Americas
Canada
Research
The call for papers has been posted online for the New Narrative conference, taking place at the University of Toronto on the 10th May. Deadline for proposals in the 31st March. Link (English/French, WG)
United States
Business
Publishers Weekly reports that Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Book 7, has exceeded the 1 million copies sold mark in print format, like its preceding volume. Link (20/12/2012, English, HMS)
Torsten Adair of The Comics Beat analyses The New York Times’ bestselling graphic books list rankings of manga titles comparatively with non-graphic works in 2012. Link (30/12/2012, English, HMS)
Image publisher Eric Stephenson, having been named Comics Industry Person of the Year by The Comics Beat is interviewed by The Comics Beat on the tremendous success of Image in 2012 and reflects on the year ahead in 2013. Link (11/01/2013, English, HMS)
The Comics Beat announces and previews several new creator-owned comics slated to appear in July of 2013 from Titan Comics in digital platforms. Link (08/01/2013, English, HMS)
Torsten Adair of The Comics Beat analyses The New York Times’ bestselling graphic books list rankings comparatively with non-graphic works in 2012. Link (29/12/2012, English, HMS)
Calvin Reed reports for Publishers Weekly that Viz Media, Manga Publisher and Anime distributor, have launched simultaneous release of Japanese and English manga beginning the 21st January with Weekly Shonen Jump. Link (21/01/2013, English, HMS)
Culture
A live comics projection Carousel event will be held on the 6th February at Dixon Place in New York City, featuring the work of Dean Haspiel, Amy Herzog, Lauren Rosenwald, Jim Torok and others. Link (26/01/2013, English, HMS)
On the 20th March at 7 PM, the Soho Gallery of Digital Art in New York City will host a unique discussion event focused on the life, work, and impact of Frederick Wertham on comics, entitled “Surely You’re Joking, Dr. Wertham”. Panelists will include former DC president Paul Levitz, authors David Hajdu, Craig Yoe, and Sharon Packer, and former Marvel editor and author Danny Fingeroth. Link (English, HMS)
Mike Carbo’s New York Comic Book Marketplace convention has announced a new revised date for the event, the 13th April, at Hotel Pennsylvania in New York City. Link (English, HMS)
Education
Author and comics scholar Glen Downey reports on “Changing Attitudes to Comics in the Classroom” at Sequart Research and Literary Association. Link (10/01/2013, English, HMS)
Columbia University’s Rare Book & Manuscript Collection has announced a significant contribution to its graphic novel related archive in the form of the complete collection of research material assembled by author Larry Tye in the completion of his Superman biography, Superman: The High-Flying History of the World’s Most Enduring Hero. Also announced is the acquisition of six 1940’s Batman scripts from the estate of Jerry Robinson. Link (23/01/2013, English, HMS)
Law & Politics
Maren Williams of The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund reflects on the decision of Beverly James, library director in Greenville County, South Carolina, to support a ban on Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows, Neonomicon, in the face of contrary decisions from her content review committee, letters of protest from CBLDF and others. Link (07/01/2013, English, HMS)
The Comics Beat reports on The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund’s press release announcing that best-selling author of the Babymouse series, Jennifer Holm, will be joining the CBLDF board focusing on youth reading activities and advocacy. Link (10/01/2013, English, HMS)
Obituaries
Controversial publisher, and comic con promoter, Richard L. Olney, passed away on the 28th December 2012, at the age of 58. Olney was the founder of ORCA, Organized Readers of Comics Associated, a reader’s advocacy group. Link 1 (30/12/2012, English, HMS), Link 2 (English, HMS)
Research
The third issue of SANE journal (which publishes on sequential art narrative in education) is
available online now, featuring articles on comics in the classroom and teaching rationales. Link (English, WG)
The poster for the Michigan State University Comics Forum (1st-2nd March) has been published online. Proposal deadline is the 31st January. Link (17/01/2013, English, WG)
A call for papers has been published for the collection The Comics of Joe Sacco: Journalism in a Visual World. The volume is part of the Critical Approaches to Comics Artists, by the University of Mississippi Press. 500-1000 word abstracts are expected by the 25th March. Link (29/01/2013, English, WG)
Technology
Leslie Kaufmann of The New York Times discusses recent Scholastic Inc. figures that suggest digital reading is on the rise among children aged between 6 and 17, but that this has not necessarily translated into a desire to read more widely over time. Link (13/01/2013, English, HMS)
Asia
Japan
Culture
There is an exhibition of graduation works by students from Kyoto Seika University, Faculty of Manga, during the Kyoto Manga Anime Week. It will take place from the 2nd to the 24th February, at the Kyoto International Manga Museum. Link (Japanese, JBS)
Research
Four doctoral students of Kyoto Seika University’s Faculty of Manga’s graduate school will present their research at the Kyoto International Manga Museum, 3F, on the 20th February, between 14:30-17:45. Link (Japanese, JBS)
Five manga and anime researchers will appear on a panel presenting the first stage of the Manga & Anime Research Mapping Project, and discuss the relevance and timeliness of manga and anime research (incl. Comics Studies). The venue is the Roppongi Hills café SPACE, on the morning of the 17th February, 11:00-12:30. Link (30/01/2013, Japanese, JBS)
There is a research presentation in Fujimoto Yukari’s seminar at Meiji University, on the 2nd February, from 10:30-18:20 (with breaks) . Presentations will center on manga, animation, gaming, fandom, and TV. Link (23/01/2013, Japanese, JBS)
Singapore
Culture/Research
A forum was held on the 19th January at the Bishan Public Library to discuss the depictions of Singapore and Japan in the 1970s in Ten Sticks And One Rice and Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s Midnight Fishermen: Gegika of the 1970s. Creators of Ten Sticks And One Rice, Koh Hong Teng and Oh Yong Hwee, and comics critic, Lim Cheng Tju, were the speakers. Both books are published in Singapore. Link (English, LCT)
Europe
Austria
Culture
An exhibition titled Nippon Chinbotsu, on the eponymous manga by Tokihiko Ishihi, opens at MAK, Vienna. Link (15/01/2013, English, MdlI)
Croatia
Culture
A Walter Neugebauer retrospective is being held in Zagreb, at the museum Klovićevi dvori. Walter Neugebauer (1921-1992) was one of the first comic book authors in Croatia, and also one of the most significant authors. The retrospective opened on the 30th January and it is going to be running until the 3rd March. Link (29/01/2013, Croatian, LO)
Stjepan Sejić, the Croatian artist known by his work on Top Cow books such as Witchblade and Artifacts, has been working on his new comic book Ravine for the past 11 years. Ravine was made in collaboration with the American writer Ron Marz and it will have its debut on the 13th February. Link (20/12/2012, English, LO)
Law & Politics
Comic books have been VAT-free in Croatia until this year. However, since the 1st January 2013, a value added tax (VAT) was introduced on all the books (including comic books). There is now a 5% VAT on paper books and a 25% VAT on e-books. Link (01/01/2013, Croatian, LO)
Denmark
Culture
The Danish Comics Museum now has a new home at the Storm P. Museum. Link (16/01/2013, Danish, RPC)
Finland
Culture
There is a Mari Björklund exhibit at the Comics Center Helsinki from the 7th January to the 2nd February. Link (Finnish, RPC)
Heikki Paakanen has been awarded the PuuPää-hat prize. Link (17/01/2013, Finnish, RPC)
France
Business
Delcourt is the first French publisher to join American digital publishing specialist Comixology. Delcourt, the second most important publisher in France, plans to make its whole catalog available on the platform, starting with its translation of Image’s The Walking Dead. Other publishers may follow the example, as Comixology is looking to expand its presence in Europe. Link (01/02/2013, French, NL)
Eight of the most important comics publishers in French (Bamboo, Casterman, Dargaud, Dupuis, Fluide Glacial, Grand Angle, Jungle, Le Lombard) have announced the creation of the “48 heures de la BD”, a promotional event modeled on the American “Free Comic Book Day”, which is to take place on the 5th and 6th April. Eight different albums will be given away – 10.000 books in total will be made available – with a focus on first volumes of ongoing series. Link (22/01/2013, French, NL)
Louis Delas, the former CEO of Tintin’s publisher, Casterman, is set to create as strong comics department at his new company, L’Ecole des loisirs. L’Ecole des loisirs specializes in children books and magazines, but is looking to expand its activities and could become a significant new publisher in the field: books by Lewis Trondheim, David Chauvel, Fred Simon, David de Thuin, Bruno Heitz and Richard Marazano, some of them reprints from other publisher, are already announced. Link (26/01/2013, French, NL)
After stopping their sponsorship of the Angoulême Festival, FNAC have created a new bande dessinée prize. Link (23/01/2013, French, LTa)
Benoit Mouchart, artistic director of the Angoulême Festival, will become editorial director of bande dessinée at Casterman from March. Link (16/01/2013, French, LTa)
Yann Lidingre, author of Tintine, is the new editor of the monthly bande dessinée magazine Fluide Glacial. Link (29/01/2013, French, LTa)
Culture
Dutch cartoonist Willem wins the Grand Prize in Angoulême. Though mostly renowned for his activities as an editorial cartoonist, Willem is also a talented comics artist, who played a crucial editorial role in France in the seventies as the editor in chief of Charlie Mensuel. The choice was surrounded by some amount of controversy as a new system was devised to take into account the input of all the comics artists present at the festival, and not just previous Grand Prize winners. Link (03/02/2013, French, NL)
The prize for the best comics of the year (the “Fauve d’or”) at the Angoulême Festival has been awarded to the second volume of Quai d’Orsay. Chronique diplomatiques, by Blain and Lanzac. The two volume story, a fictionalized account of the inner workings of French foreign policy around the time of the second war in Iraq, has been a critical and popular success, making the choice fairly consensual. Other notable winners at this year’s festival include comics blogger Marion Montaigne (Tu mourras moins bête), who received the prize of the public, Frederik Peeters (Aama. Tome 2. La multitude invisible), for the best on-going series and Jon McNaught (Automne/Autumn stories) who received the prize for the best new talent. Link (03/02/2013, French, NL)
Geluck will stop drawing his character Le Chat in newspapers from the 23rd March. Link (22/01/2013, French, LTa)
Rosinski, the artist behind Thorgal, has been made an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government. Link (25/01/2013, French, LTa)
Obituaries
Jacques Sadoul passed away on the 18th January, at the age of 78. He was mostly known for his work on science-fiction – he edited several important thematic anthologies, created influential collections and wrote noteworthy studies in the field – but he also worked on comics alongside other French precursors such as Moliterni and Lacassin. His most famous book on comics L’enfer des bulles, first published in 1968, deals with eroticism and censorship in the medium. Link (***Adult content. 20/01/2013, French, NL)
Germany
Business
Book industry magazine buchreport reports comics sales in Germany for 2012. Link (09/01/2013, German, MdlI)
The current, tenth issue of anthology magazine Orang is announced to be its last. Link (24/01/2013, German, MdlI)
Comic Report reports on a new publisher, BSV Hannover, which reissues Classics Illustrated. Link (26/01/2013, German, MdlI)
Culture
Comics researcher Bernd Dolle-Weinkauff talks about Uncle Scrooge’s 65th birthday on the television programme hallo hessen. Link (02/01/2013, German, MdlI)
An exhibition of German comic artists opens on the occasion of the 11th anniversary of publisher avant-verlag at Neurotitan im Haus Schwarzenberg, Berlin. Link (11/01/2013, German, MdlI)
An exhibition on Nick Knatterton and its author Manfred Schmidt (Nick Knatterton und andere Abenteuer – Manfred Schmidt zum 100. Geburtstag) opens at Wilhelm Busch – Deutsches Museum für Karikatur und Zeichenkunst in Hanover. Link (13/01/2013, English, MdlI)
An exhibition on the Czech comic Alois Nebel opens in Berlin. Link (14/01/2013, German, MdlI)
Berlin-based tabloid B.Z. awards comic author Reinhard Kleist with its 22nd annual “Kulturpreis”. Link (18/01/2013, German, MdlI)
Scott McCloud and Chris Ware will be guests at internationales literaturfestival berlin on the 15th March. Link (29/01/2013, German, MdlI)
Research
The protestant church institution Evangelische Zentralstelle für Weltanschauungsfragen publishes a book on religion in manga (Von Geistern, Dämonen und vom Ende der Welt. Religiöse Themen in der Manga-Literatur, no. 222 in their series EZW-Texte). Link (German, MdlI)
A conference titled “Comic-Kolloquium 2013: Das Erzählen und seine Transformationen im Comic” will take place at the University of Duisburg-Essen between the 21st and the 23rd March. Link (21/01/2013, German, MdlI)
ComFor weblog announces six individual lectures on comics in different German cities. Link (31/01/2013, German, MdlI)
Greece
Culture
The dates, official guests, and exhibition of the annual festival Comicdom Con Athens have been announced. Link (English, LTs)
Education
“Writing with the incredible Mr. Escher” is a new educational program on comics, hosted by Comicdom Press at the Herakleidon Museum. Link (English, LTs)
Iceland
Culture
The Nordicomics Exhibition is at the City Library in Reykjavik between the 12th January and 10th February. Link (English, RPC)
Sweden
Business
The Swedish comics publisher Optimal Press closes after 21 years. Link (27/01/2013, Swedish, RPC)
Culture
There is an exhibition about Stockholm in Comics at the Stockholm City Museum, between the 24th January and the 5th May. Link (Swedish, RPC)
UK
Jobs
The University of Nottingham’s School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies have announced a number of doctoral studentships in areas such as Cultural, Film, and Media Studies, American/Canadian Studies, and Francophone Studies. Study to commence September 2013, and applications are due by the 13th May. See Link 1 for more details, and Link 2 for application forms. Link 1 (English, WG), Link 2 (English, WG)
The Department of Media and Communication at the University of Leicester is offering two Graduate Research Assistantships for October 2013 entry to its Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) programme. The closing date for applications in the 28th February. Link (English, WG)
The New London Graduate School consortium (the universities of East London, Greenwich, London South Bank and Middlesex) are offering a fully-funded AHRC PhD studentship in Cultural Studies (commencing September 2013), alongside nine fully-funded AHRC Masters studentships in the areas such as Creative Writing; Film and Digital Media Production; Design; Fine Art; and Publishing Studies. Link (English, WG)
Research
A call for papers has been issued by Brighton and Sussex Medical School in collaboration with Brighton and Sussex University Hospital Trust for the Graphic Medicine fourth international conference on Comics and Medicine. This year’s topic is “Ethics Under Cover: Comics, Medicine, and Society” and the conference will be held from the 5th to the 7th of July. 300 word proposals including abstracts should be sent by the 22nd February to submissions@graphicmedicine.org. Link (English, HMS)
Berghahn Books have announced the recent publication in paperback of Laurence Grove’s Comics in French – The Bande Dessinée in Context. Link (English, WG)
* * *
News Editor: Will Grady (comicsforumnews@hotmail.co.uk)
Correspondents: Jessica Bauwens-Sugimoto (JBS, Japan), Rikke Platz Cortsen (RPC, Scandinavia), William Grady (WG, UK), Martin de la Iglesia (MdlI, Austria & Germany), Nicolas Labarre (NL, France), Hannah Means-Shannon (HMS, North America), Luka Ostojic (LO, Croatia), Lise Tannahill (LTa, France), Lida Tsene (LTs, Greece), 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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