Saving the Day: Accessing Comics in the Twenty-first Century

Originating in 2010, Saving the Day: Accessing Comics in the Twenty-first Century is designed as a aid to furthering studies of the comics, comic art, and translations of comics into/from other media. The blog is associated with both The Arthur of the Comics Project, an effort of the Alliance for the Promotion of Research on the Matter of Britain, and The Medieval Comics Project, an effort of the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Riddle Me This, Batman!

On my wish list:

Riddle Me This, Batman! : Essays on the Universe of the Dark Knight

Edited by Kevin K. Durand and Mary K. Leigh
Published by McFarland

Print ISBN: 978-0-7864-4629-2
Ebook ISBN: 978-0-7864-8731-8
notes, bibliographies, index
228pp. softcover (6 x 9) 2011
Price $40.00

About the Book
From his first comic-book appearance in 1939 through his many incarnations on the big screen, the archetypal superhero known as The Batman has never been far from the American consciousness. The character shaped the way we read comics and graphic novels, view motion pictures, and analyze the motifs of the Hero, the Anti-Hero and the Villain. He has also captured the scholarly imagination, telling us much about our society and ourselves. These essays examine how Batman is both the canvas on which our cultural identity is painted, and the Eternal Other that informs our own journeys of understanding. Questions relating to a wide range of disciplines—philosophy, literature, psychology, pop culture, and more—are thoroughly and entertainingly explored, in a manner that will appeal both to scholars and to fans of the Caped Crusader alike.

About the Editors
Kevin K. Durand is the dean of academics at the LISA Academy College Preparatory School in Little Rock, Arkansas. He has published broadly in philosophy, religion, and ethics. Mary K. Leigh is a doctoral academy fellow at the University of Arkansas.

Table of Contents

Preface
MARY K. LEIGH 1
Introduction: What Has Adorno to Do with Gotham?
KEVIN K. DURAND 3

Part One: The Ethics and Anarchy of Batman
1. Virtue in Gotham: Aristotle’s Batman
MARY K. LEIGH 17
2. The Dark Knight Errant: Power and Authority in Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
CHRISTOPHER BUNDRICK 24
3. Why Adam West Matters: Camp and Classical Virtue
KEVIN K. DURAND 41
4. Dark Knight, White Knight, and the King of Anarchy
STEPHANIE CARMICHAEL 54
5. Introducing a Little Anarchy: The Dark Knight and Power Structures on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
SUDIPTO SANYAL 70

Part Two: Batman and Literary Theory
6. Batman’s Canon: Hybridity and the Interpretation of the Superhero
KEVIN K. DURAND 81
7. Seminar on the Purloined Batarang: Batman and Lacan
MITCH FRYE 93
8. Queer Matters in The Dark Knight Returns: Why We Insist on a Sexual Identity for Batman
JENEE WILDE 104
9. The Hero We Read: The Dark Knight, Popular Allegoresis, and Blockbuster Ideology
ANDREA COMISKEY 124
10. Rolling the Boulder in Gotham
RANDY DUNCAN 147
11. Figuration of the Superheroic Revolutionary: The Dark Knight of Negation
D. T. KOFOED 156

Part Three: Batman and Beyond
12. "One May Smile, and Smile, and Be a Villain": Grim Humor and the Warrior Ethos
MELANIE WILSON 169
13. "And Doesn’t All the World Love a Clown?": Finding the Joker and the Representation of His Evil
MICHAEL SMITH 187
14. Call It (Friendo): Flipism and Folklore in No Country for Old Men and The Dark Knight
MATTHEW FOTIS 201

About the Contributors 219
Index 221

CFP Dick Grayson Collection (8/31/14)

This sounds like a really cool idea:

75 Years of Dick Grayson (Robin, Nightwing, Batman) - 31 August 2014

full name / name of organization:
Kristen Geaman - University of Toledo
contact email:
kgeaman@gmail.com
Book Project

To date, there has not been a single scholarly book published on Dick Grayson, the original Robin who grew up to become the hero Nightwing and serve as Batman. In conjunction with Grayson’s 75th anniversary in 2015, this book seeks to examine any and all aspects of Grayson as an influential comic book character and cultural icon.

We welcome contributions from all scholarly fields, including history, literature, psychology, philosophy, art, art history, cultural studies, media studies, and more.

Given that this project is the first of its kind, the range of topics is extremely broad. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

-Dick's influence on the development of comic book conventions (especially as the original kid sidekick)

-Dick in comic-book art

-Dick's role as leader

-Dick's relationships with other heroes (Bats, Titans, JLA, etc)
*We are especially looking for an article about Dick and his relationship with Barbara Gordon

-Dick in the New 52

-Dick and his fans (who they are, why he might have more female fans than Batman, etc)

-Dick and representation (especially the ret-con that gave him Romani heritage)

-Dick in fanart, fanfiction, and/or cosplay

-Dick in non-print media

-Dick and his villains

-cosplay

-looking at Dick through any number of theoretical lens: gender theory, queer theory, etc.

-Dick and philosophy, psychology, etc

Please contact Kristen Geaman (kgeaman@gmail.com) for more information. Currently, we hope to have first drafts written by the end of August 2014. That will give us time to circulate them among the participants before we write final drafts.

By web submission at 04/18/2014 - 16:20

Sunday, November 17, 2013

CFP Panels of Research Society for American Periodicals

A head's up courtesy the American Literature Association (pdf at http://www.calstatela.edu/academic/english/ala2/2014%20RSAP%20CFP.pdf):

NOTE SEPARATE DEADLINES FOR EACH CALL

American Literature Association
May 22-25, 2014
Washington, D.C.
Research Society for American Periodicals
Call for Papers

RSAP seeks proposals for the American Literature Association’s 25th Annual Conference, 22-25 May 2014 at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill, in Washington, D.C.

Proposals are requested for the following:

1. War and/in American Periodicals after 1914

As spaces of dialogue and dissent, American periodicals have played a formative role in the negotiation of war’s meaning in American culture. This panel seeks 15-20–minute papers that might address any aspect of this topic, including but not limited to: seriality and war; soldier newspapers; trench journalism; periodicals and the home front; fictional representations of war in periodicals; periodicals as spaces for dialogue and dissent about war; anti-war publications; responses to war in black periodicals; war in visual culture; the imagined communities of wartime America; literary style and war correspondence; etc. Please email 300-word abstract and C.V. to Amanda Gailey at gailey@unl.edu by December 15, 2013; please put “RSAP panel submission” in the subject line.

2. “Graphic Humor in American Periodicals”

Abstracts (300 words max.) are encouraged on subjects addressing “graphic humor” in American periodicals. Subjects could range from cartoon strips to political cartoons to illustrations, and may include
alternative interpretations of the term “graphic.” Papers should focus on the periodical context of the subject, as well as broader concerns of interpreting humor. This panel is co-sponsored by the American Humor Studies Association and the Research Society for American Periodicals. Please e-mail abstracts no later than January 10, 2014 to Tracy Wuster (wustert@gmail.com) with the subject line: “AHSA/RSAP session, 2014 ALA.” Notifications will go out no later than January 20, 2014.

Friday, November 15, 2013

IJoCa Spring 2013 Contents

As promised a while ago, here are the contents for the Spring number of IJoCA:

Vol. 15, No. 1, 2013

504 pages / 24 Articles

John A. Lent	1	Editor’s Note
Mark McKinney	2	Les mésaventures de M. Bêton by Léonce Petit: Reflexivity and Satire in an Early French Comic Book Inspired by Rodolphe Töpffer
Lara Saguisag	35	The “Secret Tracts” of the Child’s Mind: Theorizing Childhood in Early 20th Century Fantasy Strips
Héctor Fernández L’Hoeste	68	Súper Cholita and Bolivian Comics: In Search of Cultural and Political Hegemony
Ryan Prout	84	Mapping Neuro-diverse Alterity in “Social and Sensitive” Comics from Spain
Iwan Gunawan	100	Multiculturalism in Indonesian Comics
Uri Fink	127	Comics in Israel -- A Brief History
Amy Bright	146	Evaluating Text and Image Ratios in Contemporary Young Adult Literature
Muliyadi Mahamood	163	Pioneers in Comic Art Scholarship Cartoon and Comics Scholarship in Malaysia: A Personal Experience
Scott Hales	197	“Operation Replica?!!”: Captain America in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
Tsugumi Okabe	230	From Sherlock Holmes to “Heisei” Holmes: Counter Orientalism and Post Modern Parody in Gosho Aoyama’s Detective Conan Manga Series
Michael Rhode	251	Ann Telnaes at the 2011 Small Press Expo
Jakob F. Dittmar	270	Comics and History: Myth-making in Nazi references
Keegan Lannon	287	Visualizing Words: The Function of Words in Comics
Muhamad Azhar Abdullah	306	The Development of Malaysia Comic Art
Richard Scully	323	The Lion and the Unicorn -- William Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli through William Empson’s Looking-Glass
Anita K. McDaniel	338	Obama-man: The Fanboy Ideograph for “Hope and Change”
Sebastian Weinert	354	Funny Education? Cartoons and Illustrated Stories as Media of Health Instruction in Weimar Germany
Jeremy Stoll	363	A Creator’s History of the Comics Medium in India
Sylvain Rheault	383	Japanese Culture in Franco-Belgian Bande Dessinée
Jon LaCure	395	CLAMP, the Magic Knights, and Art Nouveau
Jade Hidle	408	Remembering in Red and Yellow: History, Memory, and Second-Generation Vietnamese American Identity in GB Tran’s VIETNAMERICA
Anna Wiederhold	419	The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation: Making Meaning in the (Gutter) Spaces between Word, Image, and Ideology
Fauzi Naeim bin Mohamed	435	The Aesthetics of Oppression in Joe Sacco’s Footnotes in Gaza
Eric A. Holmes	450	The Horror and Humor of Entertaining Comics
John Baird	456	Evaluating Math Concept Learning Using Comics
John A. Lent	469	The Printed Word
Dale E. Seeds, John A. Lent	472	Book Reviews
Edited by Michael Rhode, David Robertson, Michael Rhode	480	Exhibition and Media Reviews
	489	Portfolio

IJoCA Fall 2013

The Fall 2013 number of IJoCa is now available. Volume 15, Number 2 of the journal features nearly 800 pages of essays and reviews. Contents will be posted here as/if they become available.

CFP Spec Issue on Comics, Multimodality, and Composition (8/1/14)

Thanks to IAFA for the head's up:

CFP for Special Issue of Composition Studies

Posted on September 29, 2013 by Public Information Officer

Theme: Comics, Multimodality, and Composition
For 43.1 (Spring 2015)
Guest Editor: Dale Jacobs, University of Windsor

DESCRIPTION
Over the past ten years, composition has increasingly embraced writing and reading in multiple modes (words, but also images, sounds, video, spatial relationships, gestures, and other sign systems). In this movement towards multimodality, comics have been largely ignored. Comics, however, provide rich ground for exploration in relation to multimodality and composition. This special issue begins with the idea that comics are a valuable space of practice for multimodal literacies, both inside and outside the classroom.
Like other multimodal texts, comics form a multifaceted environment in which meaning is negotiated between creators and readers. Comics add another dimension to multimodality, which has often focused on digital texts, and can be used to link traditional alphabetic literacies with newer digital ones. Furthermore, as Michael Bitz argues in When Commas Meet Kryptonite: Classroom Lessons from the Comic Book Project, “In the context of new media and literacies, comics are a rare bridge between the canon of reading skills that children are expected to master in school and the literacies that they embrace on their own and out of school” (11). Not only are comics important multimodal texts in their own right, but they can also function as an important bridge to other literacies both inside and outside the classroom.

This special issue of Composition Studies will explore how comics can be productively used in writing theory and practice. Articles, sequential narratives, short reflective essays, and Course Designs are all welcome, as are pieces on comics aimed at the “Composing With” section of the journal.

Possible topics include (but are not limited to):

Comics as a way to connect reading and composing multimodal texts
Comics literacies and digital literacies.
Comics in relation to the NCTE Position Statement on Multimodal Literacies,
the WPA Outcomes Statement, and/or the Framework for Success in
Postsecondary Writing.
Comics and/as collaboration.
Comics, rhetoric, and the teaching of writing.
Comics theory and the teaching of writing.
Comics as a way to examine how students conceive and experience literacies
outside of school and possible connections to school literacies.
Specific ways to use comics in the composition classroom.
Examinations of how Comics Studies can inform Composition Studies and vice versa

TIMELINE
Full-length submissions due August 1, 2014
Submission determinations sent by November 1, 2014
Revised manuscripts due February 13, 2015

CONTACTS
Direct queries about the special issue and full-length manuscripts in .doc
or .docx formats to Dale Jacobs at djacobs@uwindsor.ca.

Direct general questions about Composition Studies to compstudies@uc.edu.
Visit our website for more information:
http://www.uc.edu/journals/composition-studies.html.
——————————
Laura Micciche
Associate Professor of English
University of Cincinnati
Cincinnati, OH 45221
513.556/6519
laura.micciche@uc.edu

CFP Panel on Marvel Cinematic Universe (12/1/13)

Here's an older CFP, and I'm not sure why I never posted it before:

An Examination of the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Location:	Florida, United States
Call for Papers Date:	2013-12-01 (in 16 days)
Date Submitted:	2013-05-30
Announcement ID:	204172

Since its Silver Age rebirth, Marvel Comics has been a focal point of comic book fandom. Often casted as the upstart company in comparison to DC Comics, Marvel’s cultural weight and economic success has been tied to 1960s political protest and social anxiety. For more than 50 years Marvel’s emphasis on “real word concerns’ in its stories has generated fan engagement and popular appeal. In the new millennium the establishment of its own movie studio has allowed the “House of Ideas” to have a wider cultural impact in the United States and around the world. While scholars have examined Marvel characters in print, less consideration has been given to the implication of live action adaptions from Marvel’s cinematic universe.

I seeking scholars for panel for the forthcoming 54th Annula Florida Conference of Historian meeting in St. Augustine, Florida (Jan 31st-Feb 1st, 2014). This panel will examine the ways the Marvel Cinematic Universe represents, constructs, and distorts American culture. Papers that examine specific characters, themes, or films are welcome.

Paper title and abstract/proposal (200-300 words)
1. Brief vita or biography (one page max)
2. Complete personal information: name, department, academic affiliation, mailing address, and e-mail address. Abstracts should be sent to Julian C. Chambliss: jchambliss@rollins.edu

Deadline for submission is December 1, 2013

Julian C. Chambliss
Rollins College

Email: jchambliss@rollins.edu

CFP Comics Area SWPACA (11/15/13)

Again, sorry for the late post:

CFP-Graphic Novels and Comics SWPCA 2014

Location:	New Mexico, United States
Call for Papers Date:	2013-11-15
Date Submitted:	2013-09-17
Announcement ID:	206713

Call for Papers and Presentations: Graphic Novels, Comics and Popular Culture-
SWPACA 2014
Southwest/American Popular Culture and American Culture Association http://southwestpca.org/

Make plans to join the Southwest PCA/ACA for our 35th annual conference, February 19-22, 2014, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel and Conference Center in beautiful Albuquerque, New Mexico
Hyatt Regency Albuquerque
330 Tijeras NW
Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA 87102
Tel: +1 505 842 1234 or 888-421-1442

The conference theme this year is: Popular and American Culture Studies: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow
The area chair seeks papers/presentations on Graphic Novels and Comics and Popular Culture due on November 1st, 2013.
Any aspect of Comics and Graphic Novels in Popular Culture will be considered, but particular attention will be paid to those presentations that discuss distinctive American aspects of comics and graphic novels in the context of history and the content. Answering such questions as: Why is the superhero as we know it today a uniquely American creation? Why is the birth of the comics industry tied to the Jewish American experience? Does the Americanism of comics and graphic novels have anything to say to the world today or do other styles such as manga, Bande dessinée, or fumetto have more of an impact today?

Possible panel/discussion topics:

Comics podcasts. With so much comics-related news on websites, another form that has taken off in recent years includes the podcast/radio show. How well do these podcasts relate comic/graphic novels news? We have podcasts on the Golden Age of comics, superhero comics, and most recently The Comics Alternative, which goes beyond superheroes to discuss the independents. What impact do podcasts like this have?
The concept of the super-villain! There is much scholarly literature on the superhero but not nearly as much on the super-villain. Yet a superhero is usually only as good or interesting as the super-villain counterpart. Stan Lee said that coming up with interesting super-villains is often difficult. Why? How have super-villains in comics changed over the years? What makes a supervillain like the Joker or Magneto so compelling? We would welcome full panels on supervillains.\
There has been a recent rise in superhero movies, with four in the summer of 2011 and three in the summer of 2012, three in the summer of 2013 and one in the fall of 2013. What is the future of the superhero-based movie? Will the superhero movie continue to be popular? Are people tired of the superhero movie? Has the superhero film run its course?
Pedagogical approaches to teaching graphic novel content. This has become an increasingly important part of comic studies, and the area chair seeks those scholars who would like to present on this topic.

CFP Comics Arts Conference WonderCon 2014 (12/15/13)

Comics Arts Conference WonderCon 2014

Location:	California, United States
Conference Date:	2014-12-15
Date Submitted:	2013-10-28
Announcement ID:	208030

100 to 200 word abstracts for papers, presentations, and panels taking a critical or historical perspective on comics (juxtaposed images in sequence) are being accepted for the Comics Arts Conference, a meeting of scholars and professionals at WonderCon 2014 in Anaheim. WonderCon is an annual popular culture convention organized by Comic-Con International. The CAC seeks proposals from a broad range of disciplinary and theoretical perspectives and welcome the participation of academic and independent scholars. The CAC is designed to bring together comics scholars, professionals, critics, and historians to engage in discussion of the comics medium in a forum that included the public. Please submit all proposals to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BZ8XV9N by December 15, 2013. For more information, please contact Dr. Kathleen McClancy at comicsartsconference@gmail.com.

Dr. Kathleen McClancy
Primary Organizer and Co-Chair
Comics Arts Conference
Email: comicsartsconference@gmail.com
Visit the website at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BZ8XV9N

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Hickman's Avengers

A quick post:

As part of the Marvel NOW! relaunching of the Avengers franchise, Jonathan Hickman offers an engaging rebirth of the Avengers team in the new Avengers title, and he comments in depth on his vision in a December 2012 interview on Newsarama at http://www.newsarama.com/10587-jonathan-hickman-brings-the-world-to-marvel-now-avengers.html.

So far. the series has been collected into two hardcover editions: Avenger's World and The Last White Event. The story thus far is reminiscent of aspects of Warren Ellis's oeuvre and offers, in part, an incorporation of Marvel's New Universe (last revived by Ellis) within the Marvel NOW! Marvel Universe. The collected editions include numbers 1 through 11 of the series and are an entertaining read, for the most part; however, the series falters a bit towards the end of volume 2 and grinds to a halt with the (apparently) unrelated and very mundane story in issue 11. Based on the ending, I'm not sure I'll pick up volume 3.

Monday, September 9, 2013

CFP Illustrated Gothic (12/31/13)

Just posted the following to the Popular Preternaturaliana blog:

Special Issue of Studies in Gothic Fiction: The Illustrated Gothic: Comics, Graphic Novels and Popular Culture

Complete details at http://popularpreternaturaliana.blogspot.com/2013/09/cfp-illustrated-gothic-spec-issue-123013.html.

Michael Torregrossa

CFP Tintin Conference (10/31/13)

The Adventures of Tintin (symposium)

full name / name of organization:

University College London

contact email:

tintinat85@outlook.com

Abstracts are now being accepted for a symposium on “The Adventures of Tintin” at University College London on 10 January 2014 in celebration of Tintin’s 85th birthday. Proposed essay topics should creatively engage with the critical, philosophical, cultural, or social issues explored in the Tintin universe. All presentations will be considered for publication in a book of proceedings.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
Tintin and Hergé
Tintin and comic book history
Tintin and detective fiction
Tintin and the adventure story
Tintin in translation
Censorship of Tintin
Tintin’s spinoffs
Tintin in adaptations
Tintin in films
Tintin fan culture
Tintin and geography
Tintin and travel
Tintin as cultural phenomenon
Travel and colonialism
Treatment of race in Tintin
Snowy as sidekick
Animal welfare
EcoTintin
Tintin and gender
Tintin and masculinity; homosocial relations
Tintin in criticism

Submission Guidelines:

1. Submission deadline for abstracts (400 words) and a short biography (150 words) for your 20-minute presentation: 31 October 2013.

2. Please do not send documents as attachments.

Kindly submit abstracts to the organizers at tintinat85@outlook.com.

CFP Comics at PCA (11/1/13)

Here's the annual CFP for PCA/ACA:

Comics and Comic Art

All Proposals and Abstracts Must Be Submitted Through The PCA Database.

Please submit a proposal to only one area at a time. Exceptions and rules

CALL FOR PAPERS

Comics: Strips, Books, Graphic Novels and Everything in Between

The Comics and Comic Art Area of the Popular Culture Association invites all comics scholars to participate in the annual meeting of the Popular Culture Association and American Culture Association. Details of the conference can be found at the conference website.

The Comics and Comic Art Area of the Popular Culture Association offers a venue for scholars from across the country to share their research and exchange ideas on the growing field of comics scholarship. Papers on all aspects of the medium are invited.

Past papers have covered mainstream, underground, and international comics; cartoons, comic strips, comic books, and graphic novels; comics in connection with film, television, and video games; writers, artists, and publishers; teaching comics at various levels; and writing and publishing comics scholarship.

This call asks for individual paper proposals or submissions for entire panels. If you are submitting a panel, please make sure to note the members of your panel. In addition to general papers, if a presenter would like to propose a special panel or roundtable discussion, please e-mail the chair so she can forward the request to the list and the Comics and Comic Art Facebook group. (All interested scholars are welcome to join the group.)

Papers should be delivered in 15-20 minutes. The PCA limits presenters to one paper given at the conference, so if you are interested in presenting a paper in the Comics and Comic Art Area, do not submit a paper to another area.

All participants are eligible for the annual Inge Award for Comics Scholarship, awarded to the top paper presented in the Comics and Comic Art Area of the PCA. Student participants are eligible for the Lent Award for Comics Scholarship, awarded to the top paper presented by a student in the Comics and Comic Art Area of the PCA.

Scholars interested in presenting a paper at the national conference should submit a 100-200 word abstract and a short introductory bio to the PCA Database.

Please send all inquires to:
Terence Wandtke
Film and Digital Media
Judson University
twandtke@judsonu.edu

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Hensoniana Better Left Unfound?

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

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

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

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Thoughts on Man of Steel

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

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

My reaction to the casting is less of an issue; however, only a few of the actors stood out in my mind. Amy Adams is an intriguing choice for Lois Lane, though the overweight Pete Ross and underweight Steve Lombard were disconcerting. Michael Shannon seemed to lack the gravitas of Terence Stamp's earlier Zod (though his reason for rebelling against the Science Council is truly a masterstroke of storytelling, if it is original to the film) and Antje Traue certainly lacked the sinister qualities of Ursa, Zod's associate in Superman II; likewise, Russell Crowe is no Marlon Brando, but [SPOILER ALERT] the character's haunting of the film made for an interesting touch. Moving to other father figures, Kevin Costener seemed a lackluster Jonathan Kent, but Laurence Fishbourne's portrayal of Perry White was interesting (though the earring seems a fashion faux pas). Also, I really liked Cooper Timberline, the actor playing the younger Clark Kent (see image), and felt his character's story the most appealing here.

Why not focus on his adventures as he comes to discover his place in the world? Why not show our youth a story of overcoming trials and adversity while struggling to find one's place in the world, instead of a slug fest? Of course, Smallville has already attempted some of this but not from the perspective of a prepubescent hero. This should not be an impediment to the producers, after all they're rehashing old material anyway.

Bill the Boy Wonder

I've known about this for a while but only today received a copy to peruse. It is an interesting book (as was Boys of Steel, which I need to blog about one day).

Nobleman, Marc Tyler. Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-creator of Batman. Illus. Ty Templeton. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge, 2012. N.pag. Print. 978-1-58089-289-6

Binding Information:
Hardback
Ages: 8 - and up
Price: $17.95

From the Publisher:

This is the true story of how Batman began. Every Batman story is marked with the words "Batman created by Bob Kane." But that isn't the whole truth. A struggling writer named Bill Finger was involved from the beginning. Bill helped invent Batman, from concept to costume to character. He dreamed up Batman's haunting origins and his colorful nemeses. Despite his brilliance, Bill worked in obscurity. It was only after his death that fans went to bat for Bill, calling for acknowledgment that he was co-creator of Batman. Based on original research, Bill the Boy Wonder is the first-ever book about the unsung man behind the Dark Knight.

This book is good for your brain because it provides: Biography, character and plot development, point of view

Comics Medium Links and More annotation:

Follow-up to Nobleman’s Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman, Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-creator of Batman is a picture book biography of comic book writer Bill Finger that presents him as the originator of the essentials of the Batman character (though the name was conceived first by Bob Kane, the man usually given credit for having created Batman) and his most prolific early chronicler. Concludes with an “Author’s Note,” in which Nobelman describes some of his sources (listed more fully in the “Selected Bibliography” at the end) and writing of the book (including his discovery of Finger’s only living heir) and a brief discussion of the growth of the Batman franchise. An online companion to the book, with activities and resources for educators, can be accessed at http://www.charlesbridge.com/BilltheBoyWonder, and the publisher's page for the book (at http://www.charlesbridge.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=5655) includes links to interviews with Nobleman about the project.

Update July 31st

A flurry of posts tonight regarding recent books and a film. At some point, I need to post a (large) number of film trailers and (no doubt) a large number of calls for papers, though many of these can be accessed at Gene Kannenberg Jr.'s great site Comics Research & Such at http://comicsresearch.blogspot.com/.

Michael Torregrossa,
Blog Editor

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

IJoCA Spring 2013

A quick update for the day:

Totaling just over 500 pages, the latest number (15.1) of the International Journal of Comic Art has been published. Complete contents will be provided when they become available.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

CFP Smallville: Sex, Gender, and Power (6/1/13)

Here is an update to an CFP posted back in March:

Smallville Collection of Essays: Sex, Gender, and Power
Publication Date: 2013-08-13
Date Submitted: 2013-05-11
Announcement ID: 203708

CFP: Smallville

Articles are invited for an essay collection on Smallville. This collection will specifically focus on issues of gender, sex, and power in this retelling and expansion of the Superman universe(s).

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

The following categories suggest possibilities but are by no means exhaustive:
• Sex and Gender in Fandom and/or Reception
• The Power of Transformation and/or Adaptation
• Romance and Desire
• Monstrosity, Sex, and Gender
• Heroism and Gender
• Villainy and Gender
• Identity, Sex, and Gender
• Representations of masculinity, femininity, and power within Smallville

What to Send:

300 - 500 word abstracts (or complete articles, if available) and CVs should be submitted by June 1, 2013. If an abstract is accepted for the collection, a full draft of the essay (5000 – 8000 words) will be required by December 1, 2013.

Abstracts and final articles should be submitted to: supernaturaltelevision@gmail.com and Nadine.Farghaly@gmx.net

Margo Collins and Nadine Farghaly
supernaturaltelevision@gmail.com and Nadine.Farghaly@gmx.net
Email: supernaturaltelevision@gmail.com, nadine.farghaly@gmx.net

CFP Female Superheroes Collection (6/1/13)

Seems I'm forever catching up. I first saw this CFP in early March.

Female Superheroes Collection of Essays
Publication Date: 2013-06-01 (in 16 days)
Date Submitted: 2013-02-07
Announcement ID: 201167

From “A” like Aquagirl to “Z” like Zatana. More than 200 female superheroes have been around for the last 70 years. It all started with Fletcher Hanks's minor character Fantomah in the 1940s Fiction House’s Jungle Comics #2 and from that moment on the seal was broken. Female superhero after superhero made their appearances on paper as well as on screen. These female superheroes were simultaneously shaping and mirroring society; with the rise of second wave feminism some of these female characters changed as well. Suddenly, they could be more self-assured and more forceful; Marvel Girl transformed from an average superhero to the very powerful Phoenix. Later on, the years 2010/2011 witnessed a huge transformation in the graphic novels realms. Marvel, DC, and other publishers reinvented their superhero franchises; new alliances and relationships were formed, former friends became enemies and lovers who had been an item for decades were suddenly reassigned to other love interests. This new development in the graphic novel universes desperately calls for a close investigation.

Times have changed since the first comics became a mass medium in the 1920s. And while fans' opinions differ greatly about the advantages and disadvantages of these reboots, it must be acknowledged that this will not only be a very exciting, but also eye-opening time for laymen and scholars alike. What kind of changes will their beloved characters have to endure? How will these new superheroes be presented? Are they still going to mimic society or are they trying to push society to the next level? How should these reinterpretations be assessed? What is gained and what is lost, not only for these superheroes, but also for popular culture?

While DC started its revamp in September 2011, Marvel started his in spring 2012. This volume would focus on the reinvention of the female superheroes, and therefore, it will be the first of its kind.

This publication aims to examine these heroines in literature, art, and other media to question issues concerning sexuality, gender, identity, 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.

What to Send:

300 - 500 word abstracts (or complete articles, if available) and CVs should be submitted by June 1, 2013. If an abstract is accepted for the collection, a full draft of the essay (5000 – 8000 words) will be required by December 1, 2013.

Abstracts and final articles should be submitted to: Nadine.Farghaly@gmx.net receipt of the abstracts will be send within one week. In case you do not receive an email, please resend your proposal.

Nadine Farghaly
Nadine.Farghaly@gmx.net
Email: nadine.farghaly@gmx.net

"WITH GREAT POWER THERE MUST ALSO COME -- GREAT RESPONSIBILITY!"Stan Lee, "Spider-Man!" Amazing Fantasy No. 15 (Sept. 1962)