CFP Unmasking Masculinity: Superheroes and Defeating the Power of Patriarchy (expired)

With apologies once again. Here is a further expired call.

Unmasking Masculinity: Superheroes and Defeating the Power of Patriarchy
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2018/04/11/unmasking-masculinity-superheroes-and-defeating-the-power-of-patriarchy

deadline for submissions:
May 7, 2018

full name / name of organization:
Sean Parson

contact email:
Sean.parson@nau.edu



We are seeking 300-500 word abstracts by May 7th, 2018 for possible inclusion into an edited collection seeking to explore the complex relationship between masculinity, toxic masculinity, gender, queerness, and superhero narratives. Over the last few years there have been books that that explore issues of feminism, gender, and sexuality within comic books but rarely have they engaged with the way the genre shapes and is shaped by contemporary conceptions of masculinity. This project is meant to fill that absence focusing on the construction of the masculinity in comics, as well as engage with critical works that deconstruct toxic version of masculinity or offer queerer, trans, and feminist counter-narratives of the concept.


While superheroes have historically been understood as a “male” genre, focusing primarily on militarism, violence, and traditional gender roles and tropes to move narratives forward, in recent years, there have been a slate of critical and feminist superhero series that have shaped the conversation around gender within the genre. While the inclusion of feminist and female perspectives is essential for the genre, and long overdue, there has been less of a focus on version of masculinity portrayed within the genre and the ways in which counter-narratives of masculinity have, or could, be developed. At a time when concepts like, toxic masculinity, are no longer merely academic phrases, but popularly understood concepts, its time to deconstruct masculinity as it appears on the page, the screen, the TV


This edited book will be peer reviewed and will be submitted, although this contract won’t be secured until all abstracts are chosen. We are interested not only in the present controversies and debates within the field of masculinity but also in expanding the debate and discussion on the topics of superheroes to engage beyond traditional conversations of masculinity to include queer and trans perspectives. Possible topics might include:

• Abelism 
• Animal activism
• Body image 
• Comic Studies
• Communication 
• Critical Race theory 
• Emotional labor 
• Feminist Theory
• Friendships 
• Film Analysis and theory 
• History of Gender in comics 
• Intersectionality 
• Marxist Analysis
• Marriage 
• Media Studies 
• Militarism 
• Notions of becoming
• Queer Theory 
• Post/Trans humanism 
•  Sexuality
• Social Reproduction 
• Television 
• Trans issues in comics 
• Violence

Please direct any questions and 300-500 word abstracts along with a 150 word bio to Dr. JL Schatz (debate@binghamton.edu) and Dr. Sean Parson (sean.parson@nau.edu) by May 7th, 2018. Final pieces will be approximately 5,000 to 7,000 words.


We will notify authors of their acceptance no later than May 21st, 2018.

CFP The Ages of the Black Panther (expired)

Sorry again to have missed this call.

The Ages of the Black Panther: Essays on the King of Wakanda
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2018/02/23/the-ages-of-the-black-panther-essays-on-the-king-of-wakanda

deadline for submissions:
April 1, 2018

full name / name of organization:
Joseph J. Darowski

contact email:
agesofsuperheroes@gmail.com



The editor of The Ages of the Black Panther: Essays on the King of Wakanda is seeking abstracts for essays that could be included in the upcoming collection. The essays should examine the relationships between the Marvel comic book adventures the Black Panther and the social era when those comic books were published. Analysis may demonstrate how Black Panther’s comic books stories and the creators who produced the comics embrace, reflect, or critique aspects of their contemporary culture. This will be a companion volume to existing essay collections in the series that have already focused on Superman, Wonder Woman, the X-Men, the Avengers, Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, the Justice League, and the Flash.

Potential chapters include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Introducing the Black Panther: Contextualizing the First Appearance
• From Black Panther to The Panther to Black Leopard and Back Again: Real World Politics and the Name of Marvel’s First Black Superhero
• An African King Joins The Earth’s Mightiest Heroes
• Afro-Futurism or Western Paternalism? The Early Appearances of T’Challa
• The Black Panther’s First Solo Series Was Titled Jungle Action?
• The First African Superhero Versus the Ku Klux Klan
• Christopher Priest Retcons the Black Panther’s Early Appearances
• Adding Everett Ross to the Mix
• Addressing American Imperialism in the Pages of Comic Books
• Black Panther and Storm: When Marketing Meets Storytelling
• Expanding the Wakandan Universe: Sisters, Bodyguards, and Politicians
• The Black Panther Without Fear: When T’Challa Became Daredevil
• The Ta-Nehisi Coats Era of Black Panther

Essays should focus on stories featuring Black Panther from his own comic book series or team series. Issues of the the Avengers or other teams that have included Black Panther as a member would be welcome for analysis, so long as the analysis focuses primarily on Black Panther, as would any Marvel mini-series that included Black Panther as a principal character. Similarly, essays focusing on characters that are closely associated with Black Panther would be acceptable. Essays should solely focus on comic book adventures, not media adaptations of the characters. Furthermore, essays should look at a single period of comic book history, rather than drawing comparisons between different publication eras. For example, an essay that analyzed Black Panther comics from the early 1980s and contextualized them with what was happening in American society would be more likely to be accepted than an essay that contrasted 2017 comic books with 1964 comic books. The completed essays should be approximately 15-20 double-spaced pages in MLA format.


Submissions should be sent to Joseph J. Darowski at agesofsuperheroes@gmail.com.

 

CFP The DC Universe Collection (7/31/2018)

The DC Universe
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2018/04/30/the-dc-universe

deadline for submissions: July 31, 2018

full name / name of organization: Alicia Goodman / Texas Tech University

contact email: alicia.goodman@ttu.edu



The DC Universe

Edited by Douglas Brode, Alicia M. Goodman, and Robert G. Weiner

The editors of a forthcoming volume are seeking concise essays of around 5,000 words related to any aspect of the DC Universe. We are seeking pieces that are academically sound, but accessible to the general reader. We want a unique collection of original and interpretive essays about the DC Universe that give original insights about all sorts of aspects related to the Universe DC has built since the 1930s. We are also doing a companion volume looking at the Marvel Universe.

The editors are operating under the premise that the term 'universe' has come to be associated with the vast output of DC in terms of their diverse products: films, TV series, comic books, graphic novels, video games, action figures, and numerous other commercial products featuring their characters. In truth, the term is more significant than simply a catch-all as the DC Universe does indeed offer a unique, organized, and interlocking element that obeys the rules of a true Solar System. We are looking for individual articles focusing on everything from the distinct quality of action figures and/or video games to how specific characters have gradually evolved in film, television, books, comics, graphic novels etc.,

Subjects may include, but are not limited to:

• DC Elseworlds Universe
• Race in the DC Universe from the Golden Age to today
• Sexuality in the DC Universe
• The Golden Age Universe of DC (early attempts at codifying the DC as one universe JSA etc.)
• The Multiple Earths and Multiverse
• DC’s Television Universe (Arrow, The Flash, Constantine, Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl) (The 1950s Superman and Superpup) (1960s Batman and Batgirl pilot) (2000s Wonder Woman pilot, Aquaman, Smallville).
• DC’s attempt at a cinematic Universe.
• DC and animation universes Superfriends, Batman (1970s), Batman (1990s) and Superman (1990s), JLA, and other animated programs that tie together.
• Gender and DC
• DC Universe and Religion
• Anti-Heroes in DC (e.g. Lobo)
• Time Travel in DC
• What is canon in DC?
• The DC Westernverse
• 1950s DC Universe
• The Cosmic DC Verse
• Toys related to DC
• Videogame worlds of DC
• Villainy in DC
• The perfect Superhero in the DC Universe
• The Dark DC Universe
• The key figures in the creation of DC (Bill Finger, Jerry Siegel, Denny O’ Neil, Neal Adams, Scott Synder, Grant Morrison, Alan Moore, Jerry Robinson, etc.,)

Please send a 200-500 word abstract to Douglas Brode dougbrode@msn.com and Alicia Goodman alicia.goodman@ttu.edu by July 31st , 2018. Please note that submission of an abstract and/or paper does not guarantee publication.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thoughts on Wonder Woman: Earth One

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

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

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

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

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

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

CFP Race and Comics: The Politics of Representation in Sequential Art (9/30/15; NeMLA 2016)

CFP: Race and Comics: The Politics of Representation in Sequential Art | NeMLA 2016 (Abstract Submission Deadline: September 30, 2015)
https://networks.h-net.org/node/13784/discussions/75816/cfp-race-and-comics-politics-representation-sequential-art-nemla

Discussion published by Rafael Ponce-Cordero 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: September 30, 2015
Location: Connecticut, United States
Subject Fields: Ethnic History / Studies, Political Science

This panel welcomes papers that examine the treatment of race and racial relations in comic books, whether in superhero narratives, graphic memoirs, web comics, or other forms of sequential art both inside and outside the United States. How are comics used to document and represent racialized identities? How have the medium and its surrounding fan communities adapted earlier content to speak to current topics?

Submit abstracts (300 words maximum) by September 30, 2015 to Session ID#15963 at https://www.cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/15963

Comics have long been filled with depictions and discussions, overt or implied, of race and ethnicity. Racist portrayals persist, from Belgium’s Tintin to Mexico’s Memín, and in the U.S. not only in the so-called “darky” iconography of yore but in contemporary racist representations of the current President, even as an issue of Spider-Man guest-starring Barack Obama becomes one of the top-selling comic books. Comics have also provided spaces to explore social issues, as in Dennis O’Neil and Neal Adams’s breakthrough 1970s Green Lantern/Green Arrow series that examined structural racism. Diversity as well remains an important consideration in how comics provide not only a realistic view of race in the world but also a medium for authors to represent their own experiences related to racial identity. There is an ongoing (and controversial) trend of increasing diversity in superhero narratives by making some previously white characters non-white. Superhero teams such as the X-Men, throughout their history at times racially monotone or racially diverse, have nevertheless been read as allegories for civil rights battles by comparing bodies marked as different to racialized bodies. Fans produce their own content to identify racial diversity or its lack, whether at conventions such as Cosplaying While Black, or in academic discussions and museum gallery installations such as John Jenning’s Black Kirby, which “remixes” Jack Kirby’s superheroes to reflect topics relevant in African American studies and lives. And memoirs such as American Born Chinese, Persepolis, and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian explicitly address those subjects and how they consider racialized identities. With superheroes including Araña, Aztek, Black Panther, Luke Cage, Hiro Hamada, Karate Kid, Dr. Light, Miles Morales, Kyle Rayner, Red Wolf, Shadow Hero, Ohiyesa Smith, John Stewart, Storm, Vibe, and War Machine, it is clear that racial relations are an important concern for artists and readers of this medium.

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. Please join us for this convention, which 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. Full information regarding the 2016 Call for Papers may be found on NeMLA's website: https://www.cfplist.com/nemla/Home/cfp

Contact Email: rponcecordero@keene.edu
URL: https://www.cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/15963