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The Bi-Monthly ComFor Update for April 2016

by Lukas R. A. Wilde

Welcome back to ComFor’s quick update on comic studies-news related to the German-speaking corners of the world. The big news, here as probably everywhere else, was arguably the first membership drive of the Comic Studies Society (CSS). We were even more excited to learn about the plans of the CSS to launch a new comic scholarship Journal in 2017 (announced aptly as the Journal of the Comics Studies Society) – fascinating times to be a comics scholar, indeed!

In Germany, the early spring was initially all about wonderful festivals and fairs: from March 10 to 20, our Austrian neighbors in Linz and Steyr celebrated their Nextcomic Festival, with an inspiring range of international guests and ambitious exhibitions. During the same time (March 12), Hamburg opened up its first Comic and Manga Convention, and Berlin became the place to be for the Comicinvasion Festival (April 16 to 17). The satellite program of the Comicinvasion kicked off more than two weeks prior to the festival, with lots of exhibitions and some highly interesting lectures and talks on comics in various venues across the city. If Berlin was too far north from wherever you are residing, there was the option to head for Switzerland instead: the 25th Fumetto Festival in Luzern was celebrated for a whole 10 days (April 10 to 20), featuring not only a range of renowned artists and exhibitions as well (one right in the streets of Luzern), but also a program that seemed targeted at scholars as much as at connoisseurs: a lecture series on comics by some true masters of the art (such as Ben Katchor, Joost Swarte or Matt Madden, to name just a few). In addition, there was an international symposium titled “Drawing as Language and how Comic Artists Teach it”. The symposium asked some of the most renowned artists how they share their experiences in teaching, in encounters with students, children and even refugees.

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News Review March 2016

Asia

Japan

Culture

Kyoto International Manga Museum is holding the TV anime series exhibition She and Her Cat – Everything Flows, from the 9th April  until the 19th June. Link (English, JBS)

The exhibition Est Naito, at Kyoto’s Trance Pop Cider 2 gallery, with art by manga artists Est Em and Yamada Naito, is running until the 17th April. Link (23/03/2016, Japnese, JBS)

Yonezawa Yoshihiro Memorial Library’s 71st event is a Talk Even with manga artists Kono Fumio and Ozawa Yuki, with ‘How to Enjoy Barefoot Gen’ as a theme. The event is held at Meiji University on the 16th of April 16th. Link (Japanese, JBS)

Americas

Canada

Research

The Canadian Review of Comparative Literature (43.1) has been published, a special issue entitled “Exploring Canadian Identities in Canadian Comics”. Link (English, WG)

United States

Research

Inks: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society, the new journal of the Comics Studies Society, to be published beginning in 2017, has published a call for submissions. Link (English, WG)

Abstracts for an edited collection entitled, The Comics Work of Neil Gaiman: In Darkness, In Light, and In Shadow, are due by the 15th May. Link (09/03/2016, English, WG)

Creating Comics as Journalism, Memoir and Nonfiction, by Randy Duncan, Michael Ray Taylor, and David Stoddard, has been published through Routledge. Link (English, WG)

Prof. Fujimoto Yukari of Meiji University will give a presentation titled ‘The Structure and Characteristics of the Japanese Manga Market’ at Columbia Business School (New York) on the 6th April (registration required). Link (English, JBS)

Europe

France

Culture

French comics artist Joann Sfar was decorated knight of the Legion of Honour. Link (27/03/2016, French, BC)

Research

A call for papers has been issued for the study day La bande dessinée: quelles recherches?, organized in Paris by Benoît Berthou and Jacques Dürrenmatt on the 10th June 2016. Abstracts (in French) are due by the 8th April. Link (29/02/2016, French, BC)

The comics research network La Brèche, assembling graduate students and early-career researchers, has launched its website. Link (09/03/2016, French, BC)

Germany

Culture

This year’s Göttinger Elch award for satire goes to Max Goldt. Link (German, MdlI)

A Rodolphe Töpffer exhibition is being shown in Wiedensahl until the 28th August. Link (07/03/2016, German, MdlI)

The exhibition, Redrawing Stories from the Past, has moved on from Berlin to Chemnitz, where it is being shown until the 15th April. Link (14/03/2016, German, MdlI)

The Dōjinshi [amateur work] Of The Year 2015 award goes to Nana Yaa Kyere for her comic, MCS*. Link (16/03/2016, German, MdlI)

The 39th DONALD meeting took place in Cologne. Link (19/03/2016, German, MdlI)

The exhibition, Drawing the Line: Dissenting Voices in Contemporary Comics, will be shown in Berlin from the 8th to the 30th April. Link (24/03/2016, German, MdlI)

A Marc-Antoine Mathieu exhibition is taking place in Trebel from the 2nd to the 17th April. Link (31/03/2016, German, MdlI)

Research

The Closure conference on Beginnings and Renewals in Comics is going to take place in Kiel from the 9th – 11th September 2016; the deadline for abstracts is the 30th April. Link (German, MdlI)

A conference on The Empirical Study of Comics is going to take place in Bremen from the 7th to the 9th February 2017; the deadline for abstracts is the 31st May. Link (English, MdlI)

A one-day symposium on narrative structures and visual storytelling in comics is going to take place in Stuttgart on the 27th April 2016. Link (06/03/2016, English, MdlI)

A conference on myth and history in comics will take place in Leipzig from the 27th to the 30th April. Link (24/03/2016, German, MdlI)

Portugal

Culture

Until the end of April, the gallery Mundo Fantasma in Oporto, is hosting the exhibition Elipse of Sofia Neto. The exhibition is composed of some original comics works that were published in her book titled Eco [Echo]. Link (15/03/2016, Portuguese, RR)

On the 19th March the Libreria Tusitala in Badajoz, Spain opened an exhibition featuring the work of Portuguese comic authors, João Sequeira and Sónia Oliveira. The exhibition can be visited until the 9th April. Link (Spanish and Portuguese, RR)

Until the 16th April an exhibition dedicated to the Portuguese author José Garcês is being hosted in the Portuguese National Library (Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal) in Lisbon. Link (Portuguese, RR)

Spain 

Culture

La Casa, by Paco Roca, has been been awarded Best National Comic 2015 by the Confederación Española de Gremios y Asociaciones de Libreros (CEGAL). Link (09/03/2016, Spanish, EdRC)

Spanish humorist Forges has announced that he will donate all his works to the National Library of Spain. Link (07/03/2016, Spanish, EdRC)

Universo DC Cómics, an exhibition about DC Universe on the occasion of the new, can be visited in many different parts of Madrid from the 4th March to the 21st April. Link (08/03/2016, Spanish, EdRC)

El arte en el cómic, an exhibition about the relationship between famous works of art and comics, can be visited at Fundación Telefónica, Madrid, from the 18th February to the 15th May. Link (08/03/2015, Spanish, EdRC)

Superhéroes con ñ, an exhibition about the work of the numerous Spanish comic authors working for Marvel and DC, can be visited at Museo ABC, Madrid, from the 11th March to the 12th June. Link (11/03/2016, Spanish, EdRC)

Research

Acción Cultural Española, with the collaboration of the Institut Français in Spain, is offering a four month stay at the Maison des Auteurs in Angoûleme for a Spanish graphic novel author. The deadline for applications finishes on the 8th May. Link (12/03/2016, Spanish, EdRC)

Switzerland

Culture

The Fumetto festival in Lucerne is going to take place from the 16th until the 24th April; guests include Joe Sacco and Joost Swarte. Link (21/03/2016, German, MdlI)

UK

Culture

The exhibition Comix Creatrix: 100 Women Making Comics will be on at the House of Illustration, London, until the 15th May. Link (English, WG)

Research

There is a call for papers for a special issue of Comics Grid titled, Find David Bowie: Alternative Approaches to Bowie and Comics. The submission deadline for full papers is the 1st September. Link (14/03/2016, English, WG)

There is a call for presentations for, The Superhero: 2nd Global Meeting, which will take place between the 9th and 11th September at Mansfield College, Oxford. 300 word abstracts, proposals and other forms of contribution should be submitted by the 15th April. Link (English, WG)

The Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics 7.1 has been published. Link (English, WG)

*                    *                    *

Correspondents: Jessica Bauwens-Sugimoto (JBS, Japan and America), Enrique del Rey Cabero (EdRC, Spain), Benoît Crucifix (BC, France), William Grady (WG, United States, Canada and UK), Martin de la Iglesia (MdlI, Germany and Switzerland), and Renatta Rafaella (RR, Portugal).

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News Review February 2016

Americas

Canada

Research

The online journal Alternative francophone has published a special issue on French women’s comics, edited by Sophie Milquet and Chris Reyns-Chikuma. Link (22/02/2016, French, BC)

United States

Education

Meiji University professor Fujimoto Yukari will give a talk on ‘The Nuclear Disaster, Tsunami and Manga’ at Columbia University on the 11th March. Link (English, JBS)

Research

The Comics Studies Society, a new professional association for comics researchers and teachers, has launched its membership drive. Link (15/02/2016, English, WG)

There is a call for proposals for a collection of essays titled How to Analyse and Review Comics. Abstracts are due by the 15th March. Link (07/02/2016, English, WG)

The table of contents for the International Journal of Comic Art 17.2 has been published online. Link (16/02/2016, English, WG)

The Modern Language Association’s Forum on Comics and Graphic Narratives is currently accepting proposals to its three panels on Adaptation, Temporality, and Alien Lines for the 2017 meeting. Abstracts are due by the 15th March for proposals relating to Adaptation and Alien Lines, and the 4th March for Temporality. Link (English, WG)

There is a call for papers for a special roundtable session, Invisible Made Visible: Comics and Mental Illness, for the MLA conference 2017. The deadline for abstracts is the 15th March 2016. Link (12/02/2016, English, WG)

Issue 8.3 of ImageTexT has been published. Link (English, WG)

The deadline for applications for this year’s The Experience at Comic-Con, which engages students as participant-observers of Comic-Con International, is the 1st April. Link (English, WG)

Asia

Japan

Culture

Hagio Moto’s seventies girls’ manga series, Poe no ichizoku [The Poe Family] will be adapted for TV as a suspense drama in spring. It will be aired by TV Asahi and one of the main characters will be played by SMAP member Katori Shingo. Link (Japanese, JBS)

On the 19th March, Meiji University’s Yonezawa Yoshihiro Memorial Library will hold a talk event with manga artist and Kyoto Seika University professor Sugaya Mitsuru and Kyoto International Manga Museum researcher Ito Yu. Link (Japanese, JBS)

The nominees for the 20th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize have been selected. A full list of all seven works can be found at the link. The awards ceremony will take place on the 29th May. Link (Japanese, JBS)

The exhibition, Doboku and Manga, exploring manga from the perspective of civil engineering, will be held at Kyoto International Manga Museum from the 3rd March until the 20th May. Link (English, JBS)

Europe

Austria

Research

A Call for Papers for an issue of the Journal for Religion, Film and Media (JRFM) on Comics and Animated Cartoons has been published; the deadline for submissions is the 31st August. Link (English, MdlI)

France

Culture

Two authors’ groups have called for a boycott of the 2017 Angoulême Festival in light of this year’s troubled edition. Link (24/02/2016, French, LTa)

Four female BD creators -TanXXX, Julie Maroh, Aurélie Neyret and Chloé Cruchaudet- have refused membership of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres as offered by the French Ministry of Culture. Link (02/02/2016, French, LTa)

A bande dessinée-cented theme park has been proposed in Angoulême. Link (12/02/2016, French, LTa)

Research

Bande dessinée et numérique, edited by Pascal Robert, has been published through CNRS éditions and offers essays investigating digital comics. Link (25/02/2016, French, BC)

In the framework of the États Généraux de la Bande Dessinée association, which seeks to defend the rights of comics artists, Thierry Groensteen has written a historical study of cartoonists’ rights associations. Link (22/02/2016, French, BC)

Germany

Business

Novelist Hanna Heitmeyer, a.k.a. Hannah Ben, was found to have plagiarised Boys next Door by Kaori Yuki; Heitmeyer’s publisher terminated her contract. Link (10/02/2016, English, MdlI)

Culture

The 1st Comic and Manga Convention Hamburg is going to take place on the 12th May. Link (05/02/2016, German, MdlI)

An exhibition of Finnish comic artists is taking place in Berlin until the 3rd March. Link (15/02/2016, German, MdlI)

An exhibition on myth and history in comics is going to be shown in Leipzig from the 11th March until the 7th October. Link (19/02/2016, German, MdlI)

Research

A Call For Papers for this year’s ComFor conference, which is going to take place at University of Duisburg-Essen from the 16th until the 19th November, has been published; the topic of the conference is Comics in School – School in Comics and the deadline for abstracts is the 1st April. Link (04/02/2016, German, MdlI)

The book, Comic – Film – Gender, Véronique Sina’s PhD thesis, has been published by Transcript in February. Link (German, MdlI)

The books, Reading Graphic Novels: Genre and Narration by Achim Hescher, Metamedialität und Materialität im Comic: Zeitungscomic – Comicheft – Comicbuch by Christian Bachmann, Comic-Pioniere: Die deutschen Comic-Künstler der 1950er Jahre by Reginald Rosenfeldt, and Comiczeichnen: Figurationen einer ästhetischen Praxis by Lino Wirag, have been published in February. Link (29/02/2016, German, MdlI)

Portugal

Culture

From the 3rd March until the 6th March, the Coimbra BD will take place at the Casa da Cultura in Coimbra. Link (Portuguese, RR)

Spain

Culture

Termicómic 2016, a graphic novels and self-publishing festival, will take place from the 10th to the 12th March at La Térmica, Málaga.Link (22/02/2016, Spanish, EdRC)

Naúfragos, by Laura Pérez, has been awarded the 9th edition of FNAC-Salamandra International Graphic Novel Prize. Link (16/01/2016, English, EdRC)

Spanish cartoonist Jaume Capdevilla, a.k.a. Kap, has been awarded the Press Cartoon Europe 2016 with a cartoon about the refugee crisis. Link (22/01/2016, English, EdRC)

The 7th edition of GRAF, an event dealing with independent comic publishing, will take place in Barcelona from the 4th to the 6th March. Link (24/02/2016, Spanish, EdRC)

UK

Culture

Dr Simon Grennan and Dr Julian Waite of the University of Chester, and Professor Roger Sabin of Central Saint Martins, will give a talk on the work of the nineteenth-century cartoonist, Marie Duval, at the House of Illustration (London) on the 18th March. Link (English, WG)

The Dundee Comics Creative Space, partnered with the University of Dundee, is launching an after school club. Link (English, WG)

Research

The Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics have tweeted about an open call for submissions for a special collection focusing upon Comics and Film. Link (English, WG)

European Comic Art 8.2 has been published, with a special issue focused upon the First World War in comics and cartoons. Link (English, WG)

*                    *                    *

Correspondents: Jessica Bauwens-Sugimoto (JBS, Japan and America), Enrique del Rey Cabero (EdRC, Spain), Benoît Crucifix (BC, Canada and France), William Grady (WG, United States and UK), Martin de la Iglesia (MdlI, Austria and Germany), Renatta Rafaella (RR, Portugal), and Lise Tannahill (LTa, France).

Click here for News Review correspondent biographies.

Click here to see the News Review archive.

 
 

The Bi-Monthly ComFor Update for February 2016

by Stephan Packard

 

The new year starts with preparations for 2016’s annual ComFor conference, which will be held at Duisburg-Essen from November 16th to 19th. This year, we will focus on didactics, offering workshops and talks about implementing comics and comics studies into school curricula and lessons. Organized by Markus Engelns alongside Ulrike Preußer and Clemens Kammler, the conference will discuss basic concepts of comics analysis with a focus on examples that topicalize school within comics; and then turn that around to focus on comics in schools for the longest part. As usual, the conference will also include an open forum for current plans and intermediate reports from unfinished projects in comics studies that are looking for feedback or simply encouragement – my favorite part of each of our conferences. The call for papers was published recently and the deadline for abstracts is set at April 1st, 2016.

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Posted by on 2016/02/17 in ComFor Updates

 

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Broken Hero(es). The Construction of Masculinity in Enki Bilal’s La Trilogie Nikopol

by Véronique Sina

In France Enki Bilal may be one of the most popular comics artists who specialised in the genre of science fiction during his lifelong career. Since the mid 1970s his work has been characterised by the presentation of bleak visions of the future in which ruthless conglomerates reign and governments as well as ecological systems tend to collapse[1]. Most often the protagonists of these dystopic visions are disillusioned and broken heroes whose adventures Bilal manages to capture with the help of his surrealistic artwork. In the following I would like to focus on one of those broken heroes – namely Alcide Nikopol, the protagonist of Bilal’s comic book series La Trilogie Nikopol (1980-1992) – in order to analyse the construction of masculinity[2] in Bilal’s work by showing how performative discourses of gender and media go hand in hand in La Trilogie Nikopol[3]. In this respect, ‘masculinity’ is understood as a performative concept, i.e. as doing masculinity. As the American gender theorist Judith Butler elaborates

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