ComFor News

Conference Proceedings “Comics and Agency”

Posted on 2022 11 17, 00:01

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

Posted on 2022 05 26, 00:01

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

Posted on 2022 05 19, 00:01

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

Posted on 2021 06 28, 00:01

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”

Posted on 2020 12 10, 02:45

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.

Martin Schüwer Publication Prize 2021

Posted on 2020 11 05, 00:01

Call for Nominations:
Martin Schüwer Publication Prize for Excellence in Comics Studies

In 2021, the Society for Comics Studies (ComFor) and the Committee for Comics Studies at the German Society for Media Studies (GfM), will award the Martin Schüwer Publication Prize for Excellence in Comics Studies for the third time. Since 2019, the prize has been awarded annually. It promotes the work of emerging scholars, i.e. researchers who, regardless of their actual age, do not yet hold a permanent academic position as tenured faculty. Honoring outstanding publications in the interdisciplinary field of comics studies, the Martin Schüwer Publication Prize aims to create more visibility for comics-related research, promoting and communicating its importance to a wider public.

The prize is named after the late Martin Schüwer, a scholar of English Literature and Culture who specialized in comics studies and who, very unfortunately, died at a far too early age in 2013. His dissertation Wie Comics erzählen (2006) has opened up new ground for narratological comics research and has become a standard work in German-language comics studies. With this and his other works on comics as well as on the didactics of English literature, Martin Schüwer has set valuable standards regarding the excellence, accessibility and range that publications in our fields can achieve. Both as a comics researcher and as a person, Schüwer had a distinct way of talking to people, characterized by his open-mindedness and a genuine interest in others. Talking to and with others, he aimed to advance comics studies. We dedicate the award to him and this very goal.

Submission and nominations:

Eligible for submission are published texts that do not exceed the length of an article or book chapter. They may have appeared as articles in collective volumes or journals, as chapters in longer monographs, or as essays and other text types of similar length. The submitted/nominated texts may have been written by one or more authors. Authors are only eligible for the award if, at the time of nomination, they did not yet hold a permanent job position within academia.

Papers nominated for the Martin Schüwer Prize 2021 must have been published between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2020, in either German or English. Texts that are still forthcoming or only accepted for publication cannot be considered. Papers can only be submitted once. Entire monographs as well as unpublished work from dissertational research are also excluded from submission. Editors of collective volumes or journal issues cannot be nominated; however, nomination of individual contributions to these collections/issues are very welcome.

To nominate yourself or others, please submit the nominated text and a short explanatory statement (300-500 words). Self-nominations are possible and welcome. The deadline for all submissions is March 31, 2021. Please send your nomination as a single pdf to schuewer-preis@comicgesellschaft.de.

Prize and award ceremony:

The award ceremony will take place during the annual conference of the Society for Comics Studies (autumn 2021). The awardee will be asked to give a lecture and introduce their research during the conference. They will also be invited to serve as a member of the jury in the following year and will receive a prize money of 500.00 €. In addition, the German Society for Media Studies (GfM) will free them from any membership fee for one year.

Download call for nominations as pdf file.

New Publication: ComFor Conference Proceedings “Spaces Between”

Posted on 2020 07 23, 00:05

We are happy to announce the publication of the proceedings of the 13th annual ComFor conference that took place in September 2018 in Cologne. Edited by ComFor members Véronique Sina und Nina Eckhoff-Heindl, the edited volunme Spaces Between: Gender, Diversity, and Identity in Comics contains numerous contributions by members and non-members.

 

Nina Eckhoff-Heindl and Véronique Sina (eds.)

Spaces Between: Gender, Diversity, and Identity in Comics

Springer, 2020

ISBN 978-3-658-30115-6

 

Publisher’s description:

“The contributions gathered in this volume exhibit a great variety of interdisciplinary perspectives on and theoretical approaches to the notion of ‘spaces between’. Theydraw our attention to the nexus between the medium of comics and the categories of difference as well as identity such as gender, dis/ability, age, and ethnicity, in order to open and intensify an interdisciplinary conversation between comics studies and intersectional identity studies.” → go to publisher’s website

Contents:

  • Cocca, Carolyn: “Reproducing Inequality and Representing Diversity: The Politics of Gender in Superhero Comics”
  • Blank, Juliane: “Gendered Violence and Structures of Power. Reclaiming the Victim Narrative in the Netflix Show Marvel’s Jessica Jones“
  • Brown, Jeffrey A.: “Spider-Analogues: The Unmarking and Unmasking of White Male Superheroism”
  • Crawford, Philip: “My Noose Around that Pretty’s Neck: Meditations on Matt Baker’s Good Girls“
  • Miller, Ann: “The Nude and the Naked: From Fine Art to Comics”
  • Rauchenbacher, Marina, and Katharina Serles: “Fragmented and Framed. Precarious ‘Body Signs’ in Comics by Regina Hofer, Ulli Lust, Barbara Yelin and Peer Meter”
  • Veith, Natalie: “Othering Voices and the Voice of the Other: The Depiction of Joseph Merrick in From Hell“
  • Neldner, Jonas: “Dis/ability and Hybridity: The Bodies of Charles Burns”
  • Becker, Romain: “The Binary Comics of a Non-binary Artist: How Vaughn Bodé’s Identity Structured His Art”
  • Eckhoff-Heindl, Nina: “Branford the Best Bee in the World. The Socio-Culturally Imprinted Self of Anthropomorphic Bodies”
  • Sina, Véronique: “‘If only I’d had a nose job’. Representations of the Gendered Jewish Body in the Works of Aline Kominsky-Crumb”
  • Berndt, Jaqueline: “Manga Aging: Grannies and Gutters”
  • Oksman, Tahneer: “An Art of Loss”

→ Conference report of the 13th annual ComFor conference
→ Overview of all annual ComFor conferences
→ Overview of all conference proceedings

Publication: “Producing Mass Entertainment. The Serial Life of the Yellow Kid”

Posted on 2019 12 16, 00:01

We are happy to announce the recent publication of the monograph Producing Mass Entertainment: The Serial Life of the Yellow Kid by ComFor member Christina Meyer:

 

Producing Mass Entertainment. The Serial Life of the Yellow Kid

Christina Meyer

278 pages, 35 illustrations

ISBN 978-0-8142-1416-9 (Hardcover)
ISBN: 978-0-8142-5560-5 (Paperback)
ISBN: 978-0-8142-7746-1 (eBook)

Publisher’s website

 

Official blurb:

“Emerging mass culture in nineteenth-century America was in no small way influenced by the Yellow Kid, one of the first popular, serial comic figures circulating Sunday supplements. Though comics existed before, it was through the growing popularity of full-color illustrations printed in such city papers as Inter Ocean (Chicago) and the World (New York) and the implementation of regular, weekly publications of the extra sections that comics became a mass-produced, mass-distributed staple of American consumerism. It was against this backdrop that one of the first popular, serial comic figures was born: the Yellow Kid.
Producing Mass Entertainment: The Serial Life of the Yellow Kid offers a new take on the emergence of the Yellow Kid comic figure, looking closely at the mass appeal and proliferation of the Yellow Kid across different media. Christina Meyer identifies the aesthetic principles of newspaper comics and examines the social agents—advertising agencies, toy manufacturers, actors, retailers, and more—responsible for the Yellow Kid’s successful career. In unraveling the history of comic characters in capitalist consumer culture, Meyer offers new insights into the creation and dissemination of cultural products, reflecting on modern artistic and merchandising phenomena.”