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.
Category Archives: Thought Bubble
Death and the Superhero: Strikeforce: Morituri
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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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.
New MP3 Download: Charlie Adlard in conversation with Hugo Frey
Today sees the launch of another downloadable resource from Comics Forum: Charlie Adlard and Hugo Frey’s keynote conversation from Comics Forum 2012. Running to more than an hour in length, this interview covers a wide range of subjects from Charlie’s history in comics and his career, including Playing the Game (written by Doris Lessing), White Death (written by Robbie Morrison) and, of course, The Walking Dead (written by Robert Kirkman), among others. A huge thanks to Charlie and Hugo for giving up their time to take part in CF2012.
You can download the MP3 below, or from the Comics Forum 2012 archive (where you can also download the conference programme and abstracts and see reviews of the event). All downloads are free.
Charlie Adlard and Hugo Frey in Conversation (introduction by Ian Hague)
Direct download as an MP3 here (1:05:36, 60.1MB (right click and ‘Save Target As…’)).
Online streaming and alternative download formats are available here.
In the mood for more Comics Forum audio? Why not have a look at the Comics Forum 2011 archive, which includes a range of talks by top academics and artists on two of the conference themes: Graphic Medicine and Materiality & Virtuality, all available to download as MP3s for free!
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Comics Forum 2012
Running on the 15th and 16th of November, Comics Forum 2012 brought together nearly eighty academics, comics readers and creators to discuss the medium in depth at Leeds Central Library. Speakers came from around the world to deliver a range of fascinating presentations, and we featured Simone Lia in conversation with Ann Miller, and Charlie Adlard in conversation with Hugo Frey, as our keynote speakers. A huge thank you to all our participants, volunteers and supporters for helping to make the event such a success!
The Comics Forum 2012 page has now been updated and moved into the Comics Forum Archives section on the website. There you can download the full conference programme and speakers’ abstracts and biographies, as well as other conference documents like the poster and the call for papers.
Congratulations to John G. Swogger and William H. Foster III, who won our ‘Pick of the Papers’ prizes at this year’s event. John presented a paper entitled ‘Palauan Storyboard: Comics and narrative context in archaeological fieldwork’ and won Simone Lia’s Fluffy and Please God, Find Me a Husband! after being voted the paper of the day by the audience on Thursday. William talked on Friday about ‘The Changing Image of African American Women in Comics’ and won a copy of The Walking Dead Compendium Volume One. John has also reviewed Comics Forum 2012 here (if you were at Comics Forum 2012 and have reviewed the event, let us know and we’ll put a link in the archive!).
Comics Forum also appeared at this year’s Thought Bubble convention, to talk to people about studying comics in universities and schools. The Comics Forum table was manned by Comics Forum director Ian Hague, and consultant Dr Mel Gibson, and we were absolutely delighted with the response we got from the lovely Thought Bubble crowd! Thanks to everyone who came over for a chat! If we didn’t see you this year, come over and say hello next time…
We ran a raffle at the Comics Forum table, and we can now announce that the winners were:
Top Prizes: One issue of European Comic Art (courtesy of Berghahn), three issues of Studies in Comics and a copy of Ann Miller’s Reading Bande Dessinée (courtesy of Intellect).
Won by Pete Hindle and Darren Moffatt.
Runners Up: One issue of European Comic Art (courtesy of Berghahn).
Won by: Lou Crosby, Lily Glover, Nathalie Henry, Wade Simpson and John H. Thomson.
To keep up to date with all the latest Comics Forum news and articles, be sure to subscribe to our blog posts by filling in the subscribe form on the right hand side of this page, and follow us on Twitter and Facebook!
Comics Forum 2012 was supported by Thought Bubble, Arts Council England, the University of Chichester, Dr Mel Gibson and Molakoe Graphic Design. Prizes for the Pick of the Papers competition were provided by Travelling Man.
This week: Comics Forum 2012
Comics Forum 2012 is coming up at Leeds Central Library this Thursday and Friday (15th and 16th).
This year’s conference features a fantastic line-up of top speakers from around the world, and tickets start from just £10!
Our keynote speakers are:
Simone Lia (Fluffy; Please God, Find Me a Husband) in conversation with Ann Miller (Reading Bande Dessinée)
Charlie Adlard (2000AD; The Walking Dead) in conversation with Hugo Frey (The Cambridge Introduction to the Graphic Novel (2014))
Also featuring at Comics Forum 2012 are:
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 Jacob Birken: Set Pieces. Is eclectic imagery in Manga “Othering” or practised Polyculturalism? Frank Bramlett: The role of culture in comics of the quotidian 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 Cameron Fletcher: Spiderman: Manhattan to Mumbai; Crossing more than timelines to make a Global Icon a Glocal Hero William H. Foster III: The Changing Image of African American Women in Comics 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 Mary L. Tabakow: Representations of Asian Guest Workers, European/Regional Expatriates, and Male/Female Omani Nationals in Publicly-Funded Omani Comic Strips John G. Swogger: Palauan Storyboard: Comics and narrative context in archaeological fieldwork Asta Vrečko: ‘No one thinks of winter when the grass is green’ Keina Yoshida: Graphic fiction, visual narratives and international criminal justice
For the running order and timetable click here.
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. Ticket prices include light refreshments but not lunch.
This year, Comics Forum will also be appearing at the Thought Bubble convention so if you’re about do come and say hello! We’ll also be offering up the chance to win some great prizes at the Comics Forum stall, so be sure to fill in an entry form on the day!
See you there!
Ian Hague & Carolene Ayaka
Comics Forum 2012 Directors
Comics Forum 2012 is supported by Thought Bubble, Arts Council England, the University of Chichester, Dr Mel Gibson and Molakoe Graphic Design.
Comics Forum 