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Who is Charlie Chan Hock Chye?

26 Sep

Verisimilitude and (The Act of) Reading

by Yiru Lim

 

Figure 1

Figure 1

Source: The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye, p. 307. Copyright © 2015 by Sonny Liew. Published in Singapore by Epigram Books http://www.epigrambooks.sg

Singapore’s official version of history is primarily enshrined in the memoirs of Mr Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s first Prime Minister. Titled The Singapore Story: Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew, the memoirs were originally published in two volumes in 1998 and 2000 and a memorial edition was released by Marshall Cavendish in 2015, the year of Mr Lee’s passing. Revisionist accounts that stand in opposition to this seminal publication attempt to fill what they see as a void in Singapore’s history: the voice of the opposition, especially in the narratives concerning nation building and independence. They exist in a myriad of forms and genres—film, scholarly publications, prose, poetry—and they seek to debunk existing narratives and proffer more balanced perspectives of history.

Some recent examples include academic publications like Comet in Our Sky (2015), that speaks of the alleged communist Lim Chin Siong and his role in securing Singapore’s independence; Tan Pin Pin’s documentary film To Singapore, With Love (2013); Jeremy Tiang’s State of Emergency: A Novel (2017); and Sonny Liew’s graphic novel The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye (2015). Tan’s film has been banned from being screened in Singapore while the latter two have had their grants revoked by the National Arts Council of Singapore (NAC) (Ho, 2017, Today Online 2015 & 2014). Although Liew’s graphic novel did not receive government approval, it has taken the literary world by storm. It became the first graphic novel to win the Singapore Literature Prize in 2016 and has garnered Liew six Eisner nominations and three Eisner Awards this year (Martin, 2017).

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Posted by on 2017/09/26 in Guest Writers, Singapore

 

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Report: Transnational Graphic Narratives Summer School

18 Sep

University of Siegen, Germany. July 31st – August 5th 2017

-Report-

Authors: Amadeo Gandolfo, Pablo Turnes, Laura Nallely Hernández Nieto, Lia Roxana Donadon

Introduction

The first Transnational Graphic Narratives Summer School (abbreviated TGN) was held at the University of Siegen, Campus Unteres Schloß, from July 31st to August 5th of 2017. The participants included the following scholars (in alphabetical order): José Alaniz (University of Washington, USA), Benoît Crucifix (Université de Liège, Belgium), Veronica Dean (University of Los Angeles, USA), Subir Dey (Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, India), Harriet Earle (Sheffield Hallam University, England), Franca Feil (Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany), Moritz Fink (Academy for Civic Education Tutzing, Germany), Amadeo Gandolfo and Pablo Turnes (National University of Buenos Aires / CONICET, Argentina), Isabelle Guillaume (Universiy of Bordeaux Montagne, France), Olivia Hicks (University of Dundee, Scotland), Ganiyu A. Jimoh (University of Lagos, Nigeria), Kenan Koçak (Bilecik Şeyh Edebali University, Turkey), Sarah Lightman (University of Glasgow, Scotland), Suraya Md Nasir (Kyoto Seika University, Japan), Laura Nallely Hernández Nieto (National Autonomous University of Mexico), Barbara Postema (Concordia University, Canada), Johannes Schmid (University of Hamburg, Germany), Pfunzo Sidogi (Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa), Jocelyn Wright (University of Texas, USA), Tobias Yu-Kiener (University of the Arts London, Great Britain), Giorgio Buzzi Rizzi (University of Bologna, Italy), Lia Roxana Donadon (University of Siegen, Germany).

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Posted by on 2017/09/18 in ComFor Updates, Conference reports, News

 

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News Review August 2017

05 Sep

Americas

United States

Education

CSUN Today reports on Charles Hatfield’s new Studies in Popular Culture class developed for the English department at California State University, Northridge. Link (07/08/2017, English, WG)

Research

Inks: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society 1.2 has been published. Link (English, WG)

The schedule for the ICAF conference, which takes place at University of Washington in Seattle (2nd – 4th November), has been published online. Link (English, WG)

Osvaldo Oyola interviews comics scholar, Andréa Gilroy. Link (English, WG)

Europe

Belgium

Culture

The poet and bande dessinée author Vladimir Grigorieff. born in Brussels, has died aged 85. Link (16/08/2017, French, LT)

France

Culture

Bande dessinée artist Michel Plessix has died, aged 57.He was known for the Julien Boisvert series and his adaptation of Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind In The Willows. Link (22/08/2017, French, LT)

Germany

Culture

This year’s MMC Berlin convention is going to take place from the 27th-29th October; guests include Hidenori Kusaka and Satoshi Yamamoto. Link (19/08/2017, German, MdlI)

An exhibition of Nils Oskamp’s comic Drei Steine is shown in Oberhausen until the 5th November. Link (21/08/2017, German, MdlI)

Research

The proceedings of the 2015 ComFor conference on “history in comics” have been published. Link (26/08/2017, German, MdlI)

Spain

Obituary

Comic artist and illustrator Alfonso Azpiri has passed away. Link (21/08/2017, English, EdRC)

Portugal

Culture

From the 27th August until the 17th September, the São Mateus Fair is taking place in Viseu. There will be an exhibition of comics dedicated to the first king of Portugal, D. Anfonso Henriques. The inauguration launched a book dedicated to the history of the king and is created by the Portuguese Comic Author Eduardo Teixeira Coelho. Link (Portuguese, RR)

The Festival of Comics AmadoraBD is promoting its contest to which works may be submitted until the 18th September. The subject of the contest is “Reporter for one day”. Link (04/08/2017, Portuguese, RR)

On the 2nd and 3rd September, the Galeria Wagner in Ericeira will take place. It will be the second session of the 2nd edition of  “GOMA: Festival de BD & Comics”. Link (24/08/2017, Portuguese, RR)

UK

Culture

The University of Dundee is currently running the exhibition Girls in Print: Female Figures in British Comics. It runs until the 21st October. Link (English, WG)

Job

There is a job listing for Course Leader on the BA (Hons) Comic & Concept Art, at Leeds Arts University. Applications are due by the 10th September. Link (11/08/2017, English, WG)

Research

The Journal of Graphic Novels & Comics 8.5 has been published, a themed issue on Freaked & Othered bodies in comics. Link (English, WG)

The new issue of the journal, SubStance, is a special issue focused on the intersection of comics and anarchism, edited by Ole Birk Laursen and Frederik Byrn Køhlert. Link (English, WG)

*                    *                    *

Correspondents: Enrique de Rey Cabero (EdRC, Spain), William Grady (WG, UK and United States), Martin de la Iglesia (MdlI, Germany), Renata Rafaella (RR, Portugal), and Lise Tannahill (LT, France).

Click here for News Review correspondent biographies.

Click here to see the News Review archive.

 
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Posted by on 2017/09/05 in News Review

 

CfP: Graphic Realities: Comics as Documentary, History, and Journalism

04 Sep

Graphic Realities: Comics as Documentary, History, and Journalism

International Conference

22.-23.02.2018, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen/GCSC

While comics have traditionally been associated with fictional, especially funny and/or fantastic stories, they have in recent decades become a major vehicle for nonfiction, as well. This development coincides with a time that has been described as ‘post-truth’, in which established news media face a crisis of confidence. The turn towards comics is a turn towards a medium, which inherently promotes simplification and exaggeration. Cartoon imagery thus immediately exhibits the subjectivity of the artist and her or his interpretation – but what could be considered a hindrance towards factual reporting has become an important resource. The overt display of subjectivity and medial limitations as a show of honesty has been described as an authentication strategy of graphic nonfiction. In contrast to formats based on camera-recorded images like photography and film nonfiction comics cannot lay claim to indexing premedial reality. Rather, individual graphic styles index their own creator who as witness becomes the main authenticator. Thus, comics shift the weight of authentication from medial prerequisites towards their authors and artists and thus the textual properties referencing them. One of the questions that will be discussed at the conference is thus the relation of inherent medial properties of comics as vehicle for nonfiction. While among graphic nonfiction life

While among graphic nonfiction life writing in particular has received widespread scholarly attention, this conference will focus on recent approaches to comics as documentary, history, and journalism. As opposed to graphic memoirs in which authors reflect upon their own lives and experiences, these works focus on the lives and experiences of others. Thus, authors and artists need to do justice towards their subjects, as well as to their own experience and negotiate their own voices within their stories. This becomes especially relevant as a majority of graphic reportages centers around highly traumatizing crises and catastrophes, such as war, displacement, natural disasters, and oppression. The conference is intended to explore how authors and artists utilize the medium of comics for nonfiction and address these ‘graphic realities’.

Invited Speakers:
 Prof. Dr. Jörn Ahrens (Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen)
 Dr. Nina Mickwitz (University of the Arts London)
 Prof. Dr. Dirk Vanderbeke (Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena)
 Prof. Dr. Wibke Weber (Züricher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften
Winterthur)

Submission for talks should address one or more of the following questions:
 How is the medium of comics employed for reportage, history writing, and to report
on war, crises, and trauma?
 Which narrative and aesthetic strategies do authors and artists employ to present and
authenticate their comics as nonfiction?
 How do the genres of ‘documentary’, ‘history’, and ‘journalism’ in comics relate to
each other and how do they relate to other genres of graphic nonfiction such as ‘lifewriting’ or educational formats?
 Does the medium of comics inherently support nonfictionality, or does it depend on con- and paratexual framing practices?
 How do different ‘transfer media’ such as comic books or webcomics affect the
potential of comics for factual reporting?
 How and to what extent is nonfictionality created through intermediality, especially
with regard to more conventionally ‘factual’ media such as photography and film?
 In how far do different comics traditions differ transnationally and -culturally with
regard to their status as nonfiction?

Please submit your proposals (no longer than 300 words) for talks (20 min) and a short CV including your affiliation to graphicrealities@gcsc.uni-giessen.de until November 3rd, 2017.

The conference is organized as collaboration between the International Centre for the Study of Culture Giessen (GCSC) and the Comics Studies Working Group (AG Comicforschung) of the German Society for Media Studies (GfM) by Laura Schlichting (Justus-Liebig-University Giessen) and Johannes C. P. Schmid (University of Hamburg).

A membership in the Comics Studies Working Group is not mandatory for participation.

 
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Posted by on 2017/09/04 in ComFor Updates, General, News

 

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News Review July 2017

04 Aug

Americas

United States

Culture

The Eisner Awards 2017 winners have been announced, including Best Academic/Scholarly Work being awarded to Carolyn Cocca, for her book Superwomen: Gender, Power, and Representation (Bloomsbury). Link (English, WG)

Nicholas Yanes has edited a collection of comics scholars responses to the new Wonder Woman film. Link (English, WG)

Research

There is a call for papers for the Michigan State University Comics Forum, which takes place on the 23rd and 24th February 2018 at the Michigan State University. Proposals are due by the 10th December 2017. Link (English, WG)

Comics Art in China, by John A. Lent and Xu Ying, has been published through the University Press of Mississippi. Link (English, WG)

Sequentials 1.1, a journal for comics-as-scholarship, has been published. Link (English, WG)

The publisher Bloomsbury has announced the Bloomsbury Comics Studies series, edited by Derek Parker Royal. Forthcoming titles in this series include the volumes Superhero Comics and Autobiographical Comics. Link (English, WG)

Europe

Austria

Culture

This year’s AniNite convention is going to take place in Vienna from the 18th-20th August; guests include Martina Peters and Zofia Garden. Link (22/07/2017, German, MdlI)

Belgium

Research

The call for papers for the special issue of Authorship on “Comics and Authorship” has been extended to the 31st August. Link (19/07/2017, French, BC)

France

Culture

Barbarella, created by Jean-Claude Forest in 1962, will return in a new album. Link (17/07/2017, French, LT)

Germany

Culture

A Tom Bunk exhibition is shown in Hamburg until the 13th August. Link (03/07/2017, German, MdlI)

An exhibition of international comics published in Germany after 1945 is shown in Heilbronn until the 17th September. Link (03/07/2017, German, MdlI)

The 7th Graphic Novel Day is going to take place as part of the 17th international literature festival berlin on the 10th September; guests include Nicolas Mahler, Inga Steinmetz and Ulli Lust. Link (20/07/2017, German, MdlI)

A Walt Disney comics exhibition is shown in Hallenberg until the 20th August. Link (20/07/2017, German, MdlI)

An Anna Haifisch exhibition is shown in Chemnitz until the 8th October. Link (20/07/2017, German, MdlI)

This year’s Connichi convention is going to take place in Kassel from the 22nd-24th September; guests include David Füleki and Nana Yaa. Link (31/07/2017, German, MdlI)

Research

A workshop on “Framing Comics 1900/2000” is going to take place in Hamburg on the 27th and 28th October. Link (27/07/2017, German, MdlI)

Spain

Culture

The last issue of the weekly cultural supplement of El País included a special issue on Spanish comics. 42 authors and experts have chosen the best 25 Spanish comics of the 21st century.  Link (31/07/2017, Spanish, EdRC)

The Ibero-American graphic novel prize Narrar la ciudad. Premio de novela gráfica Ciudades Iberoamericanas has been created. Proposals are admitted in Spanish and Portuguese until the 31st August. Link (17/07/2017, Spanish, EdRC)

The Comics Festival Viñetas desde O Atlántico will take place in A Coruña from the 7th to the 13th August. Some of the invited authors include Pablo Auladell, Natacha Bustos and Dave McKean. Link (30/07/2017, Spanish/Galician, EdRC)

Industry

The artist Rayco Pulido offers in his blog an interesting insight of the Spanish comics industry and its problems. Link (21/07/2016, Spanish, EdRC)

Switzerland

Research

The International Association for Word and Image Studies (IAWIS) held its triennial conference in Lausanne from July 10-14, featuring several panels on comics. Link (10/07/2017, French, BC)

UK

Culture

The Graphic Short Story Prize 2017 is open for creative submissions for a chance to win £1000 and your comic in print. The deadline for entries is the 29th September. Link (English, WG)

Comics and Cartoon Art from the Arabic World is an exhibition running at the British Library until the 29th October. Link (English, WG)

Research

Posthumanism and the Graphic Novel in Latin America, by Edward King and Joanna Page, has been published through UCL Press. Link (English, WG)

European Comic Art 10.1, a special issue on Comics and Adaptation, has been published. Link (English, WG)

Comics: Explore and Create Comic Art at Seven Stories is the new exhibition taking place at The National Centre for Children’s Books. Link (English, WG)

The Lakes International Comic Art Festival will host the LICAF Academic Sessions on the 13th October. Link (English, WG)

*                    *                    *

Correspondents: Enrique de Rey Cabero (EdRC, Spain), Benoît Crucifix (BC, Belgium and Switzerland), William Grady (WG, UK and United States), Martin de la Iglesia (MdlI, Austria and Germany), and Lise Tannahill (LT, France)

Click here for News Review correspondent biographies.

Click here to see the News Review archive.

 

 
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Posted by on 2017/08/04 in News Review

 
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