Americas
Canada
Education
Nancy Pedri at Memorial University is seeking an MA student and a PhD student who are interested in working on comics and/or photography in literature. Those interested in this funding opportunity should apply by the 15th January 2015 for a September 2015 admission. Link (English, WG)
Job
The Department of English at the University of Calgary invites applications for a tenure-track position at the rank of Assistant Professor, in Children’s Literature and/or Young Adult Literature. The position explicitly seeks a secondary research and teaching area in “graphic novels.” Link (08/10/2014, English, WG)
The English Department at the University of Windsor is seeking a Cartoonist-in-Residence for fall 2015 (September-December). Link (English, WG)
Research
There is a call for papers for the annual conference of the Canadian Society for the Study of Comics, taking place at the Toronto Reference Library on the 7th and 8th May 2015. The deadline for submissions is the 15th December. Link (English/French, WG)
United States
Business
Diamond News reported that Marvel’s Death of Wolverine #1 and #2 took the top two spots for September total unit sales invoiced. Batman Future’s End #1 from DC rounded out the top spots. Link (English, MB)
Batman: Death of the Family Book & The Joker Mask Set (DC) took the top spot for Diamond News’ Top 100 Graphic Novels, based on total unit sales invoiced for the month of September. Forever Evil and Yu-Gi-Oh! 5DS Volume 6 were second and third respectively. Link (English, MB)
Culture
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, Congressman John Lewis, Nate Powell and Andrew Aydin will discuss the movement and the graphic memoir, March, which tells Congressman Lewis’ experience. The event is free and is being held at the Archie M. Griffin East Ballroom at The Ohio State University on the 15th November. Link (English, MB)
Research
The International Comic Arts Forum is being held between the 13th and 15th November at the Bill Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum at The Ohio State University in Columbus. The keynote speaker is Dr. Bart Beaty and attendance is free. Link (English, MB)
Historian and New Yorker writer Jill Lepore has penned the book The Secret History of Wonder Woman, published recently by Knopf. In it, she discusses newly found private papers of William Moulton Marston, the creator of Wonder Woman and seeks to tie Marston’s superheroine with that of the feminist movement of the 20th century. Link (English, MB)
There is a call for papers for the conference, Queers & Comics, taking place at the City University of New York between the 7th and 8th May 2015. Link (English, WG)
Europe
Belgium
Research
The ACME Comics Research Group at the University of Liège has announced the launch of its scholarly book series.The two titles published to date include: La bande dessinée en dissidence. Alternative, indépendance, auto-édition / Comics in Dissent: Alternative, Independence, Self-Publishing, edited by Christophe Dony, Tanguy Habrand & Gert Meesters; and Mythologies du superhéros. Histoire, physiologie, géographie, intermédialités, edited by François-Emmanuël Boucher, Sylvain David & Maxime Prévost. Link (English/French, WG)
France
Culture
Jean-Claude Fournier, best known as the artist behind Spirou from 1969-79, has been made a chevalier of the French Order of Arts and Letters. Link (11/10/2014, French, LTa)
A new Corto Maltese album will be published in October 2015, 20 years after the death of the series’ creator Hugo Pratt. Link 1 (06/10/2014, French, LTa), Link 2 (07/10/2014, French, LTa)
Germany
Business
CAMP, a new “comics, illustration and trivial culture” magazine, is launched by Edition Alfons on the 12th November. Link (02/10/2014, German, MdlI)
Culture
Josh Elder gave a talk on Reading With Pictures in Berlin on the 21st October. Link (09/10/2014, German, MdlI)
A comics exhibition on childhood in the German Democratic Republic, including works by Flix, Mawil and others, opened in Berlin on the 1st November and runs until the 22nd November. Link (13/10/2014, German, MdlI)
An Uli Knorr exhibition is shown in Munich from the 16th October 2014 until the 3rd February 2015. Link (23/10/2014, German, MdlI)
Research
The Roland Faelske awards 2014 go to Beeke Hadeler and Jochen Ecke for their respective comics-related thesis. Link (27/10/2014, German, MdlI)
The “Holocaust im Comic” exhibition in Bochum is accompanied by a lecture series from the 6th November 2014 until the 29th January 2015. Link (30/10/2014, German, MdlI)
Portugal
Culture
The Library of Odivelas (Biblioteca Municipal D. Dinis) is hosting an exhibition titled “O fantástico na obra Eternus 9 – Um Filho do Cosmos” (The fantastic in Eternus 9 – A cosmos son). The exhibition is dedicated to the work of Victor Mesquita, and featured the author and some other illustrators and authors talking about their projects, their life, and their techniques of making comics. Link (22/10/2014, Portuguese, RR)
The Art Center of São João da Madeira is organising a comics workshop guided by Sofia Neto, alongside an annual course of comics. The workshop will take place on the 1st November in Oliva Creative Factory, whereas the course will begin on the 5th November. Link (Portuguese, RR)
From the 10th October until the 31st December, the bedeteca of Beja will be hosting an exhibition titled “Notícias da frente” (Early News), dedicated to works that portray some scenes from WWI and the following hundred years. Link (15/10/2014, Portuguese, RR)
Research
The third edition of CONFIA has released its call for papers. Those interested are instructed to submit a full paper in English or in Portuguese by the 31st December. The conference will take place in Braga, between the 10th and 12nd April 2015. Link (01/10/2014, English & Portuguese, RR)
Spain
Business
A new publishing house specialising in Spanish comics, Grafito Editorial, has been created. Link (01/10/2014, English, EdRC)
Planeta de Agostini Comics, the biggest comics publisher in Spain, has been renamed as Planeta Comics. Link (18/10/2014, Spanish, EdRC)
Culture
Komikigunea, a new public library with a collection of more than 30,000 documents (including comics, fanzines and comics studies material), is now open to the public in Donostia. Link (09/10/2014, Spanish, EdRC)
Spanish comic artists Juan Díaz Canales and Rubén Pellejero have been announced as the authors of the new album of Corto Maltese, which will be released in October 2015 (the last one was published in 1988). Link (07/10/2014, English, EdRC)
Spanish comic specialist Yexus hosted a conference about the history of comics in Cantabria (a region in the north of Spain) at Ateneo de Santander on the 21st October. Link (21/10/2014, Spanish, EdRC)
Education
The UNED, the National Spanish Open University, is organising a university seminar called “Una mirada antropológica al mundo de la viñeta”. It will take place in Gran Canaria (and online) from the 3rd to the 14th November. Link (01/10/2014, Spanish. EdRC)
Switzerland
Culture
A Joost Swarte exhibition is shown at Cartoonmuseum Basel from the 15th November 2014 until the 23rd February 2015. Link (06/10/2014, German, MdlI)
UK
Culture
Plymouth University is hosting an exhibition on Pat Mills and Joe Colquhoun’s Charley’s War, taking place between the 3rd and 14th November. On the 4th November, Mills will be giving a talk on the series in the Levinsky Building (same venue as the exhibition), at 7pm. Link (English, WG)
Additional information on the exhibition, Southeast Asian Comics, taking place at The Proud Archivist – Library, London, between the 24th October and 2nd November (reported on last month), can be found on the Facebook page. Link (English, LCT)
Downthetubes has published a photo review of Dundee Comics Day 2014, which took place at the University of Dundee in October. Link (02/11/2014, English, WG)
* * *
News Editor: Will Grady (comicsforumnews@hotmail.co.uk)
Correspondents: Michele Brittany (MB, North America), Enrique del Rey Cabero (EdRC, Spain), William Grady (WG, UK), Martin de la Iglesia (MdlI, Germany & Switzerland), Renatta Rafaella (RR, Portugal), Lise Tannahill (LTa, France), Lim Cheng Tju (LCT, UK).
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