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Category Archives: Comics Forum Archives

Comics Forum 2012: Poster and Keynotes

Click image for full size poster.

I’m delighted to announce four excellent keynote speakers for Comics Forum 2012, and release our conference poster – ably designed once again by Ben Gaskell of Molakoe Graphic Design. Click here for the poster in PDF format – please circulate!

Coming up on the 15th of November (day 1) we have Simone Lia, author of Fluffy and Please God, Find Me a Husband! appearing in conversation with Helen Iball from the University of Leeds, who is also running Laydeez Do Comics Leeds (launching on the 26th of November!).

On the 16th of November (day 2) we’ll be hearing from Charlie Adlard, artist on The Walking Dead and 2000AD, who will be in conversation with Hugo Frey from the University of Chichester.

We also have a packed lineup of top speakers from around the world coming to Leeds to speak about a wide variety of subjects. See the Comics Forum 2012 page for details of all our speakers, paper titles and info on how to register. Tickets start from just £10!

Comics Forum 2012 is supported by Thought Bubble, Arts Council England, the University of Chichester, Dr Mel Gibson and Molakoe Graphic Design.

 
 

Comics Forum 2012: Registration Open

Registration for Comics Forum 2012 is now open. The conference will take place at Leeds Central Library on the 15th and 16th of November, and is themed around ‘Multiculturalism and Representation’. We have a fantastic line up of speakers from around the world coming to speak on a huge range of topics (see below for a full list).

Tickets are priced as follows:

1 day pass (15th or 16th): £10

2 day pass (15th and 16th): £20

4 day pass (Comics Forum 2012 & a two day Thought Bubble convention pass): £30 (save £10 on the cost if bought separately)

To register, email comicsforum@hotmail.co.uk and let us know how many tickets you want. Payment will be taken in cash on the day. Booking early is strongly recommended. Ticket prices include light refreshments but not lunch.

The full list of speakers and titles is as follows (this list is subject to change):

Maaheen Ahmed: The mutability of the line and its tendency towards monstrosity: Otherness of and within comics Maria-Sabina Draga Alexandru: Narrative Exploration against Mentality Issues: Indirect Education for Multiculturalism in Tintin Anya Benson: A Door to Anywhere: The Multicultural Visions of Doraemon Jacob Birken: Set Pieces. Is eclectic imagery in Manga “Othering” or practised Polyculturalism?  Frank Bramlett: The role of culture in comics of the quotidian Michael A. Chaney: Graphic Adaptations of Black Style: Converting Zora Neal Hurston’s Narrational Dialect into Comics Corey K. Creekmur: Multiculturalism Meets the Counterculture: Racial Difference in Underground Comix Umar Ditta: Controversial representations of cultures and relations between cultures Harriet E. H. Earle: Multiculturalism Vs Melting Pot in 9/11 Charity Comics Elisabeth (Lisa) El Refaie: Shape-shifting as a metaphor for multiculturalism in Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese Cameron Fletcher: Spiderman: Manhattan to Mumbai; Crossing more than timelines to make a Global Icon a Glocal Hero Michael Forbes: Truth, Baldwin, & American National Symbols William H. Foster III: The Changing Image of African American Women in Comics Lina Ghaibeh: Covering Wonder Woman’s nakedness: on the modification of comics imported to the Arab world Mel Gibson: ‘We don’t need no steenkin’ badgers!’ Talbot’s Grandville, anthropomorphism and multiculturalism Lily Glasner: Have you no manners? A Little Girl’s Gift to Her Majesty Simon Grennan: Empowerment requires power: absence, equilibrium and the capacity to influence in comics representations of cultural difference Brenna Clarke Gray & Peter Wilkins: An Innocent at Home: Scott Pilgrim and its Canadian Multicultural Context Sarah D. Harris: The Monster Within and Without: Spanish Comics, Monstrosity, Religion, and Alterity Paul Harrison: Land of Denial – Egypt in Comics Ian Horton: Colonialist Heroes and Monstrous Others: Stereotype and Narrative Form in British Adventure Comic Books Harriet Kennedy: The confused nationalisms of Bojoual: le huron-kébékois Alex Link: Negotiating Multicultural Transnationalism and Assimilative Globalization in Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis and Taiyo Matsumoto’s Tekkonkinkreet Anna Madill: Caucasian, Japanese, or What? Visual Representation of Race in Boys’ Love Manga Paul M. Malone: Multikulti Manga in Germany; or, Why Frau Merkel Should Read More Comics Andy Mason: The Presidential Penis and Other Scandalous South African Satires: Race, ethnicity and representation in South African comics and political cartooning, from the early 20th century to the present Ana Merino: The Impact of the Latino Identities on the Alternative Landscape of Comics: Thirty Years of Love and Rockets Dana Mihăilescu: Oy, Gevalt, Meydele! The Lower East Side as Mishmash of Jewish Women’s Multicultural Images in Leela Corman’s Unterzakhn Joseph North: Volti nascosti: cultural diversity in the Italian fumetto Hannah O’Connor: Sapphic Supervillains and Dynamic Dykes: Lesbian Heroism and (In)Visibility in Mainstream Graphic Literature Pre- and Post-9/11 Emma Oki: Representations of Asian Americans in Selected Works by Adrian Tomine Mihaela Precup: The Image of the Foreigner in Communist Romanian Comics Ethan Rubin: Robots are People Too: Webcomics and the Social Standing of “Everyday AI” Rebecca Scherr: Framing Subjects: the politics of representation in Joe Sacco’s Footnotes in Gaza Staci Strobl & Mary L. Tabakow: Representations of Asian Guest Workers, Expatriates, and Male/Femaie Omani Nationals in Royal Omani Police Comic Strips John G. Swogger: Palauan Storyboard: Comics and narrative context in archaeological fieldwork Marina Cavalcante Vieira: Migration and city image in light of Chicago School Sociology theories: assimilation and melting pot cities in the earlier Batman and Superman Asta Vrečko: ‘No one thinks of winter when the grass is green’ Keina Yoshida: Graphic fiction, visual narratives and international criminal justice

Comics Forum 2012 is supported by Thought Bubble, Arts Council England, the University of Chichester, Dr Mel Gibson and Molakoe Graphic Design.

 
 

Sketching in Lectures: An Interview with Mel Gibson by Ian Hague

Dr Mel Gibson is a Senior Lecturer at Northumbria University. She is also the creator of Dr Mel Comics, a website which supports librarians and teachers in developing graphic novel and manga collections and offers resources and links for those researching comics. She has been an invaluable asset to the development of Comics Forum since its inception in 2009, generously offering both sponsorship and expertise that have enabled the annual conference series to go ahead.

On the 20th of November 2011 she took some time out of the Thought Bubble Convention in Leeds to talk to me about her experiences using comics in the UK education sector, particularly as tools for assessment.

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Comics Forum Online: Year One Review and Comics Forum 2012 Call for Papers

One year ago today, comicsforum.org launched with this introductory post. Today I’m pleased to present a look back at the past year of articles by major comics scholars from around the world, and a look ahead to what’s coming next for Comics Forum, including our annual conference.

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Digital Comics: New Mutations & Innovations by Daniel Merlin Goodbrey

We are pleased to be able to offer Daniel Merlin Goodbrey’s presentation ‘Digital Comics: New Mutations & Innovations’ for download in PDF format. This paper was presented on the 18th of November 2011 as part of Comics Forum 2011. Many thanks to Daniel for making this available!

Click here to download the presentation.

Abstract: The medium of comics sits on the cusp of the digital future promised to comic creators at the turn of the century. Explorations of the infinite canvas and the many strange mutations of the hypercomic have been given a new relevance and audience by the recent advances in portable display and mobile media. Now, with a decade of experimental digital work behind us, the wider world is at last beginning to catch up to these odd outliers of the form.

As the comics industry moves to catch up with the frontier, newer and stranger ideas must be entertained. The hunt for weirder, more wonderful mutations must be renewed with new vigour and new purpose. This talk considers the different directions potential explorers of the medium might next pursue. It examines the possibilities of new forms such as locative, sonic, game, spatial and AR comics. In doing so it aims to map some of the many trails leading out into the new decade of experimental comics that lies before us.

Daniel Merlin Goodbrey is a senior lecturer in Interaction Design at The University of Hertfordshire in England. A prolific and innovative comic creator, Goodbrey has gained international recognition as a leading expert in the field of experimental digital comics. His hypercomic work received the International Clickburg Webcomic Award in Holland in 2006 while his work in print was awarded with the Isotope Award for Excellence In Comics in San Francisco in 2005. An archive of his work can be found here.

Comics Forum 2011 was supported by Thought Bubble, the University of Chichester, the Henry Moore Institute, Dr Mel Gibson, Routledge, Arts Council England, Intellect and Molakoe Graphic Design.

 

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