The 14^th Annual Conference of the Society for Comics Studies (ComFor) is dedicated to the idea of comparative comics studies: relations and transformations within the art form that cross and bridge cultural, lingual, economic, juridical, political, and media divisions. These include referential and derivative formats such as citation, parody, pastiche, travesty, imitation, and emulation of genres, characters, and motifs, in which one comic recalls another comic, or any other medium. In all of these cases, a relation is established that connects one or more comics to others. But the scope of comparative comics studies also includes translations, transfers, adaptations, and many other kinds of metamorphosis. These take place not merely from one language to another, but also take into account changes in audience orientation, in technical and economic conditions, in legal and conventional rules, and any other co-determining circumstance that leaves its traces: on the new comic’s text, sometimes on its pictures as well, and always on the mechanisms of production, marketing, media practices, and interpretations to which comics are subjected.

Topics welcome at the conference may include:

• lingual translations in comics in the immediate sense, adapting a comic for the language of a new audience;
• the more rare but more incisive translational modification of a comic’s pictures;
• cultural translations, which may apply to individual comics, but also to complete genres or the art form as a whole;
• how comics are culturally situated and localized;
• emendations that occur under censorship, but also feature in parodies and unauthorised franchises;
• and the vast area of media adaptations.

Please see the PDF here for more information.