Americas

Canada

Research

Twelve-Cent Archie, by Bart Beaty, has now been published through Rutgers University Press. Link (English, WG)

United States

Business

DC and Marvel top the charts for the Top 100 Comics for the month of December based on total unit sales invoiced for the month. Batman #37 finished first for DC, and was followed by Amazing Spider-Man #11 and Shield #1 in second and third respectively. Link (English, MB)

Image’s Saga Volume 4 hit number 1 for the Top 100 Graphic Novels for December, with Marvels’ Captain America Peggy Carter Agent of Shield #1 in second, and Just the Tips from Image taking the third spot. Link (English, MB)

Diamond Comics reported the Top 100 Comics for 2014 and Marvel almost completely shut out the top ten slots. The top three spots went to Amazing Spider-Man #1 (Marvel), Walking Dead #132 (Image), and Rocket Raccoon #1 (Marvel). Link (English, MB)

All four volumes of Saga placed in the top ten slots for the Top 100 Graphic Novels for 2014. Saga Volume 3 (Image), Saga Volume 1 (Image), and Walking Dead Volume 20: All Out War Part 1 (Image) took first through third respectively. Link (English, MB)

Diamond Comics provided a year-end reporting of unit and dollar shares and top comic book publishers by retail market and unit market share. Link (English, MB)

Research

Central Michigan University’s Third Annual ComiConference will be  held on the 3rd March. Link (English, WG)

The Journal of Comics and Culture, a new peer-reviewed academic journal to be published by Pace University Press, has announced its first call for papers. Abstracts of 500 words are due by the 15th February. Link (06/01/2015, English, WG)

The new issue of the International Journal of Comic Art (vol.16, no.2) is now shipping. Link (05/01/2015, English, WG)

The Comics Arts Conference is now accepting proposals for its 2015 meeting at Comic-Con, taking place between the 9th and 12th July. Submissions are due by the 1st March. Link (English, WG)

There is a call for papers for the conference, Comics in Medicine & Teaching: Rethinking Comics as a Therapeutic and Educational Tool. The event will take place at the University of Nebraska between the 9th and 10th April, and proposals are due by the 23rd February. Link (26/01/2015, English, WG)

Asian Comics, by John A. Lent, has now been published through the University Press of Mississippi. Link (English, WG)

A second edition of The Power of Comics, authored by Randy Duncan, Matthew J. Smith and Paul Levitz, has been published by Bloomsbury. Link (English, WG)

Asia

Japan

Business

The (domestic) market for Japanese manga boomed to about 28.13 billion Japanese yen in 2014, over a quarter of the total book market. Link (23/01/2015, Japanese, JBS)

Culture

Yonezawa Yoshihiro Memorial Library is showing the exhibition “Mihara Jun, Revival Festival” from February until the 31st May. Link (Japanese, JBS)

The Exhibition “Black Jack Stories; Doctors’ Choice”, show medical professionals’ perspectives on Tezuka Osamu’s classic Black Jack, at Kyoto International Manga Museum from the 28th February until the 10th May. Link (English, JBS)

Education

The work of students graduating from Kyoto Seika University’s Faculty of Manga and Graduate School of Manga will be exhibited at the Kyoto International Manga Museum during Anime Week (between the 18th and 22nd February). During this period, access to the museum is free. Link (Japanese, JBS)

Law & Politics

A manga published on the website of Japan’s Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry caused commotion on social media by suggesting that the solution to the aging population crisis that the country faces is for young people to get married and have more children. Link (20/01/2015, Japanese, JBS)

Europe

France

Business

Bande dessinées from publishers Flammarion, Gallimard and Les Humanoïdes Associés are now available on digital comics platform ComiXology. Link (29/01/2015, French, LTa)

Culture

There is no date set for the publication of the next issue of Charlie Hebdo. Link (31/01/2015, French, LTa)

The release date of the next Asterix album has been announced at Angoulême: it will be released on the 22nd October. Link (30/01/2015, French, LTa)

Akira author Katsuhiro Otomo has been awarded this year’s Grand Prix at Angoulême. Link (29/01/2015, English, LTa)

Germany

Culture

This year, the Christoph Martin Wieland translator award will be given to a comics translator for the first time. Link (08/01/2015, German, MdlI)

The festival, Comicinvasion Berlin, is going to take place on the 18th and 19th April; sponsors are sought for a new artists’ award. Link (19/01/2015, German, MdlI)

An exhibition of emerging comic artists is going to be shown in Mannheim from the 7th February until the 8th March. Link (29/01/2015, German, MdlI)

Research

The Winter School Mediality and Multimodality across Media, which took place in Tübingen from the 28th until the 30th January, included several presentations on comics. Link (15/01/2015, English, MdlI)

A call for papers for a workshop on Mediality and Materiality in Contemporary Comics, which is going to take place in Tübingen from the 24th until the 26th April, has been published. The deadline for submissions is the 15th March. Link (16/01/2015, English, MdlI)

Alev Gönc gave a lecture on WWI and WWII in comics at University of Erlangen-Nuremberg on the 29th January. Link (26/01/2015, German, MdlI)

Portugal

Culture

The municipality of Odemira is organising the 9th edition of BDTECA, that consists of a series of activities related to comics. These include exhibitions, fairs and a contest. The event began on the 12th January with the launch of the annual comics contest, and will end in March. Link (02/01/2015, Portuguese, RR)

The Bookstore Europa-América in Lisbon is hosting an exhibition by the Portuguese comic author Fernando Relvas. The exhibition can be visited until the 6th February and visitors to the exhibition can buy some original comic panels from the author. Link (21/01/2015, Portuguese, RR)

Spain

Business

The publishing house Caramba!, which specialises in humour comics, will now continue working under the publishing house Astiberri. Link (16/01/2015, Spanish, EdRC)

The web Mangaland has published figures about manga sales in Spain. Link (11/01/2015, Spanish, EdRC)

The web Guía del comic has published figures about comic sales in Spain. Link (21/01/2015, Spanish, EdRC)

The website, Whakoom, has published a report about the state and future of digital comics. Link (19/01/2015, Spanish, EdRC)

Culture

Paco Roca, Miguel Gallardo, Zinni Quiros and Ángels Gónzalez Sinde discussed the Oxfam project, Viñetas de Vida: dibujantes on tour, which sent some comic artists to international development projects to later portray their experiences in the form of a comic. Link (14/01/2015, Spanish, EdRC)

The Spanish satirical on-line magazine Orgullo y Satisfacción has published a free special issue after the Charlie Hebdo killings. Link (09/01/2015, Spanish, EdRC)

Switzerland

Culture

The 25th Fumetto festival in Lucerne will take place from the 7th until the 15th March. Link (12/01/2015, German, MdlI)

UK

Culture

On the 7th March 2015 the University of Dundee is hosting the event, Comics, So What?, which seeks to engage the public in the appreciation of comics and graphic novels, and to draw attention to Comics Studies in the UK. Link (English, WG)

Education

The Centre for Language and Communication Research (CLCR) at Cardiff University is seeking applications for one Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) three-year PhD studentship to commence on the 1st October 2015. Although the list of areas covered does not specifically mention comics and graphic novels, Down The Tubes report that the CLCR welcomes applications in this area. Applications are due by the 9th March. Link (24/01/2015, English, WG)

Research

The latest issue of European Comic Art (vol.7, no.2) has now been published. Link (English, WG)

Oceania

Australia

Culture

Melbourne comics creator Katie Parrish has been made the art director of literary journal The Lifted Brow. Link (English, ALM)

The Ledger Awards are accepting nominations for the 2015 ballot. The Ledger Awards will also be compiling “The Ledger Annual”, an anthology that celebrates the best novice comics creators in Australia. Link (English, ALM)

Applications have now opened for residencies at the Comic Art Workshop, which will be in Maria Island, Tasmania, from the 1st to the 14th of November. The workshop directors are Pat Grant and Dr Elizabeth MacFarlane, with Leela Corman and Tom Hart leading the classes. Link (English, ALM)

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

Correspondents: Jessica Bauwens-Sugimoto (JBS, Japan), Michele Brittany (MB, North America), Enrique del Rey Cabero (EdRC, Spain), William Grady (WG, UK), Martin de la Iglesia (MdlI, Germany & Switzerland), Amy Louise Maynard (ALM, Australia), Renatta Rafaella (RR, Portugal), Lise Tannahill (LTa, France).

Click here for News Review correspondent biographies.

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