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Category Archives: Comics Forum Presents…

New MP3 Download: Death and the Superhero

Today we present the second MP3 to come out of the Comics Forum Presents… series, José Alaniz’s talk ‘Death and the Superhero: StrikeForce Morituri‘, which took place at the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds earlier this year.

‘Death and the Superhero’ looked at the ways in which the superhero genre deals with death through the use of a case study: Marvel Comics’ Strikeforce: Morituri (1986-1989). This lecture runs for just over an hour.

You can download the MP3 below, or from the Death and the Superhero archive page (where you can also download the event’s poster). All downloads are free.

Comics Forum Presents… Death and the Superhero: StrikeForce Morituri by José Alaniz (introduction by Ian Hague)

Direct download as an MP3 here (1:05:39, 60.1MB (right click and ‘Save Target As…’)).

Online streaming and alternative download formats are available here.

Be sure to check back later in the week for the monthly Comics Forum News Review, coming up on Thursday!

 
 

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New MP3 Download: Comics and Philosophy: From Maus to She-Hulk

Comics Forum’s archives have expanded again today with the launch of a new section dedicated to our occasional public lecture series ‘Comics Forum presents…’. Now available is an MP3 from 2012’s event ‘Comics and Philosophy: From Maus to She Hulk‘.

‘Comics and Philosophy’ featured speakers Aaron Meskin and Roy Cook (editors of The Art of Comics: A Philosophical Approach). Meskin looked at the general relationships between the two fields, while Cook considered a case study, John Byrne’s She-Hulk comics, as a means for thinking about particular philosophical questions. The session ran for just under an hour.

You can download the MP3 below, or from the Comics and Philosophy archive page (where you can also download the event’s poster). All downloads are free.

Comics Forum Presents… Comics and Philosophy: From Maus to She-Hulk by Aaron Meskin and Roy Cook (introduction by Ian Hague)

Direct download as an MP3 here (59:03, 27.0MB (right click and ‘Save Target As…’)).

Online streaming and alternative download formats are available here.

In the mood for more Comics Forum audio? Check back next week when we’ll have another free MP3 download, this time taken from the second Comics Forum presents… event: ‘Death and the Superhero’ by José Alaniz.

 

Comics Forum Online: Year Two Review and Comics Forum 2013 Call for Papers

The Comics Forum website is two years old today! Following on from last year’s round up of articles, in this post I’ll be providing a review of all the pieces we’ve published this year, and launching the Comics Forum 2013 call for papers.

Read the rest of this entry »

 

Death and the Superhero: Strikeforce: Morituri

Jose Alaniz (2013) - Poster

To download a PDF of this poster click here.

Comics Forum is pleased to announce the second event in the ‘Comics Forum presents…’ series. José Alaniz, author of Komiks: Comic Art in Russia, guest author for the Comics Forum website and the current chair of the executive committee of the International Comic Art Forum, will appear at the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds (UK) on the 25th of March.

Death and the Superhero: ‘Strikeforce: Morituri’

Proceeding in part from the writings of cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker, the talk examines the late 1980s Marvel Comics series Strikeforce: Morituri (originally written by Peter Gillis with art by Brent Anderson), which took as its premise the inescapable mortality of its superteam’s members, for a consideration of the ways “real” death warps and complicates the routinely death-denying superhero genre.

José Alaniz, associate professor in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures and the Department of Comparative Literature (adjunct) at the University of Washington – Seattle, published his first book, Komiks: Comic Art in Russia (University Press of Mississippi) in 2010. His articles have appeared in the International Journal of Comic Art, the Comics Journal, Ulbandus, Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema and Kinokultura, as well as the anthologies The Ages of Superman: Essays on the Man of Steel in Changing Times (McFarland, 2012), The Cinema of Alexander Sokurov (I.B. Tauris, 2011) and Russian Children’s Literature and Culture (Routledge, 2007). In 2009 he edited a symposium on Czech comics for IJOCA. He is currently the Chair of the Executive Committee of the International Comic Arts Forum (ICAF), the leading comics studies conference in the US. His research interests include Death and Dying, Disability Studies, Film Studies, Eco-criticism and Comics Studies. His current projects include Death, Disability and the Superhero: The Silver Age and Beyond and a history of Czech comics.

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Entry to this event is free, but places are limited so registration is required. Places will be given on a first come first served basis, and early booking is strongly recommended. To register, send your name and the number of tickets you would like to comicsforum@hotmail.co.uk.

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Laydeez do Comics Leeds

Following Death and the Superhero, Wharf Chambers (23-25 Wharf Street, Leeds LS2 7EQ) plays host to the third instalment of Laydeez do Comics Leeds (6:30-9:30pm). Entry costs £1.50. The event features a top line up guests:

Adam Cadwell: Artist, web comic The Everyday, co-founder of Great Beast books.

Dr Mel Gibson: Academic, Northumbria University.

Melanie Maddison: Artist of zine Colouring Outside The Lines.

 

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.

Read the rest of this entry »

 
 
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