USA Today offers two recent articles on upcoming changes at DC Comics:
DC Comics unleashes a new universe of superhero titles
DC Comics ready for a risky yet relevant publishing change
Further details on the re-launch can be found at DC's own blog:
The New Justice
Friday, June 10, 2011
The Smallville Chonicles
Edited by Lincoln Geraghty
List Price: $40.00
ISBN: 0-8108-8130-6
ISBN-13: 978-0-8108-8130-3
Pub Date: Sep 28, 2011
176 pages
Binding: Cloth
Availability: Not Yet Published
List Price: $40.00
ISBN: 0-8108-8131-4
ISBN-13: 978-0-8108-8131-0
Pub Date: Sep 28, 2011
176 pages
Binding: Electronic
Availability: Not Yet Published
DESCRIPTION
In 2001, yet another adaptation of the Superman comic book came to television. Lasting 10 seasons, Smallville took the traditional Superman story and turned it into an American teen action drama about Clark Kent's life at high school—before he donned the famous blue tights and red cape. Instead of depicting Superman's clashes with criminals in Metropolis, the show focused on how Clark first developed his powers and learned to cope with girls, school, and teenage angst. Although largely overlooked by critics and derided by Superman fans who regarded it as too far a departure from the comic book canon, Smallville nonetheless endeared a whole new generation of viewers. The setting, style, narrative, and cast of fresh-faced actors suggested that the Superman story was not only ready for a makeover but also still relevant for a post-9/11 American audience.
In The Smallville Chronicles: Critical Essays on the Television Series, scholars examine the multiple narratives of the Smallville universe. Addressing issues related to gender, sexuality, national identity, myth, history, and politics, these essays explore how the series uses the Superman story to comment on contemporary social issues. Additional essays investigate the complex relationship the show's audience has with the characters through blogging, fan fiction, visits to filming locations, and the creation of websites.
As the first book-length study specifically focused on the Smallville television series, this collection is an excellent text for studies in science fiction, fandom, and teen television scholarship, and it will also have general appeal to fans of the show.
CONTENTS (from Loc.gov):
Introduction: investigating Smallville / Lincoln Geraghty -- Texts and Contexts. From comic book to bildungsroman: Smallville, narrative, and the education of a young hero / Stan Beeler -- Televisual transformations: myth and social issues in Smallville / Karin Beeler -- The Kryptonite closet: silence and queer secrecy in Smallville / Jes Battis -- No flights, no tights: Smallville and the roles of special effects in television / Rayna Denison -- Audiences and meta-texts. Smallville: superhero mythos and intellectual property regimes / Ian Gordon -- Vids, vlogs, and blogs: the participatory culture of Smallville’s digital fan / Juli Stone Pitzer -- "I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore": Examining Smallville’s Canadian Cult Geography / Lincoln Geraghty -- Sacrifice or Salvation? Smallville’s Heroic Survival Amidst Changing Television Trends / Michael S. Duffy -- Index.
ABOUT THE EDITOR
Lincoln Geraghty is principal lecturer in film studies in the School of Creative Arts, Film and Media at the University of Portsmouth. He is the author or editor of several books on popular culture, including Living with Star Trek: American Culture and the Star Trek Universe (2007), Channeling the Future: Essays on Science Fiction and Fantasy Television (Scarecrow, 2009), and Directory of World Cinema: American Hollywood (2011).
The Smallville Chonicles
Edited by Lincoln Geraghty
List Price: $40.00
ISBN: 0-8108-8130-6
ISBN-13: 978-0-8108-8130-3
Pub Date: Sep 28, 2011
176 pages
Binding: Cloth
Availability: Not Yet Published
List Price: $40.00
ISBN: 0-8108-8131-4
ISBN-13: 978-0-8108-8131-0
Pub Date: Sep 28, 2011
176 pages
Binding: Electronic
Availability: Not Yet Published
DESCRIPTION
In 2001, yet another adaptation of the Superman comic book came to television. Lasting 10 seasons, Smallville took the traditional Superman story and turned it into an American teen action drama about Clark Kent's life at high school—before he donned the famous blue tights and red cape. Instead of depicting Superman's clashes with criminals in Metropolis, the show focused on how Clark first developed his powers and learned to cope with girls, school, and teenage angst. Although largely overlooked by critics and derided by Superman fans who regarded it as too far a departure from the comic book canon, Smallville nonetheless endeared a whole new generation of viewers. The setting, style, narrative, and cast of fresh-faced actors suggested that the Superman story was not only ready for a makeover but also still relevant for a post-9/11 American audience.
In The Smallville Chronicles: Critical Essays on the Television Series, scholars examine the multiple narratives of the Smallville universe. Addressing issues related to gender, sexuality, national identity, myth, history, and politics, these essays explore how the series uses the Superman story to comment on contemporary social issues. Additional essays investigate the complex relationship the show's audience has with the characters through blogging, fan fiction, visits to filming locations, and the creation of websites.
As the first book-length study specifically focused on the Smallville television series, this collection is an excellent text for studies in science fiction, fandom, and teen television scholarship, and it will also have general appeal to fans of the show.
CONTENTS (from Loc.gov):
Introduction: investigating Smallville / Lincoln Geraghty -- Texts and Contexts. From comic book to bildungsroman: Smallville, narrative, and the education of a young hero / Stan Beeler -- Televisual ransformations: myth and social issues in Smallville / Karin Beeler -- The Kryptonite closet: silence and queer secrecy in Smallville / Jes Battis -- No flights, no tights: Smallville and the roles of special effects in television / Rayna Denison -- Audiences and meta-texts. Smallville: superhero mythos and intellectual property regimes / Ian Gordon -- Vids, vlogs, and blogs: the participatory culture of Smallville’s digital fan / Juli Stone Pitzer -- "I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore": Examining Smallville’s Canadian Cult Geography / Lincoln Geraghty -- Sacrifice or Salvation? Smallville’s Heroic Survival Amidst Changing Television Trends / Michael S. Duffy -- Index.
ABOUT THE EDITOR
Lincoln Geraghty is principal lecturer in film studies in the School of Creative Arts, Film and Media at the University of Portsmouth. He is the author or editor of several books on popular culture, including Living with Star Trek: American Culture and the Star Trek Universe (2007), Channeling the Future: Essays on Science Fiction and Fantasy Television (Scarecrow, 2009), and Directory of World Cinema: American Hollywood (2011).
Thoughts on X-Men: First Class
I went to see X-Men: First Class this weekend. It is an entertaining reboot of the franchise and offers intriguing new perspectives on Professor X and Magneto, but the remaining mutants were an odd mix (though their powers were depicted convincingly). Beast was interesting (and an obvious choice), but an American Banshee (and a teenaged one at that) was off-setting. A young Havok was also an interesting choice, yet I missed the rest of the original "First Class": Cyclops, Ice Man, Angel, and Marvel Girl. Mystique starting out as X-Men offered an original take on the character (as was her relationship to Xavier), and it is interesting now to consider her arc in the original three films in light of this one.That said, the other X-Men--Darwin and Pixie--were lacking in much development and rationale for their inclusion (unless Pixie was only present as a counter for Banshee, who also flies); likewise, an American Moira MacTaggert (and an CIA opp to boot) seemed a strange choice. The villains caused similar confusion. Sebastian Shaw as a Nazi and Magneto's "Xavier" was very strange, and I cannot fathom the inclusion of Riptide and Azazel (perhaps he's here to foreshadow the origin of Nightcrawler from X2). However, the use of Emma Frost (here displaying much flesh and her secondary mutation) made sense given Shaw's presence.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Constructing Green Lantern
Constructing Green Lantern: From Page to Screen
Written by Ozzy Inguanzo, Introduction by Geoff Johns
Pub Date: May 31, 2011
Format: Hardcover
Category: Performing Arts - Film - General
Publisher: Universe
Trim Size: 8-1/2 x 11
US Price: $35.00
CAN Price: $40.00
ISBN: 978-0-7893-2261-6
About This Book
From the creative group at DC Entertainment comes The Green Lantern, certain to be the hit of Summer 2011. The Art of The Green Lantern is the ultimate companion book to the movie, showcasing production ephemera including: storyboard art, character sketches, concept art, and still photos from the movie's sets. The Green Lantern will also contain observations and insights of the film by producers, art director, and various other film crew.
About the Author
Ozzy Inguanzo is Green Lantern's research and asset manager. He has been living at the epicenter of the Green Lantern movie for almost a year and a half. The filmmakers have told us that he is their resident expert on the comic books and the conceptual artwork produced for the film: from storyboards, creatures, and costumes, to environments, vehicles, and props. Geoff Johns is the Chief Creative Officer of DC Entertainment and a comic book writer. Johns is best known for his work on Superman, Green Lantern, and The Flash, and he is credited with bringing Green Lantern to its current levels of popularity.
Reviews
“A new book, Constructing Green Lantern: From Page to Screen, gives a kind of production diary that takes you through every stage of creating the movie’s weird vistas, alien landscapes and green energy constructs.” ~iO9.com
“Author Inguanzo, the films’ on-set Green Lantern expert and ‘Assets Manager,’ didn’t get the memo about writing fluffy movie tie-in books and actually wrote a detailed and intelligent production memoir, loaded with photos from the set, pre-viz art, storyboards and final composite images that at least prove that the filmmakers set out to do the character justice.” ~cartoonbrew.com
“Books like these can run the risk of becoming boring technical retellings, but Constructing avoids that problem by structuring the book to follow the plot of the film… It’s Inguanzo’s emphasis on story that makes Contructing a book you can actually sit down and read instead of just flipping through it looking for interesting bits.” ~bleedingcool.com
Monday, May 30, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Comics Scholarship at NeMLA 2011
The NeMLA 2011 Convention was held last month at the Hyatt New Brunswick in New Brunswick, New Jersey, from April 7-10, 2011, and included a variety of papers and sessions of interest. The complete program (divided by days) can be accessed at: http://www.nemla.org/convention/2011/index.html.
FRIDAY, APRIL 8
4.04 Conference B
Seeing Texts and Speaking Images: Visual-Verbal Dialogues in Modernity
Chair: Mary V. Marchand, Goucher College
PAPER 3 OF 3: “Text and Image in Partnership: Narrative Intersections in Jeff Smith’s Bone”
Emily Lauer, Hunter College
6.11 Conference JK
Adoption in Contemporary Literature and Culture (Roundtable)
Chair: Nicole Furlonge, Stuart Country Day School
PAPER 1 OF 3: “The Collapse of the Reunion Fantasy in Daniel Clowes’ Wilson: An Adoption Counter Narrative”
Genie Giaimo, Northeastern University
PAPER 2 OF 3: “What is for others nature/is for us culture: Constructions of Adoption on Heroes”
Nicole Furlonge, Stuart Country Day School
8.04 Conference B
Naming and Framing: Identity Construction in Children’s Literature and Culture
Chair: Julie Cassidy, Borough of Manhattan Community College-CUNY
PAPER 2 OF 4: “Which Powerpuff Girl Are You?: Unsettling Identity Types and Redefining Conventional Girlhood”
Lisa Hager, University of Wisconsin-Waukesha
9.09 Conference G
Captions, Slogans, and Stares (Oh, My!): Image as Argument in College Writing (Roundtable)
Chair: Peter Witkowsky, Mount Saint Mary College
PAPER 6 OF 6: “Our President, the Monster: Graphic Political Arguments in the Composition Classroom”
Angela Francis, CUNY Graduate Center
SATURDAY, 9 APRIL
11.07 Conference D
Serial Narratives and Temporality
Chair: Toni Pape, Université de Montréal
“‘Make It Repeatable’: Postmodern Seriality and the Repetition of What Is Yet to Come”
Stephen Hock, Virginia Wesleyan College
“Serial Historiography: Toward an Ethics of Irreducible Elements in Narrative Histories”
Ben Bolling, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
“Aging at the Speed of Plot: The X-Men and Chronology”
Will Duffy, SUNY Buffalo
“Temporalities on Collision Course: Time, Knowledge and Temporal Critique in Damages”
Toni Pape, Université de Montréal
11.09 Conference A
Twentieth-Century Blake
Chair: Jon Gagas, Temple University
PAPER 1 OF 4: “William Blake’s Milton, Grant Morrison’s Final Crisis, and the End of the Epic Narrative”
Geoff Klock, Borough of Manhattan Community College-CUNY
14.05 Conference I
Classical Women in Modern Literature and Media
Chairs: Krishni Burns, SUNY Buffalo; William Duffy, SUNY Buffalo
PAPER 3 OF 4: “Heroes and Amazons in Y: the last man”
Luiz Guilherme, Universidade de São Paulo
15.08 Conference G
Reading the Postcolonial Other in Contemporary Film (Roundtable)
Chairs: Sophie Lavin, SUNY Stony Brook; Tracey Walters, SUNY Stony Brook
PAPER 5 OF 6: “Coming-of-Age and Cultural Revolution in Persepolis”
Rachel Graf, University of Washington
SUNDAY, APRIL 10
18.10 Regency E
What a ‘Man’’s Gotta Do: (Re)Defining Duty in Post-Feminist Action Films (Seminar)
Chair: Elizabeth Abele, SUNY Nassau Community College
PAPER 2 OF 6: “When Eleven Year-Olds Kick-Ass: Hit-Girl As Role Model Or Victim?”
Keith Friedlander, University of Ottawa
PAPER 5 OF 6: “‘I Won’t Feel a Thing’: Ironic Masculinity in Joss Whedon’s ‘Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog’”
Derek S. McGrath, SUNY Stony Brook
FRIDAY, APRIL 8
4.04 Conference B
Seeing Texts and Speaking Images: Visual-Verbal Dialogues in Modernity
Chair: Mary V. Marchand, Goucher College
PAPER 3 OF 3: “Text and Image in Partnership: Narrative Intersections in Jeff Smith’s Bone”
Emily Lauer, Hunter College
6.11 Conference JK
Adoption in Contemporary Literature and Culture (Roundtable)
Chair: Nicole Furlonge, Stuart Country Day School
PAPER 1 OF 3: “The Collapse of the Reunion Fantasy in Daniel Clowes’ Wilson: An Adoption Counter Narrative”
Genie Giaimo, Northeastern University
PAPER 2 OF 3: “What is for others nature/is for us culture: Constructions of Adoption on Heroes”
Nicole Furlonge, Stuart Country Day School
8.04 Conference B
Naming and Framing: Identity Construction in Children’s Literature and Culture
Chair: Julie Cassidy, Borough of Manhattan Community College-CUNY
PAPER 2 OF 4: “Which Powerpuff Girl Are You?: Unsettling Identity Types and Redefining Conventional Girlhood”
Lisa Hager, University of Wisconsin-Waukesha
9.09 Conference G
Captions, Slogans, and Stares (Oh, My!): Image as Argument in College Writing (Roundtable)
Chair: Peter Witkowsky, Mount Saint Mary College
PAPER 6 OF 6: “Our President, the Monster: Graphic Political Arguments in the Composition Classroom”
Angela Francis, CUNY Graduate Center
SATURDAY, 9 APRIL
11.07 Conference D
Serial Narratives and Temporality
Chair: Toni Pape, Université de Montréal
“‘Make It Repeatable’: Postmodern Seriality and the Repetition of What Is Yet to Come”
Stephen Hock, Virginia Wesleyan College
“Serial Historiography: Toward an Ethics of Irreducible Elements in Narrative Histories”
Ben Bolling, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
“Aging at the Speed of Plot: The X-Men and Chronology”
Will Duffy, SUNY Buffalo
“Temporalities on Collision Course: Time, Knowledge and Temporal Critique in Damages”
Toni Pape, Université de Montréal
11.09 Conference A
Twentieth-Century Blake
Chair: Jon Gagas, Temple University
PAPER 1 OF 4: “William Blake’s Milton, Grant Morrison’s Final Crisis, and the End of the Epic Narrative”
Geoff Klock, Borough of Manhattan Community College-CUNY
14.05 Conference I
Classical Women in Modern Literature and Media
Chairs: Krishni Burns, SUNY Buffalo; William Duffy, SUNY Buffalo
PAPER 3 OF 4: “Heroes and Amazons in Y: the last man”
Luiz Guilherme, Universidade de São Paulo
15.08 Conference G
Reading the Postcolonial Other in Contemporary Film (Roundtable)
Chairs: Sophie Lavin, SUNY Stony Brook; Tracey Walters, SUNY Stony Brook
PAPER 5 OF 6: “Coming-of-Age and Cultural Revolution in Persepolis”
Rachel Graf, University of Washington
SUNDAY, APRIL 10
18.10 Regency E
What a ‘Man’’s Gotta Do: (Re)Defining Duty in Post-Feminist Action Films (Seminar)
Chair: Elizabeth Abele, SUNY Nassau Community College
PAPER 2 OF 6: “When Eleven Year-Olds Kick-Ass: Hit-Girl As Role Model Or Victim?”
Keith Friedlander, University of Ottawa
PAPER 5 OF 6: “‘I Won’t Feel a Thing’: Ironic Masculinity in Joss Whedon’s ‘Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog’”
Derek S. McGrath, SUNY Stony Brook
Comics Sessions at ALA 2011
The 22nd Annual Conference of the American Literature Association will be held later this month at The Westin Copley Place, Boston, Massachusetts, from 26-29 May 2011, and there are a number of sessions of interest. The full program and registration information can be accessed at: http://www.calstatela.edu/academic/english/ala2/american_literature_assoc_2011.html.
THURSDAY, 26 MAY
Session 5-F Expanding the Working-Class Literary Canon: Claiming New Writers, Texts, and Genres (Marriott Tufts) Organized by the Society for the Study of Working-Class Literature
Chair: Paul Lauter, Trinity College
PAPER 4 OF 4. ―Sisterhood (and Brotherhood) of the Traveling Wallet: Coming to Class Consciousness through Comics and Graphic Novels
Sara Appel, Duke University
FRIDAY, 27 MAY
Session 9-M The ―small eye poet among the Moderns (Defender 7th Floor)
Organized by the E. E. Cummings Society
Chair: Millie Kidd, Mount St. Mary‘s College
PAPER 1 OF 3. ―" 'A Foreword to Krazy': E. E. Cummings' Love of the 'Lively Art' of Krazy Kat"
April Fallon, Kentucky State University
SATURDAY, 28 MAY
Session 17-A Problems and Possibilities in Defining American Comics: A Roundtable Discussion (Essex North Center) Organized by the American Society for Comics Studies
Chair: Derek Parker Royal, University of Nebraska at Kearney
1. Alfred Bendixen, Texas A&M University
2. Peter Coogan, Institute for Comics Studies
3. David Huxley, Manchester Metropolitan University (UK), co-editor, Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics
4. M. Thomas Inge, Randolph-Macon College
5. Andrew Kunka, University of South Carolina at Sumter
6. Joan Ormrod, Manchester Metropolitan University (UK), co-editor, Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics
7. Robert Weiner, Texas Tech University
8. Joseph Witek, Stetson University
Session 18-K Negotiations of Public and Private Trauma in Comic Art (Essex Center)
Chair: Charles Henebry, Boston University‘s College of General Studies
1. ―The Graphic Memoir in a State of Exception: Transformations of the Personal in Art Spiegelman‘s In the Shadow of No Towers
Lopamudra Basu, University of Wisconsin-Stout
2. ―Emerging from Comics: The Representation of Trauma in Alissa Torres‘s American Widow
Davida Pines, Boston University‘s College of General Studies
3. ―Scene and Obscene: Graphic Approaches to Child Sexual Abuse
Jane Tolmie, Queen‘s University, Kingston, Canada
Session 19-A Comic Books as Resistance Literature (Essex Center)
Organized by Jorge Santos Chair: Derek Parker Royal, University of Nebraska at Kearney
1. ―Re-Visioning Race: Transformations of the Passing Narrative in Incognegro (2008)
Martha J. Cutter, University of Connecticut, Editor of MELUS
2. ―Feminist and Counter-Apocalyptic Resistances in the Comic Art of Sam Kieth
Tof Eklund, Full Sail University
3. ―Killer Conventions: Sandman and Comics Resisting Academic Institutionalization
Daniel Anderson, Case Western Reserve University
4. ―Peter Parker: The Amazing Everyman and Marvel Comics‘ resistance to ―Patriot Act ideologies
Jorge Santos, University of Connecticut
Session 20-A Teaching the Graphic Novel (Essex Center)
Organized by the Contemporary Literature Society Chair, Karen Weekes, The Pennsylvania State University
1. ―The Spirit of '86
Jonathan W. Gray, John Jay College CUNY
2. ―Reading Theory with the Graphic Novel
Lisette Gibson, Capital University
3. ―I Kill Giants, or, I Might Kill Readers
Jennifer Mitchell, Hunter College & CUNY Graduate Center
Session 20-N Organizing Meeting of American Society for Comics Studies
(Empire Room 7th Floor)
THURSDAY, 26 MAY
Session 5-F Expanding the Working-Class Literary Canon: Claiming New Writers, Texts, and Genres (Marriott Tufts) Organized by the Society for the Study of Working-Class Literature
Chair: Paul Lauter, Trinity College
PAPER 4 OF 4. ―Sisterhood (and Brotherhood) of the Traveling Wallet: Coming to Class Consciousness through Comics and Graphic Novels
Sara Appel, Duke University
FRIDAY, 27 MAY
Session 9-M The ―small eye poet among the Moderns (Defender 7th Floor)
Organized by the E. E. Cummings Society
Chair: Millie Kidd, Mount St. Mary‘s College
PAPER 1 OF 3. ―" 'A Foreword to Krazy': E. E. Cummings' Love of the 'Lively Art' of Krazy Kat"
April Fallon, Kentucky State University
SATURDAY, 28 MAY
Session 17-A Problems and Possibilities in Defining American Comics: A Roundtable Discussion (Essex North Center) Organized by the American Society for Comics Studies
Chair: Derek Parker Royal, University of Nebraska at Kearney
1. Alfred Bendixen, Texas A&M University
2. Peter Coogan, Institute for Comics Studies
3. David Huxley, Manchester Metropolitan University (UK), co-editor, Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics
4. M. Thomas Inge, Randolph-Macon College
5. Andrew Kunka, University of South Carolina at Sumter
6. Joan Ormrod, Manchester Metropolitan University (UK), co-editor, Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics
7. Robert Weiner, Texas Tech University
8. Joseph Witek, Stetson University
Session 18-K Negotiations of Public and Private Trauma in Comic Art (Essex Center)
Chair: Charles Henebry, Boston University‘s College of General Studies
1. ―The Graphic Memoir in a State of Exception: Transformations of the Personal in Art Spiegelman‘s In the Shadow of No Towers
Lopamudra Basu, University of Wisconsin-Stout
2. ―Emerging from Comics: The Representation of Trauma in Alissa Torres‘s American Widow
Davida Pines, Boston University‘s College of General Studies
3. ―Scene and Obscene: Graphic Approaches to Child Sexual Abuse
Jane Tolmie, Queen‘s University, Kingston, Canada
Session 19-A Comic Books as Resistance Literature (Essex Center)
Organized by Jorge Santos Chair: Derek Parker Royal, University of Nebraska at Kearney
1. ―Re-Visioning Race: Transformations of the Passing Narrative in Incognegro (2008)
Martha J. Cutter, University of Connecticut, Editor of MELUS
2. ―Feminist and Counter-Apocalyptic Resistances in the Comic Art of Sam Kieth
Tof Eklund, Full Sail University
3. ―Killer Conventions: Sandman and Comics Resisting Academic Institutionalization
Daniel Anderson, Case Western Reserve University
4. ―Peter Parker: The Amazing Everyman and Marvel Comics‘ resistance to ―Patriot Act ideologies
Jorge Santos, University of Connecticut
Session 20-A Teaching the Graphic Novel (Essex Center)
Organized by the Contemporary Literature Society Chair, Karen Weekes, The Pennsylvania State University
1. ―The Spirit of '86
Jonathan W. Gray, John Jay College CUNY
2. ―Reading Theory with the Graphic Novel
Lisette Gibson, Capital University
3. ―I Kill Giants, or, I Might Kill Readers
Jennifer Mitchell, Hunter College & CUNY Graduate Center
Session 20-N Organizing Meeting of American Society for Comics Studies
(Empire Room 7th Floor)
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Comics Studies at PCA/ACA
There were a number of sessions of interest at last month's Joint Conference of the National Popular Culture & American Culture Association and the Southwest/Texas Popular Culture & American Culture Association held in San Antonio, Texas, from 4/20-23/11. Unfortunately, I cannot copy and paste from the PDF version of the program to list these sessions. The complete program can be accessed at http://pcaaca.org/conference/conf_program.php. Most of the sessions are listed under the Comics and Comic Art Area and the Graphic Novels, Comics, and Popular Culture Area.
Monday, May 9, 2011
New Book: Classics and Comics
Edited by George Kovacs and C. W. Marshall
ISBN13: 9780199734191
ISBN10: 0199734194
Paperback, 288 pages
Oxford University Press, Jan 2011
Price: $29.95
Also available: Hardback
Description
Since at least 1939, when daily-strip caveman Alley Oop time-traveled to the Trojan War, comics have been drawing (on) material from Greek and Roman myth, literature and history. At times the connection is cosmetic-as perhaps with Wonder Woman's Amazonian heritage-and at times it is almost irrelevant-as with Hercules' starfaring adventures in the 1982 Marvel miniseries. But all of these make implicit or explicit claims about the place of classics in modern literary culture.
Classics and Comics is the first book to explore the engagement of classics with the epitome of modern popular literature, the comic book. The volume collects sixteen articles, all specially commissioned for this volume, that look at how classical content is deployed in comics and reconfigured for a modern audience. It opens with a detailed historical introduction surveying the role of classical material in comics since the 1930s. Subsequent chapters cover a broad range of topics, including the incorporation of modern theories of myth into the creation and interpretation of comic books, the appropriation of characters from classical literature and myth, and the reconfiguration of motif into a modern literary medium. Among the well-known comics considered in the collection are Frank Miller's 300 and Sin City, DC Comics' Wonder Woman, Jack Kirby's The Eternals, Neil Gaiman's Sandman, and examples of Japanese manga. The volume also includes an original 12-page "comics-essay," drawn and written by Eisner Award-winning Eric Shanower, creator of the graphic novel series Age of Bronze.
Table of Contents:
Preface, C.W. Marshall and George Kovacs
Acknowledgments
1. Comics and Classics: Establishing a Critical Frame, George Kovacs
Seeing the Past through Sequential Art
2. An Ancient Greek Graphic Novel (P. Oxy. XXII 2331), Gideon Nisbet
3. Sequential Narrative and the Shield of Achilles, Kyle Johnson
4. Declassicizing the classical in Japanese comics, Nicholas A. Theisen
5. Heroes Unlimited, Brett M. Rogers
Gods and Superheroes
6. The Furies, Wonder Woman, and Dream, C. W. Marshall
7. Coming up to Code: Ancient Divinities Revisited, Craig Dethloff
8. The Burden of War: From Homer to Oeming, R. Clinton Simms
9. 'Seven Thunders Utter Their Voices', Benjamin Stevens
Drawing (on) History
10. Hard-Boiled Hot Gates, Vincent Tomasso
11. Persians in Frank Miller's 300 and Greek vase-painting, Emily Fairey
12. A Dream of Augustus, Anise K. Strong
13. Francophone Romes: Antiquity in les Bandes Dessinees, Martin Dinter
The Desires of Troy
14. Twenty-First Century Troy, Eric Shanower
15. Sex and Love in Eric Shanower's Age of Bronze, Chiara Sulprizio
16. Heavy Metal Homer, Thomas E. Jenkins
A reading list of Classics in Comics
Contributors
Bibliography
Index
About the Author(s)
George Kovacs teaches at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario.
C.W. Marshall is Associate Professor of Greek and Roman Theatre at the University of British Columbia.
CFP Transitions 2: New Directions in Comics Studies (7/31/11)
Comica Symposium 2011 - Transitions 2: New Directions in Comics Studies
full name / name of organization:
Birkbeck, University of London - School of Arts
contact email:
transitions.symposium@gmail.com
Transitions 2 is a one day symposium devoted to promoting new research into comics in all their forms. Rather than restricting itself to a specific theme, the symposium will highlight research from postgraduate students and early career lecturers bringing together different perspectives and methodoogies, whether cultural, historical, or formal, thereby mapping new trends and providing a space for dialogue and further collaboration to emerge. By thinking about comics across different disciplines, the intention is to spark debate and address a wide spectrum of questions.
We welcome abstracts of 250-300 words for twenty minute papers on topics as diverse as, but not limited to:
international iterations: manga, bande dessinée, fumetti etc. – children’s comics – superheroes – non-fiction comics – the (im)materiality of comics – formalist approaches – cultural histories – adaptation/remediation – autographics –early comics – comic strips – small press – alternative comics/underground comix – comics narratologies – political comics – comics and cultural theory – audiences – comics and the archive – subjectivity in comics – graphic medicine – fan subcultures – comics as historiography – key creators...
Abstracts should be submitted by July 31 2011 to Tony, Paul and Zara at transitions.symposium@gmail.com
The first Transitions symposium was the successful opening event of Comica 2010. Dr. Roger Sabin, Reader in Popular Culture at Central St. Martins and author of Adult Comics and Comics, Comix and Graphic Novels, will once again act as respondent.
Transitions 2 will open Comica 2011, the London International Comics Festival in association with Birkbeck, University of London, Studies in Comics, and European Comic Art.
full name / name of organization:
Birkbeck, University of London - School of Arts
contact email:
transitions.symposium@gmail.com
Transitions 2 is a one day symposium devoted to promoting new research into comics in all their forms. Rather than restricting itself to a specific theme, the symposium will highlight research from postgraduate students and early career lecturers bringing together different perspectives and methodoogies, whether cultural, historical, or formal, thereby mapping new trends and providing a space for dialogue and further collaboration to emerge. By thinking about comics across different disciplines, the intention is to spark debate and address a wide spectrum of questions.
We welcome abstracts of 250-300 words for twenty minute papers on topics as diverse as, but not limited to:
international iterations: manga, bande dessinée, fumetti etc. – children’s comics – superheroes – non-fiction comics – the (im)materiality of comics – formalist approaches – cultural histories – adaptation/remediation – autographics –early comics – comic strips – small press – alternative comics/underground comix – comics narratologies – political comics – comics and cultural theory – audiences – comics and the archive – subjectivity in comics – graphic medicine – fan subcultures – comics as historiography – key creators...
Abstracts should be submitted by July 31 2011 to Tony, Paul and Zara at transitions.symposium@gmail.com
The first Transitions symposium was the successful opening event of Comica 2010. Dr. Roger Sabin, Reader in Popular Culture at Central St. Martins and author of Adult Comics and Comics, Comix and Graphic Novels, will once again act as respondent.
Transitions 2 will open Comica 2011, the London International Comics Festival in association with Birkbeck, University of London, Studies in Comics, and European Comic Art.
CFP International Conference on Comics and Graphic Novels (5/31/11; Madrid 11/10-12/11)
International Conference on Comics and Graphic Novels
full name / name of organization:
Instituto Franklin-UAH
contact email:
graphicnovel@institutofranklin.net
International Conference on Comics and Graphics Novels (Alcalá de Henares, Madrid.
November 10th-12th, 2011)
The main objective of the conference is to bring together the largest number of specialists and researchers of comics (graphic novels, manga, BD, etc) in order to reflect on the study of this area.
CHARLES HATFIELD, JESSICA ABEL, ROGER SABIN and ANTONIO ALTARRIBA have confirmed their assistance as plenary speakers to this conference.
The theme is “Sites of visual and textual innovation” and it welcomes papers on (but not limited to):
-The origins of comics,
-Avant-garde and experimental works
-Biography and autobiography.
The languages of the conference will be English and Spanish.
Abstracts of approximately 250-500 words can be submitted to graphicnovel@institutofranklin.net . Deadline for acceptance: May, 31st 2011.
Conference will take place at Universidad de Alcalá in Spain.
For further information please visit: http://www.institutofranklin.net/en/conferences/graphic-novel
ORGANIZED BY:
Instituto Franklin - Universidad de Alcalá
full name / name of organization:
Instituto Franklin-UAH
contact email:
graphicnovel@institutofranklin.net
International Conference on Comics and Graphics Novels (Alcalá de Henares, Madrid.
November 10th-12th, 2011)
The main objective of the conference is to bring together the largest number of specialists and researchers of comics (graphic novels, manga, BD, etc) in order to reflect on the study of this area.
CHARLES HATFIELD, JESSICA ABEL, ROGER SABIN and ANTONIO ALTARRIBA have confirmed their assistance as plenary speakers to this conference.
The theme is “Sites of visual and textual innovation” and it welcomes papers on (but not limited to):
-The origins of comics,
-Avant-garde and experimental works
-Biography and autobiography.
The languages of the conference will be English and Spanish.
Abstracts of approximately 250-500 words can be submitted to graphicnovel@institutofranklin.net . Deadline for acceptance: May, 31st 2011.
Conference will take place at Universidad de Alcalá in Spain.
For further information please visit: http://www.institutofranklin.net/en/conferences/graphic-novel
ORGANIZED BY:
Instituto Franklin - Universidad de Alcalá
CFP Lois Lane Collection (8/1/11)
Collection of Essays exploring Lois Lane (1st of August 2011)
full name / name of organization:
Nadine Farghaly, M.A., Mag. Phil.
contact email:
Lois.Lane@gmx.net
Collection of essays exploring the character Lois Lane from the DC Superman Universe.
Did you ever wonder about the woman behind Superman? The woman who supports him and without whom one of America’s favourite heroes would be unable to fulfil his destiny? Rightly so! And yet, there is no work that examines this central figure in the Superman universe.
BEING LOIS will be the first book that will focus on this female protagonists and her significance in popular culture.
Lois Lane first appeared in the issue # 1 of the in 1938 founded Superman universe. Since her creation Lois Lane’s character has developed even more than Superman’s. The woman next to the man of steel had to find and fight her way through multiple feministic waves, eight decades of changing ideologies and the constant reinvention of her character by other artists.
Starting with the graphic novels, over radio and Broadway appearances to various movies and TV shows, not to forget the multitude of culture references that are connected to her, Lois Lane never left the audiences’ sight. This well beloved character not only functions as a role model for millions of women and girls, but she also reflects women’s struggles within a mostly male dominated world.
This publication aims to examine Lois Lane in literature, art, and other media to questions concerning sexuality, gender, social change and feminism. It will provide an interdisciplinary stage for the development of innovative and creative research and examine this vital and complex female protagonist in all her various manifestations and cultural meanings.
Please send one page (around 500 words) abstracts to the following E-mail address Lois.Lane@gmx.net
And include the following information:
Writers submit a 1-page synopsis of their proposed chapter to us clearly stating:
[a] the research question
[b] the methodology
[c] the findings
[d] the bibliography (5 sources)
Deadline: 1st of August 2011
For questions please contact
Nadine Farghaly
Lois.Lane@gmx.net
Hope to hear from you soon.
Nadine
full name / name of organization:
Nadine Farghaly, M.A., Mag. Phil.
contact email:
Lois.Lane@gmx.net
Collection of essays exploring the character Lois Lane from the DC Superman Universe.
Did you ever wonder about the woman behind Superman? The woman who supports him and without whom one of America’s favourite heroes would be unable to fulfil his destiny? Rightly so! And yet, there is no work that examines this central figure in the Superman universe.
BEING LOIS will be the first book that will focus on this female protagonists and her significance in popular culture.
Lois Lane first appeared in the issue # 1 of the in 1938 founded Superman universe. Since her creation Lois Lane’s character has developed even more than Superman’s. The woman next to the man of steel had to find and fight her way through multiple feministic waves, eight decades of changing ideologies and the constant reinvention of her character by other artists.
Starting with the graphic novels, over radio and Broadway appearances to various movies and TV shows, not to forget the multitude of culture references that are connected to her, Lois Lane never left the audiences’ sight. This well beloved character not only functions as a role model for millions of women and girls, but she also reflects women’s struggles within a mostly male dominated world.
This publication aims to examine Lois Lane in literature, art, and other media to questions concerning sexuality, gender, social change and feminism. It will provide an interdisciplinary stage for the development of innovative and creative research and examine this vital and complex female protagonist in all her various manifestations and cultural meanings.
Please send one page (around 500 words) abstracts to the following E-mail address Lois.Lane@gmx.net
And include the following information:
Writers submit a 1-page synopsis of their proposed chapter to us clearly stating:
[a] the research question
[b] the methodology
[c] the findings
[d] the bibliography (5 sources)
Deadline: 1st of August 2011
For questions please contact
Nadine Farghaly
Lois.Lane@gmx.net
Hope to hear from you soon.
Nadine
Saturday, March 19, 2011
New Scholarship: Gerry Canavan on Kirkman's The Walking Dead
From the lastest issue of Extrapolation:
Canavan, Gerry. " 'We Are the Walking Dead': Race, Time, and Survival in Zombie Narrative." Extrapolation 51.3 (Fall 2010): 431-53.
Canavan, Gerry. " 'We Are the Walking Dead': Race, Time, and Survival in Zombie Narrative." Extrapolation 51.3 (Fall 2010): 431-53.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics 1.2 Now Available
The latest number (contents below) of the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, 1.2 (2010), is now available at the publishers website, and, through the end of February, both 1.1 and 1.2 of the journal may be accessed free of charge.
Forthcoming issues include:
June 2011 - Superheroes in Comics
Dec 2011 - Audiences and Readership
Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics 1.2 (2010)
Editorial
David Huxley; Joan Ormrod
Pages 91 – 92
Articles
Seeing double: the transforming personalities of Alan Moore's Promethea and the Ulster Cycle's Cuchulain
Hannah Means-Shannon
Pages 93 – 104
Producing comics culture: a sociological approach to the study of comics
Casey Brienza
Pages 105 – 119
What Bunty did next: exploring some of the ways in which the British girls' comic protagonists were revisited and revised in late twentieth-century comics and graphic novels
Mel Gibson
Pages 121 – 135
Man, myth and sacrifice: graphic biographies of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara
James Scorer
Pages 137 – 150
Reconstructing Alice Cooper: ‘From the Inside’ to The Last Temptation
Julia Round
Pages 151 – 169
Comicology: comic books as culture in India
Ritu G. Khanduri
Pages 171 – 191
Inside the story: a conversation with Joe Sacco
Øyvind Vågnes
Pages 193 – 216
Book Reviews
Graphic novels and comics in libraries and archives. Essays on readers, research, history and cataloging, edited by Robert G. Weiner
Jefferson, North Carolina, McFarland and Company, 2010, 276 pp., US$45.00 (paperback), ISBN 978-0-7864-4302-4.
Mel Gibson
Pages 217 – 218
Che: a graphic biography, edited by Spain Rodriquez and edited by Paul Buhle
New York, Verso, 2008, 106 pp., US$16.95 (paperback), ISBN 978-1-844671-6-87
John T. ‘Jack’ Becker
Pages 219 – 220
¡Viva la historieta! Mexican comics, NAFTA, and the politics of globalization, by Bruce Campbell
Jackson, University of Mississippi Press, 2009, vii + 234 pp., US$55.00 (hardback), US$25.00 (paperback), ISBN 978-1-604731-2-55
Rachael Collins
Pages 220 – 222
Life on the press: the popular art and illustration of George Benjamin Luks, by Robert L. Gambone
Jackson, University of Mississippi Press, 2009, 240 pp, US$50.00, ISBN 9781604732221
Paul Gravett
Pages 222 – 223
Teaching graphic novels: practical strategies for the secondary ELA classroom, by Kate Monnin
Gainesville, FL, Maupin House Publishing, Inc., 2010, xx + 236 pp., US $24.95 (paperback), ISBN 978-1-934338-4-07
Patrick R. Grzanka
Pages 223 – 225
The reader's advisory guide to graphic novels, by Francisca Goldsmith
Chicago, American Library Association, 2010, x + 124 pp., US$45 (paperback), ISBN 978-0-838910-08-5
Carrye Syma
Pages 225 – 227
Graphic novels and multimodal literacy: a reader response study, by Heidi Hammond
Köln, Germany, Lambert Academic Publishing, 2009, ix + 143 pp., US$87.00 (paperback), ISBN 978-3-838315-02-7
Carrye Syma
Pages 227 – 228
The Jewish graphic novel: critical approaches, edited by Samantha Baskind and Ranen Omer-Sherman
New Brunswick, NJ, Rutgers University Press, 2010, xxvii + 292 pp., US$28.95 (paperback), ISBN 978-0-8135-4775-6
Robert G. Weiner
Pages 229 – 231
Conference Review
The Manchester Conference on Graphic Novels and Comics
Manchester Metropolitan University, 12–14 April 2010
Martin Barker
Pages 233 – 234
Call for Papers for 'Audiences and Readership' Special Issue
Page 235
Forthcoming issues include:
June 2011 - Superheroes in Comics
Dec 2011 - Audiences and Readership
Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics 1.2 (2010)
Editorial
David Huxley; Joan Ormrod
Pages 91 – 92
Articles
Seeing double: the transforming personalities of Alan Moore's Promethea and the Ulster Cycle's Cuchulain
Hannah Means-Shannon
Pages 93 – 104
Producing comics culture: a sociological approach to the study of comics
Casey Brienza
Pages 105 – 119
What Bunty did next: exploring some of the ways in which the British girls' comic protagonists were revisited and revised in late twentieth-century comics and graphic novels
Mel Gibson
Pages 121 – 135
Man, myth and sacrifice: graphic biographies of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara
James Scorer
Pages 137 – 150
Reconstructing Alice Cooper: ‘From the Inside’ to The Last Temptation
Julia Round
Pages 151 – 169
Comicology: comic books as culture in India
Ritu G. Khanduri
Pages 171 – 191
Inside the story: a conversation with Joe Sacco
Øyvind Vågnes
Pages 193 – 216
Book Reviews
Graphic novels and comics in libraries and archives. Essays on readers, research, history and cataloging, edited by Robert G. Weiner
Jefferson, North Carolina, McFarland and Company, 2010, 276 pp., US$45.00 (paperback), ISBN 978-0-7864-4302-4.
Mel Gibson
Pages 217 – 218
Che: a graphic biography, edited by Spain Rodriquez and edited by Paul Buhle
New York, Verso, 2008, 106 pp., US$16.95 (paperback), ISBN 978-1-844671-6-87
John T. ‘Jack’ Becker
Pages 219 – 220
¡Viva la historieta! Mexican comics, NAFTA, and the politics of globalization, by Bruce Campbell
Jackson, University of Mississippi Press, 2009, vii + 234 pp., US$55.00 (hardback), US$25.00 (paperback), ISBN 978-1-604731-2-55
Rachael Collins
Pages 220 – 222
Life on the press: the popular art and illustration of George Benjamin Luks, by Robert L. Gambone
Jackson, University of Mississippi Press, 2009, 240 pp, US$50.00, ISBN 9781604732221
Paul Gravett
Pages 222 – 223
Teaching graphic novels: practical strategies for the secondary ELA classroom, by Kate Monnin
Gainesville, FL, Maupin House Publishing, Inc., 2010, xx + 236 pp., US $24.95 (paperback), ISBN 978-1-934338-4-07
Patrick R. Grzanka
Pages 223 – 225
The reader's advisory guide to graphic novels, by Francisca Goldsmith
Chicago, American Library Association, 2010, x + 124 pp., US$45 (paperback), ISBN 978-0-838910-08-5
Carrye Syma
Pages 225 – 227
Graphic novels and multimodal literacy: a reader response study, by Heidi Hammond
Köln, Germany, Lambert Academic Publishing, 2009, ix + 143 pp., US$87.00 (paperback), ISBN 978-3-838315-02-7
Carrye Syma
Pages 227 – 228
The Jewish graphic novel: critical approaches, edited by Samantha Baskind and Ranen Omer-Sherman
New Brunswick, NJ, Rutgers University Press, 2010, xxvii + 292 pp., US$28.95 (paperback), ISBN 978-0-8135-4775-6
Robert G. Weiner
Pages 229 – 231
Conference Review
The Manchester Conference on Graphic Novels and Comics
Manchester Metropolitan University, 12–14 April 2010
Martin Barker
Pages 233 – 234
Call for Papers for 'Audiences and Readership' Special Issue
Page 235
Monday, December 27, 2010
New From Continuum
by Ben Saunders
Imprint: Continuum
Series: New Directions in Religion and Literature
Pub. date: 11 Jul 2011
ISBN: 9780826441980
192 Pages, paperback
World rights
Translation Rights Available
$21.95
A consideration of the modern Superhero comic as an expression of spiritual desire, showing what Superheroes can teach about our most essential human needs.
Description
Brash, bold, and sometimes brutal, superheroes might seem to epitomize modern pop-culture at its most melodramatic and mindless. But according to Ben Saunders, the appeal of the superhero is fundamentally metaphysical - even spiritual - in nature. In chapter-length analyses of the early comic book adventures of Superman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, and Iron-Man, Saunders explores a number of complex philosophical and theological issues, including: the problem of evil; the will-to-power; the tension between intimacy and vulnerability; and the challenge of love, in the face of mortality. He concludes that comic book fantasies of the superhuman ironically reveal more than we might care to admit about our human limitations, even as they expose the falsehood of the characteristically modern opposition between religion and science. Clearly and passionately written, this insightful and at times exhilarating book should delight all readers who believe in the redemptive capacity of the imagination, regardless of whether they consider themselves comic book fans.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements \ INTRODUCTION: The Power of Love \ 1. SUPERMAN: Truth, Justice, and All That Stuff \ 2. WONDER WOMAN: Bondage and Liberation \ 3. SPIDER-MAN: Heroic Failure and Spiritual Triumph \ 4. IRON MAN: Techno-Faith \ CODA: Modern Gods \ APPENDIX: Methods and Problems in Superhero Studies \ Notes \ Index
Author(s)
Ben Saunders is Associate Professor of English at the University of Oregon. He is author of Desiring Donne: Poetry, Sexuality, Interpretation (Harvard University Press, 2006) and co-editor, with Roger Beebe and Denise Fulbrook, of Rock Over the Edge: Essays in Popular Music Culture (Duke University Press, 2002).
edited by Toni Johnson-Woods
Imprint: Continuum
Pub. date: 15 Apr 2010
ISBN: 9780826429384
368 Pages, paperback
World rights
Translation Rights Available
$27.95A collection of essays by an international cast of scholars, experts, and fans, providing a definitive, one-stop Manga resource.
Description
Once upon a time, one had to read Japanese in order to enjoy manga. Today manga has become a global phenomenon, attracting audiences in North America, Europe, Africa, and Australia. The style has become so popular, in fact, that in the US and UK publishers are appropriating the manga style in a variety of print material, resulting in the birth of harlequin mangas which combine popular romance fiction titles with manga aesthetics. Comic publishers such as Dark Horse and DC Comics are translating Japanese “classics”, like Akira, into English. And of course it wasn’t long before Shakespeare received the manga treatment. So what is manga?
Manga roughly translates as “whimsical pictures” and its long history can be traced all the way back to picture books of eighteenth century Japan. Today, it comes in two basic forms: anthology magazines (such as Shukan Shonen Jampu) that contain several serials and manga ‘books’ (tankobon) that collect long-running serials from the anthologies and reprint them in one volume. The anthologies contain several serials, generally appear weekly and are so thick, up to 800 pages, that they are colloquially known as phone books. Sold at newspaper stands and in convenience stores, they often attract crowds of people who gather to read their favorite magazine.
Containing sections addressing the manga industry on an international scale, the different genres, formats and artists, as well the fans themselves, Manga: An Anthology of Global and Cultural Perspectives is an important collection of essays by an international cast of scholars, experts, and fans, and provides a one-stop resource for all those who want to learn more about manga, as well as for anybody teaching a course on the subject.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Section One: The Industry
The History of Manga - Jean-Marie Bouissou
Manga in Asia - John A. Lent
Manga in Europe - Paul M. Malone
Understanding Manga Merchandising: An Australian Case
Study - Jason Bainbridge and Craig Norris
Shakespeare as Manga - Emma Hayley
Globalizing from Japan to Hong Kong and Beyond -
Wendy Siuyi Wong
Manga and the Critics - Toni Johnson-Woods
Section Two: The Genres & Formats & Artists
Overview of Manga Genres - Mio Bryce and Jason Davis
Ryori Manga - Lorie Brau
Shojo Manga at Home and Abroad - Jennifer Prough
Beautiful Boys in Japanese Women's Comics - Mark
McClelland
Meanings of Manga - Neil Cohn
The Aesthetics of Manga - Christopher Couch
Visual Representations and Manga - Craig Norris
A Look at Takahashi Rumiko, Watase Yu, Shinohara
Chie, Hikawa Kyoko, Itsuki Natsumi - Mio Bryce
Osamu Tezuka and Family: Early Pioneers of Manga -
Wendy Goldberg
Miuchi Suzue and Intertextuality - Rebecca Suter
Miyasaki's Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind: Manga
into Anime and Its Reception - Marc Hairston
Section Three: The Fans
Fandom in Germany, Italy and France - Bouissou, Pellitteri
and Dolle-Weinkauff
Scanlation - James Rampant
American Otaku and the Search for the Authentic Text -
Stacy Rue
Conclusion
Author(s)
Toni Johnson-Woods is President of the Pop Culture Association of Australia (PopCANNZ) and Senior Lecturer in the English, Media Studies and Art History School at the University of Queensland.
Thor: Myth to Marvel
by Martin Arnold
Imprint: Continuum
Pub. date: 21 Jul 2011
ISBN: 9781441135421
256 Pages, paperback
World rights
Translation Rights Available
$29.95
An exploration of how the legend of Thor has been adopted, adapted and transformed through history.
Description
The myths of the Norse god Thor were preserved in the Icelandic Eddas, set down in the early Middle Ages. The bane of giants and trolls, Thor was worshipped as the last line of defence against all that threatened early Nordic society.
Thor’s significance persisted long after the Christian conversion and, in the mid-eighteenth century, Thor resumed a symbolic prominence among northern countries. Admired and adopted in Scandinavia and Germany, he became central to the rhetoric of national romanticism and to more belligerent assertions of nationalism.
Resurrected in the latter part of the twentieth century in Marvel Magazine, Thor was further transformed into an articulation both of an anxious male sexuality and of a parallel nervousness regarding American foreign policy.
Martin Arnold explores the extraordinary regard in which Thor has been held since medieval times and considers why and how his myth has been adopted, adapted and transformed.
Table of Contents
Introduction:Reverberations throughout History \ 1. The Giant Killer: Thor in Old Norse Mythology \ 2. Damnation and Resurrection: Thor from the Christian Conversion to the Enlightenment \ 3. The Romancing of Thor \ 4. Distant Thunder: Thor and the Nationalists \ 5. The God of War: Thor and the Fascists \ 6. Marvellous Thor \ Appendix \ Bibliography \ Index
Author(s)
Martin Arnold is Professor of Scandinavian Literature at Hull University. He is the author of The Vikings (Continuum, 2006).
New/Recent from McFarland
I was browsing the McFarland Publishing website last week and came upon the following:
Heroes of Film, Comics and American Culture: Essays on Real and Fictional Defenders of Home
Edited by Lisa M. DeTora
ISBN 978-0-7864-3827-3
37 photos, bibliography, index
347pp. softcover 2009
Price: $39.95
Description
These essays consider the way that heroes and the domestic spaces they defend have been represented in 20th and early 21st century popular forms, especially film, comic books and material culture. The authors work in various academic disciplines such as English, film studies, history and human geography, thus bringing a rich variety of theoretical vantage points to the reader in a single collection.
Topics covered include Tales of Suspense, Captain America, gender and popular culture during World War II, Iron Man and the military-industrial complex, Batman, Xena: Warrior Princess, The Ring, Ridley Scott, and many others.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments v
Introduction: Real Americans, Heroes, and Home Fronts
LISA DETORA 1
1. “A Labyrinth Without a Clew”: Husbands, Houses and Harpies in Richard Matheson’s The Shrinking Man and Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves
DARA DOWNEY 17
2. Beautiful Results: Whitman’s Democratic Vision and the Evolution of America in Michael Cunningham’s Specimen Days
ANDREW SCHOPP 40
3. Defending the Heartland: Technology and the Future in The Phantom Empire (1935)
CYNTHIA J. MILLER 61
4. Temporary Heroes “In the Service of Mars”: Women in Uniform, Factories, and the Kitchen during World War II
HEATHER MOLYNEAUX 77
5. Fighting for Home: Masculinity and the Constitution of the Domestic in Tales of Suspense and Captain America
JASON DITTMER 96
6. “Axe the Axis” and “Bombers Aloft”: Militaristic Play During the Second World War
LISA L. OSSIAN 117
7. To Protect and to Threaten: Gary Cooper and the Gender Politics of High Noon (1952)
STEVEN T. SHEEHAN 134
8. Hero of the Military-Industrial Complex: Reading Iron Man Through Burke’s Dramatism
RONALD C. THOMAS, JR. 152
9. Professional Killers at Home: Domesticity and the Deregulated Subject
LACHLAN MACDOWALL 167
10. The Teacher as Hero: Representations in Late Cold War Film and Culture
LEAH SADYKOV 181
11. Terrorist, Technocrat, and Feudal Lord: Batman in Comic Book and Film Adaptations
MARC EDWARD DIPAOLO 194
12. Knocked Up, Not Knocked Out: Xena: Warrior Princess, Pregnant Action Hero
MARY JO LODGE 218
13. The Naked Hero and Model Man: Costumed Identity in Comic Book Narratives
DAVID COUGHLAN 234
14. Mommy, Baby, Ghost: The Technological Chain Letter and the Nuclear Family in The Ring
CHUCK ROBINSON 253
15. Waking Up the Mythic American Neo
JAYSON BAKER 268
16. Ridley Scott’s Epics: Gender of Violence
DANIELLE GLASSMEYER 281
17. “Real Americans”: Inclusion, Difference, and Tolerance in Post 9/11 Nationalist Discourse
RANDY COTA 301
Afterword
MALIA K. DU MONT 315
For Further Reading—TEEVRAT GARG 319
About the Contributors 323
Index 329
About the Author
Lisa M. DeTora is an assistant professor and assistant director in the English department at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania.
The Rise and Reason of Comics and Graphic Literature: Critical Essays on the Form
Edited by Joyce Goggin and Dan Hassler-Forest
ISBN 978-0-7864-4294-2
20 photos, notes, bibliography, index
244pp. softcover 2010
Price: $35.00
Description
These 15 essays investigate comic books and graphic novels, beginning with the early development of these media. The essays also place the work in a cultural context, addressing theory and terminology, adaptations of comic books, the superhero genre, and comic books and graphic novels that deal with history and nonfiction. By addressing the topic from a wide range of perspectives, the book offers readers a nuanced and comprehensive picture of current scholarship in the subject area.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Joyce Goggin and Dan Hassler-Forest 1
Part One. Origin Stories: History and Development of the Genre
1. Of Gutters and Guttersnipes: Hogarth’s Legacy
Joyce Goggin 5
2. Ridiculous Rebellion: George L. Carlson and the Recovery of Jingle Jangle Comics
Daniel F. Yezbick 25
3. Suspended in Mid-Month: Serialized Storytelling in Comics
Daniel Wüllner 42
Part Two. What We Talk About When We Talk About Comics: Theory and Terminology
4 Balloonics: The Visuals of Balloons in Comics
Charles Forceville, Tony Veale, and Kurt Feyaerts 56
5. Remediation and the Sense of Time in Graphic Narratives
Kai Mikkonen 74
6. Brick by Brick: Chris Ware’s Architecture of the Page
Angela Szczepaniak 87
Part Three. Out of the Gutter: Comics and Adaptations
7. It Was the Best of Two Worlds, It Was the Worst of Two Worlds: The Adaptation of Novels in Comics and Graphic Novels
Dirk Vanderbeke 104
8. The 300 Controversy: A Case Study in the Politics of Adaptation
Dan Hassler-Forest 119
Part Four. Men in Tights: The Superhero Paradigm
9. The Last Action Hero’s Swan Song: Graphic Novelty or Never-Ending Story?
Andreas Rauscher 130
10. Extraordinary People: The Superhero Genre and Celebrity Culture in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Jonathan E. Goldman 142
11. Warren Ellis’s Planetary: The Archaeology of Superheroes
Karin Kukkonen 154
Part Five. Drawing History: Nonfiction in Comics
12. Reconsidering Comics Journalism: Information and Experience in Joe Sacco’s Palestine
Benjamin Woo 166
13. Comics, Trauma and Cultural Memory(ies) of 9/11
Christophe Dony and Caroline van Linthout 178
14. “Be vewy, vewy quiet. We’re hunting wippers”: A Barthesian Analysis of the Construction of Fact and Fiction in Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell’s From Hell
Julia Round 188
15. Graphic Black Nationalism: Visualizing Political Narratives in the Graphic Novel
James Braxton Peterson 202
About the Contributors 223
Works Cited 227
Index 237
About the Author
Joyce Goggin is an associate professor of literature, film and new media at the University of Amsterdam and Head of Studies at Amsterdam University College. Her primary research is on gambling and its representation in various media, though she has published on topics including film adaptation and Jane Austen, the tarot in literature, film serialization, The Gilmore Girls and addiction, and disaster capitalism.
Dan Hassler-Forest teaches media studies and English literature at the University of Amsterdam, where he is currently finishing his dissertation on superheroes in post-9/11 popular culture.
Edited by Lisa M. DeTora
ISBN 978-0-7864-3827-3
37 photos, bibliography, index
347pp. softcover 2009
Price: $39.95
Description
These essays consider the way that heroes and the domestic spaces they defend have been represented in 20th and early 21st century popular forms, especially film, comic books and material culture. The authors work in various academic disciplines such as English, film studies, history and human geography, thus bringing a rich variety of theoretical vantage points to the reader in a single collection.
Topics covered include Tales of Suspense, Captain America, gender and popular culture during World War II, Iron Man and the military-industrial complex, Batman, Xena: Warrior Princess, The Ring, Ridley Scott, and many others.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments v
Introduction: Real Americans, Heroes, and Home Fronts
LISA DETORA 1
1. “A Labyrinth Without a Clew”: Husbands, Houses and Harpies in Richard Matheson’s The Shrinking Man and Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves
DARA DOWNEY 17
2. Beautiful Results: Whitman’s Democratic Vision and the Evolution of America in Michael Cunningham’s Specimen Days
ANDREW SCHOPP 40
3. Defending the Heartland: Technology and the Future in The Phantom Empire (1935)
CYNTHIA J. MILLER 61
4. Temporary Heroes “In the Service of Mars”: Women in Uniform, Factories, and the Kitchen during World War II
HEATHER MOLYNEAUX 77
5. Fighting for Home: Masculinity and the Constitution of the Domestic in Tales of Suspense and Captain America
JASON DITTMER 96
6. “Axe the Axis” and “Bombers Aloft”: Militaristic Play During the Second World War
LISA L. OSSIAN 117
7. To Protect and to Threaten: Gary Cooper and the Gender Politics of High Noon (1952)
STEVEN T. SHEEHAN 134
8. Hero of the Military-Industrial Complex: Reading Iron Man Through Burke’s Dramatism
RONALD C. THOMAS, JR. 152
9. Professional Killers at Home: Domesticity and the Deregulated Subject
LACHLAN MACDOWALL 167
10. The Teacher as Hero: Representations in Late Cold War Film and Culture
LEAH SADYKOV 181
11. Terrorist, Technocrat, and Feudal Lord: Batman in Comic Book and Film Adaptations
MARC EDWARD DIPAOLO 194
12. Knocked Up, Not Knocked Out: Xena: Warrior Princess, Pregnant Action Hero
MARY JO LODGE 218
13. The Naked Hero and Model Man: Costumed Identity in Comic Book Narratives
DAVID COUGHLAN 234
14. Mommy, Baby, Ghost: The Technological Chain Letter and the Nuclear Family in The Ring
CHUCK ROBINSON 253
15. Waking Up the Mythic American Neo
JAYSON BAKER 268
16. Ridley Scott’s Epics: Gender of Violence
DANIELLE GLASSMEYER 281
17. “Real Americans”: Inclusion, Difference, and Tolerance in Post 9/11 Nationalist Discourse
RANDY COTA 301
Afterword
MALIA K. DU MONT 315
For Further Reading—TEEVRAT GARG 319
About the Contributors 323
Index 329
About the Author
Lisa M. DeTora is an assistant professor and assistant director in the English department at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania.
Edited by Joyce Goggin and Dan Hassler-Forest
ISBN 978-0-7864-4294-2
20 photos, notes, bibliography, index
244pp. softcover 2010
Price: $35.00
Description
These 15 essays investigate comic books and graphic novels, beginning with the early development of these media. The essays also place the work in a cultural context, addressing theory and terminology, adaptations of comic books, the superhero genre, and comic books and graphic novels that deal with history and nonfiction. By addressing the topic from a wide range of perspectives, the book offers readers a nuanced and comprehensive picture of current scholarship in the subject area.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Joyce Goggin and Dan Hassler-Forest 1
Part One. Origin Stories: History and Development of the Genre
1. Of Gutters and Guttersnipes: Hogarth’s Legacy
Joyce Goggin 5
2. Ridiculous Rebellion: George L. Carlson and the Recovery of Jingle Jangle Comics
Daniel F. Yezbick 25
3. Suspended in Mid-Month: Serialized Storytelling in Comics
Daniel Wüllner 42
Part Two. What We Talk About When We Talk About Comics: Theory and Terminology
4 Balloonics: The Visuals of Balloons in Comics
Charles Forceville, Tony Veale, and Kurt Feyaerts 56
5. Remediation and the Sense of Time in Graphic Narratives
Kai Mikkonen 74
6. Brick by Brick: Chris Ware’s Architecture of the Page
Angela Szczepaniak 87
Part Three. Out of the Gutter: Comics and Adaptations
7. It Was the Best of Two Worlds, It Was the Worst of Two Worlds: The Adaptation of Novels in Comics and Graphic Novels
Dirk Vanderbeke 104
8. The 300 Controversy: A Case Study in the Politics of Adaptation
Dan Hassler-Forest 119
Part Four. Men in Tights: The Superhero Paradigm
9. The Last Action Hero’s Swan Song: Graphic Novelty or Never-Ending Story?
Andreas Rauscher 130
10. Extraordinary People: The Superhero Genre and Celebrity Culture in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Jonathan E. Goldman 142
11. Warren Ellis’s Planetary: The Archaeology of Superheroes
Karin Kukkonen 154
Part Five. Drawing History: Nonfiction in Comics
12. Reconsidering Comics Journalism: Information and Experience in Joe Sacco’s Palestine
Benjamin Woo 166
13. Comics, Trauma and Cultural Memory(ies) of 9/11
Christophe Dony and Caroline van Linthout 178
14. “Be vewy, vewy quiet. We’re hunting wippers”: A Barthesian Analysis of the Construction of Fact and Fiction in Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell’s From Hell
Julia Round 188
15. Graphic Black Nationalism: Visualizing Political Narratives in the Graphic Novel
James Braxton Peterson 202
About the Contributors 223
Works Cited 227
Index 237
About the Author
Joyce Goggin is an associate professor of literature, film and new media at the University of Amsterdam and Head of Studies at Amsterdam University College. Her primary research is on gambling and its representation in various media, though she has published on topics including film adaptation and Jane Austen, the tarot in literature, film serialization, The Gilmore Girls and addiction, and disaster capitalism.
Dan Hassler-Forest teaches media studies and English literature at the University of Amsterdam, where he is currently finishing his dissertation on superheroes in post-9/11 popular culture.
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