Americas
United States
Business
Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc., announced their top-selling comics for July 2013. Superman Unchained #2, Batman #22 and Guardians of Galaxy #5 took the top spots. Link (09/08/2013, English, MB & EG)
Diamond Comics also released their best-selling graphic novels for July 2013, with the second volume of Matt Fraction and David Aja’s Hawkeye, alongside Avatar Last Airbender, and Saga in the top spots. Link (09/08/2013, English, MB & EG)
Culture
The Comic Arts Brooklyn Festival (taking place on the 9th November) has confirmed the first of its curated panels, which will feature Paul Auster, Paul Karasik, David Mazzucchelli, and Art Spiegelman speaking about the adaptation of Auster’s City of Glass graphic novel to commemorate its 20th anniversary. Link (29/08/2013, English, EG)
The Columbus College of Art & Design will be hosting their second annual Celebration of Comics between the 27th and 28th September. Bone creator Jeff Smith will be the keynote speaker, and his work from RASL will be on exhibition. Link (English, MB)
Education
The University of Colorado is offering a free seven-week online course entitled “Comic Books and Graphic Novels” starting on the 23rd September. Professor William Kuskin will lead the session that will explore the comic book as literary art. A draft course syllabus has been published. Link (English, MB)
Karen Green was interviewed about her course Comic Books and Graphic Novels as Literature. Link (English, WG)
Obituary
Rick O’Shay creator Stan Lynde passed away on the 6th August, in Helena, Montana, aged 81. Emerging in 1958, the western comic strip gained Lynde a following over the next 20 years of 15 million daily readers. Link 1 (07/08/2013, English, MB), Link 2 (14/08/2013, English, WG)
Research
The Midwest Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association (MPCA/ACA) has announce the launch of a new journal: The Popular Culture Studies Journal. The journal accepts submissions on comics, cartoons, and graphic novels, amongst other things. Link (English, WG)
Narrative Structure in Comics: Making Sense of Fragments by Barbara Postema has been published through RIT Press. Link 1 (25/07/2013, English, WG), Link 2 (English, WG)
The Daniel Clowes Reader: A Critical Edition of Ghost World and Other Stories, With Essays, Interviews, and Annotations has been published through Fantagraphics. Amongst other things, the collection includes a number of essays about Clowes’ work by scholars and critics. Link (English, WG)
Shot in the Face: A Savage Journey to the Heart of Transmetropolitan is an anthology that explores Warren Ellis’ Transmetropolitan series. The collection is edited by Chad Nevett and has been published through SEQUART. Link (English, WG)
The University of Toledo’s Matt Yockey has released a call for papers for a collection focusing on the shaping of Marvel Comics as a transmedia brand. Link (02/08/2013, English, EG)
The Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association has opened up presentation submissions for their 2014 conference in Chicago. Link (05/08/2013, English, EG)
The 42nd Annual Louisville Conference on Literature & Culture has announced a call for papers, with particular emphasis on panels focusing on the intersection of comics and literature. Link (06/08/2013, English, EG)
Asia
China
Culture
Comix Homebase, a centre for Hong Kong comics and animation, finally opened in July. It is run by the Hong Kong Arts Centre, and the first exhibition which was held in August, focused upon Ma Wing Shing. Link (Chinese, LCT)
Japan
Culture
Yonezawa Yoshihiro Memorial Library (Meiji University) is hosting the SciFi and Images of the Future Exhibition, between the 1st and 29th September. Link (Japanese, JBS)
Eshi 100 Part 2 – Contemporary Japanese Illustration in Kyoto Exhibition will be hosted by the Kyoto International Manga Museum from the 28th September to the 1st December. Link (English, JBS)
On the 14th September, the Yonezawa Yoshihiro Memorial Library will be holding a talk event with Tani Koshu, author of Japan Sinks, Part 2. Link (Japanese, JBS)
Education
Kyoto International Manga Museum is hosting four presentations under the title, “Pikadon – Expressions of the atomic bomb in Japanese animation,” on the 30th September. There will also be a screening of Pikadon. Link (Japanese, JBS)
Law & Politics
The Matsue City (Shimane Prefecture) Board of Education rescinded its decision to limit access to the manga series Barefoot Gen. Link (26/08/2013, English, JBS)
Research
The Gender and Sexuality Research Group of the Japanese Society for Studies in Cartoons and Comics (JSSCC) will hold its 28th research meeting on the 22nd September. Link (Japanese, JBS)
Singapore
Culture
The main Chinese newspaper in Singapore, Lianhe Zaobao, celebrated its 90th anniversary by holding a cartoon exhibition at the National Library of Singapore. It was co-organised with the Singapore Memory Project. Link (English and Chinese, LCT)
Europe
Belgium
Culture
FACTS 2013, the biggest comics, sci-fi, and anime festival in the Benelux, will be held on the 19th and 20th October, at Flanders Expo, Ghent. Link (English, JBS)
Croatia
Culture
Croatian illustrator and writer Igor Kordej has been knighted by the French Ministry of Culture for his contributions to art and literature. Kordej is currently working for the French publisher Goncourt. Link (11/08/2013, English, LO)
Germany
Culture
The third Graphic Novel Day is announced as part of internationales literaturfestival berlin (ilb) to take place at Haus der Berliner Festspiele on the 8th September; guests include Atak and Flix. Link (19/08/2013, German, MdlI)
The festival, Comicgarten Leipzig, will take place on the 6th and 7th September; guests include Naomi Fearn and Haggi. Link (27/08/2013, German, MdlI)
Obituaries
Cartoonist Christian Moser (Monster des Alltags) died at the age of 47. Link (15/08/2013, German, MdlI)
Research
A conference on historically based comics, Sketching the Past – Vermittlung von Gewaltgeschichte im Comic, will take place at Europa-Universität Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder), between the 26th and 28th September. Link (02/08/2013, German, MdlI)
A conference on comic adaptations of literary works, Graphisches Erzählen – Comic-Adaptionen literarischer Texte, will take place at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf between the 5th and 7th March 2014. The call for papers deadline is the 31st October 2013. Link (08/08/2013, German, MdlI)
Portugal
Culture
From the 9th August until the 22nd September the city of Viseu is hosting the XVIII Salão Internacional de Banda Desenhada de Viseu. The main subject is Comics Fanzines in Portugal. Link (Portuguese, RR)
Research
The Second International Conference on Illustration & Animation (CONFIA) has extended their call for papers until the 12th September. Comics and Graphic Novels is one of the recommended topics for paper submissions. Link (21/08/2013, English & Portuguese, RR)
The 3CBDPT (3rd Comics Conference in Portugal) will be held in Universidade de Lisboa on the 18th September. Link (Portuguese, RR)
Serbia
Culture
A comic book conference took place in Kragujevac between the 30th August and the 1st September. Key speakers included the Italian illustrators Paolo Bisi and Alessandro Bignamini. Link (28/08/2013, Serbian, LO)
UK
Culture
The Comics Grid‘s blog currently houses a series of reports from Damon Herd, and Hattie Kennedy, on talks by Rutu Modan, Leanne Shapton, Joe Sacco, and Chris Ware, at the Edinburgh Book Festival. Link (English, WG)
The Stripped Book Fest website has a host of videos and reviews from the event. Link (English, WG)
Education
The Guardian have announced the master class How To Write A Graphic Novel. The class takes place on the 7th September, and is run by Paul Gravett, and Pat Mills, amongst others. Link (English, WG)
Research
The symposium, Japanese Body Cultures and The Human Condition (which is inclusive of manga), will take place at Birkbeck College on the 9th September. Link (English, WG)
The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) have posted a film that details the research currently being undertook by Professor Jane Chapman (et al.) at the University of Lincoln. The project looks to examine the depiction of World War I in comics from 1914-1918. Link (English, WG)
Abstracts are now being accepted for the symposium, The Adventures of Tintin, at University College London on the 10th January 2014. 400 word abstracts are due by the 31st October. Link (12/08/2013, English, WG)
The deadline has been extended for submissions for the collection, Neo-Victorian Villains: Neo-Victorian Fiction, Adaptation and Performance, which will examine the depiction of Victorian villains in comics (amongst other things). 250 word abstracts are due by the 15th September. The old call for papers (without the updated submission date) can be accessed through the link. Link (18/08/2013, English, WG)
The International Bande Dessinée Society website currently houses photographs and reportage from the Joint International Graphic Novel and IBDS Conference which took place in Glasgow and Dundee between the 24th and 28th June. Conference reports are courtesy of Alex Valente, Stephen O’Donnell, and William Grady. Link (English, WG)
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News Editor: Will Grady (comicsforumnews@hotmail.co.uk)
Correspondents: Jessica Bauwens-Sugimoto (JBS, Japan), Michele Brittany (MB, North America), Eric Ganeau (EG, North America), William Grady (WG, UK), Martin de la Iglesia (MdlI, Germany), Luka Ostojic (LO, Croatia), Renatta Rafaela (RR, Portugal), Lim Cheng Tju (LCT, Singapore).
Click here for News Review correspondent biographies.
Suggestions for articles to be included in the News Review can be sent to Will Grady at the email address above.
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