Comics Research & Such

CANCELLED: "Secret Origins of the Graphic Novel" at East Line Books, Clifton Park NY

2009-06-29T16:35:00.005-05:00

Due to circumstances beyond my or East Line Books' control, this event has been cancelled. We hope to re-schedule it for sometime in late July or August. As soon as we find a new date, I'll be sure to post it here.

"Secret Origins of the Graphic Novel" at East Line Books, Clifton Park NY

2009-06-22T06:30:00.004-05:00

NOTE:
Due to circumstances beyond my or East Line Books' control,
this event has been CANCELLED. See above for more information.

For those of you who might find yourself in or around New York's Capital Region next week and are looking for something to do, might I suggest this presentation? Big, big "Thank You!" to Robyn Ringler of East Line Books for the invitation!

"Secret Origins of the Graphic Novel"
A presentation by Gene Kannenberg, Jr.
~~Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 6:30pm~~
East Line Books, Clifton Park, New York

Graphic novels are everywhere, from libraries to bookstores to the New York Times Book Review, and with good reason. There's something for everyone's taste, including history, memoir, humor, politics, science fiction & fantasy, and yes, superheroes. But how did we get from Superman to Maus, from Little Lulu to Persepolis, from Crime Does Not Pay to Road to Perdition?

Gene Kannenberg, Jr. traces the path from pulp to Pulitzer in this heavily illustrated talk. With stops in the U.S. Senate in the 1950s, Berkeley in the 1960s, New York in the 1980s, and more, "Secret origins of the Graphic Novel" opens the world of drawn books to readers of all ages.

A respected comics historian, Gene Kannenberg, Jr. is the director of ComicsResearch.org and the author of 500 Essential Graphic Novels (Collins Design, 2008). He has lectured and written widely about comic art, with essays appearing in publications including The Comics Journal, Studies in American Humor, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and Hogan's Alley. He lives in Albany, New York.

East Line Books is located in Old Village Plaza, 1714 Route 9, Clifton Park, NY 12065 (one block north of Rt. 146 on Rt. 9 across from Snyder's Restaurant, between Clifton Park Pizza and Captain's Treasures). For further information, call Robyn Ringler at East Line Books: 518 371-4151.

PS: You can download a PDF of the flyer pictured above by making the clicky here.

Image credit: Abdazign.

Wizard World University-Chicago and Philadephia (Comic Book Convention Conference Series )

2009-05-17T14:11:00.004-05:00

The Institute for Comics Studies is soliciting proposals for presentations, book talks, slide talks, roundtables, professional focus discussion panels, workshops and other panels centered around comics or comics related areas of study for Wizard World University-Philadelphia and Wizard World University-Chicago, the academic tracks of Wizard World Comic Book Conventions.

Panels that include participation by comics industry professionals are especially encouraged. ICS will provide assistance with recruiting professionals for participation in WWU panels.

Wizard World University represents the Institute for Comics Studies’ mission to promote the study, understanding, and cultural legitimacy of comics and to support the discussion and dissemination of this study and understanding via public venues.

Proposals deadline: May 21st, 2009 (Chicago), or June 6th (Philadelphia).

Submit your 100-200 word abstract with the words "Wizard World University-Chicago" in the subject line to hamiwill[at]gmail.com.

Submit proposals for WWU-Philadelphia to:
http://www.hsu.edu/form.aspx?ekfrm=40054

Today is FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!

2009-05-02T08:25:00.003-05:00

Comics shops across the USA & Canada celebrate their beloved art form today by giving away comic books for free. Free, I tells ya! If you haven't visited a comic book store in a while - or ever - here's your chance to catch up on what you've been missing.

If you're not sure where your closest participating comics shop might be, the Free Comic Book Day website has a handy "FCBD Shop Locator" - enter your ZIP code and you'll get a list of shops near you. (USA shops only.)

The website also has a list of the 40 different FCBD comics you can choose from. (Note: Not all shops will have every title, and some titles will probably go fast!) Most shops will let you have one title, but several will offer multiple titles. Shop early, and shop often.

To get you started, here's a small sampler of the books on offer - twelve of the forty book in total. See you at the comics shop!

Craig Yoe Talks about Joe Shuster's Fetish Art on Yesterday's "Fresh Air"

2009-04-24T08:17:00.006-05:00

On last night's broadcast of "Fresh Air," NPR's Terry Gross interviewed my pal Craig Yoe, author of the new book Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman’s Co-Creator Joe Shuster. I got a peek at the book a few months back at the New York Comic Con, and it looks great! I can't wait to get a copy of my own. Much of this work has laid "undiscovered" for decades; Craig's done a great service by presenting and discussing this work, showing us another side of the artist who's best-known (possibly only known) to the general public for having created, with Jerry Siegel, that obscure comic book character Superman.

Listen to Terry Gross' interview with Craig Yoe here.

I've heard rumblings from a (very) few comics fans who lament the book's existence, saying that it sullies Joe Shuster's memory. I couldn't disagree more; the book adds to our knowledge of Shuster, revealing where his opportunities lay once DC Comics had no more use for his services and showing us how his art "matured" (in more than one sense) after he drew the Man of Steel. I've also heard fans say that the art in this book will "overshadow" his work on Superman. Honestly, could that really happen? Will people now remember only this work and forget his co-creation of Superman? Hardly. Or, to put it another way, it's simply inconceivable.

For more information on the book, check out ComicsResearch.org's feature page for Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman’s co-creator Joe Shuster. We also have info on some of Craig's other books, like Clean Cartoonists' Dirty Drawings and Modern Arf: Artists + Models: The Naked Truth. And no, Craig doesn't just write books with nekkid ladies in them - check out his website for a complete list. Obviously, I need to add - and OWN - the rest of his books!

Addendum: As everyone who's met him or read his book-blog knows, Craig Yoe is one of those shy, retiring types, never one to toot his own horn without painful prodding. I'm not sure who was holding a gun to his head, but somehow he was convinced to create an image promoting his radio appearance:
Very clever, Craig! But I know your secret. You stole - er, appropriated - that face from the original version of your new book's cover.Image credits: Top - cover to Secret Identity, probably Copyright © 2009 Abrams ComicArts. Middle: Copyright © 2009 Craig Yoe. Bottom: A "yoe-toe-shopped" mash-up of the two by moi.

University Press of Mississippi: Website Super Sale (ends July 15, 2009)

2009-04-22T07:59:00.003-05:00

University Press of Mississippi, which has published more books about comics than any other academic publisher in the USA, currently is running a large sale for web-only purchases. Not every title is on sale, but a goodly number are, at 20% to 85% Off. The sale ends July 15th.

Luckily for comics scholars, UP Miss provides a breakdown of sale titles by subject. So click here for their list of discounted books on comic art.

Also: Check out UP Miss's blog. (But no tags?!? I will speak to them about this. srsly.)

CFP: El Paso in the Comics II: The Southwest in the Comics (grad. conference: Aug. 20; Feb. 23, 2010)

2009-04-21T10:10:00.006-05:00

Posted on behalf of James Bucky Carter, University of Texas at El Paso.

El Paso in the Comics II:
The Southwest in the Comics

Graduate students in all fields of study are invited to submit 200-word abstracts to the second-annual El Paso in the Comics conference and event, to be held on the campus of the University of Texas at El Paso, February 23, 2010.Papers on all aspects of comics scholarship, theory, and pedagogy will be given attention, but those that deal with issues related to artists, creators, characters and/or themes associated with the American Southwest and/or Hispanic/Chicano culture in comics will be given top priority.

Abstracts should include name, e-mail, affiliation (university and program), proposed paper title and 200-word description. Presentations should run no more than 20 minutes.

Send abstract to:

Dr. James B. Carter
Re: El Paso in the Comics Conference
113 Hudspeth Hall
UTEP English Department
500 W. University Ave.
El Paso, TX 79912

Or electronically to: Jbcarter2[@]utep.edu.

The deadline for abstracts is August 20, 2009.

The academic portion of the event will take place in the morning. A creators' roundtable will follow in the mid-afternoon, featuring the many local studios and creators of the El Paso/Juarez region discussing their work with members of the community. The evening will wrap up with a keynote speech by celebrated comics artist and writer Jaime Hernandez of Love and Rockets fame.

CFP: Jewish Comics [journal issue; October 2, 2009]

2009-04-15T13:32:00.005-05:00

[Synchronicity Dep't: I'm currently reading Danny Fingeroth's Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics, and the Creation of the Superhero.]

JEWISH COMICS:
SPECIAL ISSUE OF THE JOURNAL SHOFAR

The scholarship surrounding comics and “graphic novels” has proliferated over the past several years, as has studies focusing on particular comics themes or visual texts created by certain ethnic communities. Indeed, over the past three years alone there have been at least six critical studies investigating the links between comics and Jewishness. Given this emergent field of inquiry, Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies will devote a special issue to Jewish comics (slotted for Summer 2010). The scope of this volume will take in the theoretical, literary, and historical contexts of graphic narrative and its links to Jewish identity and discourse. Possible topics could include, but are certainly not limited to:

The ways in which comics have articulated the American Jewish experience
Comics and the Holocaust, as expressed in such narratives as Maus, Auschwitz, I Was a Child of the Holocaust, We Are on Our Own, Mendel’s Daughter: A Memoir, and Yossel: April 19, 1943
The contributions of Jews in the history of comic strips and comic books
Images of Israel in the works of Joe Sacco, Rutu Modan, Ari Folman, Miriam Libicki, and the Dimona Comix Group
Jewish identity through superheroes and villains, from Superman to The Spirit to Shaloman
The form of the contemporary “graphic novel” by Jewish writers/artists such as Kim Deitch, Joann Sfar, Miss Lasko-Gross, Ben Katchor, and Aline Kominisky-Crumb
Graphic adaptations of Jewish texts and legends
Immigration and ethnic urban landscapes in the works of comics artists such as Will Eisner and Ben Katchor
Comics, the Diaspora, and Jewish internationalism
Jewish identity and world conflict, from the world wars to 9/11
Jewish autobiographic comics (e.g., Harvey Pekar’s American Splendor and Will Eisner’s autobiographic fiction) as well as graphic biographies of such figures as Franz Kafka, Emma Goldman, Houdini, and Anne Frank
Representations of the Jewish gangster in comics
The uses of the golem and its relation to the superhero

All essay submissions should be between 5,000 and 8,000 words, including notes. Contributors should format submissions based on the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, and use footnotes. Authors will be responsible for securing copyright permission for all images used. Address all inquiries, and submit all completed manuscripts, to the guest editor, Derek Parker Royal at Derek_Royal[at]tamu-commerce.edu. Please include the words “Jewish Comics” in the subject heading.

Deadline for final manuscript submission is October 2, 2009.

Shofar is published for the Midwest Jewish Studies Association, the Western Jewish Studies Association, and the Jewish Studies Program of Purdue University by the Purdue University Press. For more information on the journal, please visit http://www.cla.purdue.edu/jewish-studies/shofar/.

Update 04/21/2009: You also can download a pdf of this call for papers.

Conference: Academic Perspectives on Comics, Manga & Graphic Novels - Sweden, April 16-18:

2009-03-30T14:00:00.003-05:00

Academic Perspectives on Comics, Manga & Graphic Novels
as Intercultural & Intermedial Phenomena
The Forum for Intermedial Studies
Växjö University, Sweden
April 16-18 2009

Check the conference website for lots of information, including abstracts as well as a PDF of the Preliminary programme. The keynote speakers will be Paul Gravett (United Kingdom), Thierry Groensteen (France), and Helena Magnusson (Sweden).

This reminder courtesy of Fredrik Strömberg, who notes that this will be "the first major academic conference on comics in Sweden."

Does anyone have a spare plane ticket to Europe they're willing to donate? :-)

Image Credit: A.K. Westin

Latest Additions and Revisions to Our Bibliography (Lots!)

2009-03-29T12:18:00.002-05:00

Long time, no update! But that doesn't mean we haven't been busy. Here are the latest new and revised ComicsResearch.org bibliography entries. As always, we've also been correcting old links and adding new ones throughout the website. If you have suggestions or would like to contribute reviews, please let us know.

New Entries:

A Comics Studies Reader. Edited by Jeet Heer and Kent Worcester. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 2008.

Clean Cartoonists' Dirty Drawings. By Craig Yoe. Last Gasp, 2007.

David Cronenberg's A History of Violence. By Bart Beaty. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008.

Erotic Comics 2: A Graphic History from the Liberated '70s to the Internet. By Tim Pilcher, with Gene Kannenberg, Jr. Introduction by Alan Moore. NY: Abrams, 2009.

From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books. By Arie Kaplan. Foreword by Harvey Pekar and JT Waldman. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 2008.

I Fumetti. By Carlo della Corte. Enciclopedia Popolare Mondadori. [Milano]: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 1961.

India's Immortal Comic Books: Gods, Kings, and Other Heroes. By Karline McLain. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2009.

Little Sammy Sneeze: The Complete Color Sunday Comics 1904-1905. By Winsor McCay; edited by Peter Maresca. Sunday Press Books, 2007.

The Rough Guide to Graphic Novels. By Danny Fingeroth. Rough Guides / Penguin, 2008.

Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography. By David Michaelis. New York: Harper, 2007.

Watchmen: Portraits. By Clay Enos. London: Titan Books, 2009.

Watchmen: The Art of the Film. By Peter Aperlo. London: Titan Books, 2009.

Watchmen: The Official Film Companion. By Peter Aperlo. London: Titan Books, 2009.

Watchmen and Philosophy: A Rorschach Test. Edited by Mark D. Wright. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2009.

Revised Entries:

500 Essential Graphic Novels: The Ultimate Guide. By Gene Kannenberg, Jr. NY: Collins Design, 2008.

Arguing Comics: Literary Masters on a Popular Medium. Edited by Jeet Heer and Kent Worcester. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 2004.

Dark Knights: The New Comics in Context. By Greg S. McCue, with Clive Bloom. London & Boulder, CO: Pluto Press, 1993.

Erotic Comics: A Graphic History from Tijuana Bibles to Zap Comix. By Tim Pilcher, with Gene Kannenberg, Jr. Introduction by Aline Kominsky Crumb. NY: Abrams, 2008.

The Essential Guide to World Comics. By Tim Pilcher and Brad Brooks. Foreword by Dave Gibbons. London: Collins & Brown, 2005.

Funny Ladies: The New Yorker's Greatest Women Cartoonists And Their Cartoons. By Liza Donnelly. Prometheus Books, 2005.

Garry Trudeau: Doonesbury and the Aesthetics of Satire. By Kerry D. Soper. University Press of Mississippi, 2008.

Illuminating Letters: Typography and Literary Interpretation. Edited by Paul Gutjahr and Megan L. Benton. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2001.

Masters of the Comic Book Universe Revealed! Will Eisner, Stan Lee, Neil Gaiman and More! By Arie Kaplan. Chicago Review Press, 2006.

Print: America's Graphic Design Magazine 42.6 (November/December 1988): "Comics: A Special Issue."

Splat Boom Pow! The Influence of Cartoons in Contemporary Art. Ed. Valerie Cassel. Houston TX: Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, 2003.

Press Release: India's Immortal Comic Books: Gods, Kings, and Other Heroes, by Karline McLain

2009-03-21T10:43:00.005-05:00

[Note: For more information on this book, see
ComicsResearch.org's information page for India's Immortal Comic Books.]

A pioneering study of Indian comic book culture.

Combining entertainment and education, India's most beloved comic book series, Amar Chitra Katha, or "Immortal Picture Stories," is also an important cultural institution that has helped define, for several generations of readers, what it means to be Hindu and Indian. Karline McLain worked in the ACK production offices and had many conversations with Anant Rai, founder and publisher, and with artists, writers, and readers about why the comics are so popular and what messages they convey. In this intriguing study, she explores the making of the comic books and the kinds of editorial and ideological choices that go into their production.

"The Rama comic book features a muscular, bare-chested, blue-tinged hero on its cover, posed with bow and arrow drawn. A beautiful, fair-skinned woman with long dark tresses watches with wonder as Rama, the hero, takes aim. ... [Although] in many ways akin to American comic book superheroes such as Superman and Captain America, Rama is not your average fictitious superhero. He is a god in human form, and the Rama comic book is a Hindu devotional story told through the comic book medium." - from the Introduction

"[O]riginal both in content and in the kinds of sources that are brought to bear on the subject ... Students of popular culture, contemporary religion, and anthropology will all learn a great deal from McLain's study." - Lisa Trivedi, Hamilton College

"I’ve never taught an introductory Hinduism class without finding that for many Hindu students, Amar Chitra Katha had taught the course long before me. It’s a formidable canon, and like every 'Bible' it’s not just inspirational but, on reflection, controversial. In this absorbing study, Karline McLain takes the comics seriously, showing us the faces behind the pages and tracing the global impact of this culturally crucial medium and text." - John Stratton Hawley, Barnard College, Columbia University

Karline McLain is Assistant Professor of Religion at Bucknell University.
India's Immortal Comic Books is published in association with the American Institute of Indian Studies.

CFP: History of Books for Children and Young Adults, Bedford UK: April 17; June 16

2009-03-17T08:24:00.006-05:00

Note the specific mention of comics and graphic novels.

The History of Books
for Children and Young Adults
University of Bedfordshire, Polhill Campus, Bedford UK
16th June 2009

The University of Bedfordshire is hosting a forthcoming one-day conference on the history of books for children and young adults to be held on the 16th June 2009 at the Polhill Campus, Bedford. The Hockliffe archive comprises works of fiction and non-fiction for children from the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These include a wide range of literary genres, from fables and fairy tales, through periodicals and instruction books, to poetry and fiction, as well as books on games and pastimes, natural science, history, mathematics, geography and travel (amongst others).

We do not, however, wish to restrict papers to work on books actually in the collection, although papers on these are of course very welcome, but instead we wish to use the conference as an occasion to celebrate the long and vibrant history of publications aimed at children and young adults, and the increasingly multi-disciplinary areas of research with which this has been associated. We therefore welcome contributions that centre on the following very broad topics and themes:

Academic approaches to children’s, young adult (YA) and crossover literature.
The history of children's book illustration, including work on picture books, comics and graphic novels.
The representation of children and childhood in fiction and non-fiction.
Multi-disciplinary work in the fields of childhood and youth studies.
The history of instruction books for children, from bible stories and hymns, through books on history, geography and travel, to natural science and mathematics.
Children's oral culture, including folklore, myths and legends.
Pedagogic theory and practice, from ABC books, to postgraduate courses on children’s literature and culture and creative writing for young and YA readers.
The history of children's play and leisure, including research on toys, games, and sports.
Multi-media childhoods, including work on the history of children's television, film and computer games.

Please note that proposed papers from postgraduate students are welcome.

The day's proceedings will end with readings by one or more contemporary children's writers (please check the conference website for updates on this).

Other related topics and themes will be considered for inclusion in the conference programme. Please submit a 250 word abstract, accompanied by contact details and a brief biography, to be received by 17th April 2009, to the following address:

The Hockliffe Conference
c/o Dr Clare Walsh
Division of Performing Arts & English
University of Bedfordshire
Polhill Avenue
Bedford
MK41 9EA
Or by email to: hockliffe [at] beds.ac.uk

Exhibit Announcement: True Stories by Phillip Marsden

2009-03-08T12:47:00.004-05:00

For an exhibit showing later this year. Posted on behalf of the Riverside Gallery.

True Stories by Phillip Marsden
Exhibition at the Riverside Gallery, Richmond UK
12 September - 28 November 2009

A retrospective look at cartoon and comic strip works from the last five years, including Clam & Elgar, Aesop's Fables, the collaborative Blackout and the occasional True Stories series, chronicling curious instances from the artist's daily life, presented here in its entirety for the first time.

More information:

Riverside Gallery's exhibition page
The Arts Service at Orleans House Gallery, Riverside, Twickenham, TW1 3DJ
PhillipMarsden.com

Image credit: Cartoon by Phillip Marsden, from exhibition page.

"So, What's the Big Deal about WATCHMEN?"

2009-03-05T22:25:00.006-05:00

Several months ago, a friend asked me about WATCHMEN. She'd read the graphic novel and liked it, but she wasn't utterly blown away like she thought she'd be, and she wanted to know what I thought about the book. I sat down to "write a quick email" in reply, and I came up for breath a little shy of 1000 words later.

I've been wanting to polish this up into a "proper" essay, replete with links and images a-plenty; but alas, I am not possessed of Doctor Manhattan's unique way with time. So I've decided to just "go wild" and post a plain vanilla, barely-polished version of that original email. Will it veer off topic? Yes. Are its ideas under-developed? Of course. Are all of its ideas original? No, but I only steal from the best. Does it just peter-out at the end? Aye. Will its unfinished state embarrass me? Heck no. Do I want to say more about all of this? You bet. And I hope to, right here, eventually. Until then, I give you, off the top of my balding, decidedly un-Moore-like head...

"So, What's the Big Deal
about WATCHMEN?"

Actually, I can understand this point of view. The hype -- the hagiographical zeal -- that surrounds Watchmen can't help but set up nigh-impossibly high expectations for new readers today. But...

Part of the situation is that when Watchmen appeared, 22-ish years ago, nothing quite like it had been done before. Since then, people have ripped it off -- er, paid it homage -- a zillion times. Plus, the type of psychological nuances that Watchmen contains are lots more common today, or at least the attempt is. So characterization-wise, it can't help but seem somewhat less amazing now than it was back in the day. Plus, lots of comics today try to envision "what effect superheroes would have on the 'real' world." Again, when Watchmen came out this sort of thing practically didn't exist.

But there are two other parts which, to me, make Watchmen still stand out.

I'm a form / process geek, and formally Watchmen kicks freakin' ass. Page design, cover design, series design, panel arrangement, transitions, narrative / thematic cross-cutting -- all this stuff is still done with more precision, care, and effect than any Watchmen -wannabes ever accomplished. Because Alan Moore is a genius when it comes to stuff like this - most of that formal stuff is in his script, although Gibbons contributes enormously. Check out the "Fearful Symmetry" chapter. Look at the first page and the last page, then the second page and the penultimate page, etc.... The layouts mirror each other, and the narrative and themes do a bit, as well, page vs. page, panel vs. panel.

It's stuff like this that you can do in comics but you can't do in any other medium in the same way.

The other biggie is that plot is so not the totality of Watchmen. In fact, I find it practically secondary to the larger experience. (I think Moore did too - viz. the admittedly derivative SF ending.) For me, it's the fact that Watchmen creates an entire world, a mythology, a history, all in 12 chapters. It gives you a narrative density that "regular" superhero comics might begin to approach after a decade or three.

It helps, of course, that most of the characters are analogues of previous heroes. On one level they're extremely thinly veiled analogues to heroes from Charlton comics; but on a deeper level, they resonate with lots of (super)hero archetypes (just as the Charlton heroes do). The Comedian is sort of Captain America and the Punisher at the same time; Nightowl is Batman-ish; Silk Spectre is like Phantom Lady or numerous other "good girl" super heroines of the 40s; Rorschach is a "dark avenger," but with the moral compass of Ayn Rand; etc.

But most important, for me, is all the extra material at the end of each chapter. There's where you learn about history and world cultural development and politics and so much else about this world: information that opens up the story so that it's not just a superhero / whodunit / mad scientist story. If you just read the comics narrative without the back-up material, you'll get a very good superhero story, excellently presented, sure. But without the extra material, I'm convinced that today we wouldn't be talking about Watchmen as much more than a "Yeah, that was a pretty interesting" book.

It's these latter qualities that make me believe that pretty much any Watchmen adaptation will fall far short of what the original is all about. I've always said that pretty much the only way I could conceive of an adaptation working would be to make it a TV miniseries, or maybe a series of DVDs. Each episode would have a regular narrative section, but then rounding out the hour (or appearing as bonus dvd features) would be things like documentaries, news programs, talk shows, etc.: TV-type things that expand the world just like the print-type things that expand the world in the book. You can try to do some of this type of stuff in one movie with flashbacks, montages, etc., but there's no way that you could get an analogous depth and the breadth of that world in even a 3-hour movie.

Of course, I can't think of a single film adaptation of a novel that manages to convey completely the richness of its source material. Or a comics adaptation of a film, or a book. Or a book of a comic. You get the idea. Anyone who expects an adaptation to "live up to" the original -- to include everything, in exactly the same way, with exactly the same weight and emphasis -- is playing a sucker's game. No adaptation into another medium can ever be 100% faithful to its source; it's physically, aesthetically, impossible. Nor is it wise. Film has its strengths and weaknesses, as does prose, as does poetry, as does theater, as does comics.

I don't expect that Watchmen the film will reduplicate the experience of reading the Watchmen the comic. From all the hype, I know that it at least will mimic the "look" of the comic as much as it possibly can. (Except for the heroes' costumes. Most of them should look dumpier -- but movie audiences wouldn't stand for that. Or maybe that should read "movie executives.") I would like to see a film that treats its source intelligently (not just reverently) and utilizes all the tools of cinema in ways as innovative as Moore & Gibbons did the tools of comics. I doubt that could happen, though, no matter the passion of the people behind and in front of the camera. If it were too avant-garde, I doubt any major studio would have allowed it through to completion, not with so much $$$$ riding on it.

But we'll see – Friday night, I expect...

Image Credit: Milhouse knows the score. Screen-grab from The Simpsons.

Deadline Extended: 2009 International Comic Arts Forum (April 3; Oct. 15-17)

2009-03-05T21:14:00.006-05:00

ICAF 2009
The 14th Annual International Comic Arts Forum
October 15-17, 2009
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago

ICAF, the International Comic Arts Forum, invites scholarly paper proposals for its fourteenth annual meeting, to be held at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, from Thursday, October 9, through Saturday, October 11, 2009.

The deadline to submit proposals HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO April 3, 2009. Proposals will be refereed via blind review.

ICAF welcomes original proposals from diverse disciplines and theoretical perspectives on any aspect of comics or cartooning, including comic strips, comic books, albums, graphic novels, manga, webcomics, political cartoons, gag cartoons, and caricature. Studies of aesthetics, production, distribution, reception, and social, ideological, and historical significance are all equally welcome, as are studies that address larger theoretical issues linked to comics or cartooning, for example in image/text studies or new media theory. In keeping with its mission, ICAF is particularly interested in studies that reflect an international perspective.

PROPOSAL GUIDELINES: For its refereed presentations, ICAF prefers argumentative, thesis-driven papers that are clearly linked to larger critical, artistic, or cultural issues; we strive to avoid presentations that are merely summative or survey-like in character. We can accept only original papers that have not been presented or accepted for publication elsewhere. Presenters should assume an audience versed in comics and the fundamentals of comics studies. Where possible, papers should be illustrated by relevant images. In all cases, presentations should be timed to finish within the strict limit of twenty (20) minutes (that is, roughly eight to nine typed, double-spaced pages). Proposals should not exceed 300 words.

AUDIOVISUAL EQUIPMENT: ICAF's preferred format for the display of images is MS PowerPoint. Regretfully, we cannot accommodate non-digital media such as transparencies, slides, or VHS tapes. Presenters should bring their PowerPoint or other electronic files on a USB key or CD, not just on the hard drive of a portable computer. We cannot guarantee the compatibility of our equipment with presenters' individual laptops.

REVIEW PROCESS: All proposals will be subject to blind review by the ICAF Executive Committee, with preference given to proposals that observe the above standards. The final number of papers accepted will depend on the needs of the conference program. Due to high interest in the conference, in recent years ICAF has typically been able to accept only one third to one half of the proposals it has received.

SEND ABSTRACTS (with complete contact information) by April 3, 2009, to Prof. Cécile Danehy, ICAF Academic Director, via email at <cdanehy [at] wheatoncollege.edu>.

Receipt of proposals will be acknowledged immediately; if you do not receive acknowledgment within three days of sending your proposal, please resubmit. Applicants should expect to receive confirmation of acceptance or rejection by April 17, 2009.

Image Credit: The ICAF logo, by Gerrit de Jager.

Applications Sought for the 2009 John A. Lent Scholarship in Comics Studies (May 1)

2009-03-05T19:43:00.004-05:00

2009 John A. Lent Scholarship
in Comics Studies

Students of comics!

ICAF, the International Comic Arts Forum (website), is proud to hold each year the John A. Lent Scholarship in Comics Studies competition. The Lent Scholarship, named for pioneering teacher and researcher Dr. John A. Lent, is offered to encourage student research into comic art. ICAF awards the Lent Scholarship to a current student who has authored, or is in the process of authoring, a substantial research-based writing project about comics. (Preference is given to master’s theses and doctoral dissertations, but all students of comics are encouraged to apply.) The Scholarship was established in 2005.

The Scholarship is subject to the condition that the recipient present a half-hour talk, based on her or his research, during ICAF. The award consists of up to US$500 in kind to offset the cost of travel to and/or accommodations at the conference. A commemorative letter and plaque are also awarded. No cash is awarded.

Applicants must be students, or must show acceptance into an academic program, at the time of application. For example, applicants for ICAF 2009 must show proof of student status for the academic year 2008-2009, or proof that they have been accepted into an academic program beginning in academic year 2009-2010.

The Scholarship competition is adjudicated by a three-person committee chosen from among the members of ICAF’s Executive Committee. Applications should consist of the following written materials, sent electronically in PDF form:

A self-contained excerpt from the project in question, not to exceed twenty (20) double-spaced pages of typescript.
A brief cover letter, introducing the applicant and explaining the nature of the project.
The applicant’s professional resume.
A brief letter of reference, on school letterhead, from a teacher or academic advisor (preferably thesis director), establishing the applicant’s student status and speaking to her/his qualifications as a researcher and presenter.

PLEASE NOTE that applications for the Lent Scholarship are handled entirely separately from ICAF’s general Call for Proposals (which can be viewed here). Students who submit abstracts to the general CFP are welcome to apply separately for the Lent Award.

Send inquiries and application materials via email to Ana Merino of the ICAF Executive Committee, at ana.merino [at] dartmouth.edu. The deadline for 2009 submissions is May 1, 2009.

Image Credit: Photo of Prof. Lent from the website of The International Journal of Comic Art, one of his myriad contributions not just to comics scholarship but to scholarship and international understanding in general.

CFP: Understanding Superheroes (June 15; Oct. 23-24)

2009-03-03T07:14:00.003-05:00

Understanding Superheroes
An Interdisciplinary Conference

The University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
October 23-24, 2009

"Understanding Superheroes" is conceived as an interdisciplinary multi-media event, held in conjunction with a simultaneous exhibition of original comic art at the University of Oregon's recently refurbished Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art.

This exhibition, "Faster Than A Speeding Bullet," will feature over 150 pages of original superhero comic art from the 1940s to the present, with examples of key works by many major creators in the industry, including Neal Adams, Mike Allred, C C Beck, Gene Colan, Steve Ditko, Will Eisner, Bill Everett, Lou Fine, Ramona Fradon, Dave Gibbons, Don Heck, Carmine Infantino, J G Jones, Gil Kane, Jack Kirby, Joe Kubert, Mort Meskin, Frank Miller, Joe Orlando, George Perez, H G Peter, Mac Raboy, John Romita Sr., Alex Ross, Marie Severin, Bill Sienkiewicz, Matt Wagner, and Berni Wrightson.

Keynote Speakers include Danny Fingeroth (author of Superheroes On The Couch and Disguised As Clark Kent) and Charles Hatfield (author of Alternative Comics: An Emerging Literature).

Guests Panelists include Kurt Busiek (author of numerous Superhero titles for Marvel and DC, and creator of the award-winning Astro City series), Greg Rucka (co-creator of Gotham Central, White Out, Queen & Country, and many projects for Marvel and DC), and Gail Simone (writer on Marvel’s Deadpool, DC’s Birds of Prey, co-creator of Welcome To Tranquility for Wildstorm, and current Wonder Woman scribe)! Other guests TBA.

We invite 1-2 page proposals for 20-30 minute conference papers considering the implications of superhero fantasies for our understanding of such diverse topics as gender identity, queerness, theological yearning, and nationalist politics. We also welcome appreciative discussions of superhero comics as significant aesthetic achievements — particularly insofar as those discussions contribute to the ongoing project within contemporary Comics Studies, to map the unique conventions of the comic art form. Above all, we are interested in sophisticated, lucidly written analyses that utilize the conceptual tools and hermeneutic lenses of contemporary literary and cultural theory.

It is our hope that this conference will help all participants, student and professional, skeptic and fan, to understand the extraordinary imaginative appeal of the costumed adventurer — an appeal that overlaps significant distinctions of age, gender, nation, and culture, and which no amount of silliness or cynicism seems quite able to dispel.

Please address queries and submit proposals via email to Ben Saunders, Associate Professor, Department of English by Monday, June 15th, 2009. (Email address: ben@uoregon.edu)

Conference on Intellectual Property - Deadline Extended to March 6

2009-02-22T17:52:00.003-05:00

The original deadline for this conference was February 15, as we noted previously.

The Inaugural
Conference on Intellectual Property (CIP)
June 12-13th 2009
Iona College in New Rochelle, NY

The inaugural Conference on Intellectual Property (CIP) will be held on June 12-13th 2009 at Iona College in New Rochelle, NY, and will include keynote addresses by Laura M. Quilter, M.L.S., J.D. and painter Joy Garnett.

Whether it be the submission of student papers to plagiarism-detecting websites, the marketing of a movie that chronicles the challenges of a windshield wiper inventor, or the latest debates over the application of nonobvious intention, issues involving intellectual property in the academic, economic, legal, and technological fields challenge the very notion of ownership: what we own, how we own, and who may claim ownership. The purpose of this conference is to explore intellectual property, in a cross-disciplinary context, as both a concept and a reality relating to the professional fields whose concerns intersect in understanding its essence and implications.

We invite papers and panels dealing with any and all aspects of intellectual property, from the origins of eighteenth-century literary property debates to the viability and ethics of plagiarism and plagiarism detection, from the economic impact of patents to the technological advances that may make intellectual property obsolete. We especially encourage papers/panels that embrace a multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary approach.

CIP papers and/or abstracts will be included in a conference proceedings, and selected essays may be published in a proposed collection for a peer-reviewed press.

Papers/Panel abstracts should be submitted by March 6th, 2009 to Dr. Amy Stackhouse at astackhouse@iona.edu or Dr. Dean Defino at ddefino@iona.edu. We look forward to a fruitful and collegial experience. For more information, please see the conference website.

Keynote Speakers:

Laura Quilter is an attorney and researcher in technology and information law and policy. Laura's research and practice particularly focuses on the rights of information users, including consumers, libraries, creators, and scientists, and she regularly speaks and writes on these matters. She earned her law degree from Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley, in 2003, and her library science degree from the University of Kentucky in 1993. http://lquilter.net/professional/briefbio.html - http://lquilter.net/index.php

Painter Joy Garnett appropriates news and documentary photographs from newspapers, internet and other media, and re-invents them as paintings. Her work mines the tensions between the open-ended narratives of art, and ubiquitous media representations of real-life events. Ms. Garnett's work has been exhibited in museums and galleries around the world, including the Whitney Museum of American Art in NYC, the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., and the Witte Zaal in Ghent, Belgium, and reproduced in numerous publications, from Harper's to Cabinet magazine. In 2004, she was awarded a grant by the Anonymous Was a Woman foundation, and she currently serves as Arts Editor for Cultural Politics, a refereed journal published by Berg in Oxford, UK. http://www.firstpulseprojects.com/joy.html

CFP: Adapting Children's Texts (4/15/09; SAMLA, 11/6/09-11/8/09)

2009-01-18T15:28:00.005-05:00

South Atlantic Modern Language Association Conference
Children's Literature Discussion Circle Panel 2009

Adapting Children's Texts

Adapted texts saturate children's culture - lining toy stores, pervading book shelves, filling television time slots, and permeating Internet websites. With so many children's texts either crossing cultural divides, or becoming multimedia franchises, adaptation seems to go beyond the discussions of fidelity. This panel seeks scholarship on the various ways of approaching adapted texts in Children's and Adolescent Literature other than questions of fidelity to an original.

Whether it involves print to screen, or television to picture book, we seek submissions that examine a wide range of adaptation topics such as adaptation across culture, textual infidelities in adaptation, and adaptation across media. Any critical/theoretical approach is welcome.

Please email one-page abstracts or eight-page papers or any questions to Cathlena Martin at camartin [at] samford.edu. The deadline for this call is April 15, 2009.

The South Atlantic Modern Language Association Conference (SAMLA) will be held November 6-8, 2009 in Atlanta, Georgia, at the Renaissance Atlanta Hotel Downtown. More information regarding the conference will be posted shortly at http://samla.gsu.edu/index.htm

Chair 2009: Cathlena Martin
Affiliation: Samford University
Email: camartin [at] samford.edu

Secretary 2009: Amberyl Malkovich
Affiliation: Concord University
Email: amalkovich [at] concord.edu

Press Release: Erotic Comics: A Graphic History (Volume 2) - From The 1970s to the Present Day

2008-11-11T20:29:00.005-05:00

Shameless Self-Promotion Dep't: Here's a press release for the latest book I assisted on. It's pretty self-explanatory...

Erotic Comics: A Graphic History (Volume 2)
From The 1970s to the Present Day
By Tim Pilcher
(Foreword by Alan Moore)

Picking up from where the international best-selling Erotic Comics: A Graphic History (Volume 1) left off, Volume 2 reveals how European, American and Asian artists have explored the possibility of the form in the years since the explosion of the Sixties' underground comix.

Erotic Comics: A Graphic History - Volume 2 examines how the form has become an international publishing phenomenon by showcasing artwork that has inflamed desires, incensed censors, and caused controversy.

This provocative title covers everything: the erotic comics explosion in America in the mid-80s; the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender comics scene; UK and European erotic comic creators since the '70s; and the Japanese hentai phenomenon. The future of erotic comics online is also explored in this fascinating and surprising volume.

In the first survey of its kind in over 20 years, Erotic Comics: A Graphic History (Volume 2) completes this fascinating two-part chronicle with previously unpublished, rare and out-of-print material, featuring insights from key artists, editors, and publishers. Fully illustrated with stunning, rare, and seldom-seen art by Howard Cruse, Gengoroh Tagame, Melinda Gebbie, Hunt Emerson, Howard Chaykin, Giovanna Casotto (whose work graces the cover), Tom of Finland, Milo Manara, Junko Mizuno, and many other top erotic cartoonists. The informative text provides a sexy, intriguing, and entertaining tour through the origins of an often-overlooked art form and comic book genre.

The book is written by Tim Pilcher, with additional research by Gene Kannenberg, Jr, and a witty and insightful foreword by Alan Moore.

What the press have said about Volume 1:

"Clearly, this very tasty-looking coffee-table book has been lovingly put together by a devotee of adult comic art... This reviewer is eagerly anticipating Volume 2... A mighty impressive package all round." - Desire magazine

"Tim Pilcher knows a thing or three about comics... the quality of this latest offering was never really in any doubt... Pilcher's book does not disappoint. (His) extremely readable copy puts artists and sub-genres into context with a confidence borne of depth of knowledge. This is enthusiast writing at its tightest and best, and your reward for reading the words that run around the pictures will be to discover all kinds of fascinating stuff you never knew about your favourite artists... " - TheFetishistas.com

"...Well written, well researched, and a well considered fun read, with a lightness of touch that had a really neat educational tone." - John Higgins, comic artist and Watchmen colourist.

"...More than just a visual history, the book reads like a labor of love; images from pre-Depression nudie comics to modern-day Mexican sensacionales are presented along with insightful essays that make the book perfectly suitable for a coffee-table centerpiece..." - Complex Magazine: The Original Buyer's Guide for Men

"Tim Pilcher's titillating new title certainly covers the territory." - Kempt

"Sexy? Yes. Erotic? Yes. Prurient? Well, yes. And your point? We're all adults here, and this reading material is a delight. It's art, I tell ya, it's art!" - Martin Zimmerman, SignOnSanDiego.com

About the Author:
Tim Pilcher has worked in and around the comics industry for over twenty years as a writer and editor. He is the author of Erotic Comics: A Graphic History (Volume 1), co-author of The Essential Guide to World Comics and The Complete Cartooning Course, and has contributed to numerous other publications including, Comix: The Underground Revolution, 500 Comicbook Action Heroes, The Slings and Arrows Comic Guide (1st Edition), 500 Essential Graphic Novels and the forthcoming War Comics: A Graphic History. He co-founded Les Cartoonistes Dangereux, a comic-book publishing house that released a range of original graphic novels, including the critically acclaimed White Death by Robbie Morrison and Charlie Adlard. He has worked as assistant editor at DC Comics; Vertigo imprint, and served as associate editor at Comics International, the UK's only comic book industry trade paper. He lives in Brighton, England.

Gene Kannenberg, Jr., is a respected historian of comics and the director of ComicsResearch.org, a centralized directory of comics scholarship that focuses on book-length works and monographs about comic books and strips. He is the author of 500 Essential Graphic Novels. He lives in Albany, New York.

Alan Moore is the world's most famous comic book writer and the author of seminal classics such as Watchmen, V for Vendetta, From Hell and the erotic comic masterpiece Lost Girls. He lives in Northampton, England.

Tim Pilcher is available for interviews, articles and general feedback. You can contact him on: tim.pilcher@ntlworld.com, pilcher@ilex-press.com and on +44 (0)7986 995 938. His blog, Sex, Drugs and Comic Books, is at: http://sexdrugsandcomicbooks.blogspot.com

[Stateside inquirers, please feel free also to contact Gene Kannenberg, Jr.]

If you would like to reproduce any images, or require a review copy of either book, please drop Tim a line stating what publication the review is for, and when it will appear.

Tim Pilcher will chairing an Erotic Comics Panel at the ICA in London on Sunday 23 November '08 at 4pm, along with artists Erich Von Gotha, Lynn Paula Russell, Garry Leach and Oh, Wicked Wanda! creator and writer Frederick Mullally.

Tim Pilcher will also be attending the 36th Festival International de la Bande Dessinée in Angoulême, France (29 Jan.1 Feb. 09) and the New York Comic Con (6-8 Feb. 09).

Erotic Comics: A Graphic History (Volume 2) is published by Ilex Press in the UK on 8 January 2009 and by Abrams ComicArts in the USA, on 1 March 2009 (192pp Hardcover £20/$29.95)

Erotic Comics: A Graphic History (Volume 1) is published by Ilex Press in the UK, and Abrams in the USA, and is available now (192pp Hardcover £20/$29.95)

STOP PRESS - STOP PRESS - STOP PRESS!

Erotic Comics: A Graphic History (Volume 1) has just been banned by Australian customs from entering the country. Customs have demanded that a special large sticker with an "M" on it MUST be placed on the cover -- indicating that the book is for "Mature Readers" -- otherwise the books will be prevented from being sold in Australia. Tim Pilcher said, "I find it ludicrous and risible that the Australian authorities need a big sticker to point out the book is for 'adults only'. Surely the word 'Erotic' in the title gives it away? Perhaps they got confused with the word 'Comics' and couldn't believe that adults read sequential literature!"

CFP: Graphica in Education (Fordham University; Jan 31, 2009; Proposals Due Dec. 1)

2008-11-09T21:43:00.004-05:00

Graphica in Education:

Bringing the Discussion of Graphic Novels
Out from Under the Desk
January 31, 2009
Fordham University
Lincoln Center Campus, New York, NY

Hosted by the Graduate School of Education at Fordham University

General Information
The inaugural Graphica in Education conference is designed to open a discussion among educators about the place of graphica in the field of education. It will serve teachers, instructional designers, administrators, librarians, and other interested individuals who would like to explore the use of graphic novels and other graphica in the classroom. Participants in the conference will have the opportunity to hear from authors, teachers, and researchers about the nature of writing, reading, and teaching graphic novels.

The conference will offer a full day of workshops to complement a keynote address and panel discussion. The conference will also include sponsor presentations and exhibits. Lunch will be included with conference registration.

Invitation to Respond to the Call for Proposals
The Graphica in Education Conference planning committee seeks interactive and engaging proposals for presentations in the breakout workshops of the conference. Workshops will be approximately 60 minutes in length. Paper presentations may be combined into panel discussions. Proposals from practicing teachers about pedagogical methodologies and from researchers about application of graphica in the classroom are encouraged.

Proposals should include:

The type of presentation (e.g., paper presentation, teaching demonstration, panel discussion)
A brief description (50 words or less) of the presentation or workshop
A summary (500 words or less) of the workshop, including rationale/theoretical grounding, practical application, and participant involvement (the benefit to participants)
The name(s), contact information, and affiliation of presenter(s)

Proposal submission deadline: December 1, 2008

Proposals should be submitted electronically to krturner [at] fordham.edu.

Conference Registration
Presenters for accepted proposals will receive free registration to the conference.

For More Information
For more information on the proposal submission process or the conference in general contact Kristen Turner at krturner [at] fordham.edu.

CFP: Conference on Intellectual Property (Iona College, NY, June 12-13, 2009; Deadline Feb. 15, 2009)

2008-11-09T21:21:00.005-05:00

Not a comics-specific conference, but definitely of interest to comics scholars. As I can attest first-hand, overly strict interpretations of IP rights can sometimes hinder publication of academic articles about comic art.

The Inaugural
Conference on Intellectual Property (CIP)
June 12-13th 2009
Iona College in New Rochelle, NY
Keynote addresses by
Laura M. Quilter, M.L.S., J.D. and painter Joy Garnett

Whether as a factor in the economics of book production and authorial contracts, the reason and rationale behind the editing of texts, or the legislative decision that shaped the modern book trade, intellectual property as developed in the academic, economic, legal, and technological fields challenges the very notion of the book: what it is, how it is made, and who determines its history. It simultaneously challenges the very notion of ownership: what we own, how we own, and who may claim ownership. The purpose of this conference is to explore intellectual property, in a cross-disciplinary context, as both a concept and a reality relating to the professional fields whose concerns intersect in understanding its essence and implications.

We invite papers and panels dealing with any and all aspects of intellectual property, from the origins of eighteenth-century literary property debates to the viability and ethics of plagiarism and plagiarism detection, from the economic impact of patents to the technological advances that may make intellectual property obsolete. We especially encourage papers/panels that embrace a multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary approach.

CIP papers and/or abstracts will be included in a conference proceedings, and selected essays may be published in a proposed collection for a peer-reviewed press.

Papers/Panel abstracts should be submitted by February 5th, 2009 to Dr. Amy Stackhouse at astackhouse [at] iona.edu or Dr. Dean Defino at ddefino [at] iona.edu. We look forward to a fruitful and collegial experience. For more information, please see the conference website at www.iona.edu/cip.

Keynote Speakers:

Laura Quilter is an attorney and researcher in technology and information law and policy. Laura's research and practice particularly focuses on the rights of information users, including consumers, libraries, creators, and scientists, and she regularly speaks and writes on these matters. She earned her law degree from Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley, in 2003, and her library science degree from the University of Kentucky in 1993.
http://lquilter.net/professional/briefbio.html || http://lquilter.net/index.php

Painter Joy Garnett appropriates news and documentary photographs from newspapers, internet and other media, and re-invents them as paintings. Her work mines the tensions between the open-ended narratives of art, and ubiquitous media representations of real-life events. Ms. Garnett's work has been exhibited in museums and galleries around the world, including the Whitney Museum of American Art in NYC, the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., and the Witte Zaal in Ghent, Belgium, and reproduced in numerous publications, from Harper's to Cabinet magazine. In 2004, she was awarded a grant by the Anonymous Was a Woman foundation, and she currently serves as Arts Editor for Cultural Politics, a refereed journal published by Berg in Oxford, UK. http://www.firstpulseprojects.com/joy.html

CFP: Anime and Manga Panels, PCA (due November 21)

2008-11-08T18:43:00.002-05:00

Posted on behalf of my pal Wendy!

PCA/ACA 2008 National Conference
New Orleans Marriott, New Orleans, LA
April 8-11, 2009
Proposal Deadline: Friday, November 21

This is the national meeting of the Popular Culture Association and the American Culture Association, and this submission is under the area "Asian Popular Culture."

Panel #1: Title: Horror Anime and Manga

This panel invites papers on any aspect of horror anime or manga. Essays may use texts that can be classically defined as "horror" (i.e., ghost stories) and may also explore the use of horror figures (i.e., vampires) in other genres (i.e., shoujo).

Panel #2 Title: Anime and Manga

Open call for papers on any aspect of anime and manga studies. We welcome submissions from a variety of academic and critical approaches.

Submissions should be sent in the form of a 150-250 word abstract, outlining what you would like to present. Include contact information, any audio-visual needs, and a CV.

Submit your abstract by Friday, November 21, 2008, to Wendy Goldberg via email: <wendy.d.goldberg [at] uscga.edu> ; or via snail mail to:

Wendy Goldberg
Dept. of Humanities
United States Coast Guard Academy
27 Mohegan Ave.
New London, CT 06320

Be a Library Intern at Marvel Comics

2008-10-29T15:03:00.004-05:00

If I lived near New York city, were enrolled in an MLIS program, and 20 years younger, I would jump at this opportunity...

Library & Inventory Intern

Marvel Entertainment, Inc

Marvel Entertainment, Inc. is looking for MLIS students interested in an internship for school credit. Potential candidates must be local to or able to commute to New York City. Interested candidates should apply online:
http://www.marvel.com/company/webinterns.htm?concentration=inventory

Purpose of Position
The purpose of this position is to assist with the inventory, the re-organization, and the cataloging of items in Marvel's library. The Library & Inventory Intern will be responsible for completing inventory of books and mixed media against data in a database and manually cataloging books for which no data exists. Cataloged items will be re-organized in the library according to the standards agreed upon by the Publishing Department and the Archivist. This position requires great attention to detail, superior organizational skills, ability to work independently with little supervision and the ability to lift 30-40 pounds. This internship is within the Publishing Department and is unpaid, but qualifies for school credit.

Responsibilities
1. Complete library inventory and catalog

Scan UPC codes and match to Oracle data to add quantity to inventory
Search titles/ISBN for books without UPC codes for a match and add quantity to inventory
Manually catalog books without pre-existing data

2. Reorganization of library

Weed any material that does not comply with retention standards
Shelve books according to established standards and record location

Qualifications
Candidates must have the following experience or qualifications:

Enrollment in a Library Science program
An interest in cataloging and special collections
Knowledge of Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Access
Must be able to work independently with little supervision
Must be organized, analytical, and reliable
Must be accurate and able to ensure data integrity

CFP: Mechademia 5 - Fanthropologies (Deadline: Jan. 5, 2009)

2008-10-27T15:14:00.002-05:00

Above: The cover to Volume 2; see the contents listing for that issue at the Mechademia website. BTW, I love the word "fanthropology."

Call for Papers
Mechademia 5: Fanthropologies
(University of Minnesota Press, forthcoming in 2010)

In recent years, interest in fan communities and fan activities has exploded, and the term otaku has become global currency. Terms like "fan" and "otaku" have been mobilized for a wide range or reasons in a wide variety of discourses, from gender studies to inquiries about technology and sociality. We think that the exploration of fan activities and otaku phenomena is crucial to understanding the contemporary world of transnational image and information flows, as well as the transnational formation of concepts and discourses.

In keeping with our mission to forge links between different communities of knowledge and to challenge the conventional channels for the flow of information, in Mechademia 5, we propose a challenge to the received understandings of fans. We would like to challenge quasi-anthropological and pseudo-sociological readings in which the identity of "fan" or "otaku" is presumed in advance as a fixed object of knowledge. We propose "fanthropologies" not as the anthropology of fans but as an exploration of the challenge that fans present for the imposition of anthropological knowledge and the sociological gaze. To do "fanthropology" is not to do anthropology of fans but to ask what anthropology might be for or to fans.

We thus invite submissions that take seriously the social and historical construction of fans or otaku as an object of knowledge rather than impose it imperiously. We welcome essays that counter the tendency to posit fans as nothing more than a new object for old forms of knowledge. We seek essays about zones of activity as varied as manga and anime fandoms, game and character design, subcultures, emergent communities and microfascisms, connoisseurship, packaging, pop arts and fine arts, to name but a few.

We encourage authors from various backgrounds with diverse interests to write in a variety of formats and from a range of perspectives. These might include textual readings that foreground reader or viewer experience, critical theorizations of fandom, and studies of fan-produced texts, as well as first-person narratives, photo essays, artistic interventions, and other approaches not listed here. We call on contributors not only to write across disciplinary boundaries but also to address readers in allied communities of knowledge.

The submission deadline is January 5, 2009. Submissions may be sent as attachments to submissions @ mechademia.org. Essays should be between 1,000 and 5,000 words and use Chicago style documentation. Authors may include up to five black-and-white images, and additional images or color images may be possible with special permission from the publisher. Further information is available on the Mechademia web site at http://mechademia.org.