Comicgesellschaft
“Re-Animate Europe”-Comic competition 2017
Twice already, in 2013 and 2015, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom organised the International Comic Competition “Animate Europe”. End of February, a seven-head strong international expert jury will again select seven comic artists who will then be asked to finish an eight-page graphic short story by Monday, 22. May 2017. The finalists will receive a grant of 800€. Their entries will be published in an anthology at the end of the competition and they will travel around Europe in form of a travelling exhibition. The winner will be announced at an award ceremony on 11 July 2017 at the Belgian Comic Strip Center in Brussels and will receive a prize of 500€.
Organizer’s announcement:
“We’re thrilled to announce that “Animate Europe” will be running for a third round, starting now! This time, we’re looking for your creative ideas to „Re-Animate Europe“! After many external crises and internal shake-ups, from the migration crisis to Brexit to a lack of trust, the once strong and confident body of the European Union seems tattered and tired. The European heartbeat has lost its rhythm. How can we help to get Europe back on its feet? Who or what will be the healer, who can find the magic potion for Europe’s ailing heart? Share your vision with us – send us your „medication“ for a healthy European heartbeat!”
The Bonn Online Bibliography is up to 10,000 entries
Last weekend the Bonn Online Bibliography for Comics Research has arrived at the mark of 10,000 entries and meanwhile gotten beyond this milestone. The free of charge accessible database is collecting scholarly works about all aspects of comics and lets the user research them in numerous ways, through search masks, a keyword catalogue and cross-linking of all the entries. The ComFor is sponsoring the bibliography regularly to carry on its progress. We’d like to congratulate Joachim Trinkwitz to this succcess, who has been overseeing the project since its beginnings in 2008, and we’d also like to express our gratitude for his tireless dedication.
Continue to the Bonn Online Bibliography for Comics Research
PROGRAM: 10th COMFOR-Annual Conference in Frankfurt/M.
1. Frankfurt Symposium on Comics Studies:
“History in Comics – History of Comics”
As the title indicates, the contributions and discussions of the conference will focus on comics and graphic literature with a double perspective: One field of interest will consist of the historical topics and subjects, ranging from antiquity to contemporary history, that are depicted in works of sequential art from all over the world and attract the attention of a broad readership. Contributing considerably to an international archive of cultural memory, comics play an important role in academic research as both historical source material and as depictions and interpretations of historical events. This provides a fertile ground for interdisciplinary research that combines approaches from academic disciplines such as literature, art, media, and cultural studies and history in particular.
Another field of interest – closely linked to and in correspondence with the aspects mentioned above – consists of the historicisation of the phenomenon ‘comic’, its contemporary varieties and its readership(s) as well as the analysis of its international developments. Focusing on history and the historical in picture stories, it is adequate and relevant to ask about the lines of tradition of the medium and their preconditions: not least since the debates on new (or seemingly new) trends such as manga and graphic novel, seriality, media culture, the relation of comics and picture books, comics in traditional and modern media, etc. raise questions on the nature of graphic literature.
Call for Papers: History in Comics – History of Comics
10. Annual Conference of the „Gesellschaft für Comicforschung“ (ComFor)
04/09/2015 – 06/09/2015
Goethe-University Frankfurt, Campus Westend
As the title indicates, the contributions and discussions of the conference will focus on comics and graphic literature with a double perspective: One field of interest will consist of the historical topics and subjects, ranging from antiquity to contemporary history, that are depicted in works of sequential art from all over the world and attract the attention of a broad readership. Contributing considerably to an international archive of cultural memory, comics play an important role in academic research as both historical source material and as depictions and interpretations of historical events. This provides a fertile ground for interdisciplinary research that combines approaches from academic disciplines such as literature, art, media, and cultural studies and history in particular.
Another field of interest – closely linked to and in correspondence with the aspects mentioned above – consists of the historicisation of the phenomenon ‘comic’, its contemporary varieties and its readership(s) as well as the analysis of its international developments. Focusing on history and the historical in picture stories, it is adequate and relevant to ask about the lines of tradition of the medium and their preconditions: not least since the debates on new (or seemingly new) trends such as manga and graphic novel, seriality, media culture, the relation of comics and picture books, comics in traditional and modern media, etc. raise questions on the nature of graphic literature. Continue Reading
A Conversation about Comics and Police Brutality with American Cartoonist Keith Knight
Daniel Stein and American Cartoonist Keith Knight, creator of The K Chronicles, (Th)ink, and The Knight Life, discuss the racial politics behind recent cases of American police brutality such as the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO. Their conversation centers on the political potential of cartoons and comic strips and on the role of the cartoonist as a cultural commentator.
In Keith Knight’s comics and cartoons, racial conflicts and the peculiar experience of the African American community have always been central themes. “I was writing about racism long before I was making fun of presidents,” he noted in an interview we did a few years ago [see Stein 2011]. Whether it’s his longest-running autobiographical strip The K Chronicles, his nationally syndicated daily strip The Knight Life, or his single-panel cartoon (Th)ink, Knight invests his take on the ironies and absurdities of living in contemporary America with a keen sense of personal insight and a broad spectrum of humor ranging from visual slapstick and verbal puns to full-blown satire. Even though he often tells his audiences that the bulk of his material has a positive rather than an angry slant (an assessment that is certainly true), some of his most controversial and most poignant work attacks the status quo of American race relations.
Continue Reading the Interview
CfP: History in Comics – History of Comics
Termin:
2015 09 04 - 2015 09 06
10. Wissenschaftstagung der Gesellschaft für Comicforschung (ComFor)
10. Annual Conference of the „Gesellschaft für Comicforschung“ (ComFor)
04/09/2015 – 06/09/2015
Goethe-University Frankfurt, Campus Westend
As the title indicates, the contributions and discussions of the conference will focus on comics and graphic literature with a double perspective: One field of interest will consist of the historical topics and subjects, ranging from antiquity to contemporary history, that are depicted in works of sequential art from all over the world and attract the attention of a broad readership. Contributing considerably to an international archive of cultural memory, comics play an important role in academic research as both historical source material and as depictions and interpretations of historical events. This provides a fertile ground for interdisciplinary research that combines approaches from academic disciplines such as literature, art, media, and cultural studies and history in particular.
Another field of interest – closely linked to and in correspondence with the aspects mentioned above – consists of the historicisation of the phenomenon ‘comic’, its contemporary varieties and its readership(s) as well as the analysis of its international developments. Focusing on history and the historical in picture stories, it is adequate and relevant to ask about the lines of tradition of the medium and their preconditions: not least since the debates on new (or seemingly new) trends such as manga and graphic novel, seriality, media culture, the relation of comics and picture books, comics in traditional and modern media, etc. raise questions on the nature of graphic literature. Continue Reading
(Deutsch) Schweigeminute
New ComFor-Homepage
Welcome to the new ComFor homepage!
At present, it is still under construction. If you see something that needs improvement, please write to comfor@comicgesellschaft.de