Americas
United States
Research
The conference, Comics and Visual Culture: A Conference for Student Research, will take place on the 27th February 2016, at California State University, Northridge, Los Angeles. Those interested must send completed papers by the 4th December. Link (19/09/2015, English, WG)
There are currently two call for papers published on the ImageText website. One is a special issue on the topic of “Comics and Fine Art”, which requests full submissions by the 1st April 2016. The other is a special themed issue entitled “Traumics: Comics Narratives of Trauma”, with submissions for this special issue due by the 1st November 2015. Link (English, WG)
The editors on a collection focusing upon the DC Comics character, Harley Quinn, are seeking proposals for essays dealing with all aspects of the character. Link (29/09/2015, English, WG)
“The Worlds of Grant Morrison”, a special issue of ImageTexT, has been published online. Link (English, WG)
There is a call for papers for a special themed issue of American Literature: “Queer about Comics”. Submissions are due by the 31st July 2016. Link (English, WG)
Asia
Japan
Culture
The 40th meeting of the Kyushu branch of the Japanese Society for Studies in Cartoons and Comics, held on the 31st October, will feature Sakaguchi Shoji and Yonemura Noriko as speakers. Topics will include character design of monsters in series like Ultraman, as well as in shojo manga. Link (Japanese, JBS)
Europe
Germany
Culture
Deutsche Post issues Asterix stamps. Link (01/09/2015, German, MdlI)
An exhibition of “graphic novels from Europe” is shown in Berlin until the 14th November. Link (03/09/2015, German, MdlI)
A Max & Moritz exhibition is shown in Bückeburg until the 20th December. Link (07/09/2015, German, MdlI)
A series of comic artist talks takes place in Frankfurt until the 14th October. Link (10/09/2015, German, MdlI)
Frankfurt Book Fair is going to take place from the 14th until the 18th October; guests include Jean-Yves Ferri and Didier Conrad. Link (15/09/2015, German, MdlI)
The award, “Comicbuchpreis 2016 der Berthold Leibinger Stiftung”, goes to Uli Oesterle for his comic Vatermilch. LInk (15/09/2015, German, MdlI)
The dōjinshi of the year 2014 award goes to Sophie Schönhammer and Anna Backhausen for their comic He‘s half-baked. Link (17/09/2015, German, MdlI)
A Gerhard Seyfried exhibition is shown in Frankfurt until the 24th January 2016. Link (28/09/2015, German, MdlI)
Education
A workshop for teachers on comics in the classroom took place in Paderborn on the 15th September. Link (14/09/2015, German, MdlI)
Research
A symposium titled “Science meets Comics. The Anthropocene Kitchen: designing the future of food” is going to take place in Berlin on the 5th and 6th October. Link (24/09/2015, German, MdlI)
Portugal
Culture
Until the 10th January the Casa da Cerca in Almada is hosting the exhibition, “Viagem Desenhada” (drawn travel), composed by images extracted from the comics by Ricardo Cabral. Link (Portuguese, RR)
The Abysmo Galeria in Lisbon is hosting the exhibition “Bartoon 25”. The exhibition is a collection of some comic strips by Luís Afonso that have been published in Público Newspaper. It can be visited until the 16th October. Link (15/09/2015, Portuguese, RR)
From the 29th September until the 6th October, the Ordem dos Arquitectos in Lisbon (headquarters of the National Association of Architects) will be hosting the exhibition “Cidades Invisíveis – Fronteiras entre Arquitectura e Banda Desenhada” (Invisible cities – boundaries between architecture and comics), curated by the architect Pedro Novo. Link (14/09/2015, Portuguese, RR)
Spain
Business
The comics publishing house Astiberri is now selling digital comics from its catalogue, with around 50 titles already available. Link (21/09/2015, Spanish, EdRC)
Culture
The comic bookstore Akira (Madrid), awarded the Spirit of Comics Retailer award in 2012, has opened a museum with 40 original drawings. Link (28/09/2015, Spanish, EdRC)
An exhibition organised by Casa Árabe about contemporary Arab comics can be seen in Segovia from the 19th September to the 18th October. Some of the contents can be accessed online. Link (26/09/2015, Spanish, EdRC)
Research
The Spanish Open University (UNED) is celebrating the fifth edition of “Una mirada antropológica al mundo de la viñeta” (An anthropologic look at the world of comics), a two-week course between the 26th October and the 6th November. The course can be both followed face-to-face or online. Link (23/09/2015, Spanish, EdRC)
The edited collection, On the Edge of the Panel: Essays on Comics Criticism, by Julio Cañero and Esther Claudio, has been published through Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Link (English, WG)
UK
Research
A special issue of European Comic Art, focusing upon the theme of “Boundary Crossing”, has been published. Link (English, WG)
The Comic Electric: A Digital Comics Symposium will be held at The University of Hertfordshire on the 14th October 2015. Link (English, WG)
Oceania
Australia
Culture
Kyoto International Manga Museum and Kyoto Seika International Manga Research Center are in cooperation with the Japan Foundation to bring their collection of Edo Giga woodblock prints to Sydney. These prints, many of them very humorous in a cartoonish way, form a significant part of the history of Japanese visual arts, and are deeply connected with manga culture. Part II of the Exhibition “EDO GIGA: Comical Woodblock Prints from Japan”, will run from the 13th October until the 2nd November, at the Japan Foundation Gallery. Link (English, JBS)
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News Editor: Will Grady (comicsforumnews@hotmail.co.uk)
Correspondents: Jessica Bauwens-Sugimoto (JBS, Japan & Australia), Enrique del Rey Cabero (EdRC, Spain), William Grady (WG, UK), Martin de la Iglesia (MdlI, Germany), Renatta Rafaella (RR, Portugal).
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.