One year ago today, comicsforum.org launched with this introductory post. Today I’m pleased to present a look back at the past year of articles by major comics scholars from around the world, and a look ahead to what’s coming next for Comics Forum, including our annual conference.
Czech Comics Anthropology: Life and Story in O přibjehi: Keva by José Alaniz
Graphic narrative suggests that historical accuracy is not the opposite of creative invention; the problematics of what we consider fact and fiction are made apparent by the role of drawing
(Chute 2008: 459).
In 2008-2010, cultural anthropologist Markéta Hajská, Romany linguist Máša Bořkovcová and scriptwriter/artist Vojtěch Mašek collaborated on “Negotiated Stories” (Vyjednávané příběhy), a project organized by the Czech civic organization Ašta šmé and supported by the European Cultural Foundation. The resultant trilogy of documentary comics, O Přibjehi (stories, 2010) [1], chronicled the lives and hardships of three Roma living in the Czech Republic through a combination of interviews, direct testimony, participant observation and graphic narrative.
Comics Studies in Greece by Lida Tsene
The relationship between comics and Greece is a rather interesting one. Having a tradition in political cartooning and with influences from Europe and the US, during the 80s we observe the first steps of the creation of a small local scene that seems to be growing each year. Nevertheless, the road to this growth wasn’t easy at all
Comics reached the Greek audience pretty late and that’s one reason why many Greeks have a specific, and often incomplete, understanding of them. In fact, the first comic series that reached the Greek market were mostly superheroes and Disney stories and that led to the perception that comics are just for kids, naive and funny stories. The frequent publication by religious and educational groups of critical reviews and statements about the bad influences comics presented also contributed to this idea.
Comics in Education: A Personal Perspective by Robert G. Weiner
Comics have long played a role in my life. My first memories of comics include Tales of Suspense 39 and Silver Surfer 1. The image of the grey Iron Man is one that I remember seeing as a kid, and I still have an affinity for that old costume. The Silver Surfer, too, remains one of my favorite characters. I also remember reading an old Legion of Superheroes story in which one of the characters, Chemical King, dies. I remember re-reading that issue several times just to make sure he did indeed die. It really affected me (I must have been about 10 or so). Other comics I read include Black Panther, Human Fly, Moon Knight, the Kirby and Simon Sandman reboot. I loved them (and still do). I remember going to 7-11 every week to see what new comics the store might have.
Call for Papers: Rummaging Around in Alan Moore’s Shorts
Guest Editor: Maggie Gray
One sign of the rude health of comic book studies is the growing body of scholarship that focuses on, encompasses, or takes as its starting point, the work of acclaimed and prolific British comics writer Alan Moore. However, while Moore scholarship has moved on from an almost exclusive focus on landmark comic Watchmen to encompass overlooked or less popular works like A Small Killing or Tom Strong, and even unfinished epic Big Numbers, it still concentrates overwhelmingly on what Charles Hatfield calls ‘comics in the long form’, major ongoing serialised comics and self-contained graphic novels. [1]
Yet this means that the wealth of Moore’s ‘short form’ works has been overlooked. These include the underground and newspaper strips, cartoons and illustrations with which he began his career as a freelance cartoonist; the back-up features in 2000AD and Marvel UK anthologies where he claims he learnt the craft of comics writing; one-off collaborations with figures like Peter Bagge, Bryan Talbot, Hunt Emerson, Richard Corben, and Harvey Pekar; contributions to fanzines, benefit anthologies, annuals and spin-offs; and even diffuse work in other media (short prose stories, poems, essays and articles, pin-up art, CD covers etc.).
Looking more closely at such works not only enables us to plug gaps in Moore scholarship and flesh out our understanding of his career, ideas and practice, but also to challenge the privileging of the long form in comics scholarship in general.
In this spirit, we are looking for succinct contributions of 1,000-1,500 words, for a series of Comics Forum blog articles on Moore’s shorts to be published throughout September 2012 on the Comics Forum website (http://comicsforum.org).
If you are interested in contributing, please email a brief abstract (c.100-200 words) and a short biography of yourself (c.50-100 words) to Maggie Gray at: comicsforum@hotmail.co.uk. The deadline for abstracts is June 1st 2012, and you will receive notification of acceptance or rejection by June 18th.
Click here for a copy of this call for papers in PDF format.
Comics Forum is supported by: Thought Bubble, Dr Mel Gibson, the University of Chichester, Arts Council England and Molakoe Graphic Design.
[1] – Hatfield, C., 2005. Alternative Comics: An Emerging Literature. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, pp.4-6.
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