CFP Comics Arts Conference San Diego 2025 (2/1/2025; San Diego 7/24-27/2025)

 

Comics Arts Conference San Diego

deadline for submissions: 

February 1, 2025

full name / name of organization: 

Comics Arts Conference

contact email: 

comicsartsconference@gmail.com

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2024/12/27/comics-arts-conference-san-diego.

The Comics Arts Conference is now accepting 100 to 200 word abstracts for papers, presentations, and panels taking a critical or historical perspective on comics (juxtaposed images in sequence) for a meeting of scholars and professionals at Comic-Con International, in San Diego, CA, July 24–27, 2025.  We seek proposals from a broad range of disciplinary and theoretical perspectives and welcome the participation of academic and independent scholars.  We also encourage the involvement of professionals from all areas of the comics industry, including creators, editors, publishers, retailers, distributors, and journalists.  The CAC is presently scheduled to take place in person and does not accept virtual presentations.  The CAC is designed to bring together comics scholars, professionals, critics, and historians to engage in discussion of the comics medium in a forum that includes the public.  Proposals are due February 1, 2025, to our online submission portal at  https://forms.gle/Udbe4uYkczpofd8U8 or via email.  For more information, please contact Kathleen McClancy at comicsartsconference@gmail.com or see our website at https://comicsartsconference.wp.txstate.edu.

categories

american

cultural studies and historical approaches

general announcements

popular culture

twentieth century and beyond

Last updated January 2, 2025

CFP Mechademia Conference on Asian Popular Cultures 2025 (1/15/2025)

 

Mechademia Conference on Asian Popular Cultures 2025

deadline for submissions: 

January 15, 2025

full name / name of organization: 

Mechademia

contact email: 

asiaconference.mechademia@gmail.com

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2024/12/02/mechademia-conference-on-asian-popular-cultures-2025.

Call for Papers

（日本語版は下にあります）

The Mechademia conference began in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 2001, as a new forum for people hoping to establish the English-language academic study of anime and manga while still keeping ties with the creative energy of the fan cultures that these vibrant media were creating. Since then, Mechademia has taken on many forms, including two academic journal series, conferences in various locales and venues around the world, and a widening network of collaboration between academics, fans, and creators, while pursuing the study of anime, manga, and related media as an interconnected trans-local nexus of cultural practice. 

These evolutions have been fueled by the explosive rise of anime, manga, cosplay, and gaming in the 21st century. These forms, once considered niche media or localizable subcultures, are now pivotal nodes in global media culture and massive engines of economic productivity, with equal potential for control or resistance at that scale. Creators and industries have embraced novel technologies and intertwined them with the classic styles, yielding remarkably beautiful and ever-evolving results. In short, the nexus of anime-manga cultural practice that Mechademia sought to investigate has grown to epic proportions. Alongside it, scholars have moved beyond disciplinary boundaries to embrace and expand the discourse of this rich and diverse popular cultural phenomenon. This also includes the multitudes of students who have attended these conferences and who have become now our third generation of academics researching in this “Mechademia field.”

In the spirit of this exciting state of affairs, Mechademia is changing once again. In the aftermath of the COVID pandemic, the amazing response to our 2023 Kyoto conference helped us realize how much bigger the scale had gotten. After taking 2024 off for preparation, we are excited to resume with the Mechademia Conference on Asian Popular Cultures 2025. Our new format aims to address the global scale of study, while also enriching our connections to Japan, a central (though not solitary) hub of anime, manga, and related media culture. From this point forward, we will alternate the conference site between our home base in the International Kyoto Manga Museum, and other locations around the world. In 2025 we will be in Kyoto. In 2026 we will be at a location outside Japan to be announced soon. Then 2027 back in Kyoto, and 2028 elsewhere – also already in the works. And so on…

Another major change is that we will cease to “title” the conferences, allowing attendees’ topics a more open ground to explore the continuing evolution of anime, manga, and related media around the world. Our calls for papers will henceforth be “open calls” – an openness that allows for changes in the culture to emerge on many fronts. In addition, Mechademia Kyoto hopes to open up a multilingual site of exchange. English will still be the official language of the conference, but for the first time, we are also accepting presentations in Japanese. Due to funding, we will not be able to provide official interpretation service. However, this is partially the goal. We envision a raw field of intellectual encounters, with mixed language panels and Q&A sessions, aided by available tech tools and by the cosmopolitan proclivities of presenters and audiences.

With these new directions in mind, we welcome papers that attend to anime, manga, games, and their associated industries and fandoms. Possible topics and approaches are suggested below, but are by no means limited to these and we welcome alternative explorations:

• Media theory-related and/or philosophical extrapolations built from examinations of anime, manga, games, and their associated industries and fandoms
• Historical engagements with these media, their industries, and fan practices
• Transnational and trans-local explorations of these media, their industries, and fan practices
• Economic and business dynamics of these media, their industries, and fan practices
• Transmedia relations across these media, their industries, and fan practices
• Sociological implications seen through these media, their industries, and fan practices
• Analyses of the gender and sexual dynamics of these media, their industries, and fan practices
• Intersections of class with these media, their industries, and fan practices
• Examinations of the racial and ethnic complexities involved in these media, their industries, and fan practices
• Intersectional approaches that focus on ways that gender/sexuality, class, and race/ethnicity shape these media, their industries, and fan practices
• Ecological explorations of these media, their industries, and fan practices
• Hypothetical and existing pedagogies incorporating these media and their implications for school and educational communities

Panels are preferred if possible but individual submissions will also be accepted.

Interested applicants should fill out the following Google form (in English or Japanese) by January 15th, 2025.

https://forms.gle/v5rM5WJ2qFzPHvRH6

Individual Presentations: one presenter, 20 minutes, 200-word abstract

Panel Presentations: 3-4 presenters, (presentations and Q&A 90 minutes total), 300-word panel abstract plus 200-word abstracts for each presentation

We anticipate that acceptances will be sent out by March 1st, 2025.

 

 

 

Should you have any questions, please contact us at asiaconference.mechademia@gmail.com in English or Japanese.  

 

 

メカデミア国際学術会議 2025

日本　京都:  2025年6月7日～9日

発表者募集

メカデミア国際学術会議は、2001年にアメリカのミネソタ州で、アニメとマンガとそれらに関連する文化の学術的研究を促進する会議として開始しました。以来、英語を共通言語として使用し、ファン文化のエネルギーをたもちながらアニメとマンガの学術的意義を広めるように努めています。日本とアメリカ各地で開催される学術会議及び学術誌を2シリーズ出版するなど、「メカデミア」は様々な形をとってきました。学者とファンと制作者の間の協力を促し、トランスメディアとトランスローカルな文化的実践としてのアニメ・マンガの研究を追求することが、メカデミアの基本的な使命です。

21世紀におけるアニメ、マンガ、ゲーム及びコスプレの爆発的隆盛が、その都度、私たちの活動へ刺激を与えてきました。かつて、ニッチな商品あるいはローカルなサブカルチャーとして考えられていたこれらのメディアは、現在、巨大な経済力と国際文化の重要な役割を有しています。それに伴い、支配的なイデオロギーを助長する装置としても、様々な抵抗戦略のリソースとしても大きな情動力を果たしています。ここ20年にかけて制作者と産業が斬新な技術とクラッシックな様式を巧みに融合させ、コンテンツの進化を促進させたことも、さらなる研究課題を生んできたといえます。要するに、2001年からメカデミアが初期的に探求した「アニメ・マンガの文化」の現象が、見事に巨大化してきたのです。それとともに、数多くの研究者たちが学問の壁を越え、多様な成果を果たしてきました。設立から年が経つに連れて、メカデミア国際学術会議に参加してくれた学生たちが、次々と新しい世代の学者になってこのフィールドの幅を広げてきました。

益々ダイナミックに変化する現状に対応するため、メカデミア国際学術会議も変わる必要があります。コロナ渦の直後に開催した、2023年京都大会の素晴らしい反応から刺激を受け、2024年を助走として、心意気を高く持って、新しいメカデミア国際学術会議を2025年に再開します。私たちの新形式は、フィールドのグローバルな規模に対応しながら、アニメとマンガに関連するメディア文化のハブであり続け、日本との関係を深めるように構想しています。2025年から毎年、メカデミアの「本拠地」である京都国際マンガミュージアムと、世界の各地で交互に大会を開催します。つまり、2025年は京都に、2026年はまもなく発表される他国で、2027年は京都、2028年はまた新しい場所に、という順で開催していく予定です。

さらなる変更として、各大会に独自のテーマを設ける伝統を廃止し、アニメとマンガのみならず幅広いメディア文化の進化を許容できる「オープンコール」の研究発表の募集に替わります。それに加えて、京都の大会は多言語的交流を促進するために、英語を今回の基本的な言語として使う一方で、日本語発表の募集も行います。専門的な通訳は設けないものの、複数の言語を使用することは、目的の一つです。手持ちのアプリ、及び発表者と参加者の国際人としての気質に期待して、複数の言語が混じったパネル発表と質疑応答の中で「生きた知的な出会いの場」を思い描いています。

以上の方針にそって、アニメ・マンガ・ゲームあるいはそれらのファンダムと産業に関する研究の発表を募集します。以下に提案するトピックとアプローチに加えて、幅広い内容を歓迎します。

• メディア論及びメディア哲学に関するアニメ・マンガ・ゲームあるいはそれらのファンダムと産業の研究
• 歴史学または領域研究に関するコンテンツあるいはそれらのファンダムと産業の研究
• 国際的及びトランスナショナル、トランスローカルな接触点としてのアニメ・マンガ・ゲームあるいはそれらのファンダムと産業の研究
• アニメ・マンガ・ゲームの産業的または経済的条件についての研究
• アニメ・マンガに関連しているコンテンツあるいはそれらのファンダムと産業におけるトランスメディア的関係についての研究
• アニメ・マンガ・ゲームあるいはそれらのファンダムと産業の研究の社会表象についての研究
• コンテンツ文化あるいはコンテンツ産業におけるジェンダー・セクシュアリティの研究
• アニメ・マンガ・ゲームあるいはそれらのファンダムと産業における社会階級の役割に関する研究
• アニメ関係文化における人種・エスニシティの力学に関する研究
• 人種・ジェンダー・社会的階級などの交錯を見るインターセクショナリティの観点からのアニメ関係文化の研究
• 環境・エコロジーの視点からのアニメ・マンガ・ゲームあるいはそれらのファンダムと産業の研究
• 教育学の視点から、学校と他の教育現場へのアニメやマンガなどの導入についての理論または実践

3～4人の発表者を含めたパネル発表の応募が望ましいが、個人発表の応募も受け付けます。

応募は、2025年1月15日までに以下の応募フォームへ必要事項を記入してください。

https://forms.gle/v5rM5WJ2qFzPHvRH6

個人発表：発表時間20分＋発表題目と要旨（500字）

パネル発表： 発表者3～4人、発表時間60分＋Q&A30分で90分、パネル発表全体の発表題目と要旨（600字） ＋各発表の要旨（各500字）

採択に関する連絡は2025年3月1日までに行う予定です。 

 

問合せ・連絡先（英語・日本語いずれも可）：asiaconference.mechademia@gmail.com

categories

cultural studies and historical approaches

fan studies and fandom

film and television

international conferences

popular culture

Last updated December 5, 2024

CFP Avengers Disassembled: The Marvel Cinematic Universe Post-Endgame (4/1/2025)

Avengers Disassembled: The Marvel Cinematic Universe Post-Endgame

deadline for submissions:
April 1, 2025

full name / name of organization:
Dr Terence McSweeney, Dr Stuart Joy, Dr Adam Vaughan, Southampton Solent University

contact email:
terence.mcsweeney@solent.ac.uk

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/01/03/avengers-disassembled-the-marvel-cinematic-universe-post-endgame. 

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is the most financially successful franchise in film history. Between 2008 and 2019 not only did it become a commercial behemoth, redefining the landscape of blockbuster cinema, but also a cultural phenomenon, delighting fans all around the globe. Yet post-Avengers: Endgame (2019) and the conclusion of “The Infinity Saga,” the MCU has struggled to maintain the same level of success and no longer resonates with audiences the way it once did. The MCU, and the wider superhero genre, has faced mounting criticism from fans, critics and even notable industry professionals on a wide range of issues. This decline has sparked critical debate across the industry: has the MCU suffered from franchise burn out? Has the MCU become overly reliant on nostalgia and fan service? Has Martin Scorsese’s criticism of the MCU as “theme park” cinema been proven true? Has the MCU “gone woke” and what impact has this had on the films and TV shows produced?

This edited collection will explore the coordinates of this shifting landscape by charting film and television productions of the MCU post-Avengers: Endgame. Accordingly, the editors seek dynamic and vibrant essays on the MCU phenomenon for publication in a book currently entitled Avengers Disassembled: The Marvel Cinematic Universe Post-Endgame and invite proposals for essays of approximately 7000 words.

We welcome proposals on

individual films and televisions shows

films and TV shows grouped together by a particular theme (representation, industrial, cultural etc.)

characters that span multiple films and television shows

issues that the MCU has faced (narrative, technological, critical, cultural)

Films and Television Shows to be included in the collection

Films: Black Widow (2021), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), Eternals (2021), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2023), Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), The Marvels (2023), Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), Captain America: Brave New World (2025).

TV Shows: WandaVision (2021), The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021), Loki (2021-23), Hawkeye (2021), Moon Knight (2022), Ms. Marvel (2022), She Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022), Secret Invasion (2023), What If… (2022-4), Echo (2024), Agatha All Along (2024), Daredevil: Born Again (2025), Ironheart (2025).

About Us

The volume is edited by

Terence McSweeney, the author of Avengers Assemble! Critical Perspectives on the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Wallflower, 2018) and the award-winning Black Panther: Interrogating a Cultural Phenomenon (Mississippi University Press, 2021). Terence’s new book will be published by Bloomsbury in 2025 and is entitled Battleground: Culture Wars in Trump Era American Film.

Stuart Joy, the author of The Traumatic Screen: The Films of Christopher Nolan (Intellect, 2020) and co-editor of The Cinema of Christopher Nolan: Imagining the Impossible (Wallflower, 2015).

Adam Vaughan, the author of Doing Documentary, Becoming Subjects: Performance and Performativity in Contemporary Nonfiction (Edinburgh University Press, 2025) and has published chapters and articles on subjects such as LGBTQIA+ representation in contemporary American film, migration in European documentary, and the sex scene in nonfiction film.

Terence and Stuart have previously edited three collections together: James Bond Will Return Critical Perspectives on the 007 Film Franchise (Wallflower Press, 2024: with Claire Hines), Contemporary American Cinema: The Science Fiction Film (Routledge, 2022) and Through the Black Mirror: Reflections on ‘the Side Effects’ of the Digital Age (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019).

Deadlines 

The deadline for proposals will be 1st April 2025

Draft chapters of 7,000 - 8,000 words are due on or before 1st September 2025

Final versions in early 2026

Please send 500-word proposals (including a provisional title), along with a CV, to Terence McSweeney (terence.mcsweeney@solent.ac.uk), Stuart Joy (stuart.joy@solent.ac.uk) and Adam Vaughan (adam.vaughan@solent.ac.uk) by 1stApril 2025.  Queries are welcome should there be questions about appropriate submission topics, perspectives and dates. Please note that invitation to submit a full essay does not guarantee inclusion in the volume.


Last updated January 6, 2025

CFP Journal of Anime and Manga Studies Volume 6 (4/13/2025)

Journal of Anime and Manga Studies (JAMS) - Volume 6

deadline for submissions:
April 13, 2025

full name / name of organization:
Journal of Anime and Manga Studies

contact email:
animestudiesjournal@gmail.com

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/01/09/journal-of-anime-and-manga-studies-jams-volume-6. 


Volume to be Published in December of 2025

The Journal of Anime and Manga Studies (JAMS) is excited to announce the call for papers for our sixth volume, to be published December 2025.

The Journal of Anime and Manga Studies is a double-blind peer reviewed, open-access journal published by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. JAMS is dedicated to publishing scholarly works concerning anime, manga, cosplay, and the fandoms related to them. As an open-access journal, JAMS aims to reach an audience of scholars both inside and outside the academe, encouraging public engagement through the digital humanities.

Because anime and manga studies is such a diverse field, JAMS welcomes papers regarding anime, manga, cosplay, and their fandoms as analyzed from any relevant scholarly perspective. Works previously published in JAMS have ranged from media industry history, to disability studies, to data analysis, and many more.

All papers published in JAMS are published with a Creative Commons license, Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).

Submissions to JAMS average between 6,500 and 8,000 words, including works cited. Please contact the editor-in-chief if you wish to discuss significantly longer or shorter submissions.

Please visit our site: https://iopn.library.illinois.edu/journals/jams/about, for information about the journal and our policies. We welcome inquiries and are glad to discuss ideas for potential submissions. Scholars interested in supporting anime and manga studies as a discipline as peer reviewers should also reach out to JAMS.

See the linked papers below for examples of the works JAMS has published:

The Dynamism of Anime Images: The Case of the ‘Kanada-style’ Movement - https://doi.org/10.21900/j.jams.v4.1195

Embedded Niche Overlap: A Media Industry History of Yaoi Anime’s American Distribution from 1996 to 2009 - https://doi.org/10.21900/j.jams.v1.234

The Spectacular Mundane in the Films of Studio Ghibli - https://doi.org/10.21900/j.jams.v2.507

A Survey of the Story Elements of Isekai Manga - https://doi.org/10.21900/j.jams.v2.808

Submissions will be accepted until April 13th, 2025. While JAMS accepts submissions on a rolling basis, only papers submitted by the deadline will be guaranteed to be reviewed for this volume.

Note: This CFP is different than the JAMS@AX25 conference at Anime Expo. That will be a separate CFP.

Inquiries can be directed to Billy Tringali animestudiesjournal@gmail.com.

Last updated January 10, 2025

CFP Superheroes and Disability on Screen Collection (8/15/2024)

Superheroes and Disability on Screen: Intersectional Perspectives on Super-Bodies and Super-Identities as Politicized Spaces

deadline for submissions:
August 15, 2024

full name / name of organization:
Lorna Piatti-Farnell, Auckland University of Technology and Katie Ellis, Curtin University

contact email:
lorna.piatti-farnell@aut.ac.nz

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2024/06/09/superheroes-and-disability-on-screen-intersectional-perspectives-on-super-bodies-and



The editors of the volume are calling for chapter abstracts for a volume focused on the representation of disability in superhero film and media, with a particular focus on intersectional discourses of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, power, and beyond. The volume will provide perspectives on the growing field of superheroes and disability by placing a specific focus on screen representations. As such, the collections will engage with critical debates over super-identities and super-bodies as politicized spaces in the 21st centuries.

This volume is intended for inclusion in the recently established book series on Superhero Studies, published by Lexington/Rowman&Littelfield. For more information, please see here: https://rowman.com/action/series/_/lexshs

Topics for the volume may include, but are not limited to:

• Superheroes, disability, and race/ethnicity
• Superheroes, disability, and gender/sexuality
• Superheroes, disability, and Indigenous discourses
• Superheroes, disability, and the body
• Superheroes and neurodivergence
• Superheroes, disability, and power
• Superheroes, disability, and capitalism
• Superheroes, disability, and grief/trauma
• Superheroes, disability, and memory
• Superheroes, disability, and history
• Superheroes, disability, and LGBTGI+ discourses
• Superheroes, disability, and war
• Superheroes, disability, and digital representations
• Superheroes, disability and AI
• Superheroes, disability, and trans/posthumanism
• Superheroes, disability, and fandom
• All of the above, with a focus on supervillains

If accepted, final chapters will be 5-6,000 words, and needed by September 2025.

The deadline for submission of abstracts (of around 250 words, plus 100-words bio) is 15 August 2024. Please send abstracts to attention of both editors:

Professor Lorna Piatti-Farnell: lorna.piatti-farnell@aut.ac.nz

Professor Katie Ellis: katie.ellis@curtin.edu.au



Last updated June 11, 2024

CFP Comics and Film: An Uncanny Relationship Conference (5/15/2024; Prague/hybrid 8/23/2024)

Comics and Film: An Uncanny Relationship

deadline for submissions:
May 15, 2024

full name / name of organization:
FAMU

contact email:
petra.dominkova@famu.cz

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2024/03/28/comics-and-film-an-uncanny-relationship

Comics and Film: An Uncanny Relationship
FAMU, Prague, Czech Republic, August 23, 2024; hybrid
Deadline for proposals: May 15, 2024
Petra Dominkova

The conference "Comics and Film: An Uncanny Relationship" explores the intersection between the 7th and 9th arts – Cinema and Comics – from various perspectives. We welcome case studies of adaptations between these two media, with particular emphasis on submissions focusing on the adaptation of films into comics (rare, therefore much less discussed; e.g. Alien, 1979, or Outland, 1981-2). Additionally, we encourage proposals examining how comics studies reference film studies. Comics studies often utilizes the vocabulary of film studies and we aim to organize a panel focused on analyzing these texts and discussion about how the vocabulary (and overall the references to film) are being used, and perhaps why – how do they enrich the comics studies?

Studies comparing specific formal aspects used in film versus comics are also welcome. These may include the use of close-ups, off-screen sound, work with space (including off-screen space); framing; sound-effects or ambient sound; use of flashbacks or flashforwards, and more.



Therefore, submissions for the conference "Comics and Film: An Uncanny Relationship" should offer new perspectives on the relationship between film and comics, whether discussing particular adaptations or focusing on visual storytelling in general, emphasizing both similarities and differences between the two media.



We welcome abstracts in English (max. 400 words) along with a short biography (max. 150 words) until May 15, 2024, at the email address petra.dominkova@famu.cz. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.



The conference will be held at the Film and TV Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Czech Republic on Friday, 23rd of August, 2024. As the conference is the result of institution-supported research, there is no conference fee. The conference will last one day, with five panels, one of which will be online to accommodate participants who cannot be physically present in Prague for any reason.



Last updated April 1, 2024

Now Available IJoCA for Spring Summer 2023

The current issue of the International Journal of Comic Art was released last month. Please support the journal by checking out the contents list for Vol. 25, No. 1 (Spring/Summer 2023) from its blog (accessible from this link) and consider placing an order for a print or digital subscription.

Out Now: IJoCA for Fall/Winter 2022

The current issue of the International Journal of Comic Art was released last month. Please support the journal by checking out the contents list for Vol. 24, No. 2 (Fall/Winter 2022) from its blog (accessible from this link) and consider placing an order for a print or digital subscription.

Katsiadas on Romanticism in Comics

Congratulations to advisory board member, Nick Katsiadas, on his new book from RIT Press. Here are the details.

Romanticism in Comics: Faith, Myth, and Mood 

By Nick Katsiadas

(full details and ordering information from the publisher at this link)

Price:
$34.95


DETAILS

Publisher: RIT Press (12/2022)
ISBN-13: 9781939125934
Binding: Softcover
Pages: 114
Illustrations: 9
Size: 7 x 10 in.
Shipping Weight: 1lb

Overview

Comics studies scholars engaging comparative mythology tend to limit critical approaches to superhero fiction and classical and religious texts. Even the popular argument that superheroes are a “modern mythology” typically does not venture outside these limitations. Tolkien’s legendarium, Lovecraft’s mythos, Tennyson’s revisions to Arthurian myth, and Blake’s mythology don’t quite fit the creative models that prevailing criticism considers in comparative studies. Nick Katsiadas explores a greater literary history of myth in comics in his examinations of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, Alan Moore and J. H. Williams III’s Promethea, and Mike Carey and Peter Gross’s The Unwritten. The Romantics particularly used myth to highlight ideas about the value of imagination and creativity, and Katsiadas traces how these ways of thinking about literature and the arts persisted up through twentieth- and twenty-first-century comics. In this way, Romanticism in Comics helps us better understand comics’ greater literary history and, also, helps us reread and better situate Romanticism’s legacy in twentieth- and twenty-first-century art forms and ways of life.

Reviews

“Katsiadas expounds his central thesis with insight and precision, placing modern graphic narratives plausibly and compellingly within wider literary traditions.”—Mike Carey, writer for The Unwritten, Lucifer, and Hellblazer

About the Author

Nick Katsiadas is an instructor in the Department of Languages, Literatures, Cultures, and Writing at Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on European Romanticism, its echoes in later experimental narratology, and graphic narratives. He is the author of “Mytho-Auto-Bio: Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, the Romantics, and Shakespeare’s The Tempest” and “The Unwritten: Romanticism in Comics?”

New Issue of IJOCA for Spring/Summer 2022

The current issue of the International Journal of Comic Art was released last month. Please support the journal by checking out the contents list for Vol. 24, No. 1 (Spring/Summer 2022) from its blog (accessible from this link) and consider placing an order for a print or digital subscription.

Inks for Summer 2022

The latest issue of Inks: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society, volume 6, number 2, for Summer 2022, arrived recently. It is available by subscription from the Ohio State University Press and on Project MUSE (from this link) if you're lucky enough to have access.

Here are the contents:

Inks Volume 6, Issue 2, Summer 2022

Table of Contents

Zooming in on Ben Passmore

Alexandra Chiasson

pp. 101-118

DOI: 10.1353/ink.2022.0009

Barbarella: Sexual Revolution or Editorial Revolution?

Sylvain Lesage, Margaret C. Flinn

pp. 119-141

DOI: 10.1353/ink.2022.0010

"It Was as Much Ours …": Reader Contributions to Teen Humor Fashion Comics

John A. Walsh

pp. 142-171

DOI: 10.1353/ink.2022.0011

From the Field: Why Is Manga So Interesting?

Natsume Fusanosuke, Jon Holt, Teppei Fukuda

pp. 172-180

DOI: 10.1353/ink.2022.0012

Two Chapters from Why Is Manga So Interesting: Its Expression and Grammar: (Manga wa naze omoshiroi no ka: Sono hyōgen to bunpō, 1997)

Natsume Fusanosuke, Jon Holt, Teppei Fukuda

pp. 181-198

DOI: 10.1353/ink.2022.0018

Civilized Monsters: These Savage Shores and the Colonialist Cage

Ritesh Babu

pp. 199-215

DOI: 10.1353/ink.2022.0013

Panthers, Hulks and Ironhearts: Marvel, Diversity and the 21st Century Superhero by Jeffrey A. Brown (review)

Christopher Lopez

pp. 216-219

DOI: 10.1353/ink.2022.0014

The Comics World: Comic Books, Graphic Novels, and Their Publics ed. by Benjamin Woo, and Jeremy Stoll (review)

Zachary J. A. Rondinelli

pp. 220-222

DOI: 10.1353/ink.2022.0015

Robin and the Making of American Adolescence by Lauren R. O'Connor (review)

Stephen M. Zimmerly

pp. 222-225

DOI: 10.1353/ink.2022.0016

Contributors

pp. 229-230

DOI: 10.1353/ink.2022.0017

CFP Graphic Novels, Comics, and Popular Culture Area (10/31/2022; SWPACA 2/22-25/2023)

Call for Papers

Graphic Novels, Comics, and Popular Culture

Southwest Popular / American Culture Association (SWPACA)

44th Annual Conference, February 22-25, 2023

Marriott Albuquerque

Albuquerque, New Mexico

http://www.southwestpca.org

Submissions open on August 15, 2022

Proposal submission deadline: October 31, 2022



Proposals for papers and panels are now being accepted for the 44th annual SWPACA conference. One of the nation’s largest interdisciplinary academic conferences, SWPACA offers nearly 70 subject areas, each typically featuring multiple panels. For a full list of subject areas, area descriptions, and Area Chairs, please visit http://southwestpca.org/conference/call-for-papers/



The area chair seeks presentation proposals on formal, cultural, historical, and theoretical dimensions of sequential art in all its forms (comics, graphic novels, anime, etc.).



Presentations may focus on a single work, put works into productive conversation with one another, or investigate relationships between works of sequential art and their transmedia adaptations; in the latter case, however, significant emphasis should be placed on sequential art – those proposals focusing too much on film, television, gaming, or other formats will not be read favorably.



Authors may also submit field-provoking critical literature reviews intended to reframe scholarly discussion around major disciplinary themes or questions, works of sequential art history or historiography, ethnographic work concerning sequential art audiences, studies of the sequential art industry’s political economy, or investigations into new forms of sequential art storytelling, consumption, distribution, or marketing.



All proposals must be submitted through the conference’s database at http://register.southwestpca.org/southwestpca



For details on using the submission database and on the application process in general, please see the Proposal Submission FAQs and Tips page at http://southwestpca.org/conference/faqs-and-tips/



Individual proposals for 15-minute papers must include an abstract of approximately 200-500 words. Including a brief bio in the body of the proposal form is encouraged, but not required.



For information on how to submit a proposal for a roundtable or a multi-paper panel, please view the above FAQs and Tips page.



The deadline for submissions is October 31, 2022.



SWPACA offers monetary awards for the best graduate student papers in a variety of categories. Submissions of accepted, full papers are due January 1, 2023. SWPACA also offers travel fellowships for undergraduate and graduate students. For more information, visit http://southwestpca.org/conference/graduate-student-awards/



Registration and travel information for the conference will be available at http://southwestpca.org/conference/conference-registration-information/

For 2023, we are excited to be at a new venue, the Marriott Albuquerque (2101 Louisiana Blvd NE, Albuquerque, NM 87110), which boasts free parking and close proximity to dining, shopping, and other delights.



In addition, please check out the organization’s peer-reviewed, scholarly journal, Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy, at http://journaldialogue.org/



If you have any questions about the Graphic Novels, Comics, and Popular Culture area, please contact its Area Chair, Rob Peaslee (Texas Tech University, robert.peaslee@ttu.edu). If you have general questions about the conference, please contact us at support@southwestpca.org, and a member of the executive team will get back to you.



We look forward to receiving your submissions!

Batman Brings His Mission to the World

Batman Day was officially earlier this month, but, if you're looking for an innovative approach to the character, check out the recent graphic novel Batman: The World (2021). It's created by an international group of writers and artists each presenting the Caped Crusader on their home turf. Most stories feature Batman/Bruce Wayne as a familiar figure; however, a few of the tales adapt him more distinctly as a more  "local" hero.

CFP International Comic Arts Forum (9/23/2022; Vancouver 4/20-22/2023)

CALL FOR PAPERS:
International Comic Arts Forum

University of British Columbia, Vancouver
APRIL 20-22, 2023

source: http://www.internationalcomicartsforum.org/2023-call-for-papers.html

​ICAF invites proposals for scholarly presentations for its twentieth meeting, to be held on the Vancouver campus of the University of British Columbia on the Northwest Coast of Canada.

ICAF welcomes original proposals from diverse disciplines and theoretical perspectives on any aspect of comics or cartooning, particularly studies that reflect international perspectives. Studies of aesthetics, production, distribution, reception, and social, ideological, and historical significance are equally welcome, as are studies that address larger theoretical issues linked to comics or cartooning, for example in image/text studies or new media theory.

In addition to the general call for papers, we hope to offer panels and programming on the following subjects:

• Comics and Indigeneity, including but not limited to comics by Indigenous artists and comics on Indigenous issues, such as decolonization, Indigenous activism, sovereignty, language revitalization, and survivance
• Comics theory in the reading of early modern texts (and, generally, Shakespeare and comics)
• Comics pedagogy and comics in human rights education, including but not limited to comics on forced migration, the Holocaust, and genocide

Submissions in these areas are particularly encouraged but not required.

Moreover, this year’s ICAF will also invite accepted participants to take part in roundtables and seminars on current works in progress, comics pedagogy, and issues in comics studies scholarship.

The deadline to submit proposals is Friday, September 23, 2022.

PROPOSAL GUIDELINES: 

ICAF prefers argumentative, thesis-driven presentations that are clearly linked to larger critical, artistic, or cultural issues; we avoid those that are survey-like in character. We accept original 20-minute presentations that have not been presented or accepted for publication elsewhere and prefer those accompanied by images that illustrate the arguments made. Presenters can assume an audience versed in comics and the fundamentals of comics studies. Proposals should not exceed 300 words.

SEND ABSTRACTS by Friday, September 23, 2022, to Biz Nijdam, ICAF Academic Director, at icafcomic@gmail.com. The body of the email should include: contact information, a short bio, title of the proposal, and 3-5 keywords. Abstracts should be anonymized, as all proposals will be subject to blind review.

Receipt of all proposals will be acknowledged. Applicants can expect to receive confirmation of acceptance or rejection by Friday, October 7, 2022.

LENT AWARD: ICAF also sponsors the John A. Lent Scholarship in Comics Studies. The Lent Scholarship, named for pioneering teacher and researcher Dr. John Lent, is offered to encourage student research into comic art. Applications for this scholarship are due by December 1, 2022. For more details, please visit our website.

To help defray the cost of attendance for international guests (outside of the US and Canada), a limited number of registration waivers may be granted at the discretion of the Executive Committee. More information will be made available upon acceptance of proposals.

CFP The Journal of Anime and Manga Studies (JAMS) Third Volume (5/2/2022)

The Journal of Anime and Manga Studies (JAMS) Third Volume

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/01/07/the-journal-of-anime-and-manga-studies-jams-third-volume

deadline for submissions:
May 2, 2022

full name / name of organization:
Journal of Anime and Manga Studies

contact email:
animestudiesjournal@gmail.com



Volume to be Published in November of 2022

The Journal of Anime and Manga Studies (JAMS) is eager to announce a Call for Papers for our third volume.

The Journal of Anime and Manga Studies is a double-blind peer reviewed, open-access journal published by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. JAMS is dedicated to publishing scholarly works concerning anime, manga, cosplay, and the fandom surrounding these areas. As an open-access journal, JAMS aims to reach an audience of scholars both inside and outside the academe, encouraging public engagement through the digital humanities.

Because anime and manga studies is such a diverse field, JAMS welcomes papers regarding anime, manga, cosplay, and their fandoms as analyzed from any number of scholarly perspectives. Works published in JAMS first volume ranged from media industry history, to the intersections of disability and queer identity.

All papers published in JAMS are published with a Creative Commons license, Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).

Submissions to JAMS average between 6,000 and 7,500 words. Please contact the editor-in-chief if you wish to discuss significantly longer or shorter submissions.

Please visit our site: https://iopn.library.illinois.edu/journals/jams/about, for information about the journal and our policies. We welcome inquiries and are glad to discuss ideas for potential submissions. Scholars interested in supporting anime and manga studies as a discipline as peer reviewers should also reach out to JAMS. Inquiries can be directed to animestudiesjournal@gmail.com.

Submissions will be accepted until May 2nd, 2022. While JAMS accepts submissions on a rolling basis, only papers submitted by the deadline will be guaranteed to be reviewed for this volume.




Last updated April 4, 2022

CFP Comics and Graphic Narratives Panel, PAMLA 2022 at UCLA (5/15/2022; PAMLA 11/11-13/2022)

Comics and Graphic Narratives Panel, PAMLA 2022 at UCLA

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/03/27/comics-and-graphic-narratives-panel-pamla-2022-at-ucla

deadline for submissions:
May 15, 2022

full name / name of organization:
Pacific Ancient Modern Language Association

contact email:
joseph.whatford@csusb.edu



PAMLA's Comics and Graphic Narratives panel seeks papers dealing with comics and other graphic narratives for it's annual in-person conference, which will convene at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) between Friday, November 11 and Sunday, November 13, 2022.

All papers dealing with comics and graphic narratives will be considered. Papers utilizing media specific analysis, and papers with a strong connection to this year's theme ("Geographies of the Fantastic and Quotidian") are highly encouraged. A visual component to the paper/presentation is also encouraged.

This in-person conference will convene at UCLA's Luskin Conference Center and Hotel between Friday, November 11 and Sunday, November 13, 2022. Please submit paper proposals by May 15, 2022.

To submit a proposal and view other great panels seeking proposals, please use the following link (account creation required): https://pamla.ballastacademic.com/.

We look forward to reading your proposals.




Last updated March 28, 2022

CFP Would Panel Scaffolding: Reflecting on Building, and Sustaining Comics Studies Programs, Library Collections, and Journals (2/1/2023; Spec Issue of SANE Journal)

Would Panel Scaffolding: Reflecting on Building, and Sustaining Comics Studies Programs, Library Collections, and Journals

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/02/03/would-panel-scaffolding-reflecting-on-building-and-sustaining-comics-studies-programs

deadline for submissions:
February 1, 2023

full name / name of organization:
Richard Graham/University of Nebraska-Lincoln

contact email:
rgraham7@unl.edu




SANE Journal is seeking: critical, evaluative, and reflective works from those engaged in the making, preserving, teaching, and studying of comics through the creation of comics studies programs, the stewardship of comics collections within libraries, and the establishing of comics studies-associated journals. We prefer writings that address the history, evolution, and dissolution of such entities. What is the story of your program, collection, or journal? How does it reflect a situatedness in its field and the ontological, teleological, and epistemologies surrounding it, both in relation to current exigencies but in relation to the past as well? What processes, people, and supports were in place – or not in place – to facilitate success or failure? Can the process of success and/or failure within these domains best be illuminated through a particular – or particular set – of critical lenses? In these reflections, articulate the issues regarding the proliferation of existing and future programs of study, collections, and journals within comics studies? Methodological approaches to addressing these questions are acceptable for consideration, as well as critical and reflective approaches.

Pieces should follow MLA 8 format and may take a variety of forms, including essay, case study, auto/ethnography, interview, systematic program review.



Final submissions due: Feb. 1, 2023



Last updated February 6, 2022

CFP Technical Storytelling: Comics and Community (3/14/2022; Spec Issue of ImageText)

Call for Paper Proposals: ImageText Special Issue Spring 2023

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/02/09/call-for-paper-proposals-imagetext-special-issue-spring-2023

deadline for submissions:
March 14, 2022

full name / name of organization:
Alexander Slotkin & Laura Gonzales / University of Florida

contact email:
aslotkin@ufl.edu

TECHNICAL STORYTELLING: COMICS AND COMMUNITY

Special Issue of ImageTexT, Spring 2023

Guest Editors: Alexander Slotkin & Laura Gonzales

While the social justice turn in technical communication is relatively new, comics have long served as venues for coalition building. From Jen White-Johnson’s work on visual activism for Black Disabled communities (https://jenwhitejohnson.com), to Alfred Hassler’s Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story, to the ongoing series El Viaje Mas Caro, a series of short comics documenting stories from Latin American migrant farm workers living in Vermont, comics have historically been used as a tool for community organizing. Taking up Natasha N. Jones’ call in “The Technical Communicator as Advocate” to integrate social justice advocacy into technical communication, we think it is important to highlight how comics have or might be used in technical communication to facilitate community and forward social justice movements by challenging, resisting, or calling attention to structural forms of White supremacy that continue to harm people of color.

This special issue of ImageTexT will consider how comics in technical communication have been or can be used to facilitate community and challenge everyday structures of oppression at the local or national level. Although there is no definite consensus on what constitutes a “comic,” we see comics as a broad genre of graphic storytelling that rhetorically structures text and imagery through juxtaposition to depict, demonstrate, and/or convey information, whether it be a joke or technical process (see Bahl et al.; Yu; McCloud). Building on Technical Communication Quarterly’s 2020 special issue on “Comics and Graphic Storytelling in Technical Communication,” we intend for this special issue to highlight how technical (and possibly scientific) communication in comic form might initiate or support localized community engagement and/or social justice movements.

The first issue of ImageTexT to explore comics in relation to technical communication studies, “Technical Storytelling: Comics and Community” works to constellate technical communication, comic studies, and community activism at a time when COVID-19 continues to disproportionally affect Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. It is perhaps no surprise then that we take inspiration for this issue from Josh Neufeld’s “A Tale of Two Pandemics,” a comic adaptation of a research article exploring the racial dynamics of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic to better understand racial disparities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Neufeld creates a text that is accessible and easily circulated while also highlighting Black voices and bringing greater attention to a problem facing Black communities. What other imaginative possibilities or futures are there for community engaged or socially oriented comic scholarship in technical communication?

We invite contributors—especially those from multiply-marginalized communities—to reflect on how technical communicators might use comics in their pedagogy, advocacy, and/or scholarship to support local or national communities and movements. To this end, we welcome a variety of genres and approaches to this topic, including but not limited to: comics, formal essays, ethnographies, case studies, video essays, and experiential reports. Contributors may address a variety of questions and issues, including but not limited to the following:

• How do technical communicators work with community members to design culturally informed comics that address localized concerns? And what does this process look like?
• How can we use comics to invite different cultural communities inside our technical writing classrooms, and why does that matter from a social justice point of view?
• How can we integrate social justice advocacy into our technical communication classrooms through comic writing and design?
• There are a variety of technical communication comics that, historically, have served as tools for coalition building. What might we learn about technical communication or social justice advocacy by studying one or more of these examples?
• How might comics and comic studies more generally help orient technical communicators toward social justice initiatives?
• How can or have communities used comics as a form of resistance?
• What specific affordances do comics as a genre of technical communication offer in support of community advocacy?
• How have technical communication comics served as an outlet or catalyst for community action during the COVID-19 pandemic?
• How do socially oriented comics in technical communication shift our understanding of technical communication and/or comic studies more generally?
• In what ways can comics in technical communication challenge White supremacy and other systematic forms of oppression?
• What might a socially informed comic in technical communication studies look like?
• How can we use comics in technical communication to center or highlight Black and Indigenous voices?

ImageText: Interdisciplinary Comics Studies is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal that advances the academic study of an emerging and diverse canon of image-texts, including—but not limited to—comic books and strips, graphic novels, animations, illustrated fiction, picture books, zines, and other media that blend images and texts in complex ecologies. You can visit previous issues of the journal here: https://imagetextjournal.com/

All submissions should be made through the journal’s Submittable portal, the link to which you can find here: https://imagetext.submittable.com/submit

Publication Schedule

Proposals (500 words) due March 14th, 2022

Authors notified by April 4th, 2022

Full submissions due June 27th, 2022

Submissions sent to reviewers by July 11th, 2022

Authors notified by September 22nd, 2022

Revised submissions due November 22nd, 2022

Submissions sent to reviewers by December 2nd, 2022

Authors notified by February 8th, 2023

References

Bahl, Erin Kathleen, Sergio Figueiredo, and Rich Shivener. “Comics and Graphic Storytelling in Technical Communication.” Technical Communication Quarterly, vol. 29, no. 3, 2020, pp. 219-221.

Bennett, Marek, Julia Grand Doucet, Andy Kolovos, and Teresa Mares (Eds.). The Most Costly Journey: Stories of Migrant Farmworkers in Vermont Drawn by New England Cartoonists. Vermont Folklife Center, 2021.

Krishnan, Lakshmi, S. Michelle Ogunwole, and Lisa A. Cooper. “Historical Insights on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, and Racial Disparities: Illuminating a Path Forward.” Annals of Internal Medicine, vol. 173, no. 6, 2020, pp. 474-481.

Hassler, Alfred. Martin Luther King and The Montgomery Story. Fellowship of Reconciliation, 1957.

Jones, Natasha N. “The Technical Communicator as Advocate: Integrating a Social Justice Approach in Technical Communication.” Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, vol. 46, no. 5, 2016, pp. 342-361.

McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. Tundra Publishing, 1993.

Neufeld, Josh. “A Tale of Two Pandemics: Historical Insights on Persistent Racial Disparities.” Journalist’s Resource: Informing the News, https://journalistsresource.org/race-and-gender/pandemics-comic-racial-h....

White-Johnson, Jen. jenwhitejohnson. October 2018. https://jenwhitejohnson.com.

Yu, Han. The Other Kind of Funnies: Comics in Technical Communication. Routledge, 2016.



Last updated February 11, 2022

CFP Images of the Hero: Heroism in Literature (3/31/2022; East/Southeast Regional Meeting of the CCL 6/10-11/2022)

Images of the Hero: Heroism in Literature (East/Southeast Regional Meeting of the CCL)

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/02/21/images-of-the-hero-heroism-in-literature-eastsoutheast-regional-meeting-of-the-ccl

deadline for submissions:
March 31, 2022

full name / name of organization:
Conference on Christianity and Literature

contact email:
clgrewell@phc.edu



In The Hero with A Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell asserts that the mythic figure of the hero is central to understanding the human experience. He argues that “the hero is symbolical of that divine creative and redemptive image within us all, only waiting to be known and rendered into life.” The hero, in other words, might be said to be the embodiment or archetype of the imago Dei raised to the highest pitch, functioning as an exemplar of what humanity at its level best can do. Thomas Carlyle also nods to the transcendently human nature of the hero in Of Heroes and Hero Worship, when he says that the hero is “he who lives in the inward sphere of things, in the True, Divine and Eternal, which exists always, unseen to most, under the Temporary, Trivial…”

The figure of the hero has perennially occupied a central place in the Western literary canon, from Homer to Tolkien. Yet in recent decades, the assumed virtues of traditional concepts of heroism and traditional depictions of heroes have been challenged and become subject to significant revision in popular culture. While the contemporary heroes of the Marvel Comics universe enjoy immense, culture shaping popularity, Homer’s heroes find themselves increasingly left out of secondary and post-secondary syllabi. These things raise the questions of what a hero is and what role the hero has yet to play in the 21st Century. Do the traditional heroes of the Western canon still have a role to play as transcendent ideals of humanity that carry us forward, or are they retrograde constructs in desperate need of revision?

This conference invites papers that explore the answers to these questions and attendant questions related to the mythic and the symbolic. Paper submissions might address the theme of literary heroism from any number of angles, but the following questions are offered as a starting point.

• What is the role of a hero, a traditionally aristocratic character, in a society that sets a moral premium on egalitarianism?
• Does the classical epic still have a place in the English curriculum, and if so, what is it? If not, has it been replaced? With what?
• How do literary heroes inspire differently from the heroes of history, and is the idea of a real-life Hero a contradiction in terms?
• What is behind our fascination with deconstructing heroes? Is the hero archetype, in fact, immoral?
• What is literature’s role in either upholding or interrogating the ideals of heroism?
• Is the Western ideal of the hero compatible with a Christian ideal of human virtue?
• What might a theologically informed reading of the hero archetype look like? Does it offer significant revision to the canonical Western Ideal?
• Any exploration of what might be considered the heroic in other mythic or symbolic literary figures is, of course, welcome.

The East/Southeast Regional Meeting of the Conference of Christianity and Literature will take place at Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, VA (just outside of Washington, D.C.) on June 10-11, 2022. Please send paper abstracts/proposals of 400 words or less to Cory Grewell (clgrewell@phc.edu) by March 31, 2022.



Last updated February 22, 2022

CFP Folio: Stories of Australian Comics (4/30/2022)

Call for abstracts: Folio: Stories of Australian Comics

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/02/20/call-for-abstracts-folio-stories-of-australian-comics

deadline for submissions:
April 30, 2022

full name / name of organization:
Folio: Stories of Australian Comics

contact email:
australiancomicsfolio@gmail.com



CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

FOLIO: STORIES OF AUSTRALIAN COMICS

How are Australian comics made, read, contested, thought about, produced – what do Australian comics mean to you? We are a research team called Folio; we are academics from three universities working with a broader group of practitioners on an Australian Research Council project to tell stories of contemporary Australian comics 1980-now. The project entails putting together an interactive history and archive of the last 40 years of comics in Australia.

We are putting together a proposed book that will grow out of the project in response to an invitation from an international publisher. We are interested in hearing from scholars of all kinds, Australian and international, such as comics-makers, creative practice researchers and artist-critics, scholars from other disciplines including but not limited to medical humanities, literary and cultural studies/ histories/ geographies, creative writing, visual arts and graphic design, print and digital publishing studies, media and film, on Australian comics topics of interest.

One of our guiding ideas is that Australian comics represents a complex intersecting ‘ecology’ of many different genres, networks and formats. We want our project to highlight the many nodes of this ecology, mapping and traversing the ways in which they interconnect.

As such, essays can be in a mix of forms, prose, comics or both, and can incorporate personal experience.

Essays might ask: What is 'Australia' in Australian comics? How does it look? How does it sound? What is the Australian comics ‘scene’? What places, people and atmospheres make this scene what it is? What are the limiting or excluding aspects of the Australian comics world? How has Australian comics tracked or offered counterpoint to social shifts as they relate to decolonisation and Indigenous sovereignty, gender and sexuality, understandings of environmental crisis, understandings of capital? What about changes in production and distribution format, including the digital? How is the Australian comics world situated within comics globally? How have key artists advanced the form? Which quality artists remain underread and under-described? How have you made comics? How has comics made you?

We are seeking abstracts of 200 words by 30 April 2022; abstracts should come accompanied with a short bio and an outline of how the work will be presented.

Timeline:

30 April 2022 – 200-word abstracts due
June 2022 – Editors respond to abstracts
December 20 2022 – Full essays between 3000 and 5000 words, or 10 and 20 comics pages, due (Instructions on format will be sent on acceptance of abstract)
Early 2023 – Essays and comics sent for peer review
2024 – Projected publication

Please send abstracts and queries to australiancomicsfolio@gmail.com.

About Folio and the research team: https://www.foliocomics.com/about



Last updated February 21, 2022