While April’s column on recent developments in German comic studies was dominated by news about fairs and festivals, the last months saw a bigger emphasis on exhibitions and art galleries. On May 30, Berlin’s Icon Gallery featured an exhibition on German artist Simon Schwartz, whose highly praised graphic novel Drüben is also available in French (translated as De l’autre côté). Munich’s Instituto Cervantes presented an exhibition on Spain’s most famous comic artist Paco Roca throughout May and June, whose book Arrugas (engl.: Wrinkles) and its animated film adaptation received many awards around the world. Until July 27, you may visit an exhibition on “Graphic novel – Bande Dessinée: Gezeichnete Literatur aus Frankreich” (“Graphic Literature in France”) in the municipal library of Osnabrück; until August 3 on the German Democratic Republic-comic magazine Mosaik (and its stars, the Digedags) in the Kulturbrauerei Berlin, as well as on German artist Ralf König in the caricature museum in Frankfurt. And until August 31, the Berlin Literary Colloquium will feature an exhibition on Finnish artist Ville Tietäväinen’s controversial political comic book on EU immigration issues, “Näkymättömät kädet”, which was recently translated into German by the Avant publishing house.
News Review: May 2014
Americas
Canada
Culture
The Comics Beat have posted recordings of panels from the Toronto Comic Art Festival (9th-11th May), including several from the librarian and educator conference. Link (14/05/2014, English, WG)
United States
Business
Casting a web on the first and second spots for the Top 100 Comics of April 2014 is Marvel’s Amazing Spider-Man #1 and Superior Spider-Man #31. Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Batman #30 (DC Comics) rounds out the third spot, as reported by Diamond Comic Distributors. Link (English, MB)
According to Diamond Comic News, Sex Criminals Volume 01, Saga Volume 03, and East of West Volume 02: We Are All One (all from Image Comics), took the top three spots for the Top 100 Graphic Novels for April 2014. Figures are based on total unit sales of products invoiced for the month. Link (English, MB)
Executive Producer Jonah Weilland of Comic Book Resources changes forum guidelines and deletes forum archives in response to the severe backlash Janelle Asselin received after critiquing the cover of DC Comics Teen Titans #1 recently. Link (01/05/2014, English, MB)
Jobs
Magnetic Press is looking to hire a short-term Marketing Assistant for a special project. The ideal candidate will have knowledge and access to Excel since the position works remotely. The assistant position is paid. Link (29/05/2014, English, MB)
Obituaries
Silver Age Marvel artist Dick Ayers passed away at the age of 90 on the 4th May. Ayers worked on Sgt. Fury, Ghost Rider, and Fantastic Four. He was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2007. Link (06/05/2014, English, MB)
Research
The Mid-Atlantic Popular and American Culture Association’s annual conference is being held in Baltimore, Maryland, between the 6th and 8th November. Organisers are accepting proposals relevant to GLBTQ studies in popular culture, including a focus upon comics and graphic novels. The deadline for proposals is the 14th June. Link (09/05/2014, English, MB)
Joseph J. Darowski has a call for abstracts for an upcoming collection entitled, The Ages of the Incredible Hulk: Essays on Marvel’s Jade Giant in Changing Times. It will be a companion volume to The Ages of Superman, The Ages of Wonder Woman, amongst others, from publisher McFarland & Company. A CV should accompany abstracts of 100 to 500 words, which must be submitted by the 15h July. Link (22/05/2014, English, MB)
Children’s Literature Association Quarterly is seeking papers for their special issue that focuses on genre and black literature. Critical study concerning picture books, cartoons, comics, and graphic novels are encouraged. The deadline for papers is the 1st November 2015. Link (20/05/2014, English, MB)
The monograph, Wide Awake in Slumberland: Fantasy, Mass Culture, and Modernism in the Art Of Winsor McCay, by Katherine Roeder, has now been published through the University Press of Mississippi. Link (English, WG)
Asia
Japan
Culture
From the 31st May until the 31st August, Kyoto International Manga Museum is hosting an exhibition with 18,000 original works of art by manga artist Tsuchida Seiki. Link (English, JBS)
Shojo manga magazine Nakayoshi and Kyoto International Manga Museum are hosting the Nakayoshi Fest – Magical Girls Forever, from the 24th May until the 28th September. Link (English, JBS)
Yonezawa Yoshihiro Memorial Library is hosting the exhibition Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinchu and Kumota Haruko, from the 6th June until the 28th September. Link (Japanese, JBS)
The long-running gourmet manga series Oishinbo is going on hiatus after the controversy about comments on the Fukushima disaster in recent installments. Link (17/05/2014, English, JBS)
Research
JSSCC (Japanese Society for Studies in Cartoons and Comics) will hold its 14th annual conference on the 28th June (at Kyoto Seika University Campus) and the 29th June (at Kyoto International Manga Museum). For the full program please go to the website. Link (Japanese, JBS)
Europe
Austria
Research
Jean-Pascal Vachon gave a talk on Franco-Belgian comics at the University of Innsbruck on the 13th May. Link (08/05/2014, German, MdlI)
Belgium
Research
The is a Call for Papers for a special issue of the online journal Image & Narrative entitled, “Transformed by Comics: the influence of comics/BD/graphic novels on the Novel.” 400-500 word abstracts are due by the 30th September. Link (English, WG)
France
Business
The catalogues of bande dessinée publishers L’Association and Ankamaare are now available on the digital comics platform Iznéo. Link 1 (13/05/2014, French, LTa), Link 2 (26/05/2014, French, LTa)
Culture
A page of Hergé illustrations has broken the world record for a bande dessinée at auction, selling for over 2.5 million euros. Link (24/05/2014, French, LTa)
Germany
Culture
An exhibition on Mosaik is shown in Berlin from the 11th April to the 3rd August. Link (05/05/2014, German, MdlI)
A talk on “Berlin and Tokyo in manga” was given by Marianna Poppitz and Michel Decomain in Berlin, accompanied by an exhibition and a comic publication. Link (07/05/2014, German, MdlI)
An exhibition on comic artist Paco Roca is shown in Munich from the 23rd May to the 21st June. Link (15/05/2014, German, MdlI)
An exhibition of comic artist Simon Schwartz and his father, painter Gert Schwartz, opened in Berlin on the 30th May. Link (22/05/2014, German, MdlI)
An exhibition of French comics takes place in Osnabrück from the 10th May to the 12th July. Link (26/05/2014, German, MdlI)
Research
Will Brooker gave a talk on “The Batman Brand” in Cologne. Link (12/05/2014, German, MdlI)
Frans Lambeau gave a talk on Tintin in Saarbrücken. Link (19/05/2014, German, MdlI)
The German Society for Comics Studies (ComFor) is going to host a series of talks at Comic-Salon Erlangen from the 20th to the 22nd June. Link (29/05/2014, German, MdlI)
Hungary
Culture
ComiXconnection, a multinational comics exhibition featuring works by Croatian, Serbian, Slovenian, Romanian and Hungarian artists has arrived at Budapest’s kArton Gallery, and also MüSzi. Link (English, ES)
The 10th International Comics Festival Budapest was held on the 18th May at Dürer Kert, Budapest. International guest artists and writers included Boulet (France), Hélène Becquelin (Switzerland), Claudio Chiaverotti (Italy), Bartosz Sztybor and Piotr Nowacki (Poland). Link (English, ES)
Ben Katchor is the comics-related guest of the Café Amsterdam festival, which took place between the 29th and 31st April. He took part in a roundtable with Hungarian comics artist Dániel Csordás and Dutch artist Barbara Stok. Link (English, ES)
Portugal
Culture
The Gallery El Pep in Lisbon is hosting an exhibition titled O Amor Infinito Que Te Tenho (The infinite love that I have for you) by the Portuguese comic author Paulo Monteiro. The exhibition can be visited until 13th June. Link (17/05/2014, Portuguese, RR)
Until the 20th June, the Universidade Fernando Pessoa in Oporto is hosting an exhibition titled Pessoa & Cia that shows the comic work of the Spanish author Laura Pérez Vernetti. Her works reveal her admiration for Fernando Pessoa (a well known Portuguese writer). On the 13th June, Vernetti will also be participating in a round table, which will take place in the same University. Link (15/05/2014, Portuguese, RR)
Romania
Culture
The 2nd edition of the East European Comic Con took place in Bucharest between the 9th and 11th May. It included independent cartoonists and animators from Eastern Europe, as well as workshops, exhibitions, gaming and cosplay competitions. Link (English, MP)
Sweden
Culture
MCM Comic Con is launching a Swedish Comic Con at Kista-mässan in Stockholm between the 30th October and the 2nd November according to Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet. Link (29/04/2014, Swedish, WG)*
Stockholms Internationella Seriefestival (Stockholm’s International Comics Festival) took place between the 17th and 18th May. A detailed report and photographs of the festival are available at the following link. Link (30/05/2014, Swedish, KBF)
UK
Culture
Comics Unmasked: Art & Anarchy in the UK, the exhibition at the British Library, opened on the 2nd May. Paul Gravett provides a curator’s perspective (Link 1), and The Comics Grid blog provides reportage (Link 2 – scroll through for various articles). Link 1 (03/05/2014, English, WG), Link 2 (English, WG). The official website can be found here: Link 3 (English, IH [update 05/07/2014]).
Education
The Centre for Research in Media and Cultural Studies, University of Sunderland, are offering two PhD Scholarships in media, film, or cultural studies. Interested applicants should send a CV, 500 word proposal, and covering letter to Lianne Hopper (lianne.hopper@sunderland.ac.uk) by the 4th July. More details about the department can be found through the link. Link (English, WG)
Research
The Comics Grid have published the call for papers for the 5th Transitions symposium, which welcomes papers on any aspect of comics. Abstracts are due by the 30th July, for the conference which takes place on the 25th October at Birkbeck, University of London. Link (27/05/2014, English, WG)
Registration is now open for The Fifth International Graphic Novel and Comics Conference, which takes place at the British Library (London) in July. Link (English, WG)
The deadline is looming for proposals for Comics Forum 2014 – Violence: A Conference on Comics. Abstracts are due by the 14th June for the event which will take place between the 13th and 14th November at Leeds Central Library. Link (English, WG)
Oceania
Australia
Culture
Adelaide comic creators Mike Cooper, Owen Heitmann and Gina Chadderton all had work accepted by the Indie Comics Quarterly, Volume One. The anthology will be on sale on the 31st May. Link (English, ALM)
* * *
News Editor: Will Grady (comicsforumnews@hotmail.co.uk)
Correspondents: Jessica Bauwens-Sugimoto (JBS, Japan), Michele Brittany (MB, North America), Kristy Beers Fägersten (KBF, Sweden), William Grady (WG, UK), Martin de la Iglesia (MdlI, Austria & Germany), Amy Louise Maynard (ALM, Australia), Mihaela Precup (MP, Romania), Renatta Rafaella (RR, Portugal), Eszter Szép (ES, Hungary), Lise Tannahill (LTa, France).
*Courtesy of Lars Wallner.
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.
Alternative Paradoxes in Heartless: Reading (Un-)Love in Nina Bunjevac’s ‘Bitter Tears of Zorka Petrovic’ by Laura A. Pearson
Right in the heart of Nina Bunjevac’s comics collection Heartless (2012) we find Zorka, the eponymous protagonist of the five-comic sequence ‘Bitter Tears of Zorka Petrovic.’[1] This is the same intriguing catwoman character who adorns the front and back covers, first displayed behind the wheel of a car and then defiantly riding the back of an unplugged vacuum cleaner. Contrasting these cover images, on the splash page beginning the ‘Bitter Tears’ sequence, we rediscover Zorka, framed—etherized even—in thick black, undergoing an abortion. In this precisely paradoxical ‘pregnant moment’—inducing a temporal narrative cycle that ‘radiates in both directions’ (Wolk 2007, 131) and arousing a heighted sense of ‘Peeping Tomism’ that comes along with reading through the windows of graphic fiction—this image conjures all sorts of human-non-human, funny animal, and ‘not-so-funny animal’ associations [2] (Fig.1). And thus begins a text teeming with ‘alternative tensions,’[3] a tragicomic yet serious satire, where at least one crucial crux—the fantasy of love, lust, and belonging—resides between a comedy of errors on one hand and a tragedy of ideologically grounded ideals on the other.
Manga Studies #1: Introduction by Jaqueline Berndt
Manga [1] does not easily attract scholarly interest as comics. In the name of manga, the critical focus is usually less on sequential art but rather a certain illustration style or character design, and closely related, fannish engagement in transformative or derivative creations (dōjinshi), up to and including cosplay. In many cases, scholars turn to manga as an entry point for research on girls’ (shōjo) culture and female consumers, gender and sexuality, the subcultures of fujoshi (self-designated “rotten girls” engaged in Boys’ Love, or yaoi)[2] and otaku (geeks). Attempts at elucidating the peculiar role of the comics medium in that regard—for example, by focusing not only on “shōjo” but also “manga” when discussing shōjo manga [3] —remain a distinct minority whenever sociological and anthropological concerns prevail. Be it “fan culture,” “subculture” or “scene,” user communities are given preference over media specificity, texts and individual readings, at least outside of Japan. This applies especially to Japanese Studies, which is still the field yielding most manga research abroad. Here, manga is taken to represent, if not national culture in general, then Japanese popular culture, in the main understood as a youth culture with significant global impact and economic effects. Consequently, the utilization of manga as mere object appears to matter more than methodological diligence.[4] Whether subjected to symptomatic readings of social issues or to sophisticated critical theory, media-specific contexts and manga-related expertise tend to be neglected. This is as much due to specific institutional requirements as it is indicative of a lack within the institution, that is, the absence of a respective field of research and criticism.
Comics Forum 