CFP Images of Blackness in Graphic Novels, Past and Future (1/1/2018)

Call for Papers: Images of Blackness in Graphic Novels, Past and Future
Discussion published by Brian Yates on Friday, November 17, 2017
https://networks.h-net.org/node/12834/discussions/864327/call-papers-images-blackness-graphic-novels-past-and-future
 

This edited volume will offer an opportunity for authors to investigate the ways in which blackness is reimagined in both mainstream and independent comics. Specifically, I propose responding to the following questions: What are the ways in which heroism is redefined by black characters? How are black futures reimagined? What gendered arguments are made through this medium? What are the challenges in presenting to black audiences in this largely white genre? How do the creators depict the continent of Africa and/or communities in the African Diaspora? How are black bodies presented in graphic comics and novels? Finally, how are themes of social justice specific to black communities presented in this type of medium?

This volume would address the above questions in addition to the themes indicated below.

• Black Futurism
• Black Femininity
• Black Masculinity
• Imagery of Blackness
• Conceptions of Africa and/or Diaspora
• Black Bodies in Comics
• The Use of Comics for Social Change
• Narratives of publishing Black-themed Graphic Novels and Comics

All submissions should include a 200-word abstract. Finalized contributions should be sent as Microsoft Word and/ or JPEG attachment by January 1, 2018. Articles will be in English. Please send an email to byates@sju.edu for instructions to submit via Dropbox. In terms of submission requirements, utilize FIRE!!!’s style guide located at http://fire-jbs.org/ under the author’s tab.

CFP GRAPHIC NOVELS at CEA 2018 (11/1/2017; CEA 2018)

A bit vague of a call (is it an area/division, a session, or something else?), but it seems worth a look; comics-related info in red below:


GRAPHIC NOVELS at CEA 2018
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2017/08/18/graphic-novels-at-cea-2018


deadline for submissions: November 1, 2017

full name / name of organization: College English Association (CEA)

contact email: wardj@phsc.edu



Subject: Call for Papers: GRAPHIC NOVELS at CEA 2018



Call for Papers, GRAPHIC NOVELS at CEA 2018

April 5-7, 2018 | St. Petersburg, Florida

Hilton St. Petersburg Bayfront

333 1st St South, Saint Petersburg, Florida 33701 | Phone: (727) 894-5000

The College English Association, a gathering of scholar-teachers in English studies, welcomes proposals for presentations on [special topic title] for our 49th annual conference. Submit your proposal at http://cea-web.org/

CEA seeks papers exploring graphic novels as literary works that serve as tools for teaching students through traditional analysis as novels and/or by providing new perspectives or insights about the human condition.

Conference Theme

CEA welcomes proposals for presentations on the general conference theme: Bridges. The Sunshine Skyway Bridge crosses Tampa Bay from St. Petersburg, called the Sunshine City in honor of its Guinness Record for most consecutive days of sunshine (768). St. Petersburg is home to historic neighborhoods, distinguished museums, contemporary galleries, and a wide variety of dining, entertainment and shopping venues. St. Petersburg is also home to the College English Association’s 2018 national conference, where we invite you to join us at our annual meeting to explore the many bridges that connect places, texts, communities, words, and ideas.

CEA invites proposals from academics in all areas of literature, language, film, composition, pedagogy, and creative, professional, and technical writing. We are especially interested in presentations that build bridges between and among texts, disciplines, people, cultures, media, languages, and generations.

For your proposal you might consider:
Bridges between disciplines, languages, or generations
Bridges between races, classes, cultures, regions, genders, or sexualities.
Cultural or ideological bridges in literary, scholarly, or theoretical works
The bridge as construct, form, metaphor, motif, or icon
Connections between text and images or sound
Bridges between theory and practice, reading and writing, writer and audience
Building bridges between teaching and scholarship; faculty and administrators; professors and students
Bridges as physical artifacts and symbols of industry and technology
Digital humanities as a bridge between worlds
What bridges connect, support, and pass over

General Call for Papers

CEA also welcomes proposals for presentations in any of the areas English departments typically encompass, including literature criticism and scholarship, creative writing, composition, technical communication, linguistics, and film. We also welcome papers on areas that influence our work as academics, including student demographics, student/instructor accountability and assessment, student advising, academic leadership in departments and programs, and the place of the English department in the university.



Submission: August 15-November 1, 2017



For more information on how to submit, please see the full CFP at http://cea-web.org/




Membership
All presenters at the 2018 CEA conference must become members of CEA by January 1, 2018. To join CEA, please go to http://cea-web.org/

Other questions? Please email cea.english@gmail.com.



Sincerely,



Joseph J. Ward

Assistant Professor

Pasco Hernando State College

Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch

2727 Mansfield Boulevard

Wesley Chapel, Florida 33543

(813) 527-6830

wardj@phsc.edu




Last updated September 5, 2017

CFP From Smallville to Metropolis: Navigating Space and Place in Comics and Their Adaptations (9/30/2017; NeMLA 2018)

NeMLA seems set to be a hotbed of comics scholarship in 2018. Here's another call:


From Smallville to Metropolis: Navigating Space and Place in Comics and Their Adaptations (NeMLA 2018, Pittsburgh, PA, 4/12-4/15/2018)
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2017/09/05/from-smallville-to-metropolis-navigating-space-and-place-in-comics-and-their


deadline for submissions: September 30, 2017

full name / name of organization: Lisa Perdigao, Florida Institute of Technology

contact email: lperdiga@fit.edu




From Smallville to Metropolis: Navigating Space and Place in Comics and Their Adaptations

Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA) Conference 2018

Pittsburgh, PA

April 12-15, 2018

Scott Bukatman writes that “The experience of the city (and the comic book) is less one of static order than dynamic negotiation” (174), particularly in the superhero genre. Many superheroes are identified with specific cities (Superman’s Metropolis, Batman’s Gotham, Spider-Man’s New York City, Arrow’s Star City, and the Flash’s Central City) and neighborhoods (Daredevil and Jessica Jones’ Hell’s Kitchen, Luke Cage’s Harlem, and Iron Fist’s K’un-Lun, Manhattan, and Chinatown). This panel seeks papers exploring the ways that cities and towns are mapped and renegotiated in comics and/or their adaptations. As they "move through space in a special way” (Gotto 47), superheroes suggest distinct ways of viewing, experiencing, and negotiating urban and suburban landscapes. Papers may focus on superhero narratives or works in other genres (e.g., Sin City, Riverdale, iZombie, The Walking Dead, and Fun Home).

General inquiries to lperdiga@fit.edu

To submit an abstract, go to https://www.cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/17044

categories

Last updated September 6, 2017

CFP Of Superpowers and Privilege: Diversity in Superhero Narratives (Roundtab;e) (9/30/2017; NeMLA 2018)

NeMLA 2018 Roundtable CFP - Of Superpowers and Privilege: Diversity in Superhero Narratives
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2017/09/03/nemla-2018-roundtable-cfp-of-superpowers-and-privilege-diversity-in-superhero

deadline for submissions: September 30, 2017

full name / name of organization: Mary Ellen Iatropoulos / Northeast Modern Language Association

contact email: maryiatrop@gmail.com


The word “diversity” has been thrown around a lot lately in the world of superhero narratives. The last two years have featured an increased diversity in Marvel Comics’ set of characters and creative staff, with Ta-Nehisi Coates’s work on Black Panther, G. Willow Wilson’s co-creation of Ms. Marvel, the character Jane Foster being deemed worthy of Mjolnir and with it the name Thor, and Riri Williams taking over the role of Iron Man from Tony Stark. At the same time, Marvel has faced criticism for whitewashing of films such as Doctor Strange, and a refusal to increase diversity in casting with its main character taking on the white savior narrative in Iron Fist. While creators and editors at Marvel have taken steps to increase diversity, the company’s vice president of sales, David Gabriel, recently blamed “diversity” for slumping sales. Fans’ backlash to such failure to increase diversity, even to blame diversity, demonstrates that, for all the repetition of the word “diversity,” its ideals are far from its implementation.

As each case shows, what it means for a story, comic, or film to be “diverse” and “have diversity” can change from context to context. While diversity as an idea seems to be everywhere, at least in conversation, this session determines to investigate diversity in actual representation. This roundtable session seeks papers investigating how “diversity” has manifested in twenty-first century superhero narratives, and to what ends. How has “diversity” manifested in 21st-century superhero narratives, and to what ends? To what degree are recent conversations regarding diversity in superhero narratives indicative of social progress being made (or not)? How do corporate experiments with diversity subvert or reinforce institutional oppression of marginalized groups? What’s the interplay between attempts at diversity on screen and “diversity” in real life?

To submit an abstract to this roundtable CFP. you must first create an account and log-in for the NeMLA online abstract submissions system. All abstracts must be submitted via each presenter's own user account. Abstracts submitted by email will not be considered.

For more info and to create an account, please visit www.nemla.org.

Last updated September 7, 2017

CFP Comics and Authorship (Spec Issue of Authorship) (8/31/17)

An intriguing call for papers:

CFP: Comics and Authorship (Authorship 6.2) - Deadline Extended!
Announcement published by Maaheen Ahmed on Wednesday, July 12, 2017
https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announcements/186830/cfp-comics-and-authorship-authorship-62-deadline-extended

Type: Call for Papers
Date: August 31, 2017


CFP Authorship special issue:

Comics and Authorship


The comic, recently legitimized through the graphic novel phenomenon while remaining anchored in popular culture, can provide unique insights into issues surrounding authorship. Although comics scholarship has explored autobiographical comics and the strategies for self-fashioning of individual canonized comics artists and writers, the complex and mutating concept of comic book authorship remains by and large overlooked.

Analyses of the changing notions of authorship, their contextualization and implications - aesthetic, political, economic - across different comics genres and formats can provide answers to key questions, such as:

• How do different techniques and styles mold conceptions of the author?
• Who is the author in large franchises and studio collaborations?
• What are the claims to authorship of vital but often overlooked mediators such as letterers and inkers?
• How do conceptions of authorship vary with publishing format (serial comic book, graphic novel, syndicated comic strip, self-published fanzine)?

In this special issue dedicated to comics, the open-access journal Authorship seeks to specify the range and potential of the terrain covered by comics and authorship through bringing together papers on the following, broad aspects:

• Roles encompassed by the notion of authorship in comics (writer, artist, letterer, inker, penciller)
• Differences in constructions of authorship across formats, genres, cultures and history
• Self-creation of author (and auteur) personas through paratextual elements
• Self-reflection on authorship in comics, cartoons and graphic novels
• Issues of authorship raised by adaptations of comics in other media such as novels and films.

Please send articles (ca. 5000 words) to Maaheen Ahmed (ahmedmaaheen@gmail.com) by 31 August 2017. The issue will be published in December 2017.



Author guidelines can be consulted here (but please send submissions via e-mail to the address mentioned above).
Contact Email:
ahmedmaaheen@gmail.com

Spider-Man: Season One Revisited

Marvel's Season One series was established (like DC's Earth One series) to present more contemporary origins of its classic characters. Cullen Bunn's Spider-Man: Season One (2012) is a worthy attempt at reworking (and expanding) the hero's origin from Amazing Fantasy No. 15. To start, Bunn focuses much of the story on the perspective of our young hero, and we get a really good sense of Peter Parker here and all of the motivations that make him become Spider-Man, first as an entertainer and later as a hero. We also have a much more developed relationship between Peter and his Uncle Ben, so readers really feel for Peter when Ben is killed. Finally, Bunn gives us two Spider-Foes, both the Vulture and J. Jonah Jameson. The Vulture is very much the classic character we've come to know over the years, but Bunn adds some nuances to JJJ that really make him someone we want to hate.

Further details on the graphic novel can be found on Marvel's website at http://marvel.com/comics/issue/39689/spider-man_season_one_2011_1.

Thoughts on Wonder Woman: Earth One

Grant Morrison's Wonder Woman: Earth One (2016) offers an interesting new take on the origin of the popular character. The Earth One series is sort of modern version of the Elseworlds imprint and presents contemporary reinterpretations of DCs various heroes.

Wonder Woman: Earth One is a new origin for Wonder Woman best received by mature readers. It pays much homage to past representations of the character of Princess Diana if Themyscria and her legend while also largely updating the figure for today by focusing on the need for the Amazons to concern themselves with Man's World once more. However, there are some issues to be aware of.

First up, purists might take offense that Steve Trevor is now an African American soldier sent specifically in search of Paradise Island by the U. S. military. In Morrison's defense, he is still a good character, and the changes are not much of big deal in an era of race-free casting. Plus, Morrison makes his background a central part of his willingness to help Diana.

Second, and most disturbing, the book relishes in images of violence and (especially) bondage. Morrison seems to include these aspects to link back to Marston's original concepts for the character, but they are very unsettling and push the book into more adult territory.

Finally,  the book also rewrites the myth of Diana's creation, a now frequent occurrence, and (spoiler warning) makes her a mythological test tube baby formed from combining one of Hippolyta's egg with sperm taken from Hercules, the Amazon's oppressor millennia ago.

Further information on the book at http://www.dccomics.com/graphic-novels/wonder-woman-earth-one-2016/wonder-woman-earth-one-vol-1.

Art of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

An informative read with much insight into the creative process:

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: The Art of the Movie Slipcase (Hardcover)

Writer: Jacob Johnson

Extended credits and info
Imprint: Marvel Universe
ISBN: 978-1-302-90270-4
Format: Hardcover
Price: $50.00
FOC Date: Mar 13, 2017 Published: May 03, 2017
Rating: All Ages

The Guardians are back! After saving the universe, Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket and Groot find themselves with expunged records and a new mandate: Guard what needs guarding. Now, go inside the Marvel studios in this new collectible volume! Discover exclusive concept art, production stills, and commentary from cast and crew — including returning director James Gunn and Marvel’s extraordinary Visual Development team. Complete your ART OF THE MOVIE collection with this latest installment as the Guardians soar to new heights!

http://marvel.com/comics/collection/60045/marvels_guardians_of_the_galaxy_vol_2_the_art_of_the_movie_slipcase_hardcover

Blog Update 7/1/17

Effective 1 July 2017, Comics Medium Links and More is now fully under the domain of the The Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture and The Alliance for the Promotion of Research on the Matter of Britain as a means of furthering our work on The Medieval Comics Project (http://medieval-comics-project.blogspot.com/) and The Arthur of the Comics Project (http://arthur-of-the-comics-project.blogspot.com/).

Michael A. Torregrossa
Founder

IJoCA Fall/Winter 2016

The latest issue of the International Journal of Comic Art arrived recently. The Fall/Winter 2016 number (Vol. 18, No. 2) comes in at over 550 pages.

The complete contents can be accessed from the journal's blog at http://ijoca.blogspot.com/2017/02/international-journal-of-comic-art-18-2.html.

CFP Graphic Texts & Visual Rhetoric: Migrations, Translations & Transformations (SCMLA 2017)

Of potential interest:

SCMLA 2017 special session panel on Graphic Texts & Visual Rhetoric: Migrations, Translations & Transformations
https://www.cfplist.com/CFP.aspx?CID=10646

Seeking presentations about graphic novels, graphic memoir, graphic nonfiction, memes, propaganda posters, protest art, modernist manifestos, or other texts where image is central to communicating meaning. All approaches--from practical pedagogy to literary analysis--are welcome. Preference will be given to work addressing some aspect of the conference theme ("Moving Words: Migrations, Translations, and Transformations").

If selected, the panel will take place at SCMLA in Tulsa, OK, October 5-8, 2017.

Please submit an abstract, contact information, and academic affiliation (if any) to Panel Organizer: Rita D. Costello, McNeese State University, rcostello@mcneese.edu. Proposals should be sent by the end of the day February 12th.


Contact Email: rcostello@mcneese.edu
Website: http://southcentralmla.org/files/4614/8536/5871/Winter_2017.pdf