CFP Futures of Cartoons Past: The Cultural Politics of X-Men: The Animated Series (Edited Collection) (6/30/2020)

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS — Futures of Cartoons Past: The Cultural Politics of X-Men: The Animated Series (Edited Collection)


deadline for submissions:
June 30, 2020

full name / name of organization:
Nicholas E. Miller

contact email:
nemiller@valdosta.edu


FUTURES OF CARTOONS PAST: THE CULTURAL POLITICS OF X-MEN: THE ANIMATED SERIES

Edited by Jeremy M. Carnes, Margaret Galvan, and Nicholas E. Miller.

Collection under Advance Contract with the University Press of Mississippi.

This volume will collect new scholarship on X-Men: The Animated Series (1992-1997), providing scholars and fans with an overdue assessment of the series from perspectives in comics studies, fan studies, and media studies. While the 90s have often been viewed as a “regressive” era for comics by creators and scholars alike (e.g. Trina Robbins), this collection carefully examines the complicated cultural politics of X-Men: The Animated Series across disciplines such as animation studies, childhood studies, comics studies, culture studies, fashion studies, gender and sexuality studies, media studies, and visual art. This collection will not only serve as a foundation for future scholarship on the animated series, but also on the transmedial landscapes of X-Men narratives specifically and “Saturday cartoons” more broadly. In addition to scholarly essays, we invite the contribution of original comics, zines, or transcripts of relevant interviews and podcasts.

Contributors may choose to consider (but are certainly not limited to) the following topics and issues in relation to X-Men: The Animated Series:

• Historical considerations of the series—including nostalgia and the legacy of 1990s comics culture
• Transmedia and adaptation—including considerations of technologies such as coloring and animation
• Artistic considerations related to costuming, design, fashion, merchandising and the music in/of the series
• Representation and mutant metaphors—including issues of race, ethnicity, indigeneity, gender, sexuality, disability, class, etc.
• Youth culture, girlhood studies and other considerations related to audience engagement
• Reception studies, fan studies, and the importance of fan fiction, fan art, and other types of paratexts
• Post- futures and the potential failures of the series—including the postcolonial, the posthuman, etc.

Please submit CVs and 300-word abstracts to Nicholas E. Miller at nemiller@valdosta.edu. Final essays will be limited to 6000 words. Questions and inquiries before the deadline are welcome.

ABSTRACTS DUE:
JUNE 30, 2020

NOTICE OF ACCEPTANCE:
JULY 30, 2020

COMPLETED ESSAYS DUE:
DECEMBER 15, 2020


Last updated October 8, 2019

CFP The Marvel Cinematic Universe: Examining a Post-Endgame World (9/30/19; NeMLA 2020)

The Marvel Cinematic Universe: Examining a Post-Endgame World
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2019/06/06/the-marvel-cinematic-universe-examining-a-post-endgame-world

deadline for submissions: September 30, 2019
full name / name of organization: Lindsay Bryde / Northeast Modern Language Association
contact email: Lindsay.Bryde@gmail.com


This roundtable will be looking holistically at perspectives on the first 22 films in the MCU. This arc will be brought to completion with Avenger’s Endgame. Now would be a good time to look back and assess which gambles have worked and/or failed now that a narrative arc has been completed. Participants are encouraged to consider the MCU both as a whole as well as specific franchises under the overall banner. 

The conference is through the Northeast Modern Language Association and will take place March 5-8th, 2020 in Boston, MA

Submissions are due: September 30, 2019

NeMLA uses a user-based system to process abstract submissions. Interested scholars should submit 250-word abstracts to Lindsay Bryde through the NeMLA website using the link below: https://www.cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/17913

For questions about the new submission system, you can contact NeMLA web support here: websupport@nemla.org.

Questions specific to the roundtable can be sent to Lindsay.Bryde@gmail.com



Last updated June 7, 2019

CFP Mixed Race/Superheroes Collection (7/1/2018)

Great idea for a collection; my apologies for having come across it so late:

Mixed Race/Superheroes
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2018/04/05/mixed-racesuperheroes

deadline for submissions: July 1, 2018

full name / name of organization: Sika Dagbovie-Mullins and Eric Berlatsky

contact email: sdagbovi@fau.edu



Call for Papers

Mixed-Race/Superheroes (co-edited by Eric Berlatsky and Sika Dagbovie-Mullins)

One of Marvel’s earliest superheroes, Prince Namor (aka the Sub-Mariner), could be considered one of the first symbolically mixed-race superheroes due to his both human and Atlantean lineage. According to this logic, one could identify other half-humans in this category, including recent iterations of Wonder Woman (half-Amazon, half goddess), Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers (half-human, half-Kree) and the Marvel version of Hercules (half-human, half-god). The Marvel universe has also more recently introduced more conventionally mixed-race characters such as Miles Morales (the ultimate Spider-Man) and Danielle Cage (daughter of Luke Cage and Jessica Jones). The editors are currently seeking essays that focus on (literal, metaphorical, or symbolic) representations of racial mixedness and related issues (hybridity, belonging/nonbelonging, racial authenticity and “purity,” passing, racial alienation, post-racialism) in superhero texts (comics, films, television shows, etc.).
These may include but are not limited to:

• mixed race actors who play superheroes on film/TV (Halle Berry in Catwoman and the original X-Men film franchise, Zendaya in Spiderman: Homecoming, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie in Thor: Ragnarok, Jessica Alba in Fantastic Four, Keiynan Lonsdale as Kid Flash in the Flash television show, Dwayne Johnson in the upcoming Shazam franchise, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Eartha Kitt as Catwoman in the 1960s Batman TV show)
• literal or symbolic mixed-race characters in superhero comics, films, or TV shows (Miles Morales/Ultimate Spider-Man, New 52 Wally West/Kid Flash, Liz Toomes in Spider-Man: Homecoming, Superman or Supergirl [Kryptonians raised by humans], Daken -- son of Wolverine and Itsu, Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel, Barry Allen in the Flash TV show [a white child raised by an African-American father figure], The Mongrels – children of Wolverine, Tobias Whale [both black and albino] in the Black Lightning TV series)
• metaphors of racial mixedness in franchises such as X-Men and/or the Inhumans
• representations of superherodom and racial mixedness in popular culture such as Obama/Calvin Ellis as Superman in Final Crisis and other Grant Morrison stories and/or images of Obama as Superman in popular media

Please send 500-word abstract submissions (with tentative paper titles and abbreviated CVs) to sdagbovi@fau.edu and eberlats@fau.edu by July 1st.

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 The Marvel Cinematic Universe as Literature (Roundtable) (9/30/215; NeMLA Hartford 3/17-20/2015)

The Marvel Cinematic Universe as Literature (NeMLA 2016 Roundtable 15845)
full name / name of organization: Mary Ellen Iatropoulos, Independent Scholar / Derek S. McGrath, SUNY Stony Brook
contact email: maryiatrop@gmail.com / derek.s.mcgrath@gmail.com
http://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/node/63351

With dynamic individual superhero/superhuman characters populating a world of complex, interwoven mythologies and origin stories, the films and television series of Marvel Comics Studios present an experiment with long-form transmedia storytelling that is at once both commercially successful and critically acclaimed. Given the ongoing debate in film criticism and media studies surrounding the degree to which analyzing films as literature is useful (or not), that such a commercially popular phenomenon also emphasizes artistic elements (e.g. narrative continuity, highly stylized cinematic aesthetics) renders the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) a fascinating site in which the conflict and tension play out between popular culture and cinematic aestheticism, between accessibility and esotericism, between high art and low art. How can scholars of literature use explorations of the MCU to understand or glean fresh insight into the ways in which the MCU's approaches to modern cinematic storytelling function as literature?

This roundtable session welcomes submissions undertaking literary analysis of the films, TV shows, and paratextual media products that comprise the MCU. Approaches may include analysis of one or more films; storytelling across genre and medium; adaptations of the original Marvel Comics to film and television; and applications of various schools of literary and media theory to MCU properties.

Please do not directly send abstracts by email. Abstract submissions should be processed by the NeMLA database and user-based system. To this end, presenters should upload their abstracts athttps://www.cfplist.com/nemla/Home/cfp by choosing session # 15845, and following the instructions to create a user account. Please contact NeMLA Support Staff support@nemla.org regarding any questions you have about using the new system.

About NeMLA 2016:

Northeast Modern Language Association
47th Annual Convention
Hartford, Connecticut
March 17-20, 2016
Hosted by the University of Connecticut

In spring 2016, the Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA) will meet in Hartford, Connecticut, for its 47th Annual Convention. Every year, this event affords NeMLA’s principal opportunity to carry on a tradition of lively research and pedagogical exchange in language and literature. The convention will include a full array of sessions, workshops, literary readings, film screenings, and guest speakers.

Hartford features some of the most significant historic and cultural sites in New England: the adjacent and interconnected Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe Houses; the artistic and cultural collections at the Wadsworth Atheneum; classic and contemporary performances at the Hartford Stage, Theater Works, and the Bushnell Center for Performing Arts; archives and research opportunities at the Connecticut Historical Society and Connecticut State Library and State Archives; unique and offbeat museums for kids and families such as the Connecticut Science Center and the CRRA Trash Museum; and much more. Both Adriaen’s Landing (the newly completed area around the convention center) and the historic downtown feature a variety of restaurants, shops, and parks.

This convention will feature approximately 400 sessions, dynamic speakers and cultural events. Interested participants may submit abstracts to more than one NeMLA session; however, panelists can only present one paper (panel or seminar). Convention participants may present a paper at a panel and also present at a creative session or participate in a roundtable.


By web submission at 08/09/2015 - 00:23

CFP Marvel Cinematic Universe - Phase One (Update) (7/31/15)

CFP - Edited Collection on Marvel Cinematic Universe - Phase One
https://networks.h-net.org/node/13784/discussions/75807/cfp-edited-collection-marvel-cinematic-universe-phase-one
Discussion published by Kris Barton on Sunday, July 19, 2015

Your network editor has reposted this from H-Announce. The byline reflects the original authorship.

Type: Call for Papers
Date: July 31, 2015
Location: United States
Subject Fields: Film and Film History, Cultural History / Studies

As one of the biggest and most successful film franchises of all time, Marvel’s approach to developing an interconnected film universe has seemingly revolutionized the way superhero films are being made. Creating a shared universe with elements that crossover and interconnect individual films (culminating in perhaps the ultimate “team-up” film, The Avengers), this approach to filmmaking changed the way characters and storylines are developed. Marvel’s foresight has resulted in a long-term plan for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), which at this point consists of three distinct phases.

With that said, there has been relatively little exploration of how this approach to filmmaking affects both the stories being told and the way they are being consumed by audiences. This collection seeks to investigate these issues, but in a way that mirrors the approach that Marvel has laid out for its properties. To that end, this edited collection is the first in a proposed trilogy of books, each volume of which will explore a distinct phase of the MCU and dissect how the characters evolve, how storylines grow, and how the success of the franchise continually expands the scope of the stories being told. Specifically, this proposed collection will look at Phase One of the MCU, which is comprised of the following films:

Iron Man (2008)
The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Iron Man 2 (2010)
Thor (2011)
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
The Avengers (2012)

While a number of chapters have already been completed for this collection, we are still looking specifically for the following:

1. Hawkeye/Black Widow – How do the non-super powered Avengers fit into the MCU? Are their roles different given they lack any paranormal enhancements?
2. Villains – What role/function do the villains of Phase One play in the MCU and/or how are the depicted?
3. Franchise building – How has the MCU shaped other comic book properties’ approach to film narrative (DC, X-Men) or other properties in general?
4. Linkages – A general look at how different elements of the MCU (Tesseract, Nick Fury, Coulson, S.H.I.E.L.D.) are used to bridge films and create a cohesive cinematic universe.
5. A limited number of other topics will be considered. Please e-mail with questions regarding topics not listed above.

Please note: the chapters contained in the collection will focus exclusively on events in Phase One of the MCU, so discussion of development or events from subsequent films should be avoided.

Chapters should be 5,000-7,000 words (MLA format, no footnotes or endnotes please) that fit into one of the above sections. Article abstracts (500+ words) and a brief CV should be submitted by July 31, 2015 to Dr. Kristin Barton at kmbarton@daltonstate.edu. Submissions with detailed outlines or in draft form will be given stronger consideration. Completed essays must be submitted by September 30, 2015. Brief queries are welcome should there be questions about appropriate submission topics. Selected authors will be notified by August 2015, and please note that invitation to submit a full essay does not guarantee inclusion in the volume. A contract for this book through a university press is pending a review of proposed chapters.

Contact Info:
Kristin M. Barton
Chair and Associate Professor
Dalton State College
Contact Email: kmbarton@daltonstate.edu

NBC's Constantine

One more post for the night:

Also premiering this season is Constantine on NBC. I've only caught one episode so far, but the series looks interesting. As expected, it has a lot of similarities to the CW's Supernatural in terms of its monsters and magic, and I hope it is given the chance to develop on its own and shed some light on the darker recesses of the DCU.

CW's The Flash

The new series The Flash premiered earlier this season on CW as a spin-off to Arrow, now in its third year. The freshman series recounts the origin and early adventures of the Scarlet Speedster. There is some influence of the New 52 in terms of the setting and aspects of Barry Allen's back story, but it is an engaging story nevertheless. Allen is a really likable character (and a smart dresser), and it is interesting to see how the rogues are being introduced into the DC Live-Action Television Universe (what a mouthful). Some are freaks of the week (as in Smallville, which borrowed the idea from The X-Files) created by the accident/experiment that turned Barry into the Flash, but others seem to develop because of his presence in Central City. Still other characters are named after established DC metahumans (Vibe, Killer Frost, and Firestorm, according to Wikipedia), and one wonders when they too will emerge. There are also the ongoing mysteries of the yellow blur (presumably the Reverse Flash) and his identity (Eddie Thawne--the last name is right--or Harrison Wells--he is from the future and seems willing to do anything to keep Barry on track--or someone we've yet to see) and what exactly the future holds for our hero. Finally while the casting of an African American actor as Johnny Storm in the new Fantastic Four film seems to make little narrative sense (and to have attracted a lot of fan ire), the race-blind casting of Joe and Iris West appears to have received little comment. Both characters blend right into the mythos rather than just being a nod to diversifying the cast (as also seems to have been the case with the new Aqualad introduced for the Young Justice series and then the comics), and their presence offers the added possibility of a black Kid Flash (he is Iris's nephew) in the future and, perhaps, an interracial marriage for Barry.

CFP Marvel Feature Films Collections (11/15/14)

Here's a call I'm really excited about:

CFP Marvel Feature Films
Location: Texas, United States
Call for Papers Date: 2014-11-15 (in 27 days)
Date Submitted: 2014-09-17
Announcement ID: 216439
https://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=216439

Marvel Feature Films edited by Robert Moses Peaslee, Matthew McEniry, and Robert G. Weiner

The recent release of Guardians of the Galaxy marks the penultimate film in the so-called second “phase” of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a group of big-budget tentpole films that include Marvel’s The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Solider, Thor: Dark World, Iron Man 1-3, and the Incredible Hulk. Meanwhile, other studios like Sony and Fox have had success with films based on Marvel properties such as the X-Men and Spider-Man.

Feature films and full-length television movies based on Marvel characters go back to the 1970s, however, and very little scholarship has been produced on these films. The editors of this volume seek essays that discuss Marvel feature length films, and while we will consider essays that deal with the Marvel Cinematic Universe and more recent films, we are particularly interested in those films that have not received a lot of scholarly attention (including television and animated features).  We are also interested in work dealing with films produced when certain characters were Marvel properties (like Transformers, G. I. Joe, and Conan). Please note we are not interested in television series, per se, but rather the full-length films produced from them. We are also interested in the business aspect of Marvel Films and Marvel Animation.  We will also consider essays on those unauthorized foreign films based on Marvel characters like Turkish Captain America/Spider-Man, etc.

We are particularly interested in considering essays dealing with:

Transfomers (1986), G.I. Joe (1987), Howard the Duck (1986), Captain America  (1979, 1990), Inhumanoids: the Movie (1986),  Trial of the Incredible Hulk (1989), Man-Thing (2005), Ghost Rider (2007, 2011), Spider-Man: The Dragon’s Challenge (1979), Dr. Strange (1979), Generation X (1996), Power Pack (1991), Punisher (1989), Nick Fury: Agent of Shield (1998), Blade 1-3 (1998, 2002, 2004), Elektra (2005), Thor: Tales of Asgard (2011), Iron Man: Rise of Technovore (2013), Planet Hulk (2010), Fantastic Four (1994) and Next Avengers (2008).

A brief but by no means conclusive list of interesting questions to consider:

• How has Disney’s acquisition of Marvel changed the blockbuster landscape?
• Why were certain television or direct to video films like Captain America (1990), Captain      America: Death Too Soon or Spider-Man: The Dragon’s Challenge released theatrically overseas?
• Why did Howard the Duck fail to live up to its hype, and what are we to make of his recent reappearance in the CMU?
• How can we think more deeply about the use of legend and myth in these films?
• What was the production history of Transformers (1986) and how did the film eventually factor into the continuity of the      Marvel comics series? 
• Cyberpunk influences, particularly in films like Iron Man: Rise of Technovore
• Faustian influences in the Ghost Rider films and the use of the original Ghost Rider, Carter Slade, in the first film.
• How Daredevil and Thor were used in the Hulk television films?
• While Blade was moderately successfully in 1998, why did it take the 2000’s X-Men to kick start the current wave of Marvel and superhero films?
• Generation X as an example of X-film?
• Has Marvel Animation been successful compared to DC in producing high quality      animated films?
• Planet Hulk as Greek/Roman myth?
• Traditional vampire lore in the Blade series.
• Spider-Man as a villain in the Turkish 3 Dev Adam, also featuring Captain America.
• The Bollywood 'Tu Mera Superman featuring a mash-up of Superman and Spider-Woman?
• Production history of producer Roger Corman’s ill-fated attempt at the $2 million Fantastic Four film.

Please submit a 200-500 word abstract by November 15th Rob.weiner@ttu.edu  and Matthew.mceniry@ttu.edu

Upon acceptance final essays will be due on Feb 15th

Matthew McEniry
Texas Tech University Library
18th and Boston
Box 40002
Lubbock Texas 79409
Email: matthew.mceniry@ttu.edu

CFP X-Men Films: A Cultural Analysis (9/27/14)

Call For Chapters: The X-Men Films: A Cultural Analysis
Call for Chapter Proposals on the X-Men Films

We would like to invite submissions of chapter proposals for an edited book on the X-Men film franchise. The volume, to be published by Rowman & Littlefield, is titled “The X-Men Films: A Cultural Analysis” and seeks to present scholarly research on the movies, their audiences, and their place within the entertainment industry. The overarching framework is cultural studies and media studies, yet the approach is interdisciplinary, so we welcome submissions that involve related disciplines.

The book focuses specifically on the X-Men movies (not the comics) as popular culture products of international relevance. While the films are rooted in the original Marvel series, they depart from it in various ways, constituting their own conceptual universe. Therefore, chapter proposals may consider the X-Men’s transformation from comics to movies, but should not deal primarily with the comic books.

Proposals may focus on any of the X-Men’s movie characters, on themes that run across several films, or on particular installments of the series—including the original trilogy that started in the year 2000, the recent prequels, and the ‘Wolverine’ offshoots. Since the franchise continues to expand (two more movies are already slated for release in upcoming years) we are looking for research that is relevant and timely. In particular, proposals may address textual aspects of the X-Men films, consider them in relationship to social
and political issues, compare them to other superhero movie series, or provide an understanding of their audiences. Proposals that deal with topics of importance for international/intercultural communication are
encouraged.

The following is a preliminary list of topics of interest:

• Social issues reflected in the X-Men films
• Political subtexts found in the X-Men films
• Individual characters’ analysis (Wolverine, Prof X, Magneto, Mystique…)
• Representations of gender, race, class, age, and sexual orientation
• Issues of diversity, disability, inclusiveness, and marginalization
• Issues of otherness, identity, trauma, and belonging
• Portrayals of violence and war in the X-Men films
• Historical references (e.g. the Holocaust, the Vietnam War)
• Representations of power, politics, and the government
• Moral dilemmas, personal choices, and issues of social responsibility
• Portrayals of science, technology and change
• The X-Men’s transformation from comics to movies
• Industry aspects of the film franchise
• The X-Men in relationship to other Marvel superhero films (e.g. Avengers)
• Marvel’s X-Men versus DC-based series (e.g. Batman, Justice League)
• Original research on audiences and fans
• International/intercultural perspectives on the X-Men
• Beyond the X-Men: related themes in popular culture

Please send a 600-word abstract of your proposed chapter to bucciferro@gonzaga.edu, along with a short bio and contact information. The deadline for proposals is September 27, 2014.

The chapter selection will seek to represent a variety of analytical perspectives, disciplinary frameworks, and thematic clusters. The full chapters will be 5,500 – 6,000 words long and the manuscripts will be due in January 2015, with further revisions due in May 2015.

If you have questions, please contact Claudia Bucciferro, assistant professor of communication studies at Gonzaga University, at bucciferro@gonzaga.edu or (509) 313-3635.

CFP Arrow TV Series Collection (8/31/14)

Call for Submissions: Edited collection on the CW television series Arrow
Editors: Jim Iaccino, Cory Barker, and Myc Wiatrowski

In just two years on the air, the CW’s Arrow has garnered both fan and critical acclaim for its ambitious storytelling, well-produced action sequences, and solid performances. Arrow’s stories and characters offer opportunities for discussions of justice and vigilantism, masculinity, dual identities, and aesthetics. Furthermore, the series has thrived in adapting DC Comics stories and characters to television, but also in translating the spirit and stylistic flourishes of comics to the televisual medium. Arrow therefore also raises important questions about media franchising, adaptation, medium specificity, and industry trends. As a young series, very little has been written about Arrow in academic circles. This collection of essays seeks to provide the opening large-scale investigation into the CW series and examine Arrow from multiple perspectives and disciplines.

Potential topics for discussion include, but are not limited to:

• Representations of masculinity, femininity, race, sexuality, class, and family within Arrow
• Explorations of justice, violence, the greater good, and morality within Arrow
• Examinations of secret (and dual) identities, teamwork, and secret keeping within Arrow
• Deceptions of a “realistic” superhero story and the slow introduction of more fantastical elements within Arrow
• Arrow’s narrative techniques, including the preponderance of flashbacks and serialization
• Arrow’s fight choreography and action set pieces
• Chapters discussing individual episodes or story arcs within Arrow
• Chapters discussing particular character arcs or relationships (Oliver-Felicity, Oliver-Slade, Thea-Roy, etc.) within Arrow
• Arrow as an adaptation of the pre-existing Green Arrow stories and its employment of characters and arcs from the larger DC Comics universe
• Evolution of the Arrow figure from the Smallville series to the current show
• Arrow as part of the recent push for superhero series on television (including comparisons between Arrow and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Arrow and The Flash)
• Critical reception to Arrow
• Arrow themes in popular culture
• Fan readings, productions, and activities related to and about Arrow

This collection is under contract with McFarland, so all that remains is securing the contributions in a timely fashion for a planned text publication in late 2015-early 2016.

The deadline for proposals of 500 words is August 31, 2014. Please email your abstract and a brief bio to jiaccino@thechicagoschool.edu. Please put “Arrow Abstract” in the subject line. If an abstract is selected for the collection, full essays of 5,000-7,000 words will be due by December 1, 2014.

Hensoniana Better Left Unfound?

I've long been a fan of Jim Henson and grew up with the Muppets and the later products of the Creature Shop as frequent companions (and babysitters), so I've been thrilled to discover Archaia's recent collaborations with The Jim Henson Company. Some of these have been good (more on those in a later post), but others have been disappointments. For example, Archaia recently published Jim Henson's Tale of Sand (2011), a hardcover graphic novel adaptation of a screenplay from the late 1960s by Jim Henson and frequent collaborator Jerry Juhl. Archaia's information on the book suggests it might make and interesting read, noting as follows:

Join us as we explore this missing piece of Jim Henson’s career in a celebration of his creative process. Discovered in the Archives of The Jim Henson Company, Tale of Sand is an original graphic novel adaptation of an unproduced, feature-length screenplay written by Jim Henson and his frequent writing partner, Jerry Juhl. Tale of Sand follows scruffy everyman Mac, who wakes up in an unfamiliar town, and is chased across the desert of the American Southwest by all manners of man and beast of unimaginable proportions. Produced under the complete supervision of Henson Company CEO Lisa Henson, Tale of Sand will allow Henson fans to recognize some of the inspirations and set pieces that appeared in later Henson Company productions.

The work, rated Teen +13, has received a number of awards (listed on the book's page at Archaia's website) and been fairly well received (as reviews accessible from the website make clear). Despite this praise, I'd have difficulty recommending it to any reader. It is a very weird story--a journey or, possibly, challenge but certainly not a quest--with an odd sort of hero. (Previews can be accessed from the book's website and more from the reviews posted there.) There seems to be no narrative structure per say, and one is left unclear at the end what has been accomplished. Back to the rating, the images are violent at time and towards the end include some nudity best left unseen by younger readers. Of better value are some of the supplementary material. In addition to the comic, there is a foreword by Karen Falk, Archives Director and historian for The Jim Henson Company, that offers an introduction to Tale of Sand that situates the work within the context of the two men’s careers as entertainers and an afterword by Lisa Henson, daughter of Jim Henson and Chief Executive Officer of The Jim Henson Company, that describes the process by which Tale of Sand came to be adapted into the comics medium. Biographical sketches of Henson and Juhl are also included, by Craig Sherman, President of The Jim Henson Legacy. The work concludes with a short biography of the artist, Ramón K. Pérez, and a series of preliminary character sketches.

Thoughts on Man of Steel

I'll start off by saying that I like Superman, but DC's constant re-imaginings of the character have become tiresome. In particular I take offense with the recent film Man of Steel (see trailer below) directed by Zack Snyder and written by David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan, who also served as one the film's producers.




The production serves as (another) reboot of the franchise and is both an origin story (told, confusedly at times, in a non linear narrative) and a remake of Superman and Superman II. However, unlike its predecessors, the new film--in my opinion--has no heart (a frequent comment according to the film's entry on Wikipedia). All of the characters and their back stories are preexisting, and we don't really connect to any of them, not even our hero. Instead, we get a film that relies too much on technological wonder to impress (and I really wish there were some clips available online). The opening scenes on Krypton recall the sf worlds of George Lucas and James Cameron with their focus on weird alien creatures and fluid technology. Fight scenes on Earth are unreal (even for Superman) and resemble too much the latest video games, and it is a wonder that anyone in Metropolis survives in the end with so much of the city demolished. In addition, the message of the film seems to be subverted in the way Superman deals with his nemesis. We learn that the S-shield is a Kryptonian glyph for hope and that Jor-El intended his son to serve as a bridge between the two cultures, but [SPOILER ALERT], in the end, everything uniquely Kryptonian is destroyed and its future wiped out (again). (Though there remains [SPOILER ALERT] the odd fact that Jor-El has implanted the DNA of his entire race into his son's genetic code.) Finally and, perhaps, most troubling, the end(ing) of Zod seems to go against everything the hero has stood for these past 75 years, though I'll say no further in the interests of not spoiling things further. With all the big name people involved how could everything have turned out so bad? (There are also inconsistencies with the science of the film; if it took Clark Kent almost a decade to come into his powers how do [SPOILER ALERT] Zod and his force gain their powers so quickly [though this is also a problem with Superman II]. Likewise, [SPOILER ALERT] how could Superman's powers fade so quickly aboard Zod's vessel? Shouldn't he have 30+ years of solar radiation in reserve?) With all that said, the ending shows promise for the future of the franchise. [SPOILER ALERT] We open any new film with Lois already knowing all of Superman's secrets paving the way for a more equal partnership like that once portrayed in the pre-New-52 DCU. If only the villain could be someone more down to Earth, then, I think we might see a good film.

My reaction to the casting is less of an issue; however, only a few of the actors stood out in my mind. Amy Adams is an intriguing choice for Lois Lane, though the overweight Pete Ross and underweight Steve Lombard were disconcerting. Michael Shannon seemed to lack the gravitas of Terence Stamp's earlier Zod (though his reason for rebelling against the Science Council is truly a masterstroke of storytelling, if it is original to the film) and Antje Traue certainly lacked the sinister qualities of Ursa, Zod's associate in Superman II; likewise, Russell Crowe is no Marlon Brando, but [SPOILER ALERT] the character's haunting of the film made for an interesting touch. Moving to other father figures, Kevin Costener seemed a lackluster Jonathan Kent, but Laurence Fishbourne's portrayal of Perry White was interesting (though the earring seems a fashion faux pas). Also, I really liked Cooper Timberline, the actor playing the younger Clark Kent (see image), and felt his character's story the most appealing here. Why not focus on his adventures as he comes to discover his place in the world? Why not show our youth a story of overcoming trials and adversity while struggling to find one's place in the world, instead of a slug fest? Of course, Smallville has already attempted some of this but not from the perspective of a prepubescent hero. This should not be an impediment to the producers, after all they're rehashing old material anyway.

Walking Dead Collection CFP

Forever catching up it seems:

Edited Collection: The Walking Dead
Publication Date: 2013-05-25 (in 29 days)
Date Submitted: 2013-01-30
Announcement ID: 200899 

Articles are invited for an edited collection on issues related to any element of The Walking Dead (either the original graphic novel or the AMC television series).

The following categories are meant to suggest possibilities but are by no means exhaustive:
 • Monstrosity
• Fandom and/or Reception
• Transformation and/or Adaptation
• Gender
• Race
• Hybridity
• Zombies
• Posthumanism
• Heroism
• Villainy
• History and Memory
• Family
• Power

What to Send: 300 - 500 word abstracts (or complete articles, if available) and CVs should be submitted by May 25, 2013. If an abstract is accepted for the collection, a full draft of the essay (5000 – 8000 words) will be required by October 25, 2013.

Abstracts and final articles should be submitted to supernaturaltelevision@gmail.com. Please include “Walking Dead” in your subject line.

Dr. Margo Collins
Email: supernaturaltelevision@gmail.com

Wonder Woman Documentary

A head's up from the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly:

PBS is currently airing a film called Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines. More details at http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/wonder-women/.

Trailer follows:

Watch Coming Soon to Independent Lens: Wonder Women! on PBS. See more from Independent Lens.

More Super Buddies

The teaser embed code appears defective in the previous post, so I include a copy of the cover from Amazon below:

Super Buddies by Disney

A belated post:

Disney will release the direct-to-video film Super Buddies this August as part of its Buddies franchise. A teaser is available on the official site, but it offers little detail.



Luckily, a synopsis explains:

Watch the fur fly as a new breed of super hero is born in Disney's fun-filled epic adventure.

An ordinary day at Fernfield Farms turns extraordinary when Budderball, Mudbud, B-Dawg, Buddha and Rosebud discover mysterious rings that grant them each a unique super power. Before you can say, "Buddies, assemble," the pups unleash their amazing abilities and race to the rescue when a shape-shifting bully from outer space threatens the planet. But can they succeed in kicking major tail without revealing their new secret identities?

A must-own movie event packed with laughter, action and incredible new characters, Super Buddies proves that when you use your wits and work together, you don't need super powers to be a super hero!

Smallville Collection CFP (6/1/13)

Here's another CFP for a collection on Smallville. The first, edited by Lincoln Geraghty, apperared in 2011, while the rest remain unpublished at this time.

 Essay Collection: Smallville
Publication Date: 2013-06-01
Date Submitted: 2013-02-05
Announcement ID: 201106 (at H-Announce)

Articles are invited for an essay collection on Smallville.

Superman has held audiences’ attention since his first appearance in 1938. Since then the Man of Steel and his fellow characters have never left the audiences’ sight. Multiple reinventions and installments found a highpoint between the years 2001-2011 with the CW´s hit series which not only told the story of Superman´s teenage years for the first time, but also added new characters such as Chloe Sullivan. Moreover, including members of the Justice League and the Justice Society of America opened up the series’ universe even more and created an alternate universe in the DC realm like few Superman installments before. After its successful ten-year run, Smallville´s story is far from over and although the actors are ready to move on, their audience is not. The series continuation as a graphic novel leaves more room to experiment with different formatting and even more interesting storylines. Moreover, Smallville’s active fan base continues to produce fan fiction and videos online, illustrating the continuing interest in the series.

This collection will examine a variety of issues surrounding this retelling and expansion of the Superman universe(s).

The following categories suggest possibilities but are by no means exhaustive
• Fandom and/or Reception
• Transformation and/or Adaptation
• Gender
• Race
• Sexuality
• Romance and Desire
• Power
• Monstrosity
• Heroism
• Villainy
• Identify
• Visual Style and practices
• Smallville’s usage and representation of known DC Comics characters and stories
• Representations of masculinity, femininity, race, sexuality and family within Smallville 

What to Send:
300 - 500 word abstracts (or complete articles, if available) and CVs should be submitted by June 1, 2013. If an abstract is accepted for the collection, a full draft of the essay (5000 – 8000 words) will be required by December 1, 2013.
Abstracts and final articles should be submitted to: supernaturaltelevision@gmail.com and Nadine.Farghaly@gmx.net

Margo Collins and Nadine Farghaly
supernaturaltelevision@gmail.com
Nadine.Farghaly@gmx.net

Iron Man: Rise of Technovore

In connection with the upcoming release of Iron Man 3, Marvel is promoting a new direct-to-video anime-inspired film called Iron Man: Rise of Technovore, due out on 16 April 2013. Marvel has a detailed press release on their website (http://marvel.com/news/story/20068/iron_man_rise_of_technovore_coming_to_blu-ray_416); however, it is unclear as to whether the story is based on previous comics narratives, ties into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or is meant to stand on its own.  Official trailer follows: 



The film is sold as either Blu-ray or DVD with the following extras:

• Blu-ray exclusive: Conceptual Art Gallery
• Blu-ray and DVD bonus features: Two featurettes, "Tale of Technovore" and "S.H.I.E.L.D.: Protecting the Marvel Universe"

Superman: Unbound?

Expect much hype surrounding the release this summer of Warner Bros.'s Man of Steel. Warner Bros. Animation is doing their bit with the original video Superman: Unbound based on the "Brainiac" arc from phenom Geoff Johns's run on Action Comics (conveniently collected as Superman: Brainiac). With voice work by Matt Bomer as Clark Kent/Superman, the film is due out on 7 May 2013 in multiple platforms. As is standard practice with DC Universe Animated Original Movies,the Blu-ray version (single disc only this time and no digital copy) will include the bulk of the extras (feature commentary, making-of featurettes, and--though don't ask me why--a selection of related cartoons), and the DVD release getting the shaft with only a first look at the upcoming Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox (also available on the Blu-ray).