Americas

United States

Culture

Nominations for the 2015 Eisner Awards have been announced, inclusive of the category for Best Scholarly/Academic Work. Link (English, WG)

Education

The University of Chicago has acquired papers of cartoonist, Daniel Clowes. Link (30/04/2015, English, WG)

Job 

The International Comic Arts Forum (ICAF), announces an open call for the position of Treasurer. Applications are being accepted until the 31st May. Link (English, WG)

Research

The Comic Book Film Adaptation: Exploring Modern Hollywood’s Leading Genre, by Liam Burke, has now been published through the University Press of Mississippi. Link (English, WG)

Asia

Japan

Culture

From the 10th May until the 28th June, Fudenosato Kobo, located in Hiroshima prefecture, is holding the “Matsumoto Leiji x Maki Miyako; Couple Collaboration Exhibition.” It includes works by manga artists and married couple Matsumoto, whose representative works include “Galaxy Express 999”, and Maki, a shojo manga artist who debuted in the 1950s and who also worked on the design for the earliest version of fashion doll Licca chan. There will be events throughout the month of May with both artists. Link (Japanese, JBS)

Law & Politics

A manga created by premier Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party, with its aim to promote the amendment of the constitution, is under fire for containing “a lot of nonsense”. Link (03/05/2015, Japanese, JBS)

Research

The 15th Annual Convention of the Japan Society for Studies in Cartoon and Comics (JSSCC, Manga Gakkai), will be held at the Aster Plaza in Hiroshima City, on the 27th and 28th June. The first day is dedicated to scholarly presentations, and the second to a symposium with specialist guests. This year the symposium’s theme is “The many facets of Barefoot Gen”. Details on the rest of the program will be posted on the website soon. Link (Japanese, JBS)

Europe

Belgium

Culture

Hergé’s The Castafiore Emerald has been adapted as an opera by a Belgian company, to be performed in September 2015. Link (07/04/2015, French, LTa)

France

Business

Toulon publisher Soleil Productions, founded in 1989 by Mourad Boudjellal and now owned by Delcourt, is downsizing significantly, it has been announced. The majority of its activity will ‘disappear’ according to Actualitté. Link (15/04/2015, French, LTa)

Culture

A new Ric Hochet album is to be published at the end of May, five years after the death of orginal illustrator Tibet. Link (23/04/2015, French, LTa)

Germany

Culture

An exhibition of the comic, Weisse Wölfe, opened in Dortmund on the 15th April. Link (06/04/2015, German, MdlI)

Edition Alfons has announced a new book series on comics; the first volume by Detlef Lorenz will be about Robinson Crusoe and is going to be published this summer. Link (23/04/2015, German, MdlI)

Several comic-related events take place as part of 22. Internationales Trickfilm-Festival Stuttgart (ITFS) in May. Link (28/04/2015, German, MdlI)

The festival, Graphic Novel Tage, is going to take place in Hamburg from the 18th until the 22nd May; guests include Lewis Trondheim and Flix. Link (30/04/2015, German, MdlI)

Research

A conference on visual satire and caricature is going to take place in Obernkirchen from the 15th until the 17th September. Link (09/04/2015, German, MdlI)

A series of workshops on comics takes place in Cologne on the 24th April, 22nd May, and 26th June. Link (20/04/2015, German, MdlI)

A lecture series on “literature and illustration” in Hanover features two talks on comics, by Nathalie Mälzer on the 24th June and by Christina Meyer on the 15th July. Link (23/04/2015, German, MdlI)

Hungary

Culture

The 11th International Comics Festival Budapest is held on the 10th May at Dürer Kert, Budapest. International guest artists and writers include Lucie Lomová (Czech Republic), Ptiluc (France), Typex (Netherlands) and Pierre Wazem (Switzerland).  Link (01/05/2015, English, ES)

Portugal

Culture

On the 15th May the authors Anton Kannemeyer (South Africa), Posy Simmonds (England) and Marcelo D’Salete (Brasil) will discuss the different procedures of comics production and the dialogues that these procedures establish with global culture. This round table discussion, moderated by Pedro Moura, is attached to a cycle of conferences named Próximo Futuro (Next Future), and will take place in Lisbon, in Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian. Link (03/04/2015, Portuguese & English, RR)

From the 29th May until the 14th June, the Casa da Cultura of Beja will host the annual International Festival of Comics (XI Festival Internacional de Banda Desenhada de Beja). This festival is usually composed by some exhibitions, book/magazine launches, author events, workshops, concerts, and much more. Link (18/04/2015, Portuguese, RR)

Spain

Business

José A. Serrano has published a list with the top-selling comics in some of the main bookstores in Spain in 2014. Link (Spanish, EdRC)

Culture

The 33rd edition of the Barcelona International Comic Fair was celebrated from the 16th to the 19th April. Its Gran Premio (Great Prize) was given to scriptwriter and translator, Enrique Sánchez Abulí, celebrated for his classic series Torpedo 1936. Las meninas won in the category of best Spanish comic, and Saga was awarded best foreign work. Link (17/04/2015, Spanish, EdRC)

The travel section of El País has an article with the list of the best 10 comics bookstores in Madrid. Link (01/04/2015, Spanish, EdRC)

An exhibiton with originals of the work of painter and comic artist Miquel Fuster can be seen at the University of Barcelona from the 29th April to the 15th May. Link (29/04/2015, Spanish/Catalan, EdRC)

Research

The 13th edition of Unicomic, a three-day seminar of comics studies, will take place at the University of Alicante. Link (Spanish, EdRC)

Switzerland

Culture

The comic magazine, Comixene, which was cancelled in 2012, is going to be relaunched in August. Link (27/04/2015, German, MdlI)

UK

Research

There is a call for papers for the 1st Global Conference on Superheroes, which will take place between the 7th and 9th September at Mansfield College, Oxford. Link (17/04/2015, English, WG)

The British Consortium of Comics Scholars Day and Comics Tea Party will take place on the 30th May at the  University of Sussex. Link (08/04/2015, English, WG)

*                    *                    *

 News Editor: Will Grady (comicsforumnews@hotmail.co.uk)

Correspondents: Jessica Bauwens-Sugimoto (JBS, Japan), Enrique del Rey Cabero (EdRC, Spain), William Grady (WG, UK), Martin de la Iglesia (MdlI, Germany & Switzerland), Renatta Rafaella (RR, Portugal), Eszter Szép (ES, Hungary), Lise Tannahill (LTa, Belgium & France).

Click here for News Review correspondent biographies.

Click here to see the News Review archive.

Suggestions for articles to be included in the News Review can be sent to Will Grady at the email address above.