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Opening of the Comics Collection at the Library of the John-.F.-Kennedy-Institute

jfki-Collection_smallIn 2013, the library of the John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies started to systematically develop its comic collection, which had been existing since the early 1970s. With the help of the Einstein Foundation, the library was able to buy more than 500 collections of historical newspaper comic strips, superhero anthologies from all ages, collections of important artists and writers, graphic novels and other current and historical examples of North American graphic narrative art. As part of a cooperation with the Comic Arts Collection at Michigan State University, the library additionally started collecting comic books. Michigan State University will donate double issues from its collection as a continuing donation to the library. The donations span genres and time periods from Action Comics of the 1960s and 70s to science fiction comics from the 1980s and current superhero comics. Together with other popular primary sources as movies, tv series, magazines or newspapers, comics serve as a regular source for research and teaching at the John F. Kennedy Institute. They are of special interest to the Research Unit “Popular Seriality — Aesthetics and Practice”.

The Collection offically opened on Nov. 25, 2014. You can read two talks about the collection that were held at the opening ceremony here:

Julia Mayer: Comics in wissenschaftlichen Bibliotheken und die Comic-Sammlung der Bibliothek des JFKI

Daniel Stein: Comics Studies in Germany: A Look at the John-F.-Kennedy-Institute’s Comics Collection through the Lens of the Research Unit “Popular Seriality – Aesthetics and Practice”

Further Information about the collection can be accessed here: http://www.jfki.fu-berlin.de/en/library/holdings/comics/index.html

Conference Report: Winter School ‘Transmedial Worlds’ in Tuebingen

Termin:
2014 02 24 - 2014 02 28

Poster_Transmedial_WorldsIn February 2014, the Winter School »Transmedial Worlds in Convergent Media Culture« examined the forms and functions of a wide variety of transmedial narratives from a range of different (inter-) disciplinary perspectives. Among the renowed presenters were many ComFor-members and a whole day was dedicated to comic book phenomena. An english conference report by Lukas R.A. Wilde is now available at the Journal of Literary Theory Online.

To the Report

The next Winter School in Tuebingen will take place from January 28th to 30th 2015, examining the interrelation of “Mediality and Multimodality across Media”. Abstracts for participation may be submitted until December 15, 2014 (see Call for Papers).

Keith Knight-University Tour: “They Shoot Black People, Don’t They?”

Termin:
2014 11 17 - 2014 11 25

Keith_Knight_smallCreated by award-winning indie cartoonist Keith Knight, a selection from 20 years of his socio-political cartoons are presented in a PowerPoint-based slide show called “They Shoot Black People, Don’t They?” this week. Knight is the creator behind K Chronicles; his work can be found in the pages of the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, Daily KOS, Medium.com, and MAD Magazine.
The tour’s last presentation in Berlin will also serve as the opening of the JFKI Library’s comics collection.

Knight will visit five different universities throughout Germany, with his “They Shoot Black People, Don’t They?” presentation. The tour schedule is as follows:
• Mon. 11/17/14 (4:00pm) – University of Siegen
• Tue. 11/18/14 (4:15pm) – University of Bremen
• Wed. 11/19/14 (6:00pm) – University of Osnabrück
• Thu. 11/20/14 (8:00pm) – University of Bochum, at Goldkante
• Tue. 11/25/14 (2:00pm) – Free University of Berlin, at the JFK Library

MONITOR 11: New Publications 2014

Im Monitor werden in unregelmäßigen Abständen aktuelle Publikationen kurz vorgestellt, die für die Comicforschung relevant sein könnten. Die kurzen Ankündigungstexte dazu stammen von den jeweiligen Verlagsseiten. Haben Sie Anregungen oder Hinweise auf Neuerscheinungen, die übersehen worden sind und hier erwähnt werden sollten? Das Team freut sich über eine Mail an redaktion@comicgesellschaft.de. -> Zu früheren Monitoren.

Webcomics. Einführung und Typologie

Webcomics. Einführung und Typologie

Björn Hammel
Christian A. Bachmann Verlag
120 Seiten
ISBN 978-3-941030-54-1
€ 9,90
November 2014
Verlagsseite
Björn Hammel, selbst Autor und Zeichner, führt in diesem grundlegenden Buch durch die Geschichte und Entwicklung amerikanischer und deutscher Webcomics von ihrer Entstehung bis heute. Hammel formuliert erstmals eine umfassende und anschlussfähige Typologie des Webcomics, die auch die technologischen Bedingungen des Internets miteinbezieht. Vorgestellt werden Webcomics wie David Farleys Doctor Fun, Sarah Burrinis Das Leben ist kein Ponyhof, Daniel Lieskes Wormwold Saga, Sutus NAWLZ, Hannes Niepolds und Hans Wastlhubers The Church of Cointel sowie viele weitere.

 

Sfar So Far

Sfar So Far. Identity, History, Fantasy, and Mimesis in Joann Sfar’s Graphic Novels

Fabrice Leroy
Leuven University Press
304 Seiten
ISBN 978-9-4627-0006-2
~€ 59,-
September 2014
Verlagsseite
Sfar So Far is the first monograph in any language devoted to the graphic novels of Joann Sfar, an artist whose abundant and innovative work has profoundly marked the contemporary French comics scene. This essay examines how, over the past two decades, Sfar has constructed an idiosyncratic universe with its own thematic and stylistic recurrences: a playful drafting style, contrasting with the thoughtful introduction of historical, theological, and philosophical matters; a sophisticated use of literary, filmic, musical, and pictorial references; an exploration of his own Jewish heritage in the context of a multicultural, postcolonial French society; an affinity for magic realism, fairy tales, heroic fantasy, the fantastique, and science fiction, often filtered through irony or parody; and a predilection for romantic musings and an interest in unconventional love stories.