Call
for Papers for Saving the Day: Accessing Comics in the Twenty-first Century
(A Roundtable)
51st Annual Convention of the
Northeast Modern Language Association
Boston Marriott Copley Place, in
Boston, Massachusetts, from 5-8 March 2020
DEADLINE EXTENDED: Paper
abstracts are due by 7 October 2019
Session organized by Michael A.
Torregrossa, The Medieval Comics Project, and Carl B. Sell, Oklahoma Panhandle
State University
Although the presence of
physical comics has declined, the plethora of comics-based movies and
television shows available to contemporary audiences has made it almost
impossible for an individual not to have acquired a familiarity with the comics
medium and some of its most recognizable characters. Even more so than past
generations, our students are especially responsive to superheroes and related
tropes of comics, but what are the best ways to bring this material into the
classroom to illustrate both where the comics are today and where they’ve come
from?
In response to these questions,
this session will introduce and instruct participants in the use of various
online tools (such as comics companies’ websites, comics sellers’ store sites,
databases of comics, fan wikias, and repositories) to successfully find and
access comics and information about them of value to our teaching and research.
This objective is especially vital, as resources like the Grand Comics Database and its various search options, can be
invaluable when looking for resources (particularly when paired with repositories
of comics, like Comic Book +, comiXology, DC Universe, and Marvel
Unlimited). Furthermore, instruction on the various forms of the comiXology, DC Universe, and Marvel
Unlimited platforms are of great importance as they stand to revolutionize
access to and distribution of comics in the twenty-first century by providing
affordable digital editions of books from all eras of the medium’s history. Additionally,
fans of the comics have produced important resources essential in any quest to
track and understand the larger contexts involved in how comics have developed
and their characters evolved; these include various wikis devoted to specific
publishers (like the DC Database and
the Marvel Database) and sites like The Appendix to the Official Handbook of the
Marvel Universe. Finally, Comics Studies is a thriving field of scholarship
with many print and online resources available. Unfortunately, all of these new
resources appear foreign to most educators. We hope that this session will
change that and promote a greater awareness of the resources available to
successfully integrate comics into our academic lives.
This session is a roundtable, in which 3-10 participants give
brief, informal presentations (5-10 minutes) and the session is open to
conversation and debate between participants and the audience. The direct link
for this session is https://www.cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/18042. Please contact the organizers at SavingtheDay2020@gmail.com with any questions or concerns.
Abstract submissions must be made through NeMLA’s official
site. Applicants will need to login or create an account at https://www.cfplist.com/nemla/Home/login. Submissions must begin with a paper
title of not more than 100 characters (including spaces) and adhering to the
following: capitalize titles by MLA formatting rules unless the title is in a
language other than English; do not use quotation marks in the session title or
abstract title itself but please use only single quotation marks around titles
of short stories, poems, and similar short works; italicize the titles of long
works mentioned in the paper title; and do not place a period at the end of the
title. Submissions should also include an academic biography (usually
transferred from your NeMLA profile) and a paper abstract of not more than 300
words; be sure to italicize or use quotation marks around titles according to
MLA guidelines. Please be aware that NeMLA membership is not required to submit
abstracts, but it is required to present at the convention. In addition, note
that it is permissible to present on (1) a panel (or seminar) and (2) a
roundtable or a creative session, but it is not permissible to present on a
panel and a seminar (because both are paper-based), on two panels or two
roundtables (because both would be the same type). Further information on these
and other policies can be accessed at http://www.buffalo.edu/nemla/convention/callforpapers/submit.html. Chairs will confirm the acceptance
of abstracts before 15 October 2019. At that time, applicants must confirm the
panel on which they wish to participate. Convention registration/membership for
2019-2020 must be paid by 1 December 2019.
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