Author Archives: Comics Forum

Africa

South Africa

Culture

Moray Rhoda and Neville Howard, behind the comics anthology Velocity, were invited to present a panel on African and Australian comics at the San Diego Comic-Con on the 18th July. It was a historical first, as no South Africans have ever presented a panel talk at the San Diego Comic-Con. Link 1 (18/06/2013, English, MR), Link 2 (English, MR)

Americas

Canada

Business

With developer David Mirvish’s sale of “Honest Ed’s” (which features strongly in Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim), Toronto comics shop “The Beguiling” may also be affected. Link (English, PW)

Culture

Vancouver Comics Arts Festival is set to go for the third year in a row on the 24th and 25th May 2014. Link (English, PW)

The Joe Shuster awards for Canadian cartooning will take place on the 24th August. Link (English, PW)

Research

After the success of the Comics and the Multimodal World conference this year, Graphixia will run another conference at Douglas College next year, possibly in May or June. (PW)

Comics and the Multimodal World presenter, Susan Kirtley, won an Eisner for best educational/ academic book. Bart Beaty, one of the keynote speakers was also nominated for the same award. Link (English, PW)

United States 

Business

Diamond News reports on their top 100 comics based on total unit sales of products invoiced for June 2013. Leading the way was the new Scott Snyder/Jim Lee book Superman Unchained from DC Comics. Link (05/07/2013, English, MB & EG)

Diamond News reports on their top 100 graphic novels based on total unit sales of products invoiced for June 2013, with the latest Walking Dead volume at the head. Link (05/07/2013, English, MB) 

Online merchant Amazon has launched its own graphic novel imprint, Jet City Comics, which promises to have books by the likes of George R.R. Martin and Neal Stephenson available by the end of the year. Link (09/07/2013, English, EG)  

Marvel Comics has launched the Marvel: Share Your Universe campaign, which is meant to provide an easy way to bring younger readers and viewers to the fictional world of the popular publisher. Link (09/07/2013, English, EG) 

Based on the success of last year’s Infinite Comics, Marvel has launched their first few weekly all-digital series starring heroes Wolverine and Iron Man. Link (09/07/2013, English, EG)

Culture

The San Diego Comic-Con was held in the middle of July, and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) posted an article covering their “Draw Your Favorite Character from a Banned Book” panel. The panel included Jeffrey Brown, Chris Burnham, Terry Moore, Tim Seeley, Jeff Smith and Eric Powell. Link includes several photographs from the event. Link (26/07/2013, English, MB)

 Education

History of Comics Online Class is a 14 week online course on comics being offered by the Sequential Artists Workshop. The course begins on the 27th August. Link (English, WG)

Jobs

Independent comic book and graphic novel publisher Fantagraphics, based in Seattle, Washington, is currently looking for individuals with an interest in learning more about the business from an editorial position. The deadline for consideration is the 15th October. Link (English, MB) 

Law & Politics

Graphics designer and author of Super Graphic: A Visual Guide to the Comic Book Universe, Tim Leong, has created a new infographic that traces the main themes that libraries have cited in order to challenge and ban certain comics such as Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Maus, Sandman, and others. Link (16/07/2013, English, MB) 

Research

A call for papers has been posted for an essay collection entitled “Comic Continuations and Adaptations.” Editors are seeking papers that explore adaptations and continuations of comic books and graphic novels into other media, especially television, film, and the novel. Abstracts are due by the 1st September. Link (11/07/2013, English, MB)

There is a call for papers for a special issue of Studies in American Humor set for autumn 2014 entitled “MAD Magazine and Its Legacies.” Queries and abstracts are due by the 1st October. Link (29/07/2013, English, MB & EG)

The Southwest Popular/American Culture Association has posted a call for papers for their upcoming 35th annual conference that takes place between the 19th and 22nd February 2014, in Albuquerque. Of interest is the Graphic Novels, Comics, and Popular Culture panel hosted by Robert G. Weiner. The deadline for abstract submission is the 1st November. Link (15/07/2013, English, MB) 

“The Comics of Hergé” is a proposed volume in a new book series, Critical Approaches to Comics Artists (University Press of Mississippi), edited by Joe Sutliff Sanders. Those interested in contributing to the volume should send a 500 word abstract by the 1st January 2014. Link (11/07/2013, English, WG)

Redrawing French Empire in Comics by Mark McKinney has just been published by Ohio State University Press. Link (English, WG)

Michael Dooley interviewed Kathleen McClancy and Joyce Havstad about the Comic Arts Conference at San Diego Comic-Con. Link (10/07/2013, English, WG)

Asia

Japan

Business

The 84th Comic Market will be held in Tokyo, from the 10th to the 12th August. Link 1 (Japanese, JBS), Link 2 (English, JBS)

Culture

On the 7th September, Kyoto International Manga Museum will hold a ‘konkatsu‘ (marriage activities) singles party where people interesting in manga and anime, who are looking for romantic partners, can get to know each other. Link (Japanese, JBS)

On the 17th August, Yoshihiro Tatsumi, author of many critically acclaimed manga in the gekiga genre, will speak at the Kyoto International Manga Museum with manga critic Tomofusa Kure and Kazuma Yoshimura (professor at the Faculty of Manga, Kyoto Seika University). Link (Japanese, JBS)

Law & Politics

The head of the editorial department of Core Magazine, Akira Ota, and two others have been arrested by Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department for distributing obscene images in Comic Mega Store and Nyan 2 Club. Both publications employ a mosaic censoring technique over the explicit content, but officials deemed the censorship insufficient. Link (25/07/2013, English, MB)

Europe 

France

Culture

Albert Uderzo, illustrator of the Astérix series, has been named an Officer of the Légion d’honneur. Link (14/07/2013, French, LTa)

Germany

An exhibition on Italian comics was held in Munich until the 21st July. Link (09/07/2013, German, MdlI)

A roundtable on web-comics with Flix and other artists has been announced to take place in Cologne on the 23rd September. Link (29/07/2013, German, MdlI)

Ireland

Culture

The Dublin Comic Mart took place on the 3rd August. Link (22/07/2013, English, SC)

Jobs

A comics artist is wanted by to create a comic book on the history of Cork for an exhibition. Link (27/07/2013, English, SC)

The Netherlands

Research

“The Ethics of War and Conflict in Graphic Narratives” is a workshop being organised for the European Association for American Studies (EAAS) annual conference, which takes place between the 3rd and 6th April 2014. 300-500 word abstracts are due by the 1st October. Link (12/07/2013, English, WG)

There is a call for papers for the conference, Backroom Business: The Production of Periodicals, which seeks to explore every aspect related to the production of European periodicals, from the early eighteenth century to the present day. Proposals are due on the 1st October for the conference that takes place on the 10th and 11th April 2014, in Radboud University. Link (26/06/2013, English, WG)

Switzerland

Culture

An exhibition on Tibet in comics opens at Museum Rietberg, Zurich, on the 14th July, accompanied by two lectures in September. Link (01/07/2013, German, MdlI)

UK   

Culture

Organisers of the 9th Art Award, that will take place at the Edinburgh Book Festival this August, are seeking crowd funding to publish an anthology which will contain extracts from the shortlisted works that are in the running for the award. The donation cut off is the 9th August. Link (English, WG)

Details for Stripped, the comics focused event at the Edinburgh Book Festival (10th – 26th August), can be found be found on the website. Guests include Chris Ware, Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison, Joe Sacco,  and many more. Link (English, WG)

Education

Damon Herd has teamed up with the DCA (Dundee Contemporary Arts) for a one week creative work shop on the history of superhero stories, taking place between the 5th and 9th August. The workshop is aimed at 11-16 year olds, and will be introduced by Dr Chris Murray of the University of Dundee. Link (English, WG)

Research

The newly created Journal of Illustration is to be published by Intellect. Link (English, WG)

There is a call for papers for the collection Bad Signals: Collected Essays on the Work of Warren Ellis, edited by Hallvard Haug, and Tony Venezia. The proposed anthology which will focus upon any aspect of Warren Ellis’ work, and 300 word abstracts are due by the 13th December. Link (23/07/2013, English, WG)

The comics conference, Transitions 4, will now take place on the 26th October. Link (English, WG)

Damon Herd provides a illustrated blog for the Laydeez do Comics Glasgow event that took place on the 25th June. Link (02/07/2013, English, WG)

The journal European Comic Art Volume 6, Issue 1, has recently been published. Link (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), Shelley Culbertson (SC, Ireland), Eric Ganeau (EG, North America), William Grady (WG, UK), Martin de la Iglesia (MdlI, Germany), Moray Rhoda (MR, South Africa), Lise Tannahill (LTa, France), Peter Wilkins (PW, Canada).

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.

Americas

Canada

Research

Graphixia has published a report on the conference Comics and the Multimodal World that took place at Douglas College between the 13th and 16th June. Link (18/06/2013, English, WG)

United States 

Business

Diamond Comics announced their top 100 comics for May 2013. The Brian Wood/Olivier Coipel all-female X-Men #1 comes in at the top spot. Link (07/06/2013, English, MB & EG)

Diamond Comics released their list of the 100 bestselling graphic novels of May 2013; in the lead is BOOM! Studios’ Adventure Time: Playing with Fire. Link (07/06/2013, English, MB & EG)

Within two weeks of its release, Warner Bros. new film Man of Steel has surpassed the half-billion dollar mark at the box office, though it has not found the success of this year’s earlier Iron Man 3. Link (30/06/2013, English, EG)

Archaia Entertainment, home of award winning Tale of Sand and Mouse Guard, has been acquired by Boom! Studios this past week. Link (24/06/2013, English, MB)

Culture

The Comics Grid report on the 2nd Annual Chicago Alternative Comics Expo, which took place on the 15th and 16th June. Link (25/06/2013, English, WG)

Education

Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. announced their Diamond Graphic Novel Common Core List, a selection of 98 graphic novels designed to fit into the United States’ Common Core curriculum of education standards. Selections are divided by age and include such works as Johnny Boo Does Something, Scary Godmother, and Underwater Welder. Link (27/06/2013, English, EG)

As part of their Workforce Development & Continuing Education program, the University of Akron is offering a five-week course titled “Creating Great Characters and Funny Comics” which will begin on the 11th July. Link (English, MB)

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and Dark Horse have published the “CBLDF Presents Manga: Introduction, Challenges, and Best Practices” handbook. It is designed for interested librarians and educators to navigate the field of manga by providing a historical framework in which to discuss the genre and issues faced by the manga industry today. Link (26/06/2013, English, MB)

Jobs

The Savannah College of Art and Design has posted a full time teaching position, Professor of Sequential Art, to commence this autumn. Candidates should hold an undergraduate and graduate degree in sequential art or a related field. Link (English, MB)

Obituaries

Kim Thompson, who was diagnosed with lung cancer in February of this year, has passed away aged 56. He was co-publisher of Fantagraphics Books, and instrumental in translating and bringing European graphic novels to American audiences. Link (19/06/2013, English, MB & EG)

Research

The Columbus College of Art and Design announced Mix 2013: CCAD’s Celebration of Comics, the second annual symposium bringing together academic and artistic perspectives. The event will take place between the 27th and 28th September, in Columbus, Ohio. Proposals were due June 24th, but the announcement includes early event details. Link (04/06/2013, English, MB)

The Comics and Comic Art area chair is now accepting abstracts for the PCA/ACA National Conference being held at the downtown Marriott Chicago, between the 16th and 19th April 2014. The deadline for abstracts is the 1st November, and travel grant requests are due on the 15th November. Link (English, MB)

The Superhero Reader, edited by Jeet Heer, Kent Worcester, and Charles Hatfield, has been published through the University Press of Mississippi. Link (29/06/2013, English, WG)

Asia

Indonesia

Culture

As reported a few months ago, the Comics Alternatives: From Graphic Diary to Manga Style conference was held at Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Bandung, from the 13th to the 16th June. It was a lively conference with many discussions held during and after the panels. Countries (both researchers and artists) represented were Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and Germany. Link (English, LCT)

An exhibition of horror comics by established and young Indonesian artists was held at Kedai Kebun Forum Gallery in Jogjakarta between the 8th and the 30th June. A series of talks on comics was also conducted at the space. Link (English, LCT)

Japan

Culture

The Kyoto International Manga Museum is exhibiting a large collection of ballet manga, original ballet manga art, and related items between the 13th July and the 23rd September. Related talk shows, events, and work shops will also be held. Link (English, JBS)

On the 20th July there will be a talk featuring manga artist Miki Tori, at the Yoshihiro Yonezawa Memorial Library. Tori will talk about her experiences as a Meiji University student, when she was a member of the Sakyo Komatsu (a Science Fiction author) research group. Link (Japanese, JBS)

Europe 

Denmark

Culture

The International Comics Festival in Copenhagen took place between the 1st and 2nd June. Link (English, RPC)

The Danish comics Pingprize awards took place on the 1st June. Link (Danish, RPC)

France

Business

US-based digital comics platform Comixology has launched in France, welcoming 14 French publishers onto the platform, and some 400 titles. The 14 publishers make up 40% of France’s BD/Comic/Manga/Graphic Novel publishing market. Link (19/06/2013, English, LTa)

Culture

The head of the International Bande Dessinée Festival (FIBD) at Angoulême has quit his post with a year of his mandate left to run. Gérard Balinziala, who has been director of the festival since 2009, will be succeeded in an interim capacity by Patrick Auzou until 2015, when Balinziala’s term officially ends. Link (02/07/2013, French, LTa)

The Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BnF) will stage a major exhibition on Astérix from October 2013 until January 2014, based around Albert Uderzo’s donation of original artwork. Link (03/06/2013, French, LTa)

Germany

Culture

The second “Graphic-Novel-Tage” were held in Hamburg from the 10th to the 13th June; guests included Luke Pearson, Max, and Nicolas Mahler. Link (07/06/2013, German, MdlI)

An exhibition and symposium on “Autorencomics zwischen Bildgedicht und Graphic Novel” took place in Saarbrücken. Link (German, MdlI)

Research

The proceedings of the 2011 ComFor conference have been published. Link (24/06/2013, German, MdlI)

Publisher De Gruyter has released From Comic Strips to Graphic Novels: Contributions to the Theory and History of Graphic Novels, edited by Daniel Stein and Jan-Noel Thon, as part of the Narratologia series. Essays explore comics (strips and books) and graphic novels from several theoretical and historical perspectives. Link (English, MB)

Norway

Culture

The Oslo Comics Expo took place between the 7th and 8th June. Link (Norwegian, RPC)

Sweden

Culture

There is an exhibition at the design center in Malmö entitled “What up North?”, which takes place between the 3rd May and the 8th September. Link (Swedish, RPC)

UK

Culture     

The Guardian reports on how Hari Kunzru creates a “walk-in” graphic novel with his exhibition, Memory Palace, at the V&A in London. Link (18/06/2013, English, WG)

Education

A series of comics drawing workshops have been developed as a collaborative project between Cardiff University’s Centre for Language and Communication Research and the South African charity Whizzkids United, to produce a comic book in which teenagers tell their own stories to support HIV/AIDS education. Link (English, WG)

Research

There is a call for papers for a special collection within the open access journal Writing Visual Culture, titled “Writing Visual Culture: Digital Comics.” Abstracts of 200 words for papers of 3000 to 6000 words should be submitted by the 19th August. Link (21/06/2013, English, WG)

The Comics Grid announce a special collection celebrating 100 years of George Herriman’s Krazy Kat. Submissions can examine any aspect of Herriman’s creation, and submissions are due by the 1st October. Link (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), Rikke Platz Cortsen (RPC, Scandinavia), Eric Ganeau (EG, North America), William Grady (WG, UK), Martin de la Iglesia (MdlI, Germany), Lise Tannahill (LTa, France), 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.