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
The 23rd edition of the Romanian Francophile Comic Con took place in Constanţa on the dates 25-27/10/2013. The main exhibition, entitled
Spirou Tour en Roumanie, celebrated the Belgian weekly comic
Spirou, now in its 75th year.
Link (Romanian, MP)
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)
* * *
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.
Comics Forum 2013 is taking place at Leeds Central Library next Thursday and Friday!
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