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Call for Papers: Transitions 10 – New Directions in Comics Studies

By John Freeman on 26 October 2026 • ( 0 )

The team behind Transitions have released their Call for Papers for their comics studies conference next March at Birkbeck University of London.

Call for Papers: Transitions 10 – New Directions in Comics Studies

Transitions is a comics studies conference originally initiated by postgraduate researchers from four London-based universities: University of the Arts London, Kingston University, Birkbeck, University of London, and City, University of London.

The conference aims to provide an open and supportive space for postgraduate students, early career researchers, artists, and scholars to explore new directions in comics studies, including its boundaries, methodologies, media forms, and interdisciplinary possibilities.

“Transitions has previously been held for nine editions,” explains Dr Ian Horton, Professor of Graphic Communication, Design School, London College of Communication, author of Art History for Comics and Seeing Comics through Art History.

“After a period of pause, we are very pleased to be relaunching the conference in March 2027 at Birkbeck, University of London. As we mark the 10th edition, we hope to continue its spirit of openness, experimentation, and cross-disciplinary exchange.”

Here’s the full brief…

Comics studies today spans from formal analysis and media specificity to historical, political, and industrial inquiry, extending further into reader engagement, transmedia circulation, and emerging digital and experimental practices. Transitions is a long-running, free-to-attend comics studies conference developed through collaboration between comics researchers across several London universities. As we mark the 10th edition of Transitions, we are excited to once again open up a space for new voices, fresh conversations, and interdisciplinary approaches to comics.

The conference is primarily aimed at postgraduate students and early career researchers, while also welcoming creators, independent researchers, established scholars and anyone with an interest in comics studies and practice. We hope to provide a supportive space for productive debate, the sharing of new ideas and the development of future collaborations.

In keeping with the open spirit of Transitions, this edition has no prescribed theme. We invite contributions that engage with comics in any form, from any perspective, and across any disciplinary or creative approach.

Possible topics may include, but are not limited to: comics form, media specificity, page, panel, sequence and materiality; print, digital, webtoon, platform-based, hybrid and experimental comics; comics histories, archives, memory, historiography and marginalised genealogies; embodiment, identity, race, gender, sexuality, disability, affect and everyday life; world-making, speculative imaginaries and alternative forms of storytelling; publishing cultures, labour, authorship, copyright, translation and global circulation; comics pedagogy, education, activism, community practice and institutional settings; and readers, fandoms, reception, participation and ethical modes of engagement

• Transitions 10: New Directions in Comics Studies, Thursday 18th March 2027, Birkbeck University of London

• Call For Papers Submission deadline: 30 November 2026 | Notification of acceptance: early January 2027

About the Author
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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.