ComFor News

“Comics | Histories” published in open access as the first volume of the new series

Comics | HistoriesComics | Histories: Texts, Methods, Resources

Jessica Bauwens-Sugimoto, Felix Giesa, Christina Meyer (eds.)
Rombach
September 2024
259 pages
eBook ISBN 978-3-98858-056-6 (Open Access)
Print ISBN 978-3-98858-055-9

The first volume of Rombach’s new comic studies research series “Comics | Histories” has just been published under the same cover title, edited by Jessica Bauwens-Sugimoto, Felix Giesa, and Christina Meyer. The publication with a total of 10 articles in the sections “Re-Reading Punch Magazine”, “(Re-)Productions”, “War [in] Comics”, and “Periodization, Canonization, Digitization” can now be ordered free of charge as an open access download.

Blurbs:

“This edited study is the first book in a new series of publications which aims to revise the wide spectrum of what are now regarded as comics (including caricatures, cartoons, graphic novels, etc.), broadening the view of Comics Studies, not only retrospectively but also prospectively at a time when modern media identities are dissolving. While there are already significant numbers of publications that foreground representations of history in comics, our edited study (and the new series) seeks to highlight contributions to history by comics in particular. In addition to that, the book (and the series) aims to address comics from a transnational, yet culturally situated, perspective, without privileging national histories of the medium in the narrower sense, i.e., as confined to the North American, Franco-Belgian or Japanese publication markets. The contributions to this first book in the series not only address questions relating to practices of canonisation, periodisation and digitisation, but also provide historical perspectives on a variety of humorous magazines and newspapers and deal with issues relating to adapting and revising comics in different parts of the world and in different cultures. The contributors to this book include a number of international scholars working in different areas and disciplines, such as literary and cultural studies, me-dia studies, history, children’s and youth literature research, computational studies and digital humani-ties. The book is divided into four parts, entitled ‘Re-Reading Punch Magazines’, ‘(Re-)Productions’, ‘War [in] Comics’ and ‘Periodization, Canonization, Digitization’ respectively. The editors of the book hope that the collection of (ongoing) research projects will spark readers’ curiosity and ignite their ambition to ex-plore comics|histories in multifarious ways. The newly launched series is looking for future projects that will also focus on the historiography of Comics Studies, in other words, inter- and transdisciplinary research on comics as objects of analysis in themselves. Multidisciplinary assessments of the field and its practices in terms of research and publishing and author- and editorship promise new insights into processes of knowledge formation, as well as the power relations involved.”

Publisher’s page

Collection “Comics & Intersektionalität” published as vol. 3 of Comicstudien (De Gruyter)

Comics und IntersektionalitätComics & Intersektionalität

Anna Beckmann, Kalina Kupczyńska, Marie Schröer, and Véronique Sina (eds.)
De Gruyter
September 2024
337 pages
eBook ISBN 9783110799385
gebunden ISBN 9783110799293

Volume 3 of De Gruyter’s new Comic Studies series has just been published under the title “Comics & Intersectionality” [Comics & Intersectionality], fortunately also directly as open access. The editors are Anna Beckmann, Kalina Kupczyńska, Marie Schröer, and Véronique Sina. The contributors include also many other ComFor members such as Daniel Stein, Sylvia Kesper-Biermann, Ole Frahm, Marina Rauchenbacher, Katharina Serles, Dorothee Marx, Annemarie Klimke, and Katharina Hülsmann.

Blurbs:
“This volume expands on existing approaches in German-language comics studies by taking a deliberate intersectional perspective. The thematic core of the volume is a scholarly, interdisciplinary exploration of various forms of multidimensional discrimination and exclusion in the comic medium..”

Publisher’s page

CLOSURE #9.5 / ComFor-Comference 2021 »Coherence in Comics. An Interdisciplinary Approach«* published

CLOSURE #9.5A special-themed issue #9.5 of Closure: Kieler e-Journal für Comicforschung, edited by Elisabeth Krieber (Salzburg), Markus Oppolzer (Salzburg), and Hartmut Stöckl (Salzburg), has just been published: »Coherence in Comics. An Interdisciplinary Approach«. The issue represents the proceedings of the 16the annual conference of ComFor (October 2021, Salzburg). It contains contributions by ComFor-members Elisabeth Krieber, Markus Oppolzer, Lukas R.A. Wilde, Barbara M. Eggert , and Stephan Packard:

Elisabeth Krieber, Markus Oppolzer, and Hartmut Stöckl:
Coherence in Comics. An Interdisciplinary Approach: Über diese Ausgabe

Lukas R.A. Wilde:
Essayistic Comics and Non-Narrative Coherence

Barbara M. Eggert:
Comics as Coherence Machines? Case Studies on the Spectrum of Functions that Comics perform in Museums

J. Scott Jordan und Victor Dandridge, Jr.:
Invincible: Multiscale Coherence in Comics

Mark Hibbett:
Image Quotation of Past Events to Enforce Storyworld Continuity in John Byrne’s Fantastic Four

Amadeo Gandolfo:
Do The Collapse: Final Crisis and the Impossible Coherence of the Superhero Crossover

Stephan Packard:
Inferential Revision in Comics Page Interpretation: A Hermeneutic Approach to Renegotiating Panel Comprehension

Continue to CLOSURE #9.5: »Coherence in Comics. An Interdisciplinary Approach«

*Die ComFor-Redaktion bedauert den Mangel an Diversität in dieser Publikation. Wir sind bestrebt, möglichst neutral über das Feld der Comicforschung in all seiner Breite zu informieren und redaktionelle Selektionsprozesse auf ein Minimum zu beschränken. Gleichzeitig sind wir uns jedoch auch der problematischen Strukturen des Wissenschaftsbetriebs bewusst, die häufig dazu führen, dass insbesondere Comicforscherinnen sowie jene mit marginalisierten Identitäten weniger sichtbar sind. Wir wissen, dass dieses Ungleichgewicht oft nicht der Intention der Herausgeber_innen / Veranstalter_innen entspricht und möchten dies auch nicht unterstellen, wollen aber dennoch darauf aufmerksam machen, um ein Bewusstsein für dieses Problem zu schaffen.

Conference “Comics, the Children and Childishness”

Termin:
2023 09 18 - 2023 09 19

On September 18/19, 2023, the conference “Comics, the Children and Childishness”, will take place in presence at KASK. It is one of the culminating outputs of the ERC project “Children in Comics: An Intercultural History (1865-)”, led by Prof. Maaheen Ahmed at Ghent University. The project aims to reconstruct a cultural history of European comics, particularly focusing on comics from Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, Spain and Italy.

The conference is organized by Maaheen Ahmed und ComFor-member Giorgio Busi Rizzi (Ghent University). It aims to further deepen the interests and achievements of the ERC project, with the goal of opening a crucial forum for dialogue between European and international researchers, focusing on a distinctly international corpus, covering comics not only from the dominant areas of Western Europe and North America, but also from Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe, Asia and Latin America. In this way, the conference aims to inspire further research in this neglected but crucial aspect of comics studies.

The complete program can be found here. Among the contributors are also other ComFor members besides Rizzi (Benoît Crucifix, Jaqueline Berndt, Eva Van der Wiele). Those interested in attending the conference can register here. Please address any questions to comics@ugent.be.

Conference Proceedings “Comics and Agency”

The proceedings of the 15th ComFor Annual Conference (2020) on the topic of “Comics and Agency” have now been published. Edited by Vanessa Ossa, Jan-Noël Thon, and Lukas Wilde, the 350-page volume contains 15 essays by ComFor members and internationally renowned authors.

“Comics & Agency:
This volume aims to intensify the interdisciplinary dialogue on comics and related popular multimodal forms (including manga, graphic novels, and cartoons) by focusing on the concept of medial, mediated, and mediating agency. To this end, a theoretically and methodologically diverse set of contributions explores the interrelations between individual, collective, and institutional actors within historical and contemporary comics cultures. Agency is at stake when recipients resist hegemonic readings of multimodal texts. In the same manner, “authorship” can be understood as the attribution of agency of and between various medial instances and roles such as writers, artists, colorists, letterers, or editors, as well as with regard to commercial rights holders such as publishing houses or conglomerates and reviewers or fans. From this perspective, aspects of comics production (authorship and institutionalization) can be related to aspects of comics reception (appropriation and discursivation), and circulation (participation and canonization), including their potential for transmedialization and making contributions to the formation of the public sphere.”

The volume also kicks off De Gruyter’s new “Comics Studies: Aesthetics, Histories, Practices” series, edited by Jaqueline Berndt, Patrick Noonan, Karin Kukkonen, and Stephan Packard.

The volume can be found here.

New Publication: Studien zur Geschichte des Comic

Studien zur Geschichte
des Comic

Bernd Dolle-Weinkauff, Dietrich Grünewald (eds.)

published by Ch. A. Bachmann
442 pages
numerous illustrations
language: German
ISBN 978-3-96234-069-8
publisher’s website

We are glad to announce that the second volume of the conference proceedings from the  10th Annual ComFor Conference 2015 in Frankfurt is finally available now, edited by honorary ComFor members Dietrich Grünewald and Bernd Dolle-Weinkauff. After the first volume investigated the representation of history in comics, the second volume is focused on the history of comics themselves.

Publisher’s blurb:

“Die hier versammelten Studien zur Geschichte des Comic umfassen unterschiedliche Facetten historisch orientierter Comic-Forschung im weitesten Sinn. Neben Überblicksdarstellungen zu Epochen und längeren Zeiträumen finden sich Beiträge zu einzelnen Autorinnen und Autoren, Werken und Serien. Untersuchungen zu Frühformen haben ihren Platz neben Längsschnitten durch Entwicklungen der jüngsten Zeit. Gattungsent­wicklungen, Thematiken, Medien und Märkte sowie Schnittstellen der sequenziellen Bildgeschichte zu anderen Formen des erzählenden Bildes werden ebenso diskutiert wie Vermarktungsweisen und dezidiert antikommerzielle Tendenzen sowie Positionen der historischen Comic-Forschung selbst.
Die Beiträge bieten sowohl Neuentdeckungen von Werken und Details der Geschichte des Comic, wie die Herstellung von historischen Zusammenhängen. Sie geben Einblicke in neuere Comic-Kulturen – auch osteuropäischer und fernöstlicher Länder – und deren Bezüge zu internationalen Entwicklungen. Der Band bietet Ansichten einer zunehmend vielgestaltigen Welt der Grafischen Literatur, innerhalb derer einige der bislang aus der Sicht der westeuropäischen und US-amerikanischen Forschung eher randständigen Gebiete gegenüber den Zentren hervortreten.”

Contents:

  • Dietrich GRÜNEWALD: “Zur Frühgeschichte des Comic:
    Von der Illustrationsfolge zur autonomen Bildgeschichte”
  • Bernd DOLLE-WEINKAUFF: “Zur Vor- und Frühgeschichte der sequenziellen Bilderzählung in Deutschland 1835–1860”
  • Christian A. BACHMANN: “Transatlantische Motivwanderungen am Beispiel von Traumdarstellungen:Ein Beitrag zur Thematologie des frühen Comics”
  • Benedikt BREBECK: “Beiträge deutscher Zeichner zur Entwicklung des frühen Comic Strip in den USA”
  • Michael F. SCHOLZ: “‘Comics and Their Creators’ (1942) -Zu den Anfängen der amerikanischen Comicforschung”
  • Nicolas SCHILLINGER: “Grenzen des Zeichenbaren: Geschichte und Comic in China nach 1949”
  • Jessica BAUWENS-SUGIMOTO: “A Short Overview of the History of Japanese Boys’ Love and Yaoi Manga”
  • Marie SCHRÖER: “Autobiografie im Comic: Geschichte/n, Varianten, Potentiale”
  • Véronique SINA: “‘It Ain’t Me Babe …’:Zur Geschichte und Entwicklung feministischer Comics”
  • Nina MAHRT: “Mit allen Mitteln: Kriegsreportagen als Comics”
  • Hartmut BECKER: “Werbecomics der 1950er-Jahre: Eine Revue der Konsumwelten der westdeutschen Nachkriegsgesellschaft”
  • Guido WEISSHAHN: “182 Variationen über ein Thema:Die Comicserie Knote und Karli als Beispiel für Zeitungscomics in der DDR”
  • Anna STEMMANN: “‘Der Schrecken, der die Nacht durchflattert’:Darkwing Duck als Superheldenparodie”
  • Elizabeth ‘Biz’ NIJDAM: “From Posters to Panels and Panels to Posters: Fluidity of Form in Feuchtenberger’s Comics and Graphic Art”
  • Arno METELING: “Der Vertigo-Effekt: Melancholie, Horror und Britishness in US-amerikanischen Comics um 2000”
  • Kalina KUPCZYNSKA: “Geschichte des autobiografischen Comics in Polen”
  • Brett E. STERLING: “Jenseits des Mainstreams: Zur Entwicklung der deutschsprachigen Comic-Produktion und ihrer avantgardistischen Strömungen seit 1980”
  • Lehel SATA: “Tendenzen im ungarischen Comic nach der Jahrtausendwende: Themen, Gestaltungstechniken, Wirkung”
  • Marco PELLITTERI: “Abriss einer Geschichte der Etablierung des Manga-Markts in ausgewählten europäischen Ländern”

Members Bibliography 2020 & 2021

To provide an overview of our members’ research, we compile an annual bibliography of monographs and edited volumes by ComFor members. As this is the first time we publish it, also some titles from the previous year are included.

Are you interested in reviewing any of these books? Write an email to redaktion@comicgesellschaft.de and we will forward information on review copies to you. Reviews can be published as guest contribution under the respective reviewer’s name on our website, also those written by non-members!


Ahrens, Jörn (Hg.). Der Comic als Form: Bildsprache, Ästhetik, Narration. Ch. A. Bachmann, 2021.

Domsch, Sebastian, Dan Hassler-Forest und Dirk Vanderbeke (Hgs.). Handbook of Comics and Graphic Narratives. De Gruyter, 2021.

Eckhoff-Heindl, Nina, und Véronique Sina (Hgs.) Spaces Between: Gender, Diversity and Identity in Comics. Springer VS, 2020.

Etter, Lukas. Distinctive Styles and Authorship in Alternative Comics. De Gruyter, 2021.

Frahm, Ole, Hans-Joachim Hahn, Markus Streb (Hgs.). Beyond MAUS. The Legacy of Holocaust Comics. Böhlau 2021.

Giesa, Felix und Anna Stemmann (Hgs.). Comics & Archive. Ch. A. Bachmann, 2021.

Giesa, Felix, Markus Engelns und Ulrike Preußner (Hgs.). Comics in der Schule: Theorie und Unterrichtspraxis. Ch. A. Bachmann, 2021.

Grünewald, Dietrich. Abstrakt? Abstrakt! Abstraktion und Bildgeschichte. Ch. A. Bachmann, 2021.

Gundermann, Christine (Hg.). Zwischenräume: Geschlecht und Diversität in Comics. Ch. A. Bachmann, 2021.

Hausmanninger, Thomas. Religion als Kultur: Das Judentum und die jüdische Identität bei Joann Sfar. Ch. A. Bachmann, 2021.

Kupczyńska, Kalina, und Renata Makarska. Handbuch Polnische Comickulturen nach 1989. Ch. A. Bachmann, 2021.

Oppolzer, Markus. Reading Autobiographical Comics: A Framework for Educational Settings. Peter Lang, 2020. Open Access.

Palandt, Ralf (Hg.). Anne Frank im Comic. C.A. Bachmann, 2021.

Pohl-Otto, Karoline. Comics in Schule und Religionsunterricht: Vielfalt adressieren, Kompetenzen fördern, Unterricht verbessern. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2021.

Rauscher, Andreas, Daniel Stein, und Jan-Noël Thon (Hgs.). Comics and Videogames: From Hybrid Medialities to Transmedia Expansions. Routledge, 2021.

Stein, Daniel. Authorizing Superhero Comics: On the Evolution of a Popular Serial Genre. Ohio State University Press, 2021.

New Publication: Handbook of Comics and Graphic Narratives

Today we announce a publication that has the potential to quickly become a standard work in the field of comics studies: the Handbook of Comics and Graphic Narratives, published by De Gruyter. Edited by Sebastian Domsch, Dan Hassler-Forest and ComFor member Dirk Vanderbeke, this handbook unites a variety of critical approaches, historical contexts, and close readings. We are particularly happy that there are several ComFor members among the contributors to this unique volume.

Go to publisher’s website.

Publisher’s description:

“Whether one describes them as sequential art, graphic narratives or graphic novels, comics have become a vital part of contemporary culture. Their range of expression contains a tremendous variety of forms, genres and modes − from high to low, from serial entertainment for children to complex works of art. This has led to a growing interest in comics as a field of scholarly analysis, as comics studies has established itself as a major branch of criticism. This handbook combines a systematic survey of theories and concepts developed in the field alongside an overview of the most important contexts and themes and a wealth of close readings of seminal works and authors. It will prove to be an indispensable handbook for a large readership, ranging from researchers and instructors to students and anyone else with a general interest in this fascinating medium.”

Contents:

Introduction

  • Sebastian Domsch, Dirk Vanderbeke, Dan Hassler-Forest: “Comics Studies: Survey of the Field”

Part I: Systematic Aspects

Part II: Contexts and Themes

  • Stephan Packard: “Politics”
  • Dan Hassler-Forest: “World-Building”
  • Astrid Böger: “Life Writing”
  • Anna Oleszczuk: “Gender”
  • Kay Sohini: “Queerness”
  • Heike Elisabeth Jüngst: “Science Comics”
  • Sandra Heinen: “Postcolonial Perspectives”
  • Marie Vanderbeke: “DocuComics in the Classroom”
  • Dan Hassler-Forest: “Superheroes – Historical Overview”
  • Matt Yockey: “Superheroes – The Golden Age: Batman”
  • Matt Boyd Smith: “Superheroes – The Silver Age: Nick Fury”
  • William Proctor: “Superheroes – The Dark Age: Superheroes in the 1980s”

Part III: Close Readings

  • Christina Meyer: “Richard F. Outcault: The Yellow Kid
  • Corey Creekmur: “George Herriman: Krazy Kat
  • Sebastian Domsch: “Winsor McCay: Little Nemo in Slumberland
  • Eric Hoffman: “Dave Sim: Cerebus
  • Martin Lund: “Will Eisner: A Contract with God
  • Dawn Stobbart: “Raymond Briggs: When the Wind Blows
  • Joanne Pettitt: “Art Spiegelman: Maus
  • Nicola Glaubitz: “Robert Crumb”
  • Monika Pietrzak-Franger: “Alan Moore: From Hell
  • Evan Hayles Gledhill: “Neil Gaiman: The Sandman
  • Erin La Cour: “Alison Bechdel: Dykes to Watch Out For
  • Gerry Canavan: “Chris Ware: Jimmy Corrigan – The Smartest Kid on Earth
  • Erik Grayson: “Daniel Clowes: Ghost World
  • Luisa Menzel: “Martin Rowson: The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
  • Harriet Earle: “Marjane Satrapi: Persepolis
  • Oliver Moisich: “Grant Morrison: Flex Mentallo

 

Publication: “Comics and Videogames: From Hybrid Medialities to Transmedia Expansions”

For those still looking for a special Christmas gift, we are happy to announce that the book Comics und Video Games: From Hybrid Medialities to Transmedia Expansions, edited by Andreas Rauscher, Daniel Stein und Jan-Noël Thon, was published by Routledge earlier this year in October.  We are proud to say that we are very well represented in this work – not only are two of the editors members, but two of the other contributors as well: Daniel Stein, Jan-Noël Thon, Hans-Joachim Backe and Nina Eckhoff-Heindl.

Official announcement:

This book offers the first comprehensive study of the many interfaces shaping the relationship between comics and videogames. It combines in-depth conceptual reflection with a rich selection of paradigmatic case studies from contemporary media culture. 

The editors have gathered a distinguished group of international scholars working at the interstices of comics studies and game studies to explore two interrelated areas of inquiry: The first part of the book focuses on hybrid medialities and experimental aesthetics “between” comics and videogames; the second part zooms in on how comics and videogames function as transmedia expansions within an increasingly convergent and participatory media culture. The individual chapters address synergies and intersections between comics and videogames via a diverse set of case studies ranging from independent and experimental projects via popular franchises from the corporate worlds of DC and Marvel to the more playful forms of media mix prominent in Japan. 

Offering an innovative intervention into a number of salient issues in current media culture, Comics and Videogames will be of interest to scholars and students of comics studies, game studies, popular culture studies, transmedia studies, and visual culture studies.

 

Contributions:

Further information on the articles as well the PDFs can also be found here. A print version is available from  Routledge.