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Telling the Prehistory of Greenland in Graphic Novels by Lisbeth Valgreen

09 Apr

Background

Denmark and Greenland have, for a long time, been historically connected; in 1721 the Danish/Norwegian priest and missionary Hans Egede travelled to Greenland in search of the Norse. He didn’t find them, as the Norse had disappeared at the start of the 15th century. He did however find the Inuit, and he focused his missionary activities on them instead. In 1728, Egede founded the colony Godthaab (which is now known as Nuuk, the capital of Greenland today), and until 1953 Greenland was considered a Danish colony. In 1953, Greenland became a part of the Danish realm under the constitution of Denmark. Greenland received Home Rule Government in 1979, and in 2009 this Home Rule Government was extended to Self Government – although the Danish monarch is still the head of state in Greenland. Since the 19th century, Danish (and later also Greenlandic) scientists have been working in Greenland, documenting everything from archaeology, anthropology and language, to geology, biology and glaciology.

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Posted by on 2015/04/09 in Guest Writers

 

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News Review: March 2015

04 Apr

Americas

United States

Culture

New Yorker cartoonist, Roz Chast, won the National Book Critics Circle autobiography prize for Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?. Link (12/03/2015, English, WG)

Education

The Smithsonian and Stan Lee have teamed up to offer a free online course, The Rise of Superheroes and Their Impact On Pop Culture, which begins in May. Link (English, WG)

Obituary

Golden Age comics artist, Irwin Hasen, has passed away at the age of 96. Link (16/03/2015, English, WG)

Harold “Fred” Fredericks, who drew Mandrake the Magician from 1965 until 2013 also passed away. Link (13/03/2015, English, WG)

Research

Details for the conference, Frames: Jewish Culture and the Comic Book, which takes place at Princeton University between the 9th and 10th April, can be found through the link. Link (English, WG)

Moving Panels:Translating Comics to Film, by Logan Ludwig, has now been published through Sequart. Link (English, WG)

The Future of Comics, the Future of Men: Matt Fraction’s Casanova, by Geoff Klock, has been published through Sequart. Link (English, WG)

Asia

Japan

Culture

From the 25th April until the 5th July, Kyoto International Manga Museum is holding the exhibition “Liánhuánhuà: China’s Unknown Manga?” There will be a gallery talk on the 25th April, and a related academic symposium (The Many Faces of Liánhuánhuà: Exploring common ground with other genres) on the 30th May. Link (English, JBS)

The Kita Kyushu Manga Museum, celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the series “Cooking Papa” by Ueyama Tochi, is holding a special exhibition, “Cooking Papa and friends from Kyushu/Fukuoka”, from the 30th May until the 7th July. Link (Japanese, JBS)

On the 16th April, a public symposium with manga artist and “infamous” vagina artist Rokudenashiko (Megumi Igarashi) with as a theme “What is obscenity?” will be held at the Japan Education Center (Tokyo, Chiyoda ward). Link (27/03/2015, Japanese, JBS)

Obituary

Manga artist Yoshihiro Tatsumi has passed away. Link (English, WG)

Europe

Austria

Culture

Another television film on Nicolas Mahler was shown on the 15th March. Link (German, MdlI)

France

Culture

André Franquin’s long-running series Gaston Lagaffe is to be adapted for cinema by French distributor UGC. Link (18/03/2015, French, LTa)

Ninety-nine early Bécassine strips, which originally appeared from 1905-1914, are to be republished for the first time by Gautier-Languereau. Link (24/03/2015, French, LTa)

The title and release date of the next Astérix album have been announced. The book, written by Jean-Yves Ferri and illustrated by Didier Conrad, will be entitled Le Papyrus de Caesar and released on the 22nd October. Link (31/03/2015, French, LTa)

Germany

Business

Manga sales in German-speaking countries have increased by 15% from last year, reports GfK Entertainment. Link (05/03/2015, German, MdlI)

Comic sales in general have increased in Germany, resulting in a turnover of € 255 million in 2014, according to buchreport. Link (10/03/2015, German, MdlI)

Publisher Lappan was acquired by Carlsen. Link (30/03/2015, German, MdlI)

Culture

This year’s Preis der Literaturhäuser award goes to Nicolas Mahler. Link (German, MdlI)

The 2nd Düsseldorfer Comic und Manga Convention took place on the 29th March; guests included Anne Delseit and Ulf K. Link (01/03/2015, German, MdlI)

An exhibition on The Beatles in comics is going to be shown in Munich from the 7th May until the 9th July. Link (02/03/2015, German, MdlI)

A Nick Knatterton exhibition is shown in Saarlouis until the 10th May and in Bamberg from the 23rd May. Link (09/03/2015, German, MdlI)

The award, Bayerischer Kunstförderpreis, now accepts comics as nominations in its literature category. Link (12/03/2015, German, MdlI)

After Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung dropped all its comic strips, it now runs Volker Reiche’s Strizz again. Link (16/03/2015, German, MdlI)

The exhibition on Western comics, Going West!, is shown in Troisdorf until the 26th April; an interview with its curator Alexander Braun has been published. Link (17/03/2015, German, MdlI)

A Ralf König exhibition is being shown in Kassel until the 17th May. Link (19/03/2015, German, MdlI)

The annual meeting of the Deutsche Organisation der nichtkommerziellen Anhänger des lauteren Donaldismus (D.O.N.A.L.D.) took place in Schwerin on the 21st March. Link (22/03/2015, German, MdlI)

An exhibition of Belgian independent comics is shown in Rostock until the 19th April. Link (30/03/2015, German, MdlI)

Law & Politics

The student who destroyed items of a comics exhibition in Duisburg in 2013 was sentenced to a fine. Link (24/03/2015, German, MdlI)

Research

This year’s conference of the German Society for Comics Studies (ComFor) is going to take place in Frankfurt from the 4th until the 6th September. The conference theme is history in/of comics; the deadline for submissions is the 15th May. Link (05/03/2015, German, MdlI)

A PDF documenting the event “Webcomics im Focus” at last year’s Comicsalon Erlangen has been published. Link (12/03/2015, German, MdlI)

An encyclopedia of piccolo comic books is going to be published in June. Link (27/03/2015, German, MdlI)

Graphisches Erzählen. Neue Perspektiven auf Literaturcomics, a collected volume on “literature comics”, has been published. Link (German, MdlI)

Portugal

Culture

Penin Loureiro is organising a comics course in Bordalo Pinheiro Museum in Lisbon. The course is divided into two modules, with 4 sessions each. The course begins on 11th April and ends on the 30th May, and is taught by various comic authors and artists. Link (28/03/2015, Portuguese, RR)

The Galeria da Real Fábrica de Panos in Covilhã is hosting an exhibition of comics panels by the author Pedro Emanuel, about “O Magriço”, the legendary knight of Penedono. The exhibition, organised by the Department of Architecture of the University of Beira Interior. It can be visited until 24th May, from Tuesdays until Sundays, from 9.30am until 12.00pm, and from 14.30pm until 18.00pm, and entrance is free. Link (18/03/2015, Portuguese, RR)

The IPDJ in Viseu is hosting an exhibition dedicated to Spider-Man. The exhibition titled, “50 anos do Homem-Aranha” (50 Years of Spider-Man), can be visited until the 6th April, and admission is free. LInk (20/03/2015, Portuguese, RR)

From the 9th April until the 24th April, the Escola Superior de Educação e Ciências Sociais de Leiria (in Leiria) will host an exhibition dedicated to the centenary of Jijé, with free entry to the exhibition. Link (Portuguese, RR)

Spain

Culture

The 33rd edition of the Barcelona International Comic Fair will be celebrated from the 16th to the 19th April. Link (03/03/2015, English, EdRC)

An exhibition celebrating the 50th of Quino’s character, Mafalda, can be visited in Pozuelo de Alarcón (Madrid) from the 17th March to the 31st May. Link (15/03/2015, English, EdRC)

A film adapation of Vázquez’s classic, Anacleto: Agente secreto, will be released in September. A trailer is already available. Link (18/02/2015, Spanish, EdRC)

Bernard Willem Holtrop has won the International Humour Award Gat Perich. Link (30/03/2015, Spanish, EdRC)

UK

Culture

Details of Dee-Con 2015, which takes place at the University of Dundee on the 4th April, can be found through the link. Link (English, WG)

Research

The British Consortium of Comics Scholars (BCCS) has organised the BCCS Day with a Comics Tea Party, a symposium which will take place in Brighton on the 30th May. Link (English, WG)

Oceania

Australia

Culture

A launch party was held at Silent Army, in Melbourne on the 27th March for the release of #Takedown by David Blumenstein, Guzumo by Matt Emery, Drawn Onward by Matt Madden, Mowgli’s Mirror by Olivier Schrauwen, and Blammo 8 1/2 by Noah Van Sciver. Link (English, ALM)

Research

The programme for the Inkers and Thinkers Symposium, to be held 15th-16th May, was released on March 21st. Link (21/03/2015, English, ALM)

*                    *                    *

  News Editor: Will Grady (comicsforumnews@hotmail.co.uk) Correspondents: Jessica Bauwens-Sugimoto (JBS, Japan),  Enrique del Rey Cabero (EdRC, Spain), William Grady (WG, UK), Martin de la Iglesia (MdlI, Austria & Germany), Amy Louise Maynard (ALM, Australia), Renatta Rafaella (RR, Portugal),  Lise Tannahill (LTa, France). Click here for News Review correspondent biographies. Click here to see the News Review archive. Suggestions for articles to be included in the News Review can be sent to Will Grady at the email address above.

 
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Posted by on 2015/04/04 in News Review

 

“Can one still laugh about everything?” by Eszter Szép

21 Mar

A report on the Symposium at the Ohio State University on Charlie Hebdo and the terrorist attacks of January 7th 2015

The Charles Schulz auditorium, just above the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library at the Ohio State University (OSU), served as the venue of a mini-symposium on 19 February 2015 on the attack against Charlie Hebdo. This is a place where comics is in the air, and so is the need for dialogue: as event organizer Jared Gardner, professor at the Department of English & the Film Studies Program, highlighted, the symposium was called into being by the need to have a conversation and to share learned opinions on events that have stirred debates in society, in academia, and in the comics community. Conversation is what makes universities necessary, added Gardner, and it was in this spirit that he invited scholars with different perspectives and backgrounds to discuss the events of January 7th.

The symposium started with a lecture by Mark McKinney, professor of French at Miami University, co-editor of European Comic Art, and author of The Colonial Heritage of French Comics and Redrawing French Empire in Comics. The subsequent roundtable helped us to see the magazine and the terrorist attack as complex cultural phenomena that can be approached and interpreted very differently between disciplines. The participants were Daniele Marx-Scouras, from the Department of French and Italian, OSU; Youssef Yacoubi, from the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, OSU; Erik Nisbet, School of Communication, OSU; and Caitlin McGurk, Billy Ireland Cartoon Library.

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Posted by on 2015/03/21 in Conference reports

 

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The International Bande Dessinée Society: February 2015 by Lisa Tannahill and Chris O’Neill

18 Mar

Welcome to the second edition of the International Bande Dessinée Society column, a look back at developments in the world of bande dessinée (francophone comics) scholarship and research.

No retrospective examination of the year in bande dessinée can overlook the tragic events of January 2015: the shooting at the offices of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. The events and their ramifications have been discussed endlessly in the press, and discussion of the political or wider global effects of the attack is far beyond the remit of this column. However, the deaths of Stéphane Charbonnier (Charb), Georges Wolinski, Jean Cabut (Cabu), Bernard Verlhac (Tignous) and Philippe Honoré represent a huge loss for not only Charlie Hebdo but the wider world of bande dessinée. Several of them were key figures in the development of post-war bande dessinée and wider visual culture in France. For example, Cabu and Wolinski’s work appeared in Charlie Hebdo from its beginnings in 1969 as well as its predecessor Hara-Kiri. Cabu and Charb, along with economist Bernard Maris, who was also killed, were instrumental in the resurrection of Charlie Hebdo in 1992 (publication had ceased in 1981). It is this incarnation which continues to the present day. Charlie Hebdo represents a particularly French tradition of satirical cartooning which lost many of its most important figures in the attacks. If you would like to know more about Charlie Hebdo and its place in French culture, Berghahn has published an informative blog post by Mark McKinney (University of Miami, Ohio) at their site, as well as making available two articles from European Comic Art: a history of the journal and its politics, as well as an interview with Cabu.

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Posted by on 2015/03/18 in International Bande Dessinée Society

 

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Experiments in Digital Comics: Somewhere between Comics and Multimedia Storytelling by Jakob F. Dittmar

14 Mar

This paper looks at a few experiments on comics-storytelling in digital comics. The paper starts with introducing aspects from media psychology and research on technical documentation to look into the narrative and graphic structure of comics and touches on the characteristics of digital media before focusing on specific examples in more detail.

It can be said that a lot of digital and analogue comics constantly experiment on formal and narrative options. This is most obvious where elements of other narrative media get included (see Dittmar 2012 for a more thorough discussion of digital comics). The growing spectrum of forms offers more and more areas to use comics for: not only fictional but also non-fictional issues are communicated increasingly often in comics. For instance, maintenance manuals and assembly instructions for all kinds of artefacts are provided in sequential images more and more (see Schwender 2007, also: Jüngst 2010) – they are much easier to read than descriptive texts, as no translation of text into visual information is done, but the artefact in question and its parts are depicted and can be recognised easily.

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Posted by on 2015/03/14 in Guest Writers

 

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