RSS

Comics Forum 2014: Lineup

CF2014_A3_Poster_heavier_text

Coming up at Comics Forum 2014 on Thursday-Friday next week, we have a fantastic lineup of speakers! Our keynote speech will be delivered on Thursday afternoon by Professor Jane Chapman, and we look forward to welcoming a host of other top speakers to Leeds Central Library for two days of fascinating talks on violence. See below for the full list of speakers.

THURSDAY 13 NOVEMBER

Jane Chapman: ‘Unspoken Violence: Redefining of Cultural Record, 1914-18’

Kat Lombard-Cook Structural Subversion: Violence Against the Comics Form Roger Sabin Ally Sloper meets Jack the Ripper: comedy and violence in late 19th century London Alex Link Scales of Violence, Scales of Justice, and Nate Powell’s Any Empire Christopher J. Thompson “Boiled or Fried, Dennis?” Understanding the displacement of violence in ‘Dennis the Menace and Gnasher’ Olivia Rohan Onomatopoeia as an agent of violence in manga: multimodality and translation strategies in battle manga and horror manga Penelope Mendonça Drawing difficult truths; how can a humorous graphic novel include violence during pregnancy? Cameron Fletcher Censorship and the Control of Violent Comics: The Code of the West Dan Smith Architecture, Violence and Hope: A Visitor’s Guide to Mega City One Malin Bergström Will Eisner and the Art of War: The Role of Educational Comics within the American Defence Industry Bradley Reeder The life and death of the city in Watchmen Enrique del Rey Cabero Violence and memory: the role of comics in portraying the Spanish Civil War and the Francoist repression Kevin Chiat “The Curse of Superman”: Humanism, Masculinity and Violence in the Superman Mythos Harriet EH Earle The Whites of their Eyes: Implied Violence and Double Frames in Blazing Combat and The ‘Nam Kwasu David Tembo 72 Votes: A Death in the Family as Mimetic Crisis Mihaela Precup “I think we’re maybe more or less safe here”: Communities under Siege during the Lebanese Civil War in Zeina Abirached’s A Game for Swallows Kevin J. Wanner In a World of Super-Violence, Can Pacifism Pack a Punch? Examining the Theme of the Pacifist Superhero through the Character of Wonder Man in Marvel’s Uncanny Avengers Joan Ormrod Women on the Edge: Unruly Bodies, spectacle and violence post 9/11

FRIDAY 14 NOVEMBER

Brett Elhoffer The Yellow Peril Meets Superman: Depictions of the Chinese in 20th century American Comic Books Ian Horton No More Heroes Anymore? Representations of Violence in British War Comics of the 1970s Laurike in ‘t Veld The Depiction of Sexual Violence in Genocide Comics Ester Szép Trauma Theories and Joe Sacco’s Comics About Iraq Nicola Streeten The comics form and the ambivalence of sexual violence Jörn Ahrens Bring the War Back Home: Reflecting Violence in DMZ Louisa Parker (Una) Autobiographical Content and the Legacy of Artemisia, or Why Should We Care If Someone Was Raped? Joseph Willis Pushing Back the Apocalypse: Violence as Identity and Rebellion in the Post-Apocalyptic Julia Round Misty: Gothic for Girls in British Comics Fabio Mourilhe Practice of subjectivity in 300 Anna Madill Intimidating men: Patriarchal violence in Korean shonen-ai Let Dai Lynn Fotherington, Kieron Gillen and Stephen Hodkinson Story-telling, Historicity and the Depiction of Violence in Three – a conversation Jeffrey John Barnes To See What You Won’t Hear: Violence in Palestinian Arab Political Cartoons from the British Mandate through the Present Hugo Frey Adapting Jean-Patrick Manchette’s Le Petit bleu de la côte ouest (1977): the Comparative Politics of Cinema and Graphic Novel Re-interpretations Orla Lehane Animating “The Troubles”: Northern Ireland in Troubled Souls (1989) Ria Uhlig Violence in French graphzines Olga Kopylova Violence against violence? (Self-)destruction and plausibility of revenge in the manga Gankutsuō Paul Williams Violence, Regression and Therapeutic Narcissism in Jules Feiffer’s Tantrum (1979) Laura A. Pearson Seeing (in) Red: Reading Intersections of Violence in Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas’s Red: A Haida Manga

REGISTRATION

Tickets for Comics Forum 2014 are priced as follows:

1 day pass (13th or 14th): £10

2 day pass (13th and 14th): £20

4 day pass (two day Comics Forum pass + 2 day Thought Bubble Convention pass (SRP £24)): £40 (save £4!)

To register, simply email comicsforum@hotmail.co.uk with your name and how many tickets you’d like.

Comics Forum 2014 is supported by: Thought Bubble, the University of Chichester, Dr Mel Gibson and Molakoe.

 
 

Tags: ,

News Review: October 2014

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).

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.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on 2014/11/04 in News Review

 

The Bi-Monthly ComFor Update: October 2014 by Laura Oehme

Just like my predecessors, Stephan Packard and Lukas Wilde, I will use this fifth column of the German Society for Comics Studies (ComFor) in order to briefly summarize the latest news from the German comics studies scene. While all scholars seem to have been enjoying their summer break in August, September sounded the bell for a highly interesting fall season, full of conferences, festivals, and exhibitions.

Conferences, Workshops, Symposiums

Germany’s capital appears to have become the current hub of comics studies events, starting with the undisputed highlight of this year’s midsummer: the ninth annual conference of the German Society for Comics Studies. For four days (September 25–28), German and international comics scholars from various disciplines gathered at the Humboldt University in Berlin. Under the motto “Drawing Boundaries, Crossing Borders,” they discussed the transgressive potential of comics and their academic study. Whether media or genre conventions, geographical or political borders, the limits of medium or imagination – comics are bound to break them. The ComFor conference featured renowned comic scholars such as Roger Sabin, Neil Cohn or Michael Chaney and numerous established ComFor members, but also young scholars who are only beginning to explore the field of comics studies. Furthermore, participants were able to enjoy an exhibition by the Black Kirby artist group, an open forum that brought academia, publishers and artists together, and they also learned the latest news about Closure, the first German online journal for comics studies. Speaking of Closure, the editorial team announced at the conference that the first issue of the journal will be available on their brand new website by November 5th. Also during the annual conference, the new and improved ComFor website was released. Thanks to the new calender tool and a general bilingualism, it is now easier than ever before to stay informed about the most important events and publications concerning comics studies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Read the rest of this entry »

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on 2014/10/31 in ComFor Updates

 

Tags:

Comics Forum 2014: Registration Open

CF2014_A3_Poster_heavier_text

Click here to download a PDF of this poster.

Registration for Comics Forum 2014 – Violence: A Conference on Comics is now open! This year’s conference will feature nearly 40 papers, which we’ll be announcing here shortly, so be sure to check back to see who’ll be speaking and what they’ll be talking about.

Tickets are priced as follows:

1 day pass (13th or 14th): £10

2 day pass (13th and 14th): £20

4 day pass (two day Comics Forum pass + 2 day Thought Bubble Convention pass (SRP £24)): £40 (save £4!)

To register, simply email comicsforum@hotmail.co.uk with your name and how many tickets you’d like.

See you in November!

Comics Forum 2014 is supported by: Thought Bubble, the University of Chichester, Dr Mel Gibson and Molakoe.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on 2014/10/15 in Comics Forum 2014

 

Manga Studies #5: Takeuchi Osamu and Manga Expression pt. 1: Tezuka Osamu as Manga Locus by Nicholas Theisen

Takeuchi Osamu, a professor of media studies at Doshisha University, is likely not the best manga studies critic to use as an introduction to problems surrounding the relatively recent turn in Japanese manga studies discourse to formalism or, more specifically, to the study of manga expression (manga hyōgen), since his work is something of a too easy target.  It is parochial—his examples, despite pretensions toward general principles, are exclusively Japanese—and has changed surprisingly little since the late 1980s, despite the fact that his contemporaries, such as Natsume Fusanosuke and Yomota Inuhiko, and the manga expression discourse in toto have changed considerably in the intervening years. Yomota’s Manga genron (Principles of Manga) makes reference to at least some non-Japanese comics artists, notably Windsor McCay, and in the introduction to a recent translation of two chapters of his Tezuka Osamu wa doko ni iru (Where is Tezuka Osamu?), Natsume reflects on how limited this early formalist work was and, if reproduced today, would have to be understood within the context of a global comics studies discourse:

At the time I wrote this book, my interests generally centered on postwar Japanese manga, and the scope of my inquiry was almost entirely limited to Japan.  If we were to consider European and American influences on manga from the Meiji period [1868-1912], the discussion in this book on transformations related to time and panel articulation would link to world-historical questions of modernity (changes in the expression of time and space in modern times)… Future research will surely depend on sharing knowledge and intellectual exchanges between scholars in different countries.[1]

While a turn away from more parochial concerns is admirable, a broadening of perspective on manga-as-comic expression is not guaranteed to overcome or even make apparent a number of assumptions underlying the study of manga expression as it emerged historically and in direct response to the currents of nearly two decades of manga criticism that preceded it.  In order to make those assumptions more apparent, my use of Takeuchi’s critical oeuvre here is directed more toward discourse analytical ends than toward a detailed explication of what his theory of manga expression entails.

Read the rest of this entry »

 
1 Comment

Posted by on 2014/10/08 in Guest Writers, Manga Studies

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,