comiXology Updates

Earlier this month it was announced that Amazon had acquired the comiXology digital comics store. The first move towards its integration into Amazon was the site's severing of its ties to Apple with the release of a comics reader app to replace its (now) non-functional storefront app. Further details from these two articles on The Beat:

Amazon removes ability to buy comics through Comixology app to cut out Apple (26 April 2014):
http://comicsbeat.com/amazon-removes-ability-to-buy-comics-through-comixology-app-to-cut-out-apple/

and

New ComiXology: Publishers can run their storefront apps for now (28 April 2014):
http://comicsbeat.com/new-comixology-publishers-can-run-their-storefront-apps-for-now/.

CFP Comics and Graphic Narratives (5/15/14; PAMLA 10/31-11/2/14)

112th Annual Conference - Riverside Convention Center, California
Friday, October 31 - Sunday, November 2, 2014

Comics and Graphic Narratives

Presiding Officer:
Dawn Dietrich, Western Washington University

Status:
Open (accepting submissions)

Associated Sessions
Comics and Graphic Narratives

Topic Type:
Standing Session

- See more at: http://www.pamla.org/2014/topics/comics-and-graphic-narratives#sthash.5RZjfgiG.dpuf

CFP Webcomics (5/15/14; PAMLA 10/31-11/2/14)

Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association
112th Annual Conference - Riverside Convention Center, California
Friday, October 31 - Sunday, November 2, 2014

Webcomics: A New Media Canon?

Presiding Officer:
Christopher Kuipers, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Are there webcomic classics and canons now?  How have webcomics reinvented cartoons since McCloud’s Reinventing Comics?  What about new frontiers of the infinite canvas—vlogging, crowdsourcing, fanon?  Do webcomics complicate the age of late print (e.g., Kickstarter)?  Proposals sought on individual webcomics, creators, or general trends in webcomics’ contemporary literary history.

Status:
Open (accepting submissions)

Associated Sessions
Webcomics: A New Media Canon?

Topic Type:
Special Session

- See more at: http://www.pamla.org/2014/topics/webcomics-new-media-canon#sthash.O5cuUQwn.dpuf

Riddle Me This, Batman!

On my wish list: 

Riddle Me This, Batman! : Essays on the Universe of the Dark Knight

Edited by Kevin K. Durand and Mary K. Leigh
Published by McFarland

Print ISBN: 978-0-7864-4629-2
Ebook ISBN: 978-0-7864-8731-8
notes, bibliographies, index
228pp. softcover (6 x 9) 2011
Price $40.00

About the Book
From his first comic-book appearance in 1939 through his many incarnations on the big screen, the archetypal superhero known as The Batman has never been far from the American consciousness. The character shaped the way we read comics and graphic novels, view motion pictures, and analyze the motifs of the Hero, the Anti-Hero and the Villain. He has also captured the scholarly imagination, telling us much about our society and ourselves. These essays examine how Batman is both the canvas on which our cultural identity is painted, and the Eternal Other that informs our own journeys of understanding. Questions relating to a wide range of disciplines—philosophy, literature, psychology, pop culture, and more—are thoroughly and entertainingly explored, in a manner that will appeal both to scholars and to fans of the Caped Crusader alike.

About the Editors
Kevin K. Durand is the dean of academics at the LISA Academy College Preparatory School in Little Rock, Arkansas. He has published broadly in philosophy, religion, and ethics. Mary K. Leigh is a doctoral academy fellow at the University of Arkansas.


Table of Contents

Preface
MARY K. LEIGH      1
Introduction: What Has Adorno to Do with Gotham?
KEVIN K. DURAND      3

Part One: The Ethics and Anarchy of Batman
1. Virtue in Gotham: Aristotle’s Batman
MARY K. LEIGH      17
2. The Dark Knight Errant: Power and Authority in Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
CHRISTOPHER BUNDRICK      24
3. Why Adam West Matters: Camp and Classical Virtue
KEVIN K. DURAND      41
4. Dark Knight, White Knight, and the King of Anarchy
STEPHANIE CARMICHAEL      54
5. Introducing a Little Anarchy: The Dark Knight and Power Structures on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
SUDIPTO SANYAL      70

Part Two: Batman and Literary Theory
6. Batman’s Canon: Hybridity and the Interpretation of the Superhero
KEVIN K. DURAND      81
7. Seminar on the Purloined Batarang: Batman and Lacan
MITCH FRYE      93
8. Queer Matters in The Dark Knight Returns: Why We Insist on a Sexual Identity for Batman
JENEE WILDE      104
9. The Hero We Read: The Dark Knight, Popular Allegoresis, and Blockbuster Ideology
ANDREA COMISKEY      124
10. Rolling the Boulder in Gotham
RANDY DUNCAN      147
11. Figuration of the Superheroic Revolutionary: The Dark Knight of Negation
D. T. KOFOED      156

Part Three: Batman and Beyond
12. "One May Smile, and Smile, and Be a Villain": Grim Humor and the Warrior Ethos
MELANIE WILSON      169
13. "And Doesn’t All the World Love a Clown?": Finding the Joker and the Representation of His Evil
MICHAEL SMITH      187
14. Call It (Friendo): Flipism and Folklore in No Country for Old Men and The Dark Knight
MATTHEW FOTIS      201

About the Contributors      219
Index      221

CFP Dick Grayson Collection (8/31/14)

This sounds like a really cool idea:

75 Years of Dick Grayson (Robin, Nightwing, Batman) - 31 August 2014

full name / name of organization:
Kristen Geaman - University of Toledo
contact email:
kgeaman@gmail.com
Book Project

To date, there has not been a single scholarly book published on Dick Grayson, the original Robin who grew up to become the hero Nightwing and serve as Batman. In conjunction with Grayson’s 75th anniversary in 2015, this book seeks to examine any and all aspects of Grayson as an influential comic book character and cultural icon.

We welcome contributions from all scholarly fields, including history, literature, psychology, philosophy, art, art history, cultural studies, media studies, and more.

Given that this project is the first of its kind, the range of topics is extremely broad. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

-Dick's influence on the development of comic book conventions (especially as the original kid sidekick)

-Dick in comic-book art

-Dick's role as leader

-Dick's relationships with other heroes (Bats, Titans, JLA, etc)
*We are especially looking for an article about Dick and his relationship with Barbara Gordon

-Dick in the New 52

-Dick and his fans (who they are, why he might have more female fans than Batman, etc)

-Dick and representation (especially the ret-con that gave him Romani heritage)

-Dick in fanart, fanfiction, and/or cosplay

-Dick in non-print media

-Dick and his villains

-cosplay

-looking at Dick through any number of theoretical lens: gender theory, queer theory, etc.

-Dick and philosophy, psychology, etc

Please contact Kristen Geaman (kgeaman@gmail.com) for more information. Currently, we hope to have first drafts written by the end of August 2014. That will give us time to circulate them among the participants before we write final drafts.


By web submission at 04/18/2014 - 16:20