CFP Superheroes of the Squared Circle - Chapter Contributors (7/15/2026)

Superheroes of the Squared Circle - Chapter Contributors

deadline for submissions:
July 15, 2026

full name / name of organization:
Forrest C. Helvie / CT State Community College

contact email:
forrest.helvie@ctstate.edu

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2026/06/12/superheroes-of-the-squared-circle-chapter-contributors



CALL FOR CONTRIBUTORS

Superheroes of the Squared Circle:

The Intersection of Comics and Professional Wrestling

An Edited Academic Collection for McFarland & Co. Publishing

Editor: Forrest C. Helvie, Ph.D.

Connecticut State Community College

About the Project

Professional wrestling and superhero comics have more in common than audiences might expect. Both rely on serialized storytelling, larger-than-life characters, clearly defined heroes and villains, and a shared grammar of spectacle and myth. Yet despite their obvious kinship, few sustained academic studies have examined the two forms side by side.

Superheroes of the Squared Circle aims to fill that gap. This edited collection will bring together essays that explore the rich connections between professional wrestling and superhero media — including comics, film, and television — from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. Contributors might examine narrative structure, character archetypes, cultural significance, performance, identity, or any number of other angles. The goal is a volume that is rigorous without being inaccessible, and that will appeal to both scholars and serious fans of either (or both) forms.

Topics of Interest

Essays may address, but are not limited to, the following:

• The history of professional wrestling and its parallels with superhero narrative traditions
• Kayfabe and comic book continuity: shared logics of suspension of disbelief
• Heels, babyfaces, and the villain-hero binary across wrestling and comics
• Wrestlers and their superhero analogs (e.g., Hulk Hogan and Superman; the nWo and the Punisher)
• Lucha libre and its intersections with Latin American superhero and comics traditions
• Japanese puroresu, manga, and anime: shared themes of perseverance, honor, and the heroic struggle
• Gender and representation in wrestling and superhero media
• Race, ethnicity, and identity in the ring and on the page
• The evolution of both forms in the streaming era (WWE on Netflix; the MCU, DCU, and The Boys)
• The crowd as character: audience, kayfabe, and participatory culture
• Wrestling's influence on superhero comics, film, and television — and vice versa
• Disability, body politics, and the superhero/wrestling ideal
• Comics adaptations of wrestling figures and promotions

Submission Guidelines

Interested contributors are invited to submit a proposal consisting of:A 250–300 word abstract describing the essay's argument, methodology, and significance
A brief contributor biography (100 words or fewer), including name and institutional affiliation (if applicable)

Accepted essays should be approximately 6,000–7,000 words (excluding references) and formatted according to the Chicago Manual of Style (author-date system).

Co-authored essays are welcome. AI co-created or fully AI-generated work will not be accepted.

Contributors will be responsible for securing reproduction permissions for any images used in their chapters. The editor will provide guidance on fair-use standards and publisher image specifications.

Proposed Timeline

• Abstract Deadline: July 15th, 2026
• Contributor Notifications: August 1st, 2026
• First Drafts Due: October 15, 2026
• Final Drafts Due: December 15, 2026
• Manuscript Delivered to Publisher: Jan/Feb 2027

About the Editor

Forrest C. Helvie, Ph.D. is a Full Professor of English at Connecticut State Community College and an experienced editor of academic collections in comics and popular culture studies. He has written about comics for Marvel.com, Newsarama, Sequart, and Popverse, and is the editor of How to Review and Analyze Comics (Sequart, 2021) and Superheroes and American Exceptionalism (McFarland, forthcoming 2026). He holds a Ph.D. in English Literature and teaches composition at the college level.

How to Submit

Please send abstracts and contributor bios to:

Forrest C. Helvie, Ph.D.

forrest.helvie@ctstate.edu

Please use the subject line: Squared Circle Submission — [Your Last Name]

Questions about the project are welcome. The editor is committed to building a diverse contributor pool that reflects the global reach of both professional wrestling and superhero media, and actively encourages submissions from scholars working in international, cross-cultural, and underrepresented perspectives.



Last updated June 12, 2026

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 Essays on the Punisher (expired)

A final expired call for the night. This is also on a much-needed topic. I wish them luck in finalizing the project.

Essays on the Punisher
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2017/11/06/essays-on-the-punisher

deadline for submissions:
January 31, 2018

full name / name of organization:
Texas Tech University

contact email:
rob.weiner@ttu.edu



The Punisher: Judge, Jury, and Executioner

Edited by Matthew McEinry, Alicia Goodman, Ryan Cassidy, and Robert G. Weiner


With Netflix’s The Punisher being released in November 2017, it is apparent that a character like the Punisher has a certain kind of widespread appeal. The Punisher was played with great acclaim in Netflix’s Daredevil Season 2 by Jon Bernthal. There were, however, three previous Punisher movies of varying quality dating back to 1989. None of the previous Punisher films did blockbuster business, although 2004’s The Punisher and The Punisher War Zone (2008) were successful on home video.

Created by Gerry Conway, John Romita, and Ross Andru (with help from Stan Lee) in 1974, The Punisher appeared at a time when the idea of vengeance was permeating our popular culture with films like Death Wish and the Dirty Harry series. The character first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #129, but quickly grew to be a favorite among fans and eventually earned his own series, which continues to the present day. The Punisher is judge, jury, and executioner and is considered by many of the heroes in the Marvel Universe to be morally questionable if not outright villainous.

The editors of this volume seek original essays on the character of the Punisher in his various iterations in popular culture, including the Netflix series, films, video games, animated series, and, of course, the comics. We seek tight essays of around 3,000-4,500 that explain why the Punisher continues to be a popular character.


Possible topics include:

• The Punisher in Vietnam
• Why the three previous Punisher Films failed to garner blockbuster status, but did well on video?
• What is the morality of the Punisher? Is the Punisher justified in his crusade against criminals?
• Punisher fan films like Dirty Laundry and what do they tell us about the character?
• Netflix’s version of the Punisher
• The Punisher in kid-friendly shows like Super Hero Squad.
• The modern Punisher in the comics
• How has the character evolved over the years?
• How did the different writers (Garth Ennis, Chuck Dixon, Steven Grant, Greg Rucka, Archie Goodwin, and Mike Baron) envision the character?
• The Punisher in Marvel’s Civil War.
• The Punisher’s relationship to the rest of the Marvel Universe and specific characters e.g., Daredevil, Spider-Man, Captain America, Wolverine, and Nick Fury.
• Is the Punisher a villain or a hero?
• The Punisher in the Ultimate Universe
• The Punisher in video games
• What is the Punisher’s relationship to police, the military, S.H.E.I.L.D., etc.?
• Analysis of the Black Widow/Punisher animated film.
• 1980s Punisher stories that avoided the Comics Code
• What does the continued popularity of the character say about humanity?
• The Punisher and feminism (female characters in the series)

These are only a few of the topics related to the Punisher. Please send a 200-300 word abstract to alicia.goodman@ttu.edu and matthew.mceniry@ttu.edu by January 31, 2018.


Please note: We plan to shop this volume around for peer review after it is completed. Acceptance of abstract does not necessarily [sic]

CFP Edited Collection: BOOM! #*@&! Splat: Comics and Violence (expired)

Sorry. Yet another missed call.

Edited Collection: BOOM! #*@&! Splat: Comics and Violence
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2018/04/11/edited-collection-boom-splat-comics-and-violence

deadline for submissions:
May 31, 2018

full name / name of organization:
Jo Davis-McElligatt, PhD & Jim Coby, PhD

contact email:
joannacdavis@gmail.com



BOOM! #*@&! Splat: Comics and Violence

In the introduction to Seduction of the Innocent, Frederic Wertham suggested that “chronic stimulation, temptation and seduction by comic books [...] are contributing factors to many children’s maladjustment” (10). Anxious that children would be forever corrupted by the content of comics, Wertham identified representations and structures of violence as among his primary objections to comics narrative: “Here is violence galore, violence in the beginning, in the middle, and at the end” (8). Though anxieties regarding representations of violence in comics have largely fallen to the wayside, thematic and symbolic visual depictions of violence remain central to the comics form. From Captain America punching his way into the American consciousness to Phoebe Gloeckner’s depictions of sexual abuse, violence is an integral aspect of the comic medium. Though scholars such as Hillary Chute, Harriet Earle, and Martin Barker have addressed specific trends and/or themes related to violence in comics, such as war, trauma, horror comics, no sustained scholarly inquiry has yet to address this issue.

Our collection, in taking an inclusive and wide-ranging approach to both violence and comics, seeks to understand how the confluence of words and images might ask readers to consider violence in ways unique to the medium. We welcome scholarship from academics of comics and other fields alike. A notable academic press has expressed enthusiastic interest in this project.

Potential avenues for exploration include:

• Form and structure elements (i.e., symbolia, jagged speech balloons, emanata)
• Receptions of violence in comics genres (e.g., horror, superhero, war, and adventure)
• Cultural production and contexts
• Cartoon and slapstick violence (e.g., Krazy Kat, Calvin and Hobbes)
• Comics and war/witness (e.g., Joe Sacco, Marjane Satrapi, Art Spiegelman)
• Physical and psychological family violence (e.g. Alison Bechdel, Craig Thompson, Will Eisner)
• Sexual violence (e.g., Phoebe Gloeckner, Justin Green)
• Superhero violence (e.g., Alan Moore, Frank Miller, Jack Kirby, Marvel/DC)
• History and violence (e.g., John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, & Nate Powell, Keiji Nakazawa, Chester Brown)
• The grotesque and/or bizarre (e.g., Daniel Clowes, Jason, Charles Burns)
• Pedagogical approaches to teaching violence in comics

Interested parties should submit bio of 150-200 words and an abstract of approximately 300-500 words to Joanna Davis-McElligatt (jcdmce@louisiana.edu) and Jim Coby (james.coby@uah.edu) by May 31. Contributors will be notified no later than July 30. Completed essay drafts (4000-5000 words) will be due December 15th, 2018.

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 Supersex: Essays on Sexuality, Fantasy, and the Superhero (expired)

An expired call, but a collection worth looking out for:

Supersex: Essays on Sexuality, Fantasy, and the Superhero
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2017/10/20/supersex-essays-on-sexuality-fantasy-and-the-superhero

deadline for submissions:
December 20, 2017

full name / name of organization:
Anna Peppard/York University

contact email:
annapeppard@yahoo.ca



CFP for Academic Anthology


Supersex: Essays on Sexuality, Fantasy, and the Superhero


Within the superhero genre, sexuality has often been simultaneously gratuitous and invisible. Though many superheroes wear their underwear on the outside and proudly display their hard and sensuous curves inside revealing, skin-tight costumes, historical censorship and related, prevailing assumptions about the superhero genre being primarily intended for children have meant that when superheroes get banged up and laid out, it tends to be in a fight rather than in the bedroom. Some things have, of course, changed over time. Within the past decade, in particular, superhero comics and the superhero movies, television shows, cartoons, and video games they have inspired have become increasingly diverse and adult-oriented: in comics, we have seen Batman have sex with Catwoman on a rooftop and seen Iceman, a founding member of the X-Men, come out as gay; in movies, we have seen Deadpool bend over to celebrate International Women’s Day; in television, we have seen Jessica Jones and Luke Cage’s superpowered passion break a bed frame; and in the popular subgenre of superhero porn parodies, we have seen a great deal more. Yet even now, a simultaneous presence and absence remains. Circa 2017, most mainstream superhero comics, films, and television shows continue to prioritize sexiness while pushing the actual business of sexuality off-panel/off-screen. In addition, fans remain divided about whether and how sexuality should be presented in the superhero genre. Even as some fans vocally advocate for more sexual diversity, other, equally vocal fans complain that there is already too much diversity; still other fans continue to insist that sexuality has no place in superhero stories. Meanwhile, in academia: while gender is a relatively common topic within existing scholarship on the superhero genre, sexuality has only been sporadically considered, with no existing books or journals dedicated to the topic.

Supersex: Essays on Sexuality, Fantasy, and the Superhero will make visible the modes and meanings of this simultaneous presence and absence by examining the superhero genre’s complicated relationship with sexuality in as many ways and places as possible. Chapters may focus on past or present representations of sexuality in either mainstream productions or in those Underground, “indie,” or fan-based productions which have commented on, critiqued, or revised the mainstream. Ideally, this collection will bring into conversation diverse scholarly approaches exploring an equally diverse collection of texts, from Marvel and DC’s all-ages content to various revisionist narratives and parodies, as well as fanfiction, sanctioned and unsanctioned erotic art and pornography, and cosplay culture. Chapters on international (i.e. non-American) subject matter will be considered, with the caveat that such chapters must take cultural context into account, and relate themselves in some way to the American culture that originated the superhero genre and continues to dominate its production. Similarly, chapters that consider subject matter whose relationship to the superhero genre is not immediately obvious must make a case as to why such subject matter is worth considering under the superhero banner. Analyses that consider content in relation to form are especially encouraged, as are intersectional approaches, i.e., chapters that consider superhero sexuality in conjunction with gender, disability, race, etc. All chapters must address the relationship between some aspect of sexuality and the conventions of the superhero genre, including, but not limited to, costumes, superpowers, secret identities, bodily transformations, the physical enactment of Manichean conflicts, etc.

Those interested in participating in this collection are asked to send a max. 500-word abstract and a max. 1-page prospective bibliography as well as a 50-word bio to Anna Peppard at annapeppard@yahoo.ca no later than December 20th, 2017. All proposals will be adjudicated by December 31st, 2017 with first drafts of accepted chapters due March 31th, 2018.

CFP Superheroes and Disability: Unmasking Ableism in the Media Collection (7/27/2018)

Seeking Book Chapters: Superheroes and Disability: Unmasking Ableism in the Media
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2018/06/08/seeking-book-chapters-superheroes-and-disability-unmasking-ableism-in-the-media

deadline for submissions:
July 27, 2018

full name / name of organization:
Amber E. George & JL Schatz

contact email:
mediaanddisability@gmail.com



Superheroes and Disability: Unmasking Ableism in the Media

Both disability studies and comic studies are a continually growing field for academic departments across the globe. Scholars have noticed the increasing presence of their intellectual approaches in political and philosophical theorizing both inside and outside of the academy. In fact, the growing popularity of superheroes confronting disability has led to a litany of scattered publications and essays about supercrips and other discriminatory representations that associate disability with villainy. However, there has yet to be a collection that focuses exclusively on unmasking ableism and ability privilege inherent in popular superhero representations. This collection targets mainstream consumers who are interested in disability studies and enjoy watching superhero movies and reading comics. By helping readers understand the intersection of media representation and real-world connections to disability, this collection proves that media is never neutral and that not all superheroes fight on the side of good, even if that is their goal.

This collection explores representations of disability in the media using critical disability studies, media studies, cultural studies, and other interdisciplinary fields. Activists, academics, artists, and allies are invited to submit a 250-300 word abstract for the collection along with a 100-word bio by July 27th, 2018 to mediaanddisability@gmail.com. We are particularly interested in chapters that are interdisciplinary in scope and have an interest in liberation and anti-oppressive politics, as well as ones that are focused on alternatives instead of open-ended critiques.

We are interested in essays that explore disability from the ever-shifting and changing definitions of biological impairment, espoused by the medical model, to that of disability as a cultural phenomenon. This anthology will attempt to highlight the social and political factors that give rise to medicalization and the subsequent demonization of disability. We are interested in narratives that disrupt and challenge predominant negative assumptions about disability from an intersectional perspective. New frameworks, interpretations, and analysis that empower people with disabilities are particularly important. As such, we are open to a wide interpretation of what counts as a superhero within the media. We’d like contributors to explore new perspectives on disability that may include an analysis of both people with disabilities as producers, consumers, and product of media related to superheroes. We invite the exploration of disability identity, culture, and intersections with other disciplines such as critical race theory, gender studies, and the other viewpoints.

Our goal for this text is to increase awareness of disability in the media, and highlight disability perspectives that are sometimes misappropriated, misused, or missing altogether. The goal is to offer solutions to how these representations, and our relationship to them, can be changed. Topics of interest may include, but are not limited to the following categories, all of which are contextualized within media:

• Disability in relation to comic studies in general
• Superheroes in activism and community organizing around disability
• Casting choices for superheroes with disabilities
• Disability and animality in relation to superheroes
• Disability and bioethics in relation to cyborg superheroes
• Disability in children specific superhero programming
• The use of superheroes and disability in advertising
• Analysis of overcoming narratives as heroic
• Disability and classism in relation to superheroes
• Disability, culture, and identity in relation to superheroes
• Disability as metaphor in relation to superheroes
• Disability and music in relation to superheroes
• Disability and race in relation to superheroes
• Disability and sexuality in relation to superheroes
• Disability and science-fiction or fantasy in relation to superheroes
• Supercrip in relation to superheroes
• Disability as villainy in superhero representations
• Ecology and disability in relation to superheroes
• Specific interpretations of individual superheroes in film, television, or comics
• Invisible disabilities in relation to superheroes
• Medical and social models of disability in relation to superheroes
• Queering disability in relation to superheroes
• Instructional pieces geared to how to guide conversations on disability and superheroes

All abstracts must be written in English (250-300 words) and contain title, name(s) of the author(s) and contact information (institutional affiliation, mailing address, and email address), as well as a short 100-word biography. The deadline for submissions is July 27st, 2018. We will inform people no later than August 11th, 2018 of their acceptance. Please submit your proposal to mediaanddisability@gmail.com. Feel free to contact us if you should have any questions or ideas for a chapter.


Sincerely,

Dr. Amber E. George & Dr. JL Schatz

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

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

deadline for submissions: September 30, 2017

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

contact email: maryiatrop@gmail.com


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

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

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

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

Last updated September 7, 2017