Book Review Publication: "The Ten-Cent Plague"

"The Not-So-Untold Story of the Great Comic-Book Scare," my review essay of David Hajdu's recent book The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America, has been published in the May 23rd, 2008 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education (specifically, in The Chronicle Review, "The Magazine of Ideas"). Unfortunately, you can only read the article if you or your academic institution subscribe to the CHE. Once a sufficient length of time passes, though, I'll be able to post the full text - or a much longer version - here.

It was an honor for this independent scholar (i.e., me) to be invited to contribute to the Chronicle. I've now officially added my voice to Plague's incredibly large chorus of reviewers. Be sure to check out our Ten-Cent Plague information page for more information about the book and its reception.

Now Available - Erotic Comics: A Graphic History, vol. 1

This book went on sale today in finer comics shops - and in bookstores as well, I think. I'll revise this post later on, because I've got more to say about it - including the "with" credit on the cover :-)

Massive Thanks to Tim Pilcher for the opportunity to help with the book. And to the all-knowing Mike "ComicsDC" Rhode for the "on-sale" tip earlier this afternoon.

Tales from the Green Scrapbook #2: Stan Lee - Man Behind a Marvel

Hi, Heroes! Hang on to your hats - this episode of Tales from the Green Scrapbook spotlights the first newspaper article about Stan Lee I ever read. Sure, I'd read his essays in Origins of Marvel Comics, and I'd devoured all the comics reference books in my local library; but here was actual attention to my favorite comics writer in the daily newspaper. I couldn't grab the paper from my Dad's hands fast enough.

What a disappointment. It's here I learned an important lesson: Never believe everything you read. Even at age eleven or so, I knew enough to recognize that the article was full of mistakes, from simple typos to downright errors of fact. And the accompanying illustration was wildly, laughably, and infuriatingly inaccurate. As a true-blue Marvelite, I was incensed!

Now, with the benefit of hindsight, I imagine that whoever had to write this (unsigned) piece knew next to nothing about the topic, if not less. I can't really fault the reporter: It's impossible for newspaper writers to be experts on everything they write, especially feature writers. How could they be? And there's only so much time for research, especially on deadline. But isn't an editor's job to make sure that the reporter gets the facts right? Or at least find a proofreader?

Maybe it's asking too much for complete accuracy in what was obviously considered a fluff piece. Thirty-some years ago (the approximate date of this article) the mainstream media's awareness of all matters comics was significantly lower than it is today. Furthermore, Lee's own public profile as the face and founding father of Marvel Comics (some would call that "inaccurate self-mythologizing") was still developing.

Still, my disappointment was palpable. I must have archived this article as a reminder that even I, at age eleven, was smart enough to recognize ignorance when I saw it.

So here we go: A picky, petty, unabashedly fanboy-ish deconstruction of the article's most glaring failings. For the maximum impact, imagine a serious young fan yelling out loud when he originally ran across each of the following passages.

This is The Geek Stuff.

1: And artist, plotter, and arguably co-writer Jack Kirby was who? (In all fairless to Stan, the reporter doesn't give this as a quotation. He's long said that he'd always talked about the artists with reporters, but that they often left that part out. I believe Lee, especially given that he does gush about artists like Kirby and Steve Ditko throughout Origins of Marvel Comics.)

2: Who? OK, They mean Marvel's Captain Marvel (actually Mar-vell, a Kree-born warrior - don't ask), not the Big Red Cheese who shouts "SHAZAM!" The character allowed Marvel to claim and trademark the character-name, a decade after Fawcett Comics lost a lawsuit to DC and had to cease publication of the original Captain Marvel. Stan did write the first appearance of Marvel's Marvel, but Roy Thomas took over the scripting duties with the next issue. I wouldn't be surprised if it was all Thomas' idea, with Lee there just to lend the first appearance more "authenticity." So: "The Second"? Not only did Stan probably not create the character, as the article implies, but that nomenclature is just wrong, wrong, wrong! (Remember, you were warned that there would be some picky fanboy stuff...)

3: Captain America: Created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. In 1940. Can you "beget" something that was already begat nearly a quarter-century beforehand? No.

4: No, Xom was "The Menace from Outer Space!" We have archaeological evidence to confirm this:

Thank you thank you thank you, Monsterblog!

5: Thomgarr did not exist, as far as my research has been able to determine, and therefore was not an alien, anti-social or otherwise.

(I imagine that either Lee or the reporter weren't striving for accuracy here; they most likely just dreamed up these titles because they sounded right enough. But still.)

6: Reed was the only scientist. Ben was a test pilot, Sue was "the girlfriend," and Johnny was "the girlfriend's little brother." (Really, Ben should have been the only one qualified to fly in that rocket. Maybe Reed as well, since he designed it, but it's doubtful that his scrawny frame would have survived training. But Sue? Johnny? Really? Although I hardly gave questions like those more than a passing consideration back then...)

7: His whole body, dangit!

8: Who?

9: It's not The Thing who's the stupid one here. (He's not always the smartest tool in the shed, granted, but an "incredibly stupid" test-pilot wouldn't last long, would he?)

10: I suppose we can give this one a pass. I'm not sure if he's actually the first of these characters, but Prince Namor, the Sub Mariner, who first appeared in Marvel Comics #1 (Nov. 1939), does fit the description. Although Stan had nothing do to with creating the character.

And "anti-hero" would have saved a whole line of type.

11. Not by anyone involved with this article...

12. Not-exactly.

13. Is he not... Galactus?!!
I thought so.

14: Marvelite. Or True Believer. Or Marvel Zombie. Marvelophile just sounds stupid.


OK, that's the worst of the text. Now let's check out the accompanying illustration. It's a collage purporting to represent "Some of Stan Lee's comic characters." There's no wonder why the illustrator didn't take any credit, or that there are no copyrights listed.

Hommina hommina hommina WHA?

I didn't get it then, and I don't get it now. The only thing I can imagine is a scenario involving dialog like this:

"We've got space to fill on that funnybook article. I think it's about superheroes or something? Hey, you! Designated office flunky! Head to the comic book clip-art file and throw something together. With your eyes closed. And be sure to use at least one image from the 'Amateur Renderings' box. STAT!"

What else could result in a collage where arguably 70% of the content should not be there? Let's break it down, with visual emphasis or de-emphasis as necessary:

A) Spider-Man: Check. Co-created with Steve Ditko. (Yes, there are arguments that Kirby should receive credit. And Jonathan Ross got Stan to admit that, deep down, he feels that Spider-Man is his creation alone.) Even given those controversies, I'll say "full credit"; at least Lee wrote the character from the very beginning: 20%

B) Captain America: See #3 above. However, Stan did write the character for quite a long time, and along with Kirby he re-introduced Cap in Avengers #4. So half-credit: 10%

C) Green Lantern: Published by DC Comics, not Marvel. Stan had absolutely nothing to do with this character. At all. Ever. (This book does not count, fanboys.) 0%

D) Green Arrow: Published by DC Comics, not Marvel. Stan had absolutely nothing to do with this character. At all. Ever. 0%

E) The SHAZAM! Captain Marvel: By this time, SHAZAM! was owned and published by DC. Stan had absolutely nothing to do with this character. At all. Ever. (This book does not count, fanboys.) I'd almost be tempted to give this one 5%, just because of the possible confusion noted in #2 above. But not with a horrendous drawing like that; no freakin' way. 0%

And now, the whole thing:

OK, that's far more than enough on this one. But thanks for indulging me; my inner eleven-year-old has been waiting 30 years to get this off his chest.

There. Now I feel cleansed.

Be sure to join us next time on Tales from the Green Scrapbook, when we spotlight America's war on terrorists - thirty years ago...

More from The Green Scrapbook: Part 0: Intro || Part 1: Howard the Duck

This Saturday is Free Comic Book Day!

Don't forget: This Saturday, May 3rd, is Free Comic Book Day. Yes, it's exactly what it sounds like: Go to your local comics shop and pick up one (or more) of dozens of free comic books. Your retailers had to pay for the books beforehand, though; so thank them by purchasing some other books or merchandise, too.

There's practically any kind of comic book you could imagine: all-ages humor, superheroes, manga, adventure, media tie-ins, alternative comics, and more. This is a great way to discover comics for the first time, to try a title you've never read before, or to introduce comics to someone who's never read them before - take a child!

More information at the Free Comic Book Day website.

Bard College's "3rd Annual Symposium on the Comic Book": Saturday, April 26, 2008

Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY will be hosting this event on Saturday:

Third Annual Symposium on the Comic Book
Saturday, April 26, 2008

Presentation of undergraduate research on graphic literature, exhibition of student comic art, and screening of important comic book film.

Time: 5:30 pm
Location: Olin Building, Room 102
Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504-5000
Contact: bstevens [at] bard.edu, 845-758-7283
[Bard's calendar posting here]

The conference is free and open to the public. Directions to and maps of the campus may be found here. To locate the Franklin W. Olin Humanities Building and Auditorium, visit Bard's Campus Map and Tour page. You even can take a virtual tour: Olin is the third building down in the second column on the left-hand side of the page.

I'd like to thank the conference's student organizers, Jon Gorga and Arla Berman, as well as Dr. Benjamin Stevens of the Classical Studies Program, for inviting me to be a speaker. My presentation, "Comics Scholarship is Not an Oxymoron," will discuss the state of comics scholarship in the U.S., focusing on the wealth of resources for research and study we now have available. I attended the symposium last year, and I'm honored to be a guest this year.

Tales from the Green Scrapbook: Howard the Duck

Let's begin our tour of The Green Scrapbook with its very first entry:

Please, please, PLEASE forget the monstrosity that was the 1986 "film"; the original Howard the Duck comics were little gems of science fiction, social satire, and sincerely twisted humor. In other words, they made perfect sense in the cultural mindscape of the latter 1970s.

I didn't record the date of this article from The Milwaukee Journal; but it must have appeared sometime after June 6, 1977. That's the start date for Howard's short-lived newspaper comic strip (based on the comic book), which, as the story noted then, "is syndicated in close to 70 daily newspapers." The article covers ground now familiar to Howardians, from rumors surrounding the spotty availability of the book's first issue to Howard's 1976 presidential campaign (see a "TV news report" here).

It takes but a click to embiggen the image...

I vividly recall buying one issue in particular: Number 16 (September 1977), "Zen and the Art of Comic Book Writing." It's quite possible that the newspaper article might have piqued my interest. But more than that: How could an already-enthralled eleven-year-old comics collector resist the cover-blurb "Special Once in a Lifetime Album Issue!"?

I hadn't read any Howard comics until that time, and this one definitely wasn't the best introduction one might hope for. The book's story content wasn't available at press time, so writer Steve Gerber substituted a lengthy, head-trippy meta-essay in which he and Howard discuss storytelling in general, comic books in particular, and pretty much everything else during a cross-country trip. (Readers are reassured on page 1, though, that the previous issue's story -- featuring a last-page appearance by the villainous Dr. Bong -- would resume in the next issue.)

The book is laid out in two-page spreads, each with a "chapter" of text and an illustration by one of a number of artists. Example the first -- a meditation on the Grand Canyon:


And example the second -- The "obligatory comic book fight scene":


I had no idea what to make of all this.

But I held onto the book -- somehow I knew that there was more there than I was able to grok at the time.

Sadly, Steve Gerber passed away only a couple of months ago. (For a sense of how valued Gerber's work has become, see Tom Spurgeon's overwhelming list of tributes.) New of his death prompted me to re-read his run on the Duck as collected in The Essential Howard the Duck. Holy cow, this stuff was fantastic! Fun, bizarre, messed-up, ridiculous, and, yeah, thoughtful, at least in funny animal genre-busting, assembly-line, mainstream comic book kind of way. Are there embarrassments along the way? Of course. But overall the satire bites more often than it merely gums. And issue 16? By far, the best "full-in" issue of any comic book, ever. Hardly filler, it's chock-full of intellectual vitamins, emotional minerals, and all-natural visual flavorings.

There's so much more to say -- I haven't even begun to explore the bravura artwork by stalwarts like Gene Colan, Val Mayerik, Frank Brunner, and even Carmine Infantino. Or the non-Gerber revivals. Or the lawsuits. Or Gerber's return to Howard. Perhaps another time...

---

I hope you enjoyed this first installment of Tales from the Green Scrapbook. Next time: A prose portrait of The Man, with an illustration that angered me so much I threw the newspaper across the room before I ran to grab the scissors...

Cover images from the Grand Comics Database.

Tales from the Green Scrapbook #0: Here Beginneth the Chronicle...

ComicsResearch.org began simply, a decade or so ago: it was a web page listing the comics reference books I owned at the time. It included a few dozen titles, maybe more. I'd hoped eventually to track down all such books published in America, a goal which at that point wasn't entirely out of reach.

Ahh, how times change.

But some things don't change, like my passion for amassing everything about comics I can find. While I'm not sure when I first started reading comic books, I can't remember ever not reading comic strips. The words-and-pictures format fascinated me; and comic books, once I discovered them, held me in a grip that only true junkies can understand. The research / hoarding bug bit me around age ten, when I first discovered that there were occasional stories about comic books published in The Milwaukee Journal, our local afternoon newspaper. Soon thereafter, live-action super hero TV shows began appearing, so TV Guide became another source for my collection. Even Weekly Reader Senior cover-featured Spider-Man in 1977.

I'd dutifully clip out whatever I found and tape these treasures into a well-used green notebook. There weren't many pages left, so I economized on space, often to ridiculous measures. I'd cut out stories as carefully as possible, usually reducing the margins around text to practically nil. I'd also trim columns of newspaper text to exactly the length of the notebook pages, and assemble smaller bits into longer columns. In this way I usually could fit complete stories onto a single page. It wasn't until years later that I realized (1) margins help readability; (2) recording the dates of publication would have been a nice idea; and (3) clippings that stretch to the very edges of the page usually get crinkled, ragged, or just plain ol' destroyed.

Sadly for adult me, this particular bout of collecting mania was short-lived, lasting only a couple of years or so. I've got no idea why, apart perhaps from sloth; after all, I'd only filled half of the notebook's pages.

But I did manage to keep the notebook -- and more amazingly, I've recently found it. It now occupies a place of honor on one of my research bookshelves. For whatever reason, I've decided to archive the contents here, in a series of posts entitled Tales from the Green Scrapbook. Consider it a quaint and curious archaeological exhibit.

So watch this space, beginning later today, for our first thrilling installment. Here's a clue: Much like its subject, the article is now trapped in a world it never made...

Update Spotlight: David Hajdu's The Ten-Cent Plague

For the life of me, I can't recall another recent book about comics which has received as many reviews as David Hajdu's new history The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008). It re-tells the story of the controversy surrounding comic books in America and how it grew into the 1950s, when - spurred on in part by Fredric Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent - Congressional hearings were held concerning the possible contribution of comic books to juvenile delinquency.

The story it tells is well-known (if not always well-understood) by most comics scholars and aficionados of American comic books. However, it seems that the general public - or at least most book reviewers - don't remember much about it at all, if the content of many of the book's reviews is any indication.

Given the book's high media profile, we've decided to collect links to all of the reviews we can find, as soon as they appear. You can find the results at our bibliography page for The Ten-Cent Plague.

We'll post our own review shortly. But in the meantime, if you run across any reviews of the book, either in print or online, that we haven't listed, please let us know and we'll add them. Thanks!

P.S.: We're aided in large part here by the comics research bibliography's Mike Rhode, who also runs the blog ComicsDC (it's about comics in the Washington, DC area, not the comic book publisher of a similar name. And Tom Spurgeon of the Comics Reporter blog has let folks know about our project, too. Thanks, guys!

Latest Additions and Updates to Our Bibliography

Here are the latest ComicsResearch.org bibliography entries that we've either added or revised since our last update. As always, if you have suggestions or would like to contribute reviews, please let us know.

Bart Beaty. Fredric Wertham and the Critique of Mass Culture. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2005. 224p.

John Benson. Confessions, Romances, Secrets and Temptations: Archer St. John and the St. John Romance Comics. Seattle: Fantagraphics Books, 20007.

Dennis Dooley and Gary Engel, eds. Superman at Fifty!: The Persistence of a Legend! New York: Collier, 1988.

Danny Fingeroth. Disguised as Clark Kent Jews, Comics, and the Creation of the Superhero. New York & London: Continuum, 2007.

John Fulce. Seduction of the Innocent Revisited. Lafayette: Huntington House, 1990.

David Hajdu. The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008.

Robert C. Harvey. Meanwhile... : A Biography of Milton Caniff, Creator of Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon. Seattle: Fantagraphics Books, 2007.

Robert C. Harvey. Milton Caniff: Conversations. University Press of Mississippi, 2002.

Ann Miller. Reading Bande Dessinée: Critical Approaches to French-Language Comic Strip. Bristol, UK; Chicago, IL: Intellect Ltd, 2007.

Arlen Schumer. The Silver Age of Comic Book Art. Portland, OR: Collectors Press, 2003.

CFP: ICAF / International Comics Arts Forum (May 1; October 9-11)

ICAF (a conference I helped organize for several years) is a most prestigious comics event, and well-worth attending. Note the new venue. (I never did get to attend the sessions at the Library of Congress, sigh...)

The Thirteenth Annual
INTERNATIONAL COMIC ARTS FORUM (ICAF)
October 9-11, 2008
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago

The International Comic Arts Forum invites scholarly paper presentations for its thirteenth annual meeting, to be held at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, from Thursday, October 9, through Saturday, October 11, 2008. The deadline to submit proposals is May 1, 2008 (see below for proposal guidelines and submission information). Proposals will be refereed via blind review.

We welcome original proposals from a variety of disciplines and theoretical perspectives on any aspect of comics or cartooning, including comic strips, comic books, albums, graphic novels, manga, webcomics, political cartoons, gag cartoons, and caricature. Studies of aesthetics, production, distribution, reception, and social, ideological, and historical significance are all equally welcome, as are studies that address larger theoretical issues linked to comics or cartooning, such as image/text relationships. In keeping with its mission, ICAF is particularly interested in studies that reflect an international perspective.

ICAF is proud to be hosted this year by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a leader in art education and a vital part of Chicago's arts community. In order to create a conference program that reaches out to that community and reflects Chicago's rich heritage of comic art, we particularly invite proposals which touch on cartoonists and publications from the city and surrounding region. Chicago is a major hub of American cartooning, the wellspring of a tremendous variety of work: from the political cartoons of John T. McCutcheon and Bill Mauldin, to the pioneering comic strips of the Chicago Tribune, to the seminal underground cartooning in the Chicago Mirror, Chicago Seed, and Bijou Funnies, to the "independent" comics boom of the 1980s, to contemporary alternative comics by Chris Ware and a host of others. In hopes of building a conference that responds to this important heritage, ICAF invites proposals with special interest in comics and cartoons from Chicago and the American Midwest.

PROPOSAL GUIDELINES: For its refereed presentations, ICAF prefers argumentative, thesis-driven papers that are clearly linked to larger critical, artistic, or cultural issues; we strive to avoid presentations that are merely summative or survey-like in character. We can accept only original papers that have not been presented or accepted for publication elsewhere. Presenters should assume an audience versed in comics and the fundamentals of comics studies. Where possible, papers should be illustrated by relevant images. In all cases, presentations should be timed to finish within the strict limit of twenty (20) minutes (that is, roughly eight to nine typed, double-spaced pages). Proposals should not exceed 300 words.

AUDIOVISUAL EQUIPMENT: ICAF's preferred format for the display of images is MS PowerPoint. Regretfully we cannot accommodate non-digital media such as transparencies, slides, or VHS tapes. Presenters should bring their PowerPoint or other electronic files on a USB key or CD, not just on the hard drive of a portable computer. We cannot guarantee the compatibility of our equipment with presenters' individual laptops.

REVIEW PROCESS: All proposals will be subject to blind review by the ICAF Executive Committee, with preference given to proposals that observe the above standards. The final number of papers accepted will depend on the needs of the conference program. Due to increasing interest in the conference, in recent years ICAF has typically been able to accept only one third to one half of the proposals it has received.

SEND ABSTRACTS (with COMPLETE contact information) by May 1, 2008, to Prof. Cécile Danehy, ICAF Academic Coordinator, via email at cdanehy [at] wheatoncollege.edu.

Receipt of proposals will be acknowledged immediately; if you do not receive acknowledgment within three days of sending your proposal, please resubmit. Applicants should expect to receive confirmation of acceptance or rejection by May 16, 2008.

CFP: Popular Print Culture (University of Alberta, 27-30 August 2008)

Doesn't mention comics, but definitely of interest. Also, see the website for "Wanted: Local Comics Book Artists!"

Call for Papers and Presentations
Continuities and Innovations:
Popular Print Cultures -- Past and Present, Local and Global
University of Alberta Edmonton
Alberta, Canada 27-30 August 2008

Papers and presentations are invited for any aspect of the conference theme. Proposals should be 200 to 300 words in length and clearly state the central theme or argument, the kind of popular print or related media to be considered, and its social and cultural location in time and place.

Please indicate any equipment requirements (data projector; conference computer; overhead projector; video or dvd player; audio player, etc). A brief resumé should accompany each proposal, stating the proposer’s name, address, contact information, and relevant academic, professional, or personal background and knowledge of form of popular print culture discussed.

Send proposals and resumés by email as pasted-in documents or attachments in an up-to-date format to: popprint [at] ualberta.ca. Or mail hard copies to:

Popprint
Kirsten MacLeod
Department of English and Film Studies
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta
Canada T6G 2E5

Questions to either address.

Deadline for proposals is 30 May 2008. But space on the program is limited, and proposals will be considered on a first-come, first-accommodated basis.

This conference and popular arts festival consider what most people read, here and elsewhere, now and in the past. Popular print characteristically includes both words and images, and is intertwined with music and performance. In these forms it has been and continues to be one of the most powerful cultural forces in history, morphing into new media and new technologies, from the phonograph record through radio, film, and television to video games and the internet.

Popular print culture is now a global phenomenon, with striking similarities in what most people read, anywhere. Yet there are also striking local differences, inflections, and variations in what most people read, here or elsewhere. "“Continuities and Innovations"” will bring together all those interested in popular print culture--readers and writers, publishers and fans, librarians and collectors, teachers and students, and of course researchers in many academic disciplines.

Proposals are invited from all of these groups, directly addressing the conference theme, or taking up any aspect of “"Popular Print Cultures, Past and Present, Local and Global."” Topics can include relations between popular print and other media, between popular and “"high”" literatures, between words and images, between words and music, between past and present forms, and so on. Presentations may be from writers, readers, publishers, teachers, students, distributors, sellers, librarians, illustrators, opponents, promoters, adapters to other media, fans, collectors, et al. Papers and presentations can be on any relevant topic— -- reading popular print and creating it, writing it and illustrating it, publishing it and selling it, counteracting it or transforming it, adapting it and influencing it, censoring it and living it, and more. Participants may consider popular print and politics, religion, sexuality, class, ethnicity, “"race,"” nationality, or any
other theme.

Google "“Edmonton Alberta"” and "“University of Alberta”" for information on the venue. Program and other information, including travel and accommodation details, regularly updated, will be available on the conference website: www.arts.ualberta.ca/popprint

CFP: The Cult of Difficulty: Critical Approaches to the Comics of Chris Ware (collection; March 10)

Having published one of the first academic essays on Chris Ware's work myself, I'm very much looking forward to this volume!

Call for submissions for
The Cult of Difficulty:
Critical Approaches to the Comics of Chris Ware
edited by Dave Ball, Dickinson College, and Martha Kuhlman, Bryant University

The Cult of Difficulty is a proposed collection of essays on the work of Chicago-based contemporary graphic novelist/comic book artist/cartoonist Chris Ware [see ComicsResearch.org's information on Ware]. Author of Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Kid on Earth (2000, winner of the 2001 Guardian First Book Award), Quimby the Mouse (2003), and The Acme Novelty Library (2005), Ware has quickly emerged as one of the central figures in contemporary comics. We are currently seeking abstracts for 20- to 25-page articles that analyze Ware’'s work, with particular interest in multi- and interdisciplinary approaches to his oeuvre. A university press has already expressed interest in this collection, and we are hoping to build upon the MLA panel on Ware'’s comics this past December. Essays that address the following questions are especially encouraged, but other topics are also welcome:

• How do Ware'’s texts raise questions about representations of race, gender, class, and disability?
• How has Ware'’s work as an editor, anthologist, and collector shaped the landscape of contemporary comics and informed his own corpus?
• In what ways are questions of narrative and temporality engaged and complicated in Ware's texts? What insights do narratological and semiotic approaches offer to a reading of Ware’'s comics?
• How does Ware's work intersect with advertising culture, web sites, media, and packaging?
• What is Ware's relationship to the literary canon (both in terms of graphic and conventional literature) and how does he re-imagine our relationship to the idea of literariness?

Please send 500-1000 word abstracts (or completed articles), c.v., and contact information in Word format to warecollection [at] gmail.com by March 10th. Papers from a diversity of disciplinary orientations and methodological approaches are especially encouraged.

Image: A self-portrait by Mr. Ware.

World TB Cup: Comic Book Competition

Posted on behalf of Vittorio Cammarota of the World Health Organization:

The Stop TB Partnership is producing a 16-page educational comic book that will provide key information about tuberculosis. The comic book will feature Mr. Figo as the main character and will target an audience of children and young adults. The objective is to reach these audiences through a reputable and appealing voice.

The educational comic book will be available in the six official UN languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish) plus Portuguese for distribution around the world. Plans are that famous writers or other personalities will write the adaptations in these languages. The educational comic book will be distributed in collaboration with other United Nations organizations and partners.

The Stop TB Partnership — with the support of [international] Partners [listed at the website] — is conducting an international competition to design images for the educational comic book on tuberculosis featuring Luis Figo.

Interested artists should visit this website for the competition's official rules and scripts in all seven languages. This looks like a worthy cause, and a great use of comics.

SPLAT! A Graphic Novel Symposium (NYC, Saturday, March 15, 2008)

I just received this press release from the organizers of SPLAT! This looks to be a wide-ranging and informative event. Perhaps I'll see some of you there...

SPLAT! A Graphic Novel Symposium will take place on Saturday, March 15 at the New York Center of Independent Publishing (NYCIP) in Manhattan, with keynote speaker Scott McCloud. The NYCIP is a non-profit educational program (part of the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen) dedicated to promoting and supporting independent publishers across the United States.

We welcome writers, artists, publishers, agents, new readers and long-standing comics fans alike to learn more about the fastest growing movement in publishing and meet some of the best creators working in the medium today!

The SPLAT! Symposium will also supply prospective creators with a unique opportunity to learn what it takes to be a graphic novelist. There will be three different tracks of panels, seminars, and workshops, followed by the SPLAT! Reception with Scott McCloud.

The panels will be led by a number of key writers, editors and artists from the graphic novel world including: Jim Killen, buyer Barnes & Noble; David Saylor, Editor Scholastic; Raina Telgemeier, artist, The Baby-Sitters Club; Ted Rall, creator, Attitude: The New Subversive Political Cartoonists; CB Cebulski, writer/editor, Marvel Comics; Bob Mecoy, Founder, Bob Mecoy Literary Agency; R. Sikoryak, creator, The Seduction of Mike; Brian Wood, creator, Demo, DMZ and Local; Nick Bertozzi, creator, The Salon; and Charles Brownstein, executive director, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Please visit www.nycip.org/graphicnovelsymposium to register for this unique event.

Happy Valentine's Comics Day!

We've taken the opportunity this St. Valentine's Day to rectify a gross oversight on our part. Our genres section hasn't included romance comics! So we've begun that section today, sharing the love about:

• Benson, John. 2007. Confessions, Romances, Secrets and Temptations: Archer St. John and the St. John Romance Comics. Seattle: Fantagraphics. 96pp. ISBN-10: 1560977914; ISBN-13: 978-1560977919
• Nolan, Michelle. 2008. Love on the Racks: A History of American Romance Comics. McFarland & Company. ISBN-10: 0786435194; ISBN-13: 978-0786435197 (hardcover).
• Robbins, Trina. 1999. From Girls to Grrrlz: A History of Women's Comics From Teens to Zines. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. ISBN 0811821994 (paper).
  

As always, please contact us with suggestions.

Image: Considered the first American romance comic book, Young Romance #1 (September-October 1947) was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby (the team who also created, amongst myriad other titles, Captain America). The Grand Comics Database has information on the original comic as well as DC Comics' reprint from 2000.

"The Incredible Mr. Poe: Edgar Allan Poe in the Comics" at The Edgar Allan Poe Museum

Posted on behalf of my good friend M. Thomas Inge, an expert not only on American Literature-based comics but also on too many other topics to recount here... [Feb. 19 Update: Note the updated information on the opening reception, below.]

In 1941, Russian immigrant Albert Lewis Kanter tried to introduce young people in the United States to fine literature by incorporating the classics into something they were already reading—comic books. In 1944, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" appeared in Kanter’s Classic Comics series, and ever since adaptations of both Poe and his works have been regular features in comic books and graphic novels, many of which will be on display April 25 to October 31 at the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia. Poe has even appeared as a comics hero himself alongside Batman and Scooby Doo.

M. Thomas Inge, Blackwell Professor of Humanities at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia, and Poe Foundation trustee, has studied comic art for over forty years and published several books on the subject. His collection of comic books from childhood will form the core of the upcoming exhibition which is curated by Richmond artist Chris Semtner.

Also featured will be original artwork by such comic artists and illustrators as Rick Geary, Richard Corben, Gahan Wilson, Gris Grimly, Bill Griffith, and Patrick McDonnell, as well as proof sheets and original pages for some of the Classics Illustrated and other comic book versions loaned by collector Jim Vacca of Boulder, Colorado. An illustrated book and catalog will be available for purchase from the Museum Gift Shop with proceeds going to the Museum.

This will be the first exhibition ever devoted to the comic books and graphic narratives that have helped keep Poe’s name and works in the public eye for over sixty years. An opening reception will be held Friday evening April 25, 7:00 to 10:00 p.m., and there will also be an introductory lecture Thursday evening April 24, 7:00 to 10:00 p.m., with an Unhappy Hour, food, and music, free and open to the public. All events are open to the public. The Edgar Allan Poe Museum is located at 1914 East Main Street, Richmond, Virginia 23223, phone 804 648-5523. For more information contact Rebecca Jones at becca [at] poemuseum.org or call toll free (888) 21EAPOE.

Image from the brilliant Michael Kupperman's equally brilliant book "Snake 'n' Bacon's Cartoon Cabaret".

Study SF & Fantasy Writing with Neil Gaiman

Clarion is accepting applications for this year's Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers' Workshop, to be held June 29 - August 9, 2008 at University of California, San Diego. The instructors for 2008 include Kelly Link, James Patrick Kelly, Mary Anne Mohanraj, Nalo Hopkinson, Geoff Ryman, and Neil Gaiman. From the website:

The Clarion Workshop is an intensive six-week summer program focused on fundamentals particular to the writing of science fiction and fantasy. It is considered a premier proving and training ground for aspiring writers of science fiction, fantasy and horror. Now in its fortieth year, the Clarion Workshop boasts national and international visibility. Instructors are among the most respected writers and editors working in the field today. Over one third of our graduates have been published and many have gone on to critical acclaim.

Applications are due by March 1st. For more information on applying, click here.

Latest Additions and Updates

Here are the bibliography entries that we've either added or revised since our last update. As always, if you have suggestions or would like to contribute reviews, please let us know.

Batman Unauthorized: Vigilantes, Jokers, and Heroes in Gotham City. 2008. Ed. Dennis O'Neil. Dallas, TX: Benbella Books.

Danny Fingeroth. 2004. Superman on the Couch: What Superheroes Really Tell Us about Ourselves and Our Society. New York & London: Continuum.

Danny Fingeroth. 2007. Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics, and the Creation of the Superhero. Foreword by Stan Lee. Popular Culture and Television series. New York & London: Continuum.

Nancy Goldstein. 2008. Jackie Ormes: The First African American Woman Cartoonist. University of Michigan Press.

Graphic Opinions: Editorial Cartoonists and Their Art. 1998. Ed. Jack Colldeweih and Kalman Goldstein. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press.

Roz Kaveney. 2008. Superheroes!: Capes and Crusaders in Comics and Films. London and New York: I.B. Tauris.

The Psychology of Superheroes: An Unauthorized Exploration. 2008. Ed. Robin Rosenberg. Psychology of Popular Culture series. Dallas, TX: Benbella Books.

Tom Roberts. 2008. Alex Raymond: His Life and Art. Foreword by George Lucas; Introduction by James Bama. Silver Spring, MD: Adventure House.

Kerry D. Soper. 2008 [forthcoming]. Garry Trudeau: Doonesbury and the Aesthetics of Satire. Great Comics Artists Series. University Press of Mississippi.

Simcha Weinstein. 2006. Up, Up, and Oy Vey!: How Jewish History, Culture, and Values Shaped the Comic Book Superhero. Leviathan Press.

CFP: Reading Between the Panels (Scan Journal; due Mar. 31, 2008)

Scan is a project of the Media Department @ Macquarie University, Sydney. This CFP is also available at Scan Journal's website.

Call for Papers:
Reading between the panels

Edited by:
Can Yalcinkaya – canyalcinkaya@yahoo.com
Dr Steve Collins – scollins@scmp.mq.edu.au

Comic books have been often treated deridingly as a hybrid of art and literature, but ultimately a product of low culture. Works by artists, writers and scholars including Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, Art Spiegelman, Frank Miller, Scott McCloud, Will Brooker and Danny Fingeroth have forced a reappraisal of the space occupied by comic books. Over the last two decades comic book stories have diverged from hero-centric mythologies to more broadly explore areas such as the full gamut of the human psyche, sexuality, and politics. Beyond the stories themselves, the comic industry and economy has expanded to encompass underground, adult and alternative productions as well lucrative movie adaptations. This issue of Scan Journal invites submissi