CFP Superhero-Con Symposium (10/17/2026; PCEA 4/10/2027)

Superhero-Con Symposium

deadline for submissions:
April 10, 2027

full name / name of organization:
Pennsylvania College English Association

contact email:
pceaconference2027@gmail.com

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2026/07/10/superhero-con-symposium



The rise of the superhero is one of the most significant cultural developments of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Since the debut of Superman in Action Comics #1 (April 18, 1938), superheroes have evolved from colorful comic-book figures into powerful global symbols that shape conversations about politics, morality, identity, technology, gender, race, mythology, trauma, and resistance. What began with the imaginative vision of Jerry Siegel (writer) and Joe Shuster (artist) has expanded into a worldwide phenomenon spanning comics, film, television, literature, gaming, digital media, and academic discourse.



The Superhero Symposium: Exploring the Cultural Significance of Heroes Across Texts and Cultures invites scholars, educators, students, artists, and fans to explore the enduring significance of heroes and superheroes across texts and cultures. This interdisciplinary symposium seeks to examine how heroes, especially superheroes, reflect societal anxieties and aspirations while simultaneously redefining concepts of justice, power, humanity, and even heroism itself. We welcome proposals (250-300 words) that engage with superheroes and other heroes through literary criticism, cultural studies, rhetoric, philosophy, psychology, media studies, mythology, history, pedagogy, gender studies, political theory, or related disciplines.



Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• The evolution of the superhero genre
• Heroes/superheroes and mythology
• Race, gender, and representation in comics and film
• Trauma, identity, and the dual self
• Heroes/superheroes as political or ideological symbols
• Fan culture and participatory media
• Adaptation from comic page to screen
• Ethics, vigilantism, and justice
• Global heroes/superheroes and transnational narratives
• Teaching heroes/superheroes in the classroom

Along with presentations on our super theme, the symposium also welcomes traditional papers, roundtable discussions, creative presentations and readings, as well as multimedia projects. Join us as we examine the stories and symbols that continue to shape modern culture and redefine what it means to be heroic.



Proposal Due Date: Saturday, 17 October 2026



Proposal Email: pceaconference2027@gmail.com



PCEA Website for Conference Information: Home | pcea-online v2



Last updated July 10, 2026

CFP Superhero Project: 10th Global Meeting (3/31/2026; East Sussex, UK 9/4-6/2026)

REMINDER: SUPERVILLAINS & ANTI-HEROES (The Superhero Project: 10th Global Meeting )

deadline for submissions:
March 31, 2026

full name / name of organization:
The Superhero Project

contact email:
t.caeners@superheroproject.net

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2026/01/14/reminder-supervillains-anti-heroes-the-superhero-project-10th-global-meeting

CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS

The Superhero Project: 10th Global Meeting

SUPERVILLAINS & ANTI-HEROES

Friday 4th to Sunday 6th September 2026

The View Hotel, Eastbourne, East Sussex, United Kingdom



“I don’t want to kill you! What would I do without you? Go back to ripping off mob dealers? No, no, no! No. You… you… complete… me.” – The Joker (The Dark Knight, 2008)



Superheroes may be defined by their powers, their never-ending battles and their distinct identities, but they are measured against the threats and challenges presented by their foes… the supervillains. Be they megalomaniacal billionaires (Lex Luthor), universe-threatening Titans (Thanos, Galactus), mad clowns (The Joker), sentient AI (Brainiac) or gigantic monsters (Starro The Conqueror), they constantly test the superhero’s mettle via nefarious deeds and ceaseless schemes for world domination.



Essential to superhero narratives and discourse within the genre, supervillains have become increasingly nuanced characters, often providing a lens to deconstruct the superhero (does Batman inadvertently attract his flamboyant villains?) while in some cases, traversing from villainy to heroism (the MCU’s Loki).



Alongside this, the Modern Age of Comics, now in its fifth decade, has seen the superhero defined by a substantial increase in anti-heroic traits, sparked by The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen in the mid-1980’s. Today, anti-heroes are a prominent and highly popular part of superhero landscape via the likes of The Punisher, Harley Quinn, Deadpool, The Boys and Agatha Harkness, while on the big screen, the genre’s most prominent characters embrace anti-heroic traits as they become ever-more aligned with action hero tropes.



For its milestone 10th anniversary edition, The Superhero Project invites exploration and discussion of the challenges, opportunities, successes and failures of supervillains and anti-heroes throughout the entire range of topics covered by the superhero discourse across all media (comics, TV, Film, theme parks, video games…).



Indicative themes for exploration include:

Villains and Anti-heroes in comics
Villains and Anti-heroes in film, television and video games
Subversion, Parody and Pastiche through anti-heroes and villains
Gender and villains / anti-heroes
Origin Stories and / of villains and anti-heroes
Villains and anti-heroes as elements/functions in world building
Explorations of the relationship between superheroes and villains/anti-heroes
Explorations of relationships among villains/anti-heroes
Transmedial negotiations of villains and anti-heroes
Multiversal negotiations of villain and anti-hero characters
Costumes and Iconography of villains and anti-heroes
Identity construction of and though villains and anti-heroes
Depiction and Functionalisation of Villains and anti-heroes in Theme Parks
Villains and anti-hero cosplay



BONUS STRANDS! 2026 marks the fortieth anniversaries of WATCHMEN and THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, both seminal texts which immediately prompted a sea change in the tone of superhero narratives and potently infused the genre with antiheroic traits which still dominate the genre to this day, across mediums. We welcome papers exploring the impact and legacy of these two vastly influential works.



WHAT TO SEND

300 word abstracts should be submitted by Tuesday 31 March, 2026 to the following email addresses: t.caeners@superheroproject.net and m.j.laird@superheroproject.net.



Emails should be entitled: SUPER X Abstract Submission.



All other Superhero Project enquires should be sent to t.caeners@superheroproject.net.



Abstracts should be submitted simultaneously to both emails, abstracts should be in MS Word formats with the following information and in this order: a) author(s), b) affiliation as you would like it to appear in the programme, c) email address, d) title of proposal, e) body of proposal, f) up to 10 keywords.



Accepted proposals will be notified by Monday 13th April 2026.



We acknowledge receipt and answer to all proposals submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a week, you should assume we did not receive your proposal. If this is the case, please do resent to both email addresses. If you have any questions, the team will be only too happy to assist.



Danny Graydon (Founder and President) d.graydon@superheroproject.net

Dr Torsten Caeners (Vice President) t.caeners@superheroproject.net

Mikayla J. Laird (Information Manager) m.j.laird@superheroproject.net



Last updated March 2, 2026

CFP Beyond the Comic Strip: Exploring Graphic Narratives, Creative Inquiry, and Arts-Based Research (5/15/2025; online 6/24-26/2025)

Beyond the Comic Strip: Exploring Graphic Narratives, Creative Inquiry, and Arts-Based Research

deadline for submissions: 

May 15, 2025

full name / name of organization: 

London Arts-Based Research Centre

contact email: 

conferences@labrc.co.uk

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/04/09/beyond-the-comic-strip-exploring-graphic-narratives-creative-inquiry-and-arts-based.

 

Beyond the Comic Strip: Exploring Graphic Narratives, Creative Inquiry, and Arts-Based Research

A Transdisciplinary Conference

Online, June 24-26, 2025
Proposal deadline: May 15, 2025

Fees:
£100 (for both presenters and attendees)
Prices exclude eventbrite fees

 Conference Page: https://labrc.co.uk/beyond-the-comic-strip-2025/ 

 

Call for Papers:

“What if I told you that I put my whole life into Tintin?”, Herge

 

Why do we love Tintin, Calvin and Hobbes, Asterix, Archie, Superman, Captain Underpants, and other comic books? What have they taught us and continue to teach us over the years?

According to screenwriter John Ridley, “There are still some people out there who believe comic books are nothing more than, well, comic books. But the true cognoscenti know graphic novels are – at their best – an amazing blend of art literature and the theatre of the mind.” Graphic narratives, including anime and other types of comic strips have emerged as powerful mediums for storytelling, artistic expression, and scholarly inquiry. Their combination of visual and textual elements offers unique opportunities for engaging with philosophical concepts, psychological theories, and conducting arts-based research. Graphic novels and other forms of comic art offer a unique medium for engaging in arts-based research, where visual storytelling intersects with scholarly inquiry and creative expression.

This transdisciplinary conference aims to examine the rich potential of graphic narratives as a mode of inquiry, expression, and collaboration within the context of arts-based research methodologies. We also seek to shed light on the dynamic relationship between graphic novels, comic strips, and various knowledge fields such as philosophy, psychology, and others. This event will provide a platform for scholars, researchers, artists, and practitioners to explore and discuss the diverse ways in which graphic narratives contribute to understanding, analysing, and communicating complex ideas.

We invite submissions of abstracts for 15-minute presentations (both academic and creative presentations are welcome) that address the conference theme from diverse disciplinary perspectives. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Graphic novels and philosophical thought experiments
• Psychological themes and representations in comic strips
• Visual storytelling in arts-based research methodologies
• Theoretical approaches to analysing graphic narratives
• Intersectionality, diversity, and representation in comics
• Ethics, morality, and social justice in graphic storytelling
• Archetypal figures in popular comics
• The use of comics in education, pedagogy, and academic discourse
• Historical research in comics
• Religious education through graphic novels
• Comedy and comics
• Genre studies and thematic analysis in graphic novels
• Adaptations of graphic novels into other media (film, television, video games)
• Reception studies and audience engagement with graphic narratives
• Digital comics, webcomics, and the evolution of online storytelling
• Intersectionality, representation, and diversity in graphic storytelling
• Theoretical approaches to understanding the function of graphic novels
• Case studies of specific graphic novels and their cultural impact
• Therapeutic functions of comics
• Methodological approaches in graphic arts-based research
• Case studies of graphic novels as research outputs and interventions
• Intersectionality, diversity, and representation in graphic research narratives
• Ethical considerations and challenges in conducting graphic arts-based research
• The role of graphic novels in fostering social change, advocacy, and activism

The full conference programme will be announced following the proposal deadline, once all presenters have been selected.

Note: Participants interested in attending the conference without presenting a paper are also welcome.

Submission Guidelines: Abstracts should be submitted through https://forms.gle/FHgsbs2NwtbamEDU9 by May 15, 2025.

Contact Information: For inquiries or clarifications, please email us at conferences@labrc.co.uk

Join us for an inspiring and transdisciplinary exploration of the intersection of comic strips and arts-based research, and their potential to transform research practice, dissemination, and engagement. We look forward to welcoming you to our vibrant creative community!

Last updated April 10, 2025

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 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

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!

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 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 Toronto Comic Arts Festival Academic Symposium (3/31/2022; Toronto 6/17/2022)

Toronto Comic Arts Festival Academic Symposium

Source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/03/13/toronto-comic-arts-festival-academic-symposium

deadline for submissions:
March 31, 2022

full name / name of organization:
Toronto Comic Arts Festival

contact email:
academics@torontocomics.com

TCAF 2022 Academic Symposium Call for Papers

The Toronto Comic Arts Festival is pleased to invite abstract submissions for our inaugural 1-day in-person academic symposium titled TCAF at Twenty: Histories and Futures of Comics Communities. The symposium will take place in person at the Courtyard Downtown Toronto Marriott on Friday, June 17th, 2022. For twenty years, TCAF has offered a vibrant meeting place for creators, scholars, educators, and readers to come together and celebrate their shared love of comics–a uniquely participatory medium that is adept at communicating both complex realities and transformative fantasies. Comics are communities, and communities are comics; the strength of one is the strength of the other. This symposium will consider the histories and futures of comics as vehicles and representations of community and communication. How and what do comics communicate, and how and where can they communicate better, to make comics communities more inclusive, accessible, and dynamic?

The symposium is open to all subjects and theoretical disciplines considering all aspects of comics, including cultural histories and formal concerns as well as politics of representation (including representations of gender, race, sexuality, etc.). We hope to explore and identify the strides comics and comics studies have made in the past two decades to enlarge their scope and scale as well as the boundaries they have yet to examine, push, or eliminate while providing a new platform to connect TCAF’s existing audience with communities of comics scholars. We welcome papers that engage with all forms of comic art (commercial, literary, alternative, zines, webcomics, etc.) and all comics genres (fiction, non-fiction, adventure, science-fiction, mystery, horror, superhero, children’s, etc.). Presentations should be academic in tone but accessible to non-academics.

The TCAF 2022 Academic Symposium is accepting abstracts for the following types of presentations:

1. Panel Proposal: A submission by 1 member of a panel as to the topic and discussion of that panel, in coordination with the other members of the proposed panel. All panelists listed must be confirmed participants at the time of submission. Maximum of 4 people including the moderator of the panel. Panelists will speak for 10 minutes each or provide a round table discussion on the topic from their respective experiences. Fifteen minutes will be reserved for the audience to engage the panelists in questions at the end.
2. Lightning Talk: A 5-7 minute quick presentation on one refined topic of analysis. We will gather approximately 5-7 individuals together to present their lightning talks leaving fifteen minutes for an audience question and answer period.
3. Single Panelist Proposal: A paper of 15 minutes in length to be included on a panel of similar content arranged by the organizers. Three panelists will present during a session leaving fifteen minutes for an audience question and answer period.
4. Poster Presentation: A casual gallery session to engage in multiple topics in a more exploratory discursive manner with the researcher present.

Please submit an abstract of 250-300 words along with a brief biography (approx. 150 words) for each participating panelist on your proposal by Thursday, March 31, 2022, to academics@torontocomics.com. Please include the following information at the top of your proposal:

Name:

Title/Affiliation (if applicable):

Email Contact:

Type of Presentation proposed (Lightning talk, panel, poster, etc.):

The abstracts and bios of accepted participants will be compiled into a symposium program and published (then later archived) on the TCAF website.

There will be a registration fee of $20 CAD for accepted applicants to help defray the costs of the symposium. To make the symposium as accessible as possible to all presenters, TCAF offers registration sponsorships for individuals wishing to present. If you wish to be sponsored by TCAF to present at the TCAF 2022 Symposium, please add “TCAF Sponsored Presentation” to your proposal with no other information necessary about the sponsorship. TCAF will sponsor your registration.

Offers of acceptance will be returned by the end of April 2022. Individuals will be notified by email. If you have any questions or concerns, please email symposium organizer Dr. Anna Peppard at anna@torontocomics.com

Like the general festival, this symposium will be held in-person and will be accessible to the public. TCAF is committed to following all Covid-19 regulations set out by the local, provincial, and federal governments at the time of the festival. TCAF will also be following site-specific regulations set out by its participating venues – The Toronto Public Library and the Courtyard Marriott – to ensure the safety of all guests and participants. We will actively update all presenters and attendees of any and all evolving safety protocols.



Last updated March 14, 2022

EXPIRED CFP: Collections, Archives, Cultures (Comics Studies Society Conference MSU 7/28-30/2022)

EXPIRED CFP. (My apologies for having missed this earlier.)

Collections, Archives, Cultures

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/02/15/collections-archives-cultures

deadline for submissions:
March 4, 2022

full name / name of organization:
Comics Studies Society

contact email:
comicsstudiesorg@gmail.com

Call for Papers: DEADLINE EXTENDED
COMICS STUDIES SOCIETY CONFERENCE, JULY 28-30, 2022
In collaboration with Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI

COLLECTIONS, ARCHIVES, CULTURES

The fifth annual Comics Studies Society conference returns to an in-person format in 2022 at Michigan State University, home of the massive Murray and Hong Comic Art Collection. To mark this location and collaboration, we propose that the concepts of collections, archives, and their various cultures mark our gathering. What does it mean to form a collection, to curate a comics community, or inhabit collecting or archival cultures? What are the politics of collecting? What gets included, what gets discarded, and who gets to decide, and how? How do comics communities coalesce around collections, and how do they in turn create new ones that challenge those that have taken shape before them? We encourage our members to engage with these questions and concepts as they relate to their own innovative work in comics studies. We are particularly interested in proposals that address these questions of comics collections, archives, and cultures, and we especially welcome international approaches to this theme, though all submitted proposals will receive full consideration for inclusion in the conference program.

In recognition of some members’ preference for virtual participation in this year’s conference, we will accept proposals for virtual papers, panels, and roundtable discussions for a limited number of slots. Please also note that all presenters and attendees will be required to demonstrate proof of full vaccination (two shots and a booster) in order to participate in in-person events.

Guidelines for Submission
We are accepting submissions for the following:
1. Individual papers (20 min., presented in person or virtually)
2. Panels of three papers (presented in person or virtually)
3. Roundtables of short (5 min.) presentations by 4-5 presenters followed by discussion (presented in person or virtually)
4. Pop-ups (as panels, roundtables, talks, tours, etc.) related to archives and collections (presented virtually and later archived on the CSS website)

**Templates are available on our website: www.comicsstudies.org**

All proposals should be sent as Word files by email by March 4, 2022 to: comicsstudiesorg@gmail.com

The conference organizers will send out notifications of acceptance by the middle of March. Confirmation of intent to participate and copies of vaccination cards will be due by the end of March in order for accepted presenters to appear in the program. Please add our conference email to your trusted senders to ensure email delivery. A presenter's name may appear twice in the program. All presenters must be members of the Comics Studies Society at the time of registration. For more information on the Comic Studies Society, please check our website at http://comicsstudies.org/.



Last updated February 16, 2022

CFP Comics Arts Conference WonderCon (12/1/2021; Anaheim 4/1-3/2022)

Comics Arts Conference WonderCon

Source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2021/11/03/comics-arts-conference-wondercon

deadline for submissions: December 1, 2021

full name / name of organization:  Comics Arts Conference

contact email: comicsartsconference@gmail.com

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 WonderCon, in Anaheim, CA, April 1–3, 2022.  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 at WonderCon is presently scheduled to take place in person; however, this may change, and presenters should be prepared to adapt to a virtual format.  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 December 1, 2021, to our online submission portal at forms.gle/9MQhZiML76v8bp9T7 or via email.  For more information, please contact Kathleen McClancy at comicsartsconference@gmail.com or see our website at comicsartsconference.wp.txstate.edu.

Last updated November 5, 2021

Saving the Day at NeMLA

I am pleased to announce the presenters for our NeMLA 2020 session:

Saving the Day: Accessing Comics in the 21st Century (Roundtable)
Organized by Michael A. Torregrossa, Independent Scholar, and Carl B. Sell, Oklahoma Panhandle State University

Krazy in the Klassroom: Teaching Early Newspaper Comics
Jonathan Najarian, Boston University

Finding Frankensteins (and Other Illustrated Classics): Resources for Research and Teaching
Michael A. Torregrossa, Independent Scholar

Pirate Booty: Scholars and Scanned Comics
Charles Henebry, Boston University

Affordability, Access, & Flexibility in Teaching Comics in the 21st Century
Lance Eaton, University of Massachusetts Boston

Graphic Medicine Online
A. David Lewis, MCPHS University

Educating the Total Nerd: Resources for Using the Products of Fandom in the Classroom
Michael Dittman, Butler County Community College

CFP ImageText in Motion: Animation and Comics - UF GCO Conference (12/15/2018; U of Florida 4/12-14/2019)

ImageText in Motion: Animation and Comics - UF GCO Conference
http://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2018/10/25/imagetext-in-motion-animation-and-comics-uf-gco-conference

deadline for submissions: December 15, 2018

full name / name of organization: The Graduate Comics Organization at the University of Florida

contact email: gco@english.ufl.edu



ImageText in Motion: Animation and Comics

The Graduate Comics Organization at the University of Florida invites applicants from all stages of their careers, including independent scholars and imagetext creators, to submit proposals to their 16th annual conference, “ImageText in Motion: Animation and Comics.” The conference will be held from Friday, April 12 through Sunday, April 14, 2019.

Animation and comics are two tangled pictorial mediums that stem from the same modernist concerns with the possibilities of the image. Animation and the cartooned bodies it brings into being are omnipresent on the screens that surround us, the advertisements that beg our attention, and the popcorn fare that draws out our inner escapists. But what are the politics of these images that simultaneously claim to be real, but constantly telegraph their artificiality? What do we gain by analyzing this medium that spans from the trashiest of visual gags to the trippiest of experimental visuals?

This conference hopes to begin answering these questions, and it aims to color those answers with concern for the politics of race, gender, ability, sexuality, and other matrices of power. Like any popular medium, animation has become an important site of conflict in cultural warfare, generating controversy as fans, critics, creators, and trolls clash over the politics of the polymorphous image as it appears on our pocket-sized slates and cinematic screens. And yet, the conflict goes beyond narrative content. As a crucial site of education and conditioning for children, a dramatization of performativity, and a method for visualizing the absent and the impossible, animation is a diverse tool that envisions (for better or worse) mediated imaginaries ripe for political intervention.



Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• Women in animation (representations; creators, etc.)
• Queer representation and performance in animation (Steven Universe, Adventure Time, Voltron, Legend of Korra, OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes, Yuri! on Ice)
• Race in animation (racial caricature in animation; minstrelsy in animation; positive racial representation - We Bare Bears, Craig of the Creek, Coco, Moana)
• The medium-specific advantages of animation and the rhetorical and narrative possibilities that they enable
• Circumstances of producing animation (economic/ Marxist concerns; women/people of color/queer people in the writer’s room)
• Animating inanimate bodies/the toyetic (Toy Story; The Lego Movie franchise; children “animating” their toys; stop-motion; animation and the uncanny, etc.)
• Animation and the child (adult vs. child viewership; animation in education; animation as a denigrated genre, etc.)
• Fan/creator relationships (creators’ resistance to queered/racebent readings of characters; role of social media/accessibility to creators “positive”/”negative” dialogue between creators and fans; fans-becoming-creators, etc.)
• Animation and toxic fandom (harassment of creators by fans; sexism and fandom; racism and fandom; Rick and Morty; My Little Pony, etc.)
• Sexual harassment/the #metoo movement in the animation industry (Lasseter’s firing from Pixar, etc.)
• Intersections of animation and comics (motion comics; comics attempts to perform animation; movement in comics)
• Comics adaptations of animated features (Avatar The Last Airbender and Gene Luen Yang, etc.) and animated adaptations of comics
• Nostalgic reboots, recreations, and revivals of animated materials and the controversy and excitement they inspire (Star Wars: The Clone Wars, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic!, Samurai Jack, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Thundercats!)
• Transnational relationships between animated productions, animation studios, and animation audiences.
• Animation’s influence on politics (cartoonish insults of the American president and that president’s cartoonish insults, etc.)
• Intrusion of the animated reality (VR animation; the “Szechuan sauce” controversy; the anime mascots of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics)
• Unorthodox forms of animation (zoetropes; praxinoscopes; shadow puppetry; .gif files; crack videos)
• Parody and postmodernism in animation (The Venture Bros., Robot Chicken, Teen Titans Go!)
• Animation in video games, light novels, and other interactive media

Presentations should be 15-20 minutes in length and must be delivered in English. “ImageText in Motion” also invites creative projects related to the conference theme. Discussion panels from multiple presenters coordinated around a central topic or theme are welcome. Proposals of 200-300 words, plus a short bio and A/V requirements, should be submitted to gco@english.ufl.edu by December 15, 2018.

Last updated November 15, 2018

CFP Comics Arts Conference WonderCon (12/1/2018; Anaheim 3/29-31/2019)

Comics Arts Conference WonderCon
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2018/09/18/comics-arts-conference-wondercon

deadline for submissions:
December 1, 2018

full name / name of organization:
Comics Arts Conference

contact email:
comicsartsconference@gmail.com



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 WonderCon, March 29-31, 2019, in Anaheim, CA. 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 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 December 1, 2018. Please submit proposals to our online form at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BZ8XV9N. For more information, please contact Dr. Kathleen McClancy at comicsartsconference@gmail.com, or see our website at http://comicsartsconference.wp.txstate.edu.

CFP (Dis)ability and Comics: Fifth Annual Dartmouth College Conference on Illustration, Comics, and Animation (1/7/2019; 4/26/2019)

(Dis)ability and Comics: Fifth Annual Dartmouth College Conference on Illustration, Comics, and Animation
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2018/09/11/disability-and-comics-fifth-annual-dartmouth-college-conference-on-illustration

deadline for submissions:
January 7, 2019

full name / name of organization:
Dartmouth College Conference on Illustration, Comics, and Animation

contact email:
michael.chaney@dartmouth.edu



How do comics and related visual media such as illustrated books, comic strips, and animation represent disability differently from other media, and what new possibilities do they propose for thinking about or visualizing ability?

Join us for a one-day conference at Dartmouth College on Friday April 26, 2019.

Of particular interest are papers that consider comics as graphic medicine, comics and ableism, comics and neuro-divergence, autism in graphic novels and comics, disability and graphic memoir, creative titles or series by comics artists and writers who identify with or include ability-challenged perspectives, disability studies/theory approaches to contemporary comics and/or issues in comics studies, race and /or gender and sexuality and disability in comics, and comics and pictorial literacy as tools within developmental education studies.

To participate in the conference, please send a two hundred-word abstract of your talk along with a short professional bio to

Michael A. Chaney

Conference Director

michael.chaney@dartmouth.edu

Please be sure to submit your materials before January 7, 2019.

We hope to see you at Dartmouth College next April!

CFP 1993-2018: Twenty-Five Years of Vertigo Comics Symposium (expired) (11/8-9/2018)France)

Sorry to have discovered this so late; it sounds like a great project. Do also note the selected bibliography at the end.

1993-2018: Twenty-Five Years of Vertigo Comics
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2017/11/23/1993-2018-twenty-five-years-of-vertigo-comics

deadline for submissions:
April 8, 2018

full name / name of organization:
Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, FRANCE

contact email:
isabel.guillaume@gmail.com


The Vertigo imprint was born in 1993 under the guidance of DC editor Karen Berger; it initially brought together six ongoing series published by DC Comics, notably Swamp Thing, Doom Patrol and Sandman. Those widely successful series were praised for their original, ambitious storylines that sought to break free from narrative and generic conventions. Most of these comics were scripted by British authors whom DC had recruited following Alan Moore’s success on Swamp Thing and Watchmen, forming the bulk of what was known as the “British Invasion”. From just six ongoing series, Vertigo soon extended its line, establishing itself as a halfway house between the mainstream comics industry and the alternative/independent scene. Vertigo defined its identity as that of a game-changer, championing the progressive ideas put forward by DC’s president Jenette Kahn, who had been instrumental in the reconsideration of creators and in the legitimisation of the comics medium. Vertigo’s most visible commitment was its decision to develop many creator-owned series, whose rights belonged to creators rather than publishers. Beyond its initial success, Vertigo in the 2000s was a home for widely recognised original creations such as Y, the Last Man, Fables or 100 Bullets. The imprint left a lasting mark on the US comics industry; it ushered in the era of star writers, contrasting with the focus on artists that had characterised earlier periods; it pioneered the trade paperback format (TPB, sometimes called “graphic novel”) which played a central role in the medium’s struggle for legitimacy; finally, it destabilized the hegemony of the superhero genre and paved the way for major changes in reader demographics.

However, in recent years, Vertigo’s specific identity has begun to wane as some of its major creators turned to other publishers – for instance, Brian K. Vaughan’s best-selling series Saga is being published by Image Comics, while Garth Ennis took The Boys to Dynamite Entertainment after DC (outside Vertigo) cancelled it. Crucially, in 2013, Karen Berger left the imprint after the 2010 changes that modified creators’ contracts and stripped Vertigo of all its corporate-owned series. The last member of the original Vertigo team, Shelly Bond, was let go in 2016 after she helped Gerard Way set up his new imprint at DC, Young Animal, whose initial four ongoing series included two Vertigo spin-offs, while Vertigo struggled to renew itself.

Twenty-five years after its creation, the label is still standing and has already left a substantial mark. Many of the industry’s top professionals who debuted under Berger and Bond’s stewardship now occupy important positions at other publishers, continuing Vertigo’s legacy. Berger and Bond themselves went on to create their own imprints outside of DC : Berger Books is set to debut in early 2018 with Dark Horse, while Shelly Bond’s Black Crown began publishing under IDW.

During this first French symposium entirely dedicated to Vertigo on the occasion of its twenty-fifth birthday, presenters are invited to tackle these issues from all methodological angles. Suggested areas of investigation include:

• V for Vertigo: The consistency and specificity (or lack thereof) of the Vertigo line as opposed to other publishers and imprints (DC’s own DC universe, its imprints Helix and Wildstorm, and rivals such as Image comics, Avatar Press, Marvel Max…);
• Vertigo Remediated: Vertigo and the contemporary developments of the comics industry towards more transmedial integration (through TV adaptations, video games, etc.);
•  Vertigo Vindicates: Vertigo’s legitimizing role and the evolution of the highbrow / lowbrow divide;
• The British Invasion: the importance of British scriptwriters in the comics industry and the depiction of Britishness in the comics and their paratext;
• Vertigo Visions: the importance of Vertigo in the renewal of American production in terms of genre, narrative etc.;
• Editors extraordinaire: the role played by Jenette Kahn, Karen Berger and Shelly Bond;
• L, G, B, T, V: queer and feminist discourses within the imprint.

Proponents wishing to focus on an individual title are invited to elaborate on the significance the title has in Vertigo’s history, how it compares to other comics with the same theme or period, and how it sheds light on the editorial development of the imprint.

The symposium will be held on November 8th and 9th at the Maison des Sciences de l’Homme at Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté in Dijon, France. Presentations can be given in French or in English and should not last longer than 30 minutes in order to allow time for questions.

Proposals should be approximately 300 words long, and can be sent in French or in English before April 8th 2018 along with a short biography of the author.

Please send proposals to both members of the organising committee.



Organising committee:

Isabelle Licari-Guillaume (Université Bordeaux Montaigne) isabel.guillaume@gmail.com

Siegfried Würtz (Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté) siegfried.wurtz@gmail.com



Scientific Committee:

Jean-Paul Gabilliet, Université Bordeaux Montaigne

Henri Garric, Université de Franche-Comté

Nicolas Labarre, Université Bordeaux Montaigne

Irène Langlet, Université de Limoges



Suggested bibliography:

Carpenter, Greg. The British Invasion: Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison, and the Invention of the Modern Comics Book Writer. Sequart Research & Literacy Organization, 2016. Print.

Dony, Christophe. “Reassessing the Mainstream vs. Alternative/Independent Dichotomy or, the Double Awareness of the Vertigo Imprint.” Comics in Dissent: Alternative, Independence. Ed. Tanguy Habrand, Gert Meesters, and Christophe Dony. Liège: Presses universitaires de Liège, 2014. Print.

---. “The Rewriting Ethos of the Vertigo Imprint: Critical Perspectives on Memory-Making and Canon Formation in the American Comics Field.” Comicalités (2014): n. pag. Web. 20 Sept. 2014. <http://comicalites.revues.org/1918>.

Gabilliet, Jean-Paul. Des comics et des hommes: histoire culturelle des comic books aux États-Unis. Nantes: Éd. du Temps, 2004. Print.

Licari-Guillaume, Isabelle. ‘Vertigo’s British Invasion’: La revitalisation par les scénaristes britanniques des comic books grand public aux États-Unis (1983-2013). PhD dissertation. Université Bordeaux Montaigne, 2017. Print.

Round, Julia. “‘Is This a Book?’ DC Vertigo and the Redefinition of Comics in the 1990s.” The Rise of the American Comics Artist: Creators and Contexts. Ed. Paul Williams and James Lyons. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2010. 14–30. Print.

CFP ComiqueCon: Celebrating Women in Comics (7/31/2018; Dearborn 10/13/2018)

ComiqueCon: Celebrating Women in Comics
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2018/06/23/comiquecon-celebrating-women-in-comics

deadline for submissions: July 31, 2018

full name / name of organization: ComiqueCon

contact email: kinoclub313wsu@gmail.com



Call for Papers:

ComiqueCon (Dearborn, MI)


Deadline for submissions:

July 31, 2018


Conference location/date:

October 13, 2018; Arab American National Museum, Dearborn, Michigan



The goal of this conference:

ComiqueCon is a one-day celebration of the amazing work of female and non-binary comic creators. Join us in Metro Detroit for this one-of-a-kind event, and check out our featured guests, awesome sponsors, and talented exhibitors!

This year's ComiqueCon will include an academic track with paper presentations and workshops related to the general theme of women in comics. Papers should be accessible to a general audience; please be sure to define your terms and give context for any theoretical or discipline-specific arguments you reference.



Topics might include the following:

• Comics, graphic novels, sequential art, manga and feminist theory
• Women in the comics industry – writers, artists, editors, shop owners, etc.
• Intersectional identities in comics and graphic novels
• The comics industry and #MeToo, #Comicsgate, and sexual harassment culture
• Representation of women in comics and related texts – superhero films, action figures, merchandise, promotional materials, etc.
• Queer representations of women in comics
• Representation of motherhood and maternity in comics
• Genre-specific representations of women (in romance comics as compared to action comics, for example)

Paper Proposals: Paper proposals must include an abstract of 300-500 words and an author biography of 100 words or less. Pre-constituted panels of three to four presenters are also welcome, and should include, in addition to individual paper abstracts and biographies, a 150-200 word panel proposal that details the way the papers connect together and how the panel will engage with the conference theme.

Workshops: Workshops may have up to three facilitators. Workshop proposals must include a brief explanation of topic (250-500 words), a list of facilitators, and a biography of 100 words or less for each facilitator. Workshop proposals should be skill-focused and can be: creative (making comics, zines, fan art, etc.) or pedagogy-oriented (how to teach with comics, etc.).



Due Date:

July 31, 2018


Presenters will be notified of acceptance into the conference via email by August 17, 2018.


All inquiries and proposals should be sent to kinoclub313wsu@gmail.com.

CFP Batman in Popular Culture Conference (12/30/2018; Bowling Green 4/12-13/2019)

Sounds like a great idea for a conference:

CFP: Batman in Popular Culture
https://www.comicgesellschaft.de/en/2018/04/13/cfp-batman-in-popular-culture/

Conference
The Department of Popular Culture and the Browne Popular Culture Library
Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green
April 12 - 13, 2019
Stichtag: 2018 12 30

The Department of Popular Culture and the Browne Popular Culture Library at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio are proud to announce the Batman in Popular Culture Conference on Friday, April 12 and Saturday, April 13, 2019. The Batman in Popular Culture conference aims to examine Batman in Popular Culture in all mediums and media. It is intended to serve as a space for academics, graduate students, comic industry professionals, retailers and fans to engage in dialogue about topics related to Batman in its many media forms, mediums and cultural influence in popular culture and beyond. The scope of this conference is deliberately broad, with the intention of highlighting the interdisciplinary nature and many different avenues of research possible related to Batman in Popular Culture.

Possible topics might include but are not limited to:

• Textual analysis of graphic novels, storylines, other texts related to Batman
• In-depth analysis of particular authors & artists work related to Batman
• The development of supporting characters, villains, and themes within the Batman mythos
• Batman in Popular Music
• Batman in Film, Television, and Animation
• The rise of Batman-centric podcasts
• Batman as a mass merchandising phenomenon
• Batman VS. Superman
• Batman and video games
• The role of diversity issues (race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality) within Batman’s world
• Batman within the Comics Industry (writing, drawing, retailing, etc.)
• Batman art and covers across the decades
• How authors build an audience in an era of subgenre specialization
• Reception and fan communities for Batman and the superhero genre
• Digital Humanities approaches to Comics and Mass Media Studies with emphasis on Batman

We welcome individual proposals or pre-formed panels that address any or all of these themes. As the conference seeks to provide a multitude of perspectives, academic presentations and those from outside the academy are welcome.

Please send a 300-word abstract describing your individual presentation to bgsubatman@gmail.com with “Batman in Popular Culture” in the subject line. (Panel, roundtable, performance, and artistic display proposals should include a 300 proposal for each individual and a 500-word proposal explaining the group presentation.) Submissions should be sent in a document attachment with the following information:

Author’s name/Title
Institutional Affiliation (if applicable)
Email address
Presentation Title and Abstract

Deadline for Submissions is Monday, December 30, 2018.

CFP Page 23 LitCon at Denver Comic Con 2018 (3/1/2018; 6/15-17/2018)

Page 23 LitCon at Denver Comic Con 2018
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2018/01/05/page-23-litcon-at-denver-comic-con-2018

deadline for submissions:
March 1, 2018


full name / name of organization:
Page 23/Denver Comic Con


contact email:
page23@popcultureclassroom.org




Call for Papers, Panels, and Presentations

Page 23 LitConJune 15-17, 2018



500-word abstracts for papers, panels, and roundtables, offering a critical approach on comics and pop culture are being accepted for a scholarly conference at

DENVER COMIC CON at the Colorado Convention Center DENVER, CO June 15-17, 2018



Greetings, True Believer! Now in its Super Seventh Year, Page 23’s LitCon seeks abstracts from all disciplinary and theoretical perspectives related not only to comics and graphic novels, but gaming, television, film, anime, or action figure studies. Any pop culture topic is welcome!



We’re especially interested in:

• Panels centering on pop culture pedagogy, aimed at current teachers at all levels
• Papers addressing diversity of race, class, gender, neurology, sexuality, and ability in comics, and how those issues might be impacted by our current socio-political climate
• Papers or panels discussing the works of guests attending Denver Comic Con! (see https://denvercomiccon.com/ for a list of attendees)
• Proposals for pop culture-related play readings, creative writing workshops, slam poetry events, fiction readings, epic rap battles, and other fare beyond the traditional literary conference milieu

Page 23 LitCon has no registration fee and acceptance includes a three-day pass to Denver Comic Con!



Please email abstracts and brief personal statements to page23@popcultureclassroom.org by March 1st, 2018

Last updated January 7, 2018