Building on the success of its 2016 symposium, the Comics@CSUN group is once again hosting a conference devoted to student research in Comics Studies and allied fields. The explosion of interest in the academic study of sequential art – including comic books, graphic novels, manga, webcomics, and related forms – matches the exponential growth in the availability and influence of the medium. Alternative comics and zines, literary comics, and webcomics have expanded the audience for comic art, even as Japanese manga has become a truly global phenomenon. At the same time, the traditional commercial mainstream of US comic books has been rocked by debates over social change and the need for greater diversity. Both in print and via myriad adaptions in film, television, video games, and other media, comics have once again become an everyday cultural phenomenon. The genre of “the comic book movie,” especially via the Walt Disney Company and its ownership of Marvel and Time Warner and its ownership of DC, now dramatically shapes the feature film industry; in fact, the synergy among film, TV, the internet, graphic novels, and comic books is virtually complete. In this light, our conference seeks papers that attempt to understand comics, and the interaction of comics and visual culture generally, from diverse perspectives.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Close readings of individual works, including comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, manga, anime, and film or television programs
• The aesthetics and craft of comic art
• The cultural impact of comics and graphic novels
• Fandom
• Comic books, children, and education
• Film, game, and other media adaptations of comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, or manga
• Industry studies, including studies of individual companies
• The history of sequential art forms
• Studies of particular artists/authors/creators

Send completed papers (about 7-8 double-spaced pages) by January 5, 2018, to Prof. Frances Gateward, CSU Northridge, via email: fgcomicsatcsun@gmail.com. Include institutional affiliation, academic standing, and postal address. No submissions will be accepted after January 5, 2018.