WIRED 15.11: Manga, Manga and More Manga

The November 2007 issue of WIRED magazine has a bunch of manga-related content, with on-line extras as well. Here are direct links to what's at the website:

• Japan, Ink: Inside the Manga Industrial Complex
• Manga Does Shakespeare
• How Manga Conquered the U.S., a Graphic Guide to Japan's Coolest Export
• This Is Your Brain on Manga
• Manga 101: Enroll Now
  

Of particular interest is How Manga Conquered the U.S., a ten-page article from the magazine, told using manga itself. The web page offers a flash-enabled version - a bit small, although it does include a "magnify" feature. They also offer a downloadable PDF (1.9 MB), which I find easier to read. Hint: Choose "Facing" page layout from the View menu in Acrobat to see the pages side-by-side. You'll need to jump to the end of the document first, as the article's done in the Japanese right-to-left format. And don't miss Manga 101, an interactive info source on manga, including a timeline, frequently asked questions, a short glossary, and more.

If you're interested in manga, be sure to take a look at the magazine. (I've let my subscription to WIRED lapse, sigh, so I'll need to pick up this issue soon.) And don't forget ComicsResearch.org's own manga information!

(Thanks to this BoingBoing post by Cory Doctorow for pointing out the PDF.)

CFP: Mechademia 4: War/Time (Deadline:January 7, 2008 )

This is a wonderful journal. Be sure to have your library order it!

MECHADEMIA 4: War/Time
Editor: Frenchy Lunning Associate Editors: Thomas LaMarre, Christopher Bolton, Michelle Ollie

Call for Papers

Mechademia is an annual forum published by the University of Minnesota Press, for critical work on anime, manga, and fan arts. We are seeking submissions on topics linked to Japanese and international manga or anime, as well as related material from fields like fashion, film studies, fine art, game design, and global fan culture, among others. We encourage contributions in a variety of formats, by authors from a wide range of backgrounds and fields. Contributors should endeavor to write across disciplinary boundaries, presenting their unique knowledge in all its sophistication, but with a broad audience in mind.

We are currently accepting submissions for Mechademia #4, the theme of which is "War/Time." Possible topics include:

• past and future conflicts
• war and memory
• animated violence and cinematic duration
• millennialism and apocalypse
• manga histories
• heroic archetypes versus real histories
• avatar wars
• etc.

This list is only a beginning: contributors are encouraged to interpret the topic broadly and contribute their own original perspectives. Superior submissions that fall outside the theme may also be considered if space permits.

The submission deadline for volume #4 is January 7, 2008.

Submissions should be approximately 5000 words or less, plus notes. Mechademia uses Chicago style documentation. Files may be sent as attachments to submissions@mechademia.org.

Detailed submission guidelines and further information are available on our web site at http://mechademia.org.

CFP: Classics and Comics (2/5/07; APA, 1/3/08-1/6/08)

The first of several comics-related calls for papers I'll be posting here today...

Classics and Comics
Outreach Panel Session at the American Philological Association
January 3-6, 2008; Chicago, Illinois

Proposals are invited for a special outreach panel on the topic of “Classics and Comics,” to be held at the annual meeting of the American Philological Association (APA) in January 2008. There are many examples of comics appropriating the classics for serious or comic purposes, including Frank Miller's 300, Neil Gaiman's Sandman, Messner-Loebs' Epicurus the Sage, van Lente's Action Philosophers, Shanower's Age of Bronze, Goscinny and Uderzo's /Asterix/ series. Since Classics Illustrated Comics' The Last Days of Pompeii in 1947, comics have been drawing (on) material from Greek and Roman myth, literature and history. At times the connection was cosmetic—as perhaps with Wonder Woman’'s Amazonian heritage —and at times it was almost irrelevant—as with Hercules’ starfaring adventures in the 1982 Marvel miniseries. But all of these make implicit or explicit claims about the place of Classics in modern literary culture.

The APA's committee on Outreach is dedicated to promoting a wider understanding and appreciation of Classics – Greek and Roman culture of the ancient world. Each year the Outreach Committee hosts one panel on a topic designed to attract an audience from outside the APA's traditional audience (students and faculty of Classics Departments in North America). This panel is open both to members of the APA and the general public and will be advertised in the Chicago area.

The comic book has been a major element of North American popular culture for over a century and has been increasingly regarded as a legitimate artistic and literary medium. This legitimization has happened on at least two fronts: through the emergence of the 'graphic novel' and through scholar/ practitioners such as Scott McCloud and Will Eisner attempting to define the relationship of the comic book to audience, artist and other artistic media. Yet to date there has been very little work attempting to integrate the medium into a larger understanding of Western artistic and literary culture.

The following is a list of possible topics that contributors might explore, though the organizers invite proposals for exciting and engaged papers that will reveal aspects of comics and their Classical sources from any disciplinary perspective that might be relevant to the overall theme:

• the depiction of myth or ancient history in comics
• visual representations of myth or history in ancient sources and in the comics format
• discussions of any specific use of the Classics in the comics medium
• the transformation of narrative structure between ancient source material and comics
• the appropriation of motif or character typology from Classical literature
• the synthesis of visual art and text in the ancient and modern worlds
• the effect of comics on modern perceptions of Greek and Roman material
• the influence of comics on other artistic media depicting Greek and Roman material
• the legitimization of comics as literature through the use of Classical material
• Classical narratives in Manga
• comparison of comics with other forms of 'low' culture in the ancient world

The organizers are also welcoming the participation of comics writers and artists.

Contingent to the success of the panel, the organizers may wish further to develop and publish the proceedings.

Papers will be 20 minutes in length; use of visuals (through PowerPoint) is expected.

Please forward a 400-word abstract, along with a brief biographical statement or CV, as email attachments in Word or Rich Text Format to both of the organizers:

George Kovacs (george.kovacs_at_utoronto.ca)
C.W. Marshall (toph_at_interchange.ubc.ca)

Further questions may also be addressed to either of the organizers.

Abstracts will be considered beginning February 5, 2007, until the panel is filled. Submissions are encouraged before that date.

Link

CFP: MECHADEMIA 3: Limits of the Human

Mechademia is a new journal, one I'm very much looking forward to reading. It joins our list of academic journals about comic art.

MECHADEMIA 3: Limits of the Human
Editor: Frenchy Lunning
Associate Editors: Thomas LaMarre, Michelle Ollie, Christopher Bolton

Mechademia is a new annual refereed journal from the University of Minnesota Press, a forum for critical work on anime, manga, and fan arts. We are seeking submissions on topics linked to Japanese manga or anime, as well as related material from fields like fashion, film studies, fine art, game design, and American or global fan culture, among others. Mechademia's goal is to promote critical thinking, writing, art, and creative activity that can bridge the current gap between professional, academic, and fan communities and discourses.

To this end, we seek contributions in a variety of formats, by authors from a wide range of backgrounds and fields. Contributors should endeavor to write across disciplinary boundaries, presenting their unique knowledge in all its sophistication, but with a broad audience in mind. Each issue will have a theme that will focus the conversation and connect different pieces, but we encourage contributors to interpret these themes broadly in order to keep the way open for new and original kinds of work. Superior submissions that fall outside the theme may also be considered if space permits.

We are currently accepting submissions for Mechademia #3, the theme of which is "Limits of the Human." This issue will look at the way anime, manga, and related media have probed the contours human identity and activity-by imagining non-human others; by positing breakthroughs in human capability; or by showing us our own limitations as readers and viewers, among many other strategies. Possible topics include cyborg theory; new fan species; animalism and animalization; undead and the occult; speed and distance; phenomenologies and ontologies, etc. And this list is only a beginning: contributors are encouraged to interpret the theme broadly and contribute their own original perspective on the topic.

The submission deadline for issue #3 is January 5, 2007.

Submissions should be approximately 5000 words or less. Mechademia uses Chicago style documentation, though other formats are acceptable at the submission stage. Files may be sent as attachments to submissions at mechademia.org.

Detailed information about the journal's mission and submission procedures is available on our web site at http://mechademia.org.

Manga Head: Hair Product, Manga History (Dessert Topping, Floorwax Still to Come?)

New from Garnier UK: Manga Head, a hair product lets you "create your own superhero hair," as BoingBoing noted today.

The web site for the product contains not only information on seven types of "manga hairstyles" for you to try but also a section called "Manga Story" (subtitled either "What's Manga All About?" or "Why Is Japan So Coooool?" [sic], depending on where you are in the site), done up as a kind of six-page mini-manga. The whole web site's presented in flash, unfortunately, so I hope they keep this curiosity up here.

For maximum fashion potential, of course, you'll want to use Manga Head in conjunction with Nadesicco Black, "inky black [contact] lenses that make [eyes] look like they have gigantic monochromatic pupils" (Wired 13.5).

NB: Manga Head's "Win a Trip to Tokyo" contest is only good for residents of the UK, dangit...