Fun Home

Fun Home won the Tony for Best Musical last year. It is adapted from the graphic novel by Alison Bechdel. The story blends various times in Bechdel's life in a very innovative format and tells of the author's embrace of her identity as a lesbian and coming to terms with her father as a gay man. It is a poignant (though often funny) tale and serves as a worthy testament to the power of the comics format. 

Links:
Official site: http://funhomebroadway.com/
Cast recording: http://www.psclassics.com/cd_funhome2.html

CfP “The Fantastic in Comics” (Special Issue) (12/15/16)

CfP: “The Fantastic in Comics”

http://www.fantastic-arts.org/2016/cfp-the-fantastic-in-comics/

Posted on July 7, 2016

 

The call for papers for articles for the sections “Monograph” and “Miscellaneous” for the Vol. IV n.º2 issue of Brumal. Revista de Investigación sobre lo Fantástico /Brumal. Research Journal on the Fantastic is now open.
Scholars who wish to contribute to either of these two sections should send us their articles by December 15, 2016, registering as authors on our web page. The Guidelines for Submissions may be found on the Submissions section of the web page.

Monographic issue “The Fantastic in Comics” (José Manuel Trabado, Coord.)

The aim of this monographic issue is to offer an overview the possibilities of fantastic comics both on a narrative level and as regards graphic formulation. We also try to look into the relationship between different formats (comic strip, Sunday page, album, sketchbook, comic book, etc) and the introduction of fantastic, with the goal of understanding the basic mechanisms of the formulation of fantastic within comics and define its relevance in different eras. Authors should take into account the concept of fantastic hold by the review: “the always problematic coexistence between the possible and the impossible in a world similar to the real one. This explains why the contents of Brumal exclude some neighbouring categories, for examples cience fiction, the marvellous or fantasy, since in them such conflict is absent”.  However this neighboruing genres can be dealt with in cases of generic hybridization
Possible theme lines:

• Poetic and graphic narratives of fantastic comics
• Fantastic and its relationship with formats
• Authors for a canon of fantastic comics
• The importance of magazines in the consolidation of the fantastic. Fantastic as editorial line
• Cultural Traditions and fantastic comics: the fantastic and the bd, the fantastic in manga, the fantastic in superheroes comic books, etc.

Miscellaneous Section
This Miscellaneous section is open all year to receive any type of article on any of the diverse artistic manifestations of the fantastic (narrative, theater, film, comics, painting, photography, video games), whether theoretical, critical, historical or comparative in nature, concerning the fantastic in any language or from any country, from the nineteenth century to the present.
http://revistes.uab.cat/brumal/index

CfP “The Death of Zod”: Ethics in 21st-Century Comics (9/30/2016; NeMLA 2017)

One quick post of interest:

CfP: “The Death of Zod”: Ethics in 21st-Century Comics

http://www.fantastic-arts.org/2016/cfp-the-death-of-zod-ethics-in-21st-century-comics/

Posted on June 22, 2016

“The Death of Zod”: Ethics in 21st-Century Comics

deadline for submissions:

September 30, 2016

full name / name of organization:

Northeast Modern Language Association

contact email:

forj15@yorku.ca

 

Avid comic book fans sat appalled in theatres as Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel reached the climax of the film in which Superman kills his enemy Zod. Snyder’s film raises the question of whether this killing and the death of Zod could actually fit with Superman’s traditional moral compass. From Man of Steel to the CW’s Arrow and Flash series to the Avengers franchise, comic book characters are facing new ethical developments in their rejuvenation that both encompass and go beyond the idea of killing one’s enemy.Following a loose Nietzschean trajectory of “The Death of God,” this panel seeks to tease out the issues of superheroes’ ethics. Further, this panel questions the regenerated heroes of the 21st century and the moral and ethical dilemmas these characters face in the contemporary world. Papers for this panel are invited to contemplate the following questions: Do our generation’s heroes have a different ethic than past generations? What does it mean if they do? How is our modern and post-modern culture reflected in this change? What moral tensions are highlighted in male and female characters and are they different? Should we redefine the notion of the superhero and the vigilante (or perhaps even the villain), as well as their place in society? How are characters’ identities formed through their moral actions?

Papers might focus on comic book adaptations on big and small screens or comic book characters’ revival in print.

Submit papers on NeMLA’s website: http://www.buffalo.edu/nemla.html
Online Abstract: https://www.cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/16199
For questions email:
Forrest Johnson: forj15@yorku.ca
Tracey Thomas: tracey.holzhueter@gmail.com