Transitions 4 is a one-day symposium in October promoting new research and multi-disciplinary academic study of comics/ comix/ manga/ bande dessinée and other forms of sequential art, now in its fourth year at Birkbeck.
Transitions is part of Comica, the London International Comics Festival. The keynote will be given by Dr. Ann Miller (University of Leicester, joint editor of European Comic Art) and responding will be Dr. Roger Sabin (Central St. Martins, University of the Arts London).
Transitions is currently the only regular academic comics event based in London. The symposium provides a platform where different perspectives and methodologies can be brought together and shared and is an event devoted to promoting new research into comics in all their forms. The symposium provides a forum for research from postgraduate students and early career lecturers.
Comics studies occupy a unique multi-disciplinary middle-space, one that encourages cross-disciplinary pollination and a convergence of distinct knowledges: literary and cultural studies, visual arts and media, modern languages, sociology, geography and more.
By thinking about comics across different disciplines, the event’s organisers hope to stimulate and provoke debate, to address a wide spectrum of questions, to map new trends, and to provide a space for dialogue and further collaboration to emerge.
They’ve now issued a Call for Papers, welcoming abstracts for 20 minute papers of 250 – 300 words. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
International iterations: manga, bande dessinée , fumetti etc. – children’s comics – superheroes – non-fiction comics – the (im)materiality of comics – audience research – formalist approaches – cultural histories/geographies –adaptation/ remediation – autographics – early comics – comic strips – small press –alternative comics/ underground commix – comics narratologies – political comics – comics and cultural theory – contexts of production and circulation – audiences – comics and the archive – subjectivity in comics – graphic medicine – fan subcultures – comics as historiography – key creators…
• Proposals for papers should be sent as Word documents, with a short biography appended. Abstracts should be submitted by the 30th July 2013 to Hallvard, Nina, and Tony at transitions.symposium@gmail.com.
• Transitions 4: Saturday 26th October 2013, School of Arts, Birkbeck, University of London, London WC1E 7HX
The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “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.
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