I would like to use the opportunity of this blog post to offer a few thoughts on the current state of comics research. One thing I don’t feel I have to do on this forum is to explain why comics matter or justify spending time researching them. (That’s not always the case. More than once, while I was writing my book British Comics, I was asked questions like “You mean you’re being paid to read comics?” “Well, no, not as such …” I would start to reply, but the interculotor was usually no longer listening, having already turned to someone else to say “Hey, this professor is paid to read comics, how cool is that!”) But there are points to raise, and issues to discuss, about how we go about researching comics, and in particular whether ‘comics studies’ can be said to be a subject and a discipline in its own right in the way that, say, film studies and television studies are.
Yearly Archives: 2013
Between Supermen: Homosociality, Misogyny, and Triangular Desire in the Earliest Superman Stories by Eric Berlatsky
Fig 1, ™ and © DC Comics.
The Superman “shield” most familiar to contemporary readers is a pentagon. Emblazoned on his chest, it is a recognizable symbol of the “first superhero” whose emergence in Action Comics in 1938 gave birth to the genre most associated with the history of American comics. Interestingly, however, the symbol has little resemblance to that which first appeared on Superman’s chest in his debut. In those early days, Superman, created, by Jerry Siegel (writer) and Joe Shuster (artist), had a simple triangle on his chest, with a sinuous “S” in its center. The shift in insignia is largely insignificant, but the original shape is reflective of the ways in which those early stories revolve around a “love triangle” that is both familiar and unconventional. [1]
Fig 2, ™ and © DC Comics.
News Review: March 2013
Americas
Brazil
Culture
The first issue of Antílope, an independent magazine on comics, and comics criticism, has just been published. Link (Portuguese, GS)
United States
Business
Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. report on their 100 best selling comics for February 2013. Link (25/03/2013, English, HMS)
Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. report on their 100 best selling graphic novels for February 2013. Link (25/03/2013, English, HMS)
The Comics Beat reports that Monkeybrain Comics will be venturing into print format with IDW and Image. Link (27/02/2013, English, HMS)
Brooks Barnes of the New York Times discusses Marvel’s display of commitment to digital formats by releasing hundreds of first issues for free on Comixology. Link (10/03/2013, English, HMS)
Jeet Heer conducts an interview with Walter Biggins, who is about to quit his role as acquisitions editor for the University of Mississippi Press. Biggins has been behind a number of notable comics related academic texts from the Press. Link (18/03/2013, English, WG)
Culture
The Comics Beat’s Heidi MacDonald reports that the Small Press Expo has revealed its 2013 poster and the Expo’s invited guests. Link (04/03/2013, English, HMS)
The first ever Slate Cartoonist Studio Prize winners have been announced, including Chris Ware. The finalists in the 2013 Spectrum Fantastic Art Awards have also been announced, with video content of finalists and their artwork. Link (04/03/2013, English, HMS)
Publisher’s Weekly’s Calvin Reid interviews the Society of Illustrators on its role in giving the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art a new location and a redesigned festival in April in New York. Link (12/03/2013, English, HMS)
The Soho Gallery for Digital Art in New York, in conjunction with former Marvel editor and writer Danny Fingeroth, will host a Comic Book Round Table discussion entitled “The Man of Steel vs. Orson Scott Card” to address the recent controversy over Card’s openly anti-gay politics and the industry. Panellists will include David Gerrold, Joseph Phillip Illige, Paul Kupperberg, Jeff Trexler, Danny Fingeroth, and Adam Dekraker. The event will be held on the 10th April. Link (English, HMS)
Alex Lockwood of PhD Comics takes us to the Comic Arts Conference to explore the academic side of Comic-Con. Link (English, WG)
Education
Betsy Gomez at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund updates reports that Persepolis has been reputedly banned in a Chicago School. Link (15/03/2013, English, HMS)
Law & Politics
Betsy Gomez at The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund announces that the CBDLF will defend Persepolis by sending a letter of condemnation. Link (15/03/2013, English, HMS)
Research
The Third Triennial Academic Conference at the Festival of Cartoon Art announces a call for papers. The conference will be held at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at Ohio State University on the 14th and 15th November. 250-500 word abstracts and a one-page CV are due by the 1st July. Link (English, HMS)
There is a call for papers for a collection entitled Contemporary Uses of Fairy Tales. The editor seeks submissions focusing upon comic texts Lost Girls and Fables amongst other things. Abstracts are due by the 19th June. Link (19/03/2013, English, WG)
Technology
Bruce Lidl at The Comics Beat discusses the emergence of new digital devices and upgraded technology on smart phones and tablets in the wake of Marvel’s new digital initiative. Link (22/03/2013, English, HMS)
Asia
Japan
Culture
Manga artists Katsuya Terada, Tadahiro Uesugi, and Daisuke Tsutsumi talk about the SKETCHTRAVEL project at the Kyoto International Manga Museum, on the 20th April. Link (English, JBS)
Singapore
Culture
The first 24 Hour Comics Day in Singapore was held in 2010. After three editions, an exhibition of the works was held at the Jurong Regional Library, after which it will travel to two other public libraries to reach out to the community. The exhibition is from the 19th March to the 31st July. Link (14/03/2013, English, LCT)
Europe
Belgium
Culture
Belgian author François Schuiten donates 80% of his original work to the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and the Roi Baudoin Foundation. The BNF will receive the originals of the Cités obscures series. The Belgian Centre for Bande Dessinée (CBBD) and the Angoulême Bande Dessinée Museum will also receive works. Link (26/03/2013, French, LTa)
Recyclart’s exhibition “Don’t Shoot! We Are Not Armed!” displays a variety of South African underground comics artwork. Link (27/03/2013, English, MR)
Obituary
Belgian bande dessinée writer Didier Comès, author of Silence and Le Dieu vivant, has died at the age of 71. Link 1 (07/03/2013, French, LTa), Link 2 (07/03/2013, French, LTa)
Croatia
Culture
Comic book illustrator and film animator, Borivoj Dovniković Bordo, held a talk on the 19th March at the book club, Booksa. The artist, who has already won several lifetime achievement awards, talked about his career in Yugoslavia, Croatia, and abroad. Link (19/03/2013, Croatian)
Denmark
Culture
Danish comics celebrate their 100th birthday. Link (04/03/2013, Danish, RPC)
France
Business
Publisher Dupuis has bought out Marsu Productions, which was founded by Spirou author André Franquin. Dupuis will take control of Marsu’s catalogue, including Spirou and 150 other titles. Link 1 (26/03/2013, French, LTa), Link 2 (26/03/2013, English, LTa)
Germany
Culture
“Chicks on Comics”, is an exhibition by female comic artists, taking place in Berlin at Alpha Nova Kulturwerkstatt & Galerie Futura from the 15th March to the 26th April. Link (18/03/2013, German, MdlI)
Research
The ComFor weblog has published a series of posts on unreliable narration in comics. Link (24/03/2013, German, MdlI)
Greece
Culture
The dates and full program of Comicdom Con Athens 2013 have been announced. The event takes place between the 19th and the 21st April. Link (English, LTs)
Asterix visits the Archeological Museum of Kisamos. Link (Greek, LTs)
The exhibition “Comics and Crisis” sees Greek, Spanish, and Argentinian comic artists display works inspired by the current crisis. Link (Spanish, LTs)
“Food, Glorious Food! Bost and the Press” is an exhibition focused on Bost’s satirical cartoons featured in the press and periodicals, from the end of the 1950s until 1980. It will take place between the 5th April and the 19th May. Link (English, LTs)
Education
“Writing with the Incredible Mr. Escher” is an educational program for children aged between 7 and 11 focusing on comics and storytelling. The program ends on the 14th April. Link (English, LTs)
Research
Discussion panels on the digital age, art, and comics and crisis, took place at the Cervantes Institute in Athens on the 20th March. Link 1, Link 2 (Spanish, LTs)
Norway
Culture
Norway gets a new comics festival for children and young adults. Seriefest will take place between the 26th and 28th April. Link (14/03/2013, Norwegian, RPC)
Romania
Culture
Romania hosted its first Comic Con. The ”East European Comic Con” took place in Bucharest between the 30th and 31st March. It featured the work of local cartoonists, as well as gaming, illustration, and cosplay competitions. Link (Romanian, MP)
Serbia
Culture
Serbian artists made an event in honor of the departed comic book artist Jean Giraud (a.k.a Moebius). On the 21st March (the first anniversary of Moebius’ death), a 24-hour drawing competition took place in the French Institute in Belgrade. This was a part of the exposition “To Be Continued… – Three Generations of Contemporary Serbian Comics.” Link (22/03/2013, Croatian, LO)
Spain
Culture
XVIII Granada Comic Festival took place between the 8th and the 12th March. Quino, famous creator of popular Mafalda, was the special guest, among other national and international artists. Link (Spanish, EC)
The 31st International Comic Convention will take place in Barcelona, from the 11th to the 14th April. The most important event on comics in Spain will host artists such as Gilbert Shelton and Guy Delisle. Exhibitions are thematic, such as one on 75 years of Superman, and others devoted to the work of award winning and recognised national artists. Link (Spanish, EC)
There is a comics and architecture exhibition, featuring Max Vento’s work alongside other artists work that is related to architecture. The exhibition will be open until the 30th April. Link (07/03/2013, Spanish, EC)
“Homage-Exhibition: A Century of Comics” is a retrospective of comics from the Valencian community (1913-2013). Valencia has been at the core of comic creation for the last century. Even during the difficult times of Francoism, Valencian artists managed to keep the quality of their works and combine them with entertainment, and mass production working conditions. This is a homage to their careers and a display of their wonderful past and present works. Link (Spanish, EC)
Jobs
“Fundación Botín” Arts Grant has one grant available for national and international artists, with comics creators included. The grant will last 9 months and applications are due by the 23rd April. Link (Spanish, EC)
UK
Culture
The special guests for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival (18th-20th October) have been announced. Link (English, WG)
Obituary
The Guardian reports on the death of Colin Andrew, who drew strips for Dr Who Magazine, and Eagle, amongst other things. Link (24/03/2013, English, WG)
Research
There is a call for papers for a collection upon the various works of Neil Gaiman, entitled “Magic and Dreams and Good Madness: Sociology and Neil Gaiman.” 500 word abstracts, along with a short biography, are due on the 1st June. Link (13/03/2013, English, WG)
There is a call for papers entitled “Time Travel in the Media”. Amongst other mediums, the editors seek submissions looking at time travel in comics and graphic novels. 500 word abstracts are due on the 16th June. Link (12/03/2013, English, WG)
There is a call for papers for a collection focusing upon Josh Whedon’s Firefly. Amongst other things, the editors seek submissions focusing upon the comic book series. 300-500 word abstracts are due on the 1st May. Link (20/03/2013, English, WG)
Registration is now open for the International Graphic Novel and International Bande Dessinée Society Conference, taking place in Glasgow/Dundee (24th-28th June). Link (English, WG)
Registration is now open for Ethics Under Cover, Comics, Medicine and Society: 4th International Conference on Comics and Medicine, taking place in Brighton (5th-7th July). Link (English, WG)
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News Editor: Will Grady (comicsforumnews@hotmail.co.uk)
Correspondents: Jessica Bauwens-Sugimoto (JBS, Japan), Esther Claudio (EC, Spain), Rikke Platz Cortsen (RPC, Scandinavia), William Grady (WG, UK), Martin de la Iglesia (MdlI, Germany), Nicolas Labarre (NL, France), Mihaela Precup (MP, Romania), Hannah Means-Shannon (HMS, North America), Luka Ostojic (LO, Croatia), Moray Rhoda (MR, South Africa), Greice Schneider (GS, Brazil), Lida Tsene (LTs, Greece), Lise Tannahill (LTa, France), 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.
Narrative breakdown in The Long and Unlearned Life of Roland Gethers by Hannah Miodrag
Critical debates about the definitive features of the comics form have, perhaps thankfully, been on the wane in recent years. Without wishing to reignite the scholarly conversation about precisely what makes comics comics, I would like here to address a feature of the form that has always seemed the most compelling and least problematic of the various proposed ‘vital ingredients’ (Harvey 109) of the medium. Narrative breakdown – the dispersal of content into discrete, interdependently interwoven units – has few parallels in other media. Unlike sequential progression (shared by all narrative forms) or visual-verbal blending (a common feature of newspapers, advertising, and the internet to name very few), which are far more frequently suggested as the essential elements of comics, narrative breakdown has few comparators. Perhaps the closest formal similarity would be the film shot, but unlike the static panel on the printed page, the pace at which the narrative is consumed in film is mechanically controlled; furthermore, the diegetic action of film (usually) matches the viewing time of a specific shot, while in comics the relationship between reading time and story time is complex and highly variable.
Shane Simmon’s masterwork, The Long and Unlearned Life of Roland Gethers [1], persuasively demonstrates just how central narrative breakdown is to the comics reading experience. This deliciously idiosyncratic take on the form all but dispenses with pictorial content, which is also often claimed to be a defining feature of the medium, and an essential vehicle for narrative content (see Meskin 369). Reducing characters to indistinguishable dots and relying almost entirely on text, narrative breakdown is exploited in such a way as to produce a reading experience that could never be replicated with prose alone: the separation of narrative content across panels results in pauses, pacing, turns, and shifts in the verbal text that are in fact dependent on, and highly specific to, the structural demarcations of the comics form. The text, described as ‘an epic comedy about a lowly coalminer and his stumbling passage through 89 years of British history, from 1860 to 1949’ [2], is impishly amusing, mixing grandeur and blandness, the epic and the everyday. Kierkegaard located the essence of comedy in disparity between what is expected and what is experienced, and Simmons’ mock-epic exploits the junctures and collisions that characterise narrative breakdown to create just the kinds of contradiction and incongruity in which humour lies.
Gender through Comic Books by Christina Blanch
For the last several years, I have been creating and teaching popular courses at Ball State University using comic books as required course readings. Many people thought I was crazy, and they are probably right, but my methods worked. When the most recent course, Gender through Comic Books, caught the eye of the Ball State’s Integrated Learning Institute, they asked me to teach an online course. At first, I thought it was simply an online version of my current class that would be offered to Ball State students. I quickly found out that I was wrong. They wanted me to offer the class in a form that they had not yet attempted. They wanted to have the class offered as a MOOC.
Comics Forum 