to She-Hulk’ send your name and the number of seats you would like to comicsforumAThotmail.co.uk.

• More info: http://comicsforum.org

Call for Papers for third 'Transitions' comic conference in November

Transitions is a one-day symposium promoting new research and multi-disciplinary academic study of comics, comix, manga, bande dessinée and other forms of sequential art, now in its third year, with the next event taking place as part of Comica 2012 on Saturday 3rd November 2012 at the School of Arts, Birkbeck, University of London, London WC1E 7HX.

Comics studies occupy a unique multi-disciplinary middle-space, one that encourages cross-disciplinary pollination and a convergence of distinct knowledges: literary and cultural studies, visual arts and media, modern languages, sociology, geography and more.

Transitions is intended as a platform where different perspectives and methodologies; cultural, historical, or formal, can be brought together and shared, an event devoted to promoting new research into comics in all their forms. Rather than restricting itself to a specific theme, the symposium will highlight research from postgraduate students and early career lecturers.

By thinking about comics across different disciplines, the intention is to stimulate and provoke debate and to address a wide spectrum of questions, to map new trends and provide a space for dialogue and further collaboration to emerge.

The first Transitions symposium was the successful opening event of Comica 2010 and in November 2011 Birkbeck hosted Transitions 2, testifying to a thriving UK comics scholarship emerging from a diverse range of disciplinary settings.

Transitions 3 is part of Comica 2012: the London International Comics Festival, and is organised in association with Birkbeck, University of London, the School of Film and Television Studies and the School of American Studies at the University of East Anglia, Studies in Comics, European Comic Art, the Contemporary Fiction Seminar and The Comics Grid.

Dr. Roger Sabin, Reader in Popular Culture at Central St. Martins, will once again act as respondent.

Organisers welcome abstracts for twenty minute papers of 250 - 300 words. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

International iterations: manga, bande dessinée , fumetti etc. – children’s comics – superheroes – non-fiction comics – the (im)materiality of comics – formalist approaches – cultural histories –adaptation/ remediation – autographics – early comics – comic strips – small press –alternative comics/ underground commix – comics narratologies – political comics – comics and cultural theory – contexts of production and circulation - audiences – comics and the archive – subjectivity in comics – graphic medicine – fan subcultures – comics as historiography – key creators...

- Abstracts should be submitted by 30th July 2012 to Hallvard, Nina and Ed at transitions.symposium@gmail.com

British Comedy Conference seeks papers on comedy and comics

The organisers of the Sixth International Comedy Conference, which will take place later at the University of Salford have issued a Call for Papers.

The theme for this year's two-day conference is 'Drawing The Line' and the academic event aims to push the boundaries and take on board topics that deal with comedy and humour from a variety of sources including those focused on stage and screen - and beyond.

"Comics can have two meanings - comedians and graphic images," explains Mel Gibson. "Both make us laugh though in different ways; both sets of 'comics' can employ a variety of techniques to make us laugh.

"Some comics have become films - Asterix, Popeye, Fritz The Cat - and some comics have been filmed and made into comics - for example, Laurel and Hardy, Frank Randle and Beryl Reid, who all had regular strips in Film Fun."

'Drawing The Line' calls forth for papers on all topics concerned with comedy and humour, be it film, TV, cartoon or literature. Topics for papers might include:

• Silent Comedy and slapstick - links to newspaper cartoons
• Dennis The Menace
• Robert Crumb /American Splendor - Biopics of cartoonists
• The changing face of satire - Lampoon to cartoon to caricature -
Spitting Image.

The organisers invite abstracts of no more than 200 words which you should email with a brief biog to - David James (d.jamesATmmu.ac.uk) and Dr CP Lee (c.leeATsalford.ac.uk). The submission date has been extended to 14th February 2012

• Drawing The Line - Comics, Comedy and Comics runs at the University of Salford Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University 31st May and 1st June 2012

British Comics Rock! Conference announced for June 2012

After a successful two years at Manchester Metropolitan University, the next International Comics Conference is heading to the seaside next year and the call for papers has just been announced

The Third International Comics Conference: 'Comics Rock!' will take place at Bournemouth University on 28-29th June 2012. Organised by Studies in Comics and the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, the team are now inviting proposals for papers, posters and workshops on:

• Comics and Education (Thursday 28th June 2012) 
Including the first UK screening of Todd Kent's film Comic Book Literacy (which was Best Documentary Winner at Phoenix Comicon 2010) and additional speakers tbc.

There is an increased interest in using and teaching the comics medium in schools, colleges and universities.  There is also an increasing use of comics in support of other areas of the school curriculum.  However, there are also many challenges for teachers regarding how to use and teach comics in the context of schools and they often have to contend with continuing perceptions of the medium as problematic.  Reading for pleasure is a key aspect of the increased use of the medium in school settings and libraries are often instrumental in initiating reading groups.

Papers are invited that discuss any aspect of comics in education, including but not limited to the following:

• teaching comics at various levels and within different disciplines, e.g. issues, theories, effects, current debates
• using comics to support specific elements of the curriculum (e.g. Raymond Briggs' Ethel and Ernest in relation to English history)
• comics, graphic novels and manga used laterally e.g. manga as a way of learning about elements of Japanese culture, or superheroes in PSHE; or using titles in a range of languages to encourage reading for pleasure; or Bryan Talbot's Alice in Sunderland as local history
•  using comics to support literacy development (history, practice and controversies)
• comics in school libraries and classroom collections e.g. wider reading, reading for pleasure
• school and library manga and graphic novel reading groups
• children and young peoples' awards for graphic novels and manga run through schools and libraries e.g. the Stan Lee Excelsior award
• creating comics, e.g. as assessment (formative or summative), or elsewhere in the curriculum (from short strips to publications like Fool's Gold, a school project from Dearne High Specialist Humanities College in Rotherham that produced a book available for purchase - see review here)
• the use of comics-related software in the classroom e.g. Comic Life
• Studying comics as comics, e.g. approaches to graphic novels and manga, illustration, writing, the practice/theory crossover, history, notions of canon and so forth
• educational and online resources, e.g. availability, usefulness, other associated issues (The Maryland Comic Book Initiative, S.A.N.E., Comics in the Classroom)
• associations and forums, e.g. their structure, purpose, strategies (America's National Association of Comic Art Educators, The Comix Scholars List, The UK Comics Scholars List)

Comics and Multi-Modal Adaptation (Friday 29th June 2012) 
Keynote industry speakers tbc.

Adaptations seem to saturate the mass media and this conference will examine recent debates focusing on comics.  The most prevalent comics adaptations are those of the superhero; whose emphasis on spectacle and special effects seem especially attractive to film and television companies.
However, in her Theory of Adaptation, Linda Hutcheon proposes we think beyond the originality of an adaptation and instead regard adaptation as a central issue within storytelling.  The adaptation can then be located within the contexts of its production, reception, and the constraints and possibilities of media forms.
This conference aims to take the debate beyond superhero movies by focusing on other genres and media and examining some of the more unusual aspects of adaptation.

Suggested topics include:

• comics and film, e.g. autobiography (American Splendor, Persepolis), drama (A History of Violence), history, documentary, biography
• adaptations of comics from and to other media, e.g. comic to video game
• historic adaptations, e.g. the output of Gold Key and Dell
• fairytale adaptations, e.g. Fables, The Unwritten
• new ways of promoting or pitching a story, e.g. the use of comics as a way into film and television (30 Days of Night)
• audience experiences of the adapted text, e.g. the effects of primacy and familiarity, experiencing the adaptation before or after the source text
• adaptation as a creative act
• responses to an adaptation, e.g. fans, creators (Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman's criticisms of Hollywood adaptations), writers, artists
• tropes and devices incorporated into comics, e.g. Choose your own Adventure, pop-ups
• use of a comics aesthetic in other media
•  comparative studies, e.g. in contrasting representations of icons (Walk the Line versus Johnny Cash: I See a Darkness)

Please contact comicsconference@gmail.com with expressions of interest (initial deadline for paper proposals is 31 December 2011). Visit the conference website at www.comics.bujournalism.info for details of deadlines, updates, early bird ticket prices, keynote speakers, journal subscription offers, and much much more...

Comics and Conflicts Conference schedule published

Conference Poster designed by Pete Stanbury

The full schedule for the Comics and Conflicts Conference, which will be held on 19-20th August, 2011 at the Imperial War Museum in London aimed at comics scholars, practitioners, and enthusiasts has now been published.

As we previously reported, the conference speakers and guests include Charley's War co-creator Pat Mills; Martin Barker and Roger Sabin on Doonesbury; Garth Ennis (Troubled Souls, War Stories) and Francesca Cassavetti (Fabtoons).

The Conference has been organised by Alex Fitch (presenter of Panel Borders, the UK’s only weekly broadcast radio show about comics), Ariel Kahn (Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Roehampton University) and ComICA director Paul Gravett.

The Comics and Conflicts events form part of a Children’s literature festival being held from 13-21st August 2011, which accompanies the Imperial War Museum’s new exhibition Once Upon A Wartime: Classic War Stories for Children.

For more information about the exhibition and the festival visit the Imperial War Museum web site.


Here’s a run down of the two days of events:

Friday 19th August:
9.00am – War Comics Conference opens; coffee and registration
10.00am –Introductory talk by Martin Barker and Roger Sabin about the depiction of war in the Gary Trudeau’s comic strip, Doonesbury
11.00am – Choice of parallel sessions: Representing Trauma (Chair, Ariel Kahn) / Ethnicity, Nationalism and Representation (Chair, Paul Gravett)
12.20pm – Lunch
1.20pm – Panel on The Image and Reality of War: (Chair, Garth Ennis) featuring ILEX book editor Tim Pilcher, Darin Jensen, Isabelle Delorme
2.40pm – choice of parallel sessions: Form and Content: (Chair, Roger Sabin) / Conflict and Ideology: (Chair, Alex Fitch)
4.00pm – Coffee break
4.20pm – In conversation with Pat Mills, from Charley’s War to Ayatollah’s Son followed by signing
6.00pm – Close
Please note: ticket cost for the entire day is £30.00 / Students £15.00 including Pat Mills talk or £6 for Mills talk only.

Saturday 20th August

10.30am – Celebrated Canadian artist David Collier talks about his work, followed by comic making master class at noon (separate ticket).  David was inspired to become a cartoonist by Robert Crumb, who published his first comic. He is the author and illustrator of Chimo, which depicts his decision to re-enlist in the Canadian army and go through basic training again at age 40. David has been creating since his first tenure in the army, when he drew strips and discovered his talent for the biathlon in which he has competed nationally. There will be a signing after this event.


11.30am Artists and publishers discuss Trauma and Conflict (Chair, Paul Gravett) with Danish artist Mikkel Sommer, writer and illustrator of Obsolete, and Adrian Searle, the publisher of Dougie’s War, plus artist Dave Turbitt.

2.00pm Artists and publishers discuss The Personal and the Political (Chair, Alex Fitch) with Francesca Cassavetti and her mother, Eileen Cassavetti talking about the latter’s wartime diary which Francesca has published as a comic; joined by Sean Duffield, publisher of War – the Human Cost plus contributing artists Dan Locke and Ben Naylor. There will be a signing after this event.

3.00pm In Conversation with Garth Ennis – from Troubled Souls to Battlefields; a rare UK appearance by the writer, followed by signing

4.30pm Film Screening: Comics go to War, directed by Mark Daniels. This fascinating documentary directed by Mark Daniels looks at the work of artist who are either born into conflict, or engage with it as journalists. Artists whose work is discussed include Joe Sacco, author of two books about the Middle East (Palestine, Footsteps In Gaza) and several from the former Yugoslavia. Greg Cook documented his experiences in Iraq. Keiji Nakazawa was a young boy when an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, an experience he depicts in his celebrated manga Hadashi no Gen (Barefoot Gen). Zeina Abirached’s comic Le Jeu des Hirondelles describes her childhood during the civil war in Lebanon. In her award-winning Persepolis Marjane Satrapi gives compelling insights into life in Iran before, during and after the Islamic Revolution.

All Saturday events are £6 / the film screening is free.

• The Conference takes place at the Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, London SE1 6HZ. Nearest tube: Lambeth North (Bakerloo) / Elephant and Castle (Northern line, City Branch) / Southwark (Jubilee).  Book tickets at http://wartime.iwm.org.uk

Major comics conference in Manchester in July

Manchester's Metropolitan University will host a conference on graphic novels and comics early next month, featuring American artist Melinda Gebbie, Hunt Emerson, French artist Edmond Baudoin and Professor Pierre Fresnault-Deruelle from the Sorbonne University, Paris.

A conference involving three comics journals, the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, Journal of European Comic Art and Studies in Comics speakers come from round the world also include established experts such as Bart Beaty, Martin Barker and Ann Miller.

The main themes of this conference, which the organisers hope will prove a major landmark in the international study of comics, are space and time in comics and audiences and readership. "We also have panels on much else," they told downthetubes, "including comics and gender, architecture and Francophone Africa."

• More information can be found here: www2.hlss.mmu.ac.uk/conferences/graphic-novels-bandes-dessinees-comics

• Conference of Graphic Novels and Comics, 5-8 July 2011 at the Manchester Metropolitan University. If you want to attend or contact the organisers email d.huxleyATmmu.ac.uk, j.ormrodATmmu.ac.uk, m.screechATmmu.ac.uk, jroundATbournemouth.ac.uk, or c.murrayATdundee.ac.uk

Investigating the dark comedy of comics - a call for papers

A call has gone out for papers investigating the dark humour of comics, which will be presented at a one day event, the Bath Spa University Postgraduate Symposium in May at Corsham Court, Wiltshire, whose guests will include both academics and writers.

The Laughter and Transgression: An Investigation of Dark Comedy event will take on Friday 13th May 2011 at Corsham Court, Corsham, Wiltshire and is supported by the School of Humanities and Cultural Industries, Research Centre for Contemporary Writing and The Graduate School at Bath Spa University.

Comic writing and performance often allows for transgression, amorality, surprise, and the creation of alternative worlds. The act of creating dark comedy invokes a desire to shock, enabling disengagement, and thus freedom, from temporal and moral concerns. What are the evolving elements of dark comedy, and what are some of the issues that arise from its expression?

The day will feature presentations by keynote speakers including a well known writer to be announced and Professor Nicholas Royle, Professor of English, University of Sussex - whose books include Telepathy and Literature, After Derrida, The Uncanny and the novel Quilt.

The programme will be finalised by 15 April 2011.

The organisers are inviting abstracts for provocative papers, presentations, and installations for an upcoming one-day symposium on dark comedy, saying the symposium will be informal and cross-disciplinary.

Submissions will be considered from all disciplines within arts and humanities - including creative writing, screenwriting, drama, visual art, and film - as well as the social sciences. Installations can be of any nature; presentations should be 20 minutes in length.

Thematic areas might include modes of expression of dark comedy; the limits of dark comedy and the boundaries between discomfort and laughter; the ethics of laughter, Taboos and censorships; an transgressive narrative voice.

• Please send abstracts of maximum 200 words, and a brief CV, to: Rob.Smith10@live.bathspa.ac.uk. Please use this same e-mail address if you would like to attend but not present a paper.

• Abstracts must be submitted no later than Friday 11 March 2011.

(Thanks to Norman Boyd for this item)

Comics & Conflicts Conference at the Imperial War Museum: Call for Papers

London's Imperial War Museum is organising a Comics & Conflicts Conference (curated by Panel Borders Alex Fitch) in August, aimed at comics scholars, practitioners, and enthusiasts.

Taking place on 19th-20th August, conference speakers and guests will include Charley’s War creator Pat Mills, Martin Barker and Roger Sabin on Doonesbury; Garth Ennis (Troubled Souls, War Story); Jacques Tardi (It Was The War Of The Trenches) and Jean-Pierre Verney (Putain de Guerre). Paul Gravett will chair.

Further details of this very special event (including details on the keynote speakers, special guests and registration) will be announced on the Comica News Blog.

Papers for the conference are welcomed that explore the ways in which comics around the world represent and articulate the experience and impact of war and conflict. For example, topics may include:

• Depictions of conflict in comics created for children.
• Representations of trauma in comic books, graphic novels, manga and other forms of international comics.
• Visual representations of conflict in such places as Afghanistan, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, The Middle East, Northern Ireland, and Vietnam.
• Journalism, biography, and memoir in comics on conflict.
• Focus on key practitioners such as Guibert, Kubert, Mills, Sacco, Satrapi, Spiegelman, Tardi & Trudeau.
• Comics as a space to depict/critique national ideology.
• Comics as tools of propaganda, both of the state and of protest organisations.

In the first instance please email abstracts of 250 words, with a brief author biography, to a.kahn@roehampton.ac.uk, including ‘Comics & Conflicts 2011’ in the subject heading. The deadline for submissions is 31st March, 2011.

The Comics & Conflicts Conference is organised by Ariel Kahn, Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Roehampton University, Alex Fitch, presenter of Panel Borders, the UK’s only weekly broadcast radio show about comics, and Paul Gravett, Director of Comica.

The Comics & Conflicts Conference will form part of a larger literary festival being held from 13-21 August 2011, which accompanies the Imperial War Museum’s new exhibition Once Upon A Wartime: Classic War Stories for Children.

• For more information about the exhibition and the festival visit the Imperial War Museum web site.

Academic Comics Forum registration opens

Registration for Comics Forum, a two-day academic event taking place as part of this year’s Thought Bubble Sequential Art Festival in Leeds, is now open.

The Forum includes the Women in Comics II conference on 18th November and Theory and Practice: A Conference on Comics on the 19th.

Taking place at Leeds Art Gallery, Women in Comics II celebrates the contributions of women in comics, noting the increasing number of female artists, writers, scholars and publishers of comics, with guests that include Suzy Varty, who published the very first all-woman comic book in 1977 in the UK, Heroine in the UK, Maureen Burdock and Karen Hansen.

Theory and Practice - A Conference on Comics will investigate the strong ties between production and scholarship of comics, discussing why, for example, creators still work on comics even when they are unprofitable and the work of Grant Morrison.

• For more details see visit: www.thoughtbubblefestival.com/ACADEMIC.asp. To register, please email Ian Hague at: I.HagueATchi.ac.uk and let him know how many tickets you would like. 

• Tickets cost £15; this covers entry on both days and includes lunch. Payment will be taken in cash on the day. You are advised to register as seating in the venue is limited and the organisers cannot guarantee entry to unregistered attendees.

Comica Symposium 2010 considers New Directions in Comics Studies

A quick reminder that Comica is to host a one-day event promoting the multi-disciplinary academic study of comics, comix, manga and bande dessinée and other forms of sequential art next month.

Transitions, which will take place on Friday 5th November at the Clore Management Centre in London, is a one-day symposium devoted exclusively to promoting multi-disciplinary research of comics and graphic novels, manga, bande dessinée, webcomics and other forms of sequential art.

Rather than be restricted by a specific theme, the aim of the symposium is to highlight research from postgraduate research students and early career lecturers bringing together different perspectives and methodologies, whether cultural, historical, or formal, thereby mapping new trends and providing a space for dialogue and further collaboration to emerge.

The speakers will be: Maggie Gray (UCL); Chris Howard (SOAS); Sarah Lightman (Glasgow); Ben Little (Middlesex); Catriona MacLeod (Glasgow); Ernesto Priego (UCL); Nicola Streeten (Lincoln); Maria Vaccarella (KCL); Sarah Zaidan (Kingston). Chairs: Dr. Will Brooker (Kingston); Paul Gravett (director of Comica); Dr. Ariel Kahn (Roehampton). Respondent: Dr. Roger Sabin (Central Saint Martins).

Dr. Roger Sabin, Reader in Popular Culture at Central Saint Martins and author of Adult Comics and Comics, Comix and Graphic Novels, will introduce the event and respond to the panel papers. By thinking about comics across different disciplines, the intention is to spark debate and address a wide spectrum of questions. Following the papers and response, there will be a roundtable discussion from artists/scholars who will reflect on the links between the two practices. Work will be on display in the foyer throughout the event. The day will conclude with a wine reception.

Transitions is organised as the opening event of Comica 2010, the London International Comics Festival in association with Birkbeck, University of London, Studies in Comics, Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics and European Comic Art.

When: Friday November 5th 2010, 9.30 am to 5.00 pm
Where:  Room B01, Clore Management Centre, 25-27 Torrington Square, London WC1E 7JL
Cost: Attendance is free
Contact: Tony Venezia and Paul Gravett to register (a.veneziaATenglish.bbk.ac.uk and paulATpaulgravett.com).

• More info: www.bbk.ac.uk/arts/news/comica-symposium-2010
• Download the poster for more information (PDF)

Manchester Uni to put bande dessinees under microscope for 2011 event

(updated 1 Augsut 2010): Manchester Metropolitan University will play host to an academic conference on bande dessines next year - and the call is out for papers.

The International Bande Dessinee Society and the peer-reviewed Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics and Intellect's Journal of Comics Studies are hosting a joint conference focusing mainly on two areas of research - Space and Time, and audiences and readership.

The organisers say they also welcome submissions from other areas of research such as manga, African, Latin American, Asian, Eastern European comics; and the connections between comics and other media.

Abstracts of approximately 250 words should be submitted in English (French is acceptable for articles submitted to the International Bande Dessinee Society) and sent to Matthew Screech (m.screechATmmu.ac.uk), a Senior Lecturer in French at the University, David Huxley (d.huxleyATmmu.ac.uk), comics writer and artist, Senior Lecturer in Film and Media Studies and joint editor of Routledge's Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics; and Joan Ormrod (j.ormrodATmmu.ac.uk), also a Senior Lecturer in Film and Media Studies, by 1st December 2010.

Papers will be considered for publication in Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics and Liverpool University Press's European Comic Art.

• The Joint International Conference of Graphic Novels, Bandes Dessinees and Comics will be held at Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester. Graphic Novels and Comics will take place 5-6th July and the International Sande Dessinee Society event on 7th - 8th July 2011.

• You can read the first issue of Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics free online here

Celebrate the life of cartoonist Harvey Pekar

Harvey Pekar, who died earlier this month.
Photo: DavidKPhoto, via Wikimedia

Next month will see an event celebrating the life of American cartoonist Harvey Pekar, who died earlier on 12th July.

A joint Birkbeck Contemporary Fiction Seminar and International London Comics Grid Bootleg  event, it will feature a short discussion of Pekar's life and work followed by a screening of the film American Splendor.

Comics writer and jazz fan Harvey Pekar first published his autobiographical comic American Splendor in 1976 in collaboration with Robert Crumb.  Subsequently working with a variety of artists, Pekar mined the drama and comedy of everyday life. His dedication to a poetics of commonplace realism was tempered with neurotic introspection, jazzy rhythms, and the immediacy of stand-up comedy.  (A good introduction, general overview, and prelude to the evening can be found at the online obituary by UCL's Ernesto Priego, who will speak at the event).

Fans, artists/ and cholars will talk briefly about their favourite Pekar pages/moments/stories.  Joining Ernesto will be the artists and scholars Sarah Lightman and Sina Shamsavari.  Master of Ceremonies is Paul Gravett (journalist/broadcaster, curator of Comica at the ICA).

Following the screening attendees will reconvene for a celebratory wake at the Institute of Education bar.

• "Ordinary life is pretty complex stuff" - In celebration of Harvey Pekar (1939-2010)  at Birkbeck College on Malet Street, London in  Room 152, 1st floor main building, Torrington Square on Tuesday August 3rd 2010, 6-8.00 pm

• For more information contact Tony Venezia (a.veneziaATenglish.bbk.ac.uk) or Ernesto Priego (ernestopriegorATyahoo.com).   Or just turn up...

• For more on Harvey Pekar's life, see these links to obituaries and remembrances, from Cleveland’s The Plain Dealer, the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times (with others here and here), New York Daily News, The Washington Post, The Washington Post’s comics blog, Mediaite, Comics Reporter, Comics Beat, The Comics Journal and The Guardian

• The upbeat final days and busy future life of Harvey Pekar


An illustrated essay that Pekar and Cleveland cartoonist TaraSeibel wrote together and Seibel drew will appear in the catalogue for the exhibition "Graphic Details: Confessional Comics by Jewish Women," which opens 1st October at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco. It may be the last comic that Pekar helped write before he died, but the New York Times reports it is just one of several works that will be released in the months to come.