Author Archives: Comics Forum

Americas

United States 

Business

DC’s premier issue of Forever Evil #1, Marvel’s Infinity #2 and Infinity #3 took the top three spots respectively according to Diamond News’ top 100 comics for September, 2013. Results are based on total unit sales of products invoiced for the month. Link (English, MB & EG)

East of West Volume 1: The Promise from Image was at the top of Diamond News top 100 graphic novel list with Justice League Volume 3: Throne of Atlantis (DC) and Star Wars Volume 1: In the Shadow of Yavin (Dark Horse) following up in the number 2 and 3 slots respectively. Results are based on total unit sales invoiced for the month of September, 2013. Link (English, MB & EG)

DC Comics confirmed they will move their editorial team to Burbank, California to join their digital and administrative departments which relocated in 2010 following the creation of DC Entertainment the prior year. The article includes the full text of DC Entertainment president Diane Nelson’s email to her DCE Team. Link (English, MB)

After completing his award-winning run on Daredevil next year, digital comics champion Mark Waid is taking his work with the character online in a new series entitled Daredevil: Road Warrior, marking the first time a high-profile writer and character have seamlessly transitioned from print to digital. Link (31/10/2013, English, EG)

Culture

The art of Lee Weeks is currently on display at Liberty University Art Gallery located in Lynchburg, Virginia. The exhibition, which will conclude on November 10th, includes many well-known comic book characters Weeks’ has worked on: Marvel’s Daredevil, Wolverine, Captain America, and DC Comic’s Batman. Link (English, MB)

City University of New York’s The Graduate Center announced a free lecture as part of the New Directions in African American and African Diasporic Literary and Cultural Studies series. Jonathan W. Gray, from John Jay College, will present Heroes in Black: Race, Image, Ideology and the Evolution of Comics Scholarship on Friday, November 15th at 2 PM in the English Student Lounge. Link (English, MB)

Education

Cartoonist Al Jafee, best known for his work for Mad Magazine, has donated a large body of his work to the library at Columbia University. Link (07/10/2013, English, WG)

The Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon is now accepting applications for its graduate fellowship in the 2014-2015 academic year. Applications are due by the 14th February 2014. Link (21/10/2013, English, EG)

Obituary

Comic book penciller George Olesen passed away on October 15th. He is best known for his work on the comic strip The Phantom for approximately 40 years. Link (English, MB)

Research

There has been an updated call for papers for the collection titled “Comics and the American Southwest and Borderlands.” 500 word abstracts are due by the 15th January, and final submissions are expected by the 28th March. Link (07/10/2013, English, EG & MB)

There is a call for papers for a collection that will explore disability in comics entitled, “Feats of Clay: Disability and Graphic Narrative.” The collection will be published by Palgrave Macmillan, and 500 word abstracts are due by the 15th December. Link (10/10/2013, English, EG)

Smashwords  has just released A Golden Thread – An Unofficial Critical History of Wonder Woman by Philip Sandifer. Schdifer traces Wonder Woman’s 70-year history in comics as well as television and film. Link (English, MB)

The American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA) is holding a seminar titled Frames in Literature and Across the Arts and are currently accepting abstracts through November 15, 2013 that explore the use of frames and their meaning. Submit at http://www.acla.org/submit but read more about the CFP at the link below. Link (English, MB)

The Comic Arts Conference – Wondercon is now accepting proposals for talks to be given at WonderCon 2014 in Anaheim (dates to be announced). The deadline for proposals is December 15 (see link for submission details). For more information contact Katherine McClancy at comicsartsconference@gmail.com. Link (English, EG)

The Michigan State University Comics Forum (no relation) has released a call for submissions for academic and artist panels for the 2014 conference. The conference will take place on 21-22 February 2014, and the keynote speaker will be Stan Sakai, creator of Usagi Yojimbo. 250 word abstracts for papers and panels are due by 1 December 2013. Link (English, IH)

The previously announced volume The Comics of Charles Schulz: The Good Grief of Modern Life has extended its call for papers deadline; abstracts are now due by the 31st December 2013. Link (23/10/2013, English, EG)

There is a call for papers for a forthcoming anthology that considers the social construction of childhood in comics. Submissions are due by the 1st January 2014. Link (01/10/2013, English, EG)

Asia

Japan

Culture

Kyoto International Manga Museum is hosting the “Ono Saseo Exhibition – The Modern Girl, The Southern Belle, and the Bicycle Girl”, until February the 11th, 2014. Link (English, JBS)

On November the 17th, Kyoto International Manga Museum welcomes Taiwanese manga artist AKRU will talk on her oeuvre, interviewed by Ikeda Mika. Link (English, JBS)

Singapore

Culture

The fourth 24 Hour Comics Day was held in Singapore on 5 October. So far, a different location has chosen every year. This time it was held at the Lasalle College of the Arts, which saw the participation of 100 of their students, making this the largest event ever (150 participants). Link (English, LCT)

Research

Although not held in Singapore, a panel on Singapore comics was presented at Transitions 4, which is part of the Comica Festival. Lim Cheng Tju, Dave Chua and Hu Jingxuan shared their works, with Paul Gravett responding. Link (English, LCT)

Europe 

Belgium

Business

The catalogue of the Belgian bande dessinée imprint Niffle has been bought by Dupuis, who will reissue several titles in 2014 as the 50/60 collection. Niffle notably published complete collections of series such as Blueberry and Largo Winch, as well as books of essays and interviews on the ‘golden age’ of Franco-Belgian comics. Link (18/10/2013, French, LTa)

A rare auction of thirty originals by François Schuiten raised 500,000 euros. Link (25/10/2013, French, LTa)

Casterman and Moulinsart have announced various releases to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Casterman’s publication of The Adventures of Tintin, but there will be no new Tintin album until 2052. Link (21/10/2013, French, LTa)

Croatia

Culture

The annual 16th comic book festival “Crtani romani šou” (Graphic Novel Show) was held in Zagreb from 25th to 27th October. The main guests were Stefano Biglia, Roberto Diso, Julio Radilović – Jules, R. M. Guera etc. Link (Croatian, LO)

Acclaimed Croatian illustrator Borivoj Dovniković Bordo (70) was a special guest of the international comic book conference “Međunarodni salon stripa” that held place in Belgrade. There was also an exhibition of Bordo`s works in Gallery SKC. Link (Croatian, LO)

France

Culture

The poster for next year’s Festival International de la Bande Dessinée in Angoulême has been unveiled. Link (01/10/2013, French, LTa) 

Obituary

Bande dessinée creator Jacques Arbeau, aka Jacarbo, has died at the age of 86. Arbeau’s work appeared in various magazines, including Tintin , Junior and Ames Vaillantes. He also worked on Brik and L’Espiègle Lili and several other series. Link (27/09/2013, French, LTa) 

Germany

Culture

The exhibition “Stichprobe” will show comics from Finland at the Finnland-Institut in Berlin from the 15th November 2013 to the 5th February 2014. Link (German, MdlI)

Reinhard Kleist’s comic Der Boxer wins the award Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis in the non-fiction category. Link (German, MdlI)

Sergeant Superpower rettet Amerika, a play unofficially based on Captain America, premiered at Theater Heidelberg. Link (German, MdlI)

A panel discussion on two comic biographies of Willy Brandt, with participation of the authors and scholar René Mounajed, took place in Berlin on the 31st October. Link (German, MdlI)

The exhibition “Graphzines 1975 – 2013: französische Underground-Künstlerpublikationen” is shown in Munich from the 11th October to the 22nd November. Link (German, MdlI)

 An exhibition on Kafka in Comics takes place in Stuttgart from the 8th November 2013 to the 7th February 2014. Link (German, MdlI)

Research

The AG Comicforschung within the German Society for Media Studies (Gesellschaft für Medienforschung, GfM) hosted its first panel at the GfM 2013 conference in Lüneburg on the 4th October. Link (German, MdlI)

Ireland

Culture

The Irish Comic Awards have been announced. Voting for the winners ended at midnight on the 1st of November and the winners will be announced shortly. Link (English, SC)

Irish Comic News asks: ‘Women in comics: What are you going to do about it?’ Link (English, SC)

Portugal

Culture

From 25th October until 10th November the Fórum Luís de Camões in Amadora is hosting the 24º Festival Internacional de Banda Desenhada 2013 (24th International Festival of Comics). Link (Portuguese, RR)

Romania

Culture

UK   

Business

Humanoids, Inc. have announced they will start publishing books directly in the UK for the first time. Link (English, IH)

Culture

The first Lakes International Comic Art festival ran in Kendal, Cumbria, from 17-19 October. Link (English, IH)

Edinburgh International Book Festival, which took place in August 2013, continues to upload extensive video content featuring various comics and creators to their YouTube channel. Link (English, IH)

The annual Dundee Comics Day took place at the University of Dundee on 26-27 October. Link (English, IH)

Research

Registration is open for the 2013 Comics Forum conference, which is entitled ‘Small Press and Undergrounds: A Conference on Comics’ and will run at Leeds Central Library on the 21st and 22nd of November. The keynote event is Paul Gravett in conversation with Roger Sabin. Link (English, IH)

The fourth Transitions conference took place at Birkbeck, University of London, on the 26th of October. Link (English, IH)

Issue 4.2 of Studies in Comics is now available in print and online. Link (English, IH)

Submissions are invited for a new research collection entitled Bad Signals: Collected Essays on the Work of Warren Ellis, to be published by Gylphi. 300 word abstracts for 6,000-8,000 word articles are due with editors Hallvard Haug and Tony Venezia by 13 December 2013. Link (English, IH)

The call for papers for the Fifth International Graphic Novels and Comics conference has been released. The conference will take place at the British Library from 17-19 July 2014 and will concentrate on two sets of themes: production and institution, and sedition and anarchy. 300 word abstracts are due on 24 January 2014. Link (English, IH)

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This month’s Comics Forum News Review was edited by Ian Hague as Will Grady is away.

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

Correspondents: Jessica Bauwens-Sugimoto (JBS, Japan), Michele Brittany (MB, North America), Shelley Culbertson (SC, Ireland), Eric Garneau (EG, North America), William Grady (WG, UK), Ian Hague (IH, UK), Martin de la Iglesia (MdlI, Germany), Luka Ostojic (LO, Croatia), Mihaela Precup (MP, Romania), Renatta Rafaela (RR, Portugal), Lise Tannahill (LTa, France), Lim Cheng Tju (LCT, Singapore).

Click here for News Review correspondent biographies.

Click here to see the News Review archive.

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

Africa

South Africa

Culture

Open Book Comics Fest happened over 4 days. The 7th and the 8th September saw the marketplace and panel talks at The Homecoming Centre in District 6, Cape Town, followed by two days of workshops at the Central Library in Cape Town. Link 1 (11/09/2013, English, MR), Link 2 (10/09/2013, English, MR), Link 3 (English, MR)

Americas

Canada

Research

The Canadian Society for the Study of Comics/la Société Canadienne pour l-étude de la band desinée (CSSC/SCEBD), has been dormant for a while, but is now accepting new members. Link (English, WG)

United States 

Business

Digital comics distributor Comixology has named former HBO GO founder and executive Jeff DiBartolomeo as the Chief Technology Officer, with an eye toward making digital comics truly mass-market. Link (09/09/2013, English, EG)

The top 100 comic books based on total unit sales of products invoiced for August 2013 has been reported by Diamond News. The new Marvel miniseries, Infinity #1, moved into the top spot with Superman Unchained #3 and Batman #23 slipping down into second and third respectively from last month. Link (English, MB & EG)

Diamond News has compiled a list of the 100 top selling graphic novels of August 2013. Robert Kirkman’s Walking Dead continues its domination in a list heavy with independent titles. Chew Vol 7: Bad Apples, and Rocket Raccoon Tales From Half World, follow in the list. Link (English, MB & EG)

Culture

American public broadcasting network PBS has dubbed the 15th October “superheroes night,” and will premiere a three-hour documentary from filmmaker Michael Kantor entitled Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle that will examine the beginnings of both superheroes and comics. Link (05/09/2013, English, EG)

The University of California – Berkeley’s Bancroft Library is hosting an exhibit entitled “Comics, Cartoons, and Funny Papers: The Rube Goldberg, Phil Frank, and Gus Arriola Archives at Bancroft,” which will also feature work from cartoonists Dan O’Neill and Lou Grant. The exhibit is open from 10 AM to 4 PM every weekday until the 28th February 2014. Link (26/09/2013, English, EG)

Obituary

Mike Dimayuga, the artist on Colt Noble And The Megalords and Hero House, passed away on the 16th September, at 39 years old. Link (17/09/2013, English, WG)

Dr Sol Davidson, whose PhD thesis was one of the first scholarly works on comic strips as an important part of American culture, passed away aged 88 on the 19th September. Link (22/09/2013, English, WG)

Research

There is a call for proposals on the topic of Comics and Comic Art for the annual PCA/ACA National conference that takes place between the 16th and 19th April 2014 in Chicago, Illinois. The deadline for abstracts is the 1st November 2013. Link (English, MB)

The International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts has released a call for papers for its 35th meeting between the 19th and 23rd March next year in Orlando, Florida. The specific theme of the conference is “fantastic empires,” and paper proposals are being accepted until the 31st October. Link (02/09/2013, English, EG)

There is a call for papers for a collection entitled “Engaging the Woman Fantastic in Contemporary American Media Culture.” Abstracts for submissions that includes consideration of comic works are due by the 1st November. Link (21/08/2013, English, WG)

Dale Jacob’s monograph Graphic Encounters: Comics and the Sponsorship of Multimodal Literacy has recently been published by Bloomsbury. Link (English, WG)

Kevin Thurman and Julian Darius’ monograph Voyage in Noise: Warren Ellis and the Demise of Western Civilization has recently been published by SEQUART. Link (English, WG)

Patrick Meaney and Kevin Thurman’s book Warren Ellis: The Captured Ghosts Interviews has recently been published by SEQUART. Link (English, WG)

Jeet Heer’s book about Françoise Mouly’s comic work, entitled In Love with Art: Françoise Mouly’s Adventures in Comics with Art Spiegelman, has recently been published by Coach House Books. Link (English, WG)

There is a call for papers for a special issue of the journal Partial Answers entitled “Comics and the Canon.” Submissions between 5,000 and 10,000 words are due by the 30th April 2014. Link (English, WG)

The University of Cincinnati’s Composition Studies journal has solicited a call for papers for their Spring 2015 issue, the topic of which is “Comics, Multimodality, and Composition.” Submissions are due by 1st August 2014. Link (22/09/2013, English, EG)

The MLA Discussion Group on Comics and Graphic Narratives announced they have four scholarly panels focused on the study of comics during the 129th Annual MLA Convention, which takes place between the 9th and 12th January 2014 in Chicago, Illinois. There are session details published on their blog. Link (22/09/2013, English, MB & EG)

Washington State University professor Dr. James Bucky Carter has released a call for papers for an edited collection of essays entitled “The Conversations Project: Interdisciplinary Conversations About Comics, Literacy, and Scholarship.” Examples of potential topics are listed in the CFP, and the deadline for submissions is the 1st March 2014. Link (17/09/2013, English, MB & EG)

There is a call for papers for the conference “Can Comics Be Poetry?” to be held at Dartmouth College between the 28th February and the 2nd March. Abstracts of 250 words are due by the 15th November. Link (26/09/2013, English, WG)

Fantagraphics has available a new book for pre-order by comics scholar Trina Robbins entitled “Pretty in Ink: North American Women Cartoonists 1896-2013.” This monograph documents the history of women cartoonists, and the book will ship in November. Link (English, MB)

Asia

China

Research

There is a call for papers for the Women’s Manga Research Project & Hong Kong Arts Center Joint International Symposium entitled “Modern Women and Their Comics: Changing Local Identities from the 1960s to the 2000s.” Abstracts for 20 minute talks are due by the 15th October, for the event taking place at Comix Home Base, in Hong Kong, between the 22nd and 24th March 2014. Enquiries about the event can be made to Katrien Jacobs (kjacobs@cuhk.edu.hk), Kazumi Nagaike (nagaike@cc.oita-u.ac.jp) or Fusami Ogi (fogi@chikushi-u.ac.jp). (WG)

Japan

Culture

Yoshihiro Yonezawa Memorial Library (Meiji University) is holding a talk show related to the “Gaiman Award” (Foreign manga award) on the 13th October. Link (Japanese, JBS)

Malaysia

Culture

Singapore

Culture

The 2013 edition of the Singapore Toy Game and Comic Convention took place on the 31st August and the 1st September. Run by Reed Exhibitions, it is more of a toys and games con these days, with a heavy focus on Iron Man toys this year. Link (English, LCT)

Europe 

Belgium

Business

Bande dessinée publisher Dupuis has announced plans for a theme park dedicated to several famous characters including Spirou, Gaston Lagaffe and Marsupilami. The park is expected to open in 2015. Link (18/09/2013, French, LTa)

Culture

Raoul Cauvin, renowned author of various bande dessinée series, including Cédric and Pierre Tombal, has announced his retirement at the age of 74. In 2006 it was estimated he had sold around 45 million albums. Link (27/09/2013, French, LTa)

Finland

Culture

Allan Haverholm reports on the 2013 Helsinki Comics Festival for the The Comics Grid blog. Link (24/09/2013, English, WG)

France

Culture

The celebrated bande dessinée series Quai d’Orsay has been adapted for cinema. The film, to be released in November 2013, is directed by Bertrand Tavernier and stars Thierry L’Hermitte. Link (28/09/2013, French, LTa)

A bronze bust of René Goscinny, creator of Astérix and Le Petit Nicolas, has been unveiled in Warsaw (video). Link (25/09/2013, French, LTa)

The Museum of Immigration in Paris has announced a large exhibition on bande dessinée and immigration. It will take place from the 16th October until the 27th April 2014. Link (24/09/2013, French, LTa)

Germany

Business

German comic authors have released a manifesto demanding public funding. Link (02/09/2013, German, MdlI)

Culture

An exhibition on Berlin in comics, Comics aus Berlin. Bilder einer Stadt, was held in Berlin from the 4th to the 15th September. Link (02/09/2013, German, MdlI)

Comicfestival Hamburg will take place between the 3rd and the 6th October; guests include Rutu Modan. Link (09/09/2013, German)

Several comic authors, including Gabriel Bá and Fabio Moon, will be present at the Frankfurt Book Fair from the 9th to the 13th October. Link (12/09/2013, German, MdlI)

The first Manga-Comic-Convention (MCC), formerly part of Leipzig Book Fair, has been announced for the 13th to the 16th March 2014. Link (19/09/2013, German, MdlI)

The exhibition Steffen Kverneland/Munch – Lars Fiske/Merz – Comic-Künstler aus Oslo takes place at the Edvard-Munch-Haus in Warnemünde from the 28th September to the 3rd November. Link (26/09/2013, German, MdlI)

Education

Helene-Lange-Gymnasium, a secondary school in Dortmund, won the reading education award of Stiftung Lesen for a teaching concept based on comics. Link (21/09/2013, German, MdlI)

Research

There is a call for papers for the conference Transmedial Worlds in Convergent Media Culture, which will take place at the Winter School at the Graduate Academy of the University of Tuebingen, Germany, between the 24th and 28th of February 2014. Talks can consider comics-based transmedial worlds, and abstracts of 300 words are due by the 31st October. Link (English, WG)

The programme for the 8th ComFor conference in Erlangen, which takes place between the 15th and the 17th November, is now online. Link (29/09/2013, German, MdlI)

Ireland

Culture

The Irish Comic News website discuss the imapct of the event DICE 2013. Link (English, SC)

Research

There is a call for papers for the conference, A Friend in the Furrows: Exploring “Folk Horror” in Literature, Film, and Music, which takes place at Queen’s University Belfast in October 2014. Abstracts, inclusive of considerations of folk horror in comics, are due by the 1st June 2014. Link (English, SC)

Portugal

Culture

Until the 4th November the Galeria Mundo Fantasma in Oporto is hosting an exposition of comics and illustration titled Crise Ibérica (Iberian Crisis). As the title suggests, it offers representations of Portuguese and Spanish crisis by authors living in both contexts. Link (13/09/2013, Portuguese, RR)

Spain

Business

There is a new comics publisher: Yermo Ediciones. The aim of this publisher is to go back to the roots of comics as a popular medium to tell stories. It will publish works both by Spanish artists and by international ones. Link (Spanish, EC)

Culture

There is a new online journal devoted to the analysis of comics. Some of the top Spanish critics are already featured in the first issue. Link (Spanish, EC)

Switzerland

Culture

An exhibition on Hergé and ligne claire comics, Die Abenteuer der Ligne claire. Der Fall Hergé & Co., will open at Cartoonmuseum Basel on the 26th October 2013, and run until the 9th March 2014. Link (09/09/2013, German, MdlI)

Law & Politics

Swiss politician, Toni Bortoluzzi, criticises the publicly funded comic Hotnights, which is used for sex education in Swiss schools. Link (***Adult Content, 21/09/2013, German, MdlI)

UK   

Culture

The line up for this year’s Dundee Comics Day has been confirmed. The event will take place on the 26th and 27th October. Link (25/09/2013, English, WG)

The British Comics Awards committee has released its shortlist of nominees up for awards. Link (25/09/2013, English, WG)

Education

Sarah Lightman is currently offering a number of short courses in creating comics at the Jewish Community Centre London. The next course, Jews, Visual Memoirs, takes place on the 9th October. Link (English, WG)

Research

Professor Ronan Deazley will be giving a lecture entitled “Writing About Comics and Copyright” on the 10th October, at the University of Glasgow. Link (English, WG)

There is less than a month left to submit to our themed month on Comics and Cultural Work, guest edited by Casey Brienza. 1000-1500 word articles are due by the 31st October. Link (08/08/2013, English, WG)

The programme for Transitions 4 Comica Symposium has been published online. The event will take place at Birkbeck, University of London, on the 26th October. Link (24/09/2013, English, WG)

There is a call for papers for the panel, “Diversity in Speculative Fiction: Digital Comics Panel,” that will take place at Loncon 3, 72nd World Science Fiction Convention, between the 14th and 18th August 2014 in London. The deadline for submissions is the 31st December. Link (17/09/2013, English, WG)

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

Correspondents: Jessica Bauwens-Sugimoto (JBS, Japan), Michele Brittany (MB, North America), Esther Claudio (EC, Spain), Shelley Culbertson (SC, Ireland), Eric Ganeau (EG, North America), William Grady (WG, UK), Martin de la Iglesia (MdlI, Germany), Renatta Rafaela (RR, Portugal), Moray Rhoda (MR, South Africa), 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.