Promotional art for Eric Shanower’s Age of Bronze
We’ve just got word that comic creators Eric Shanower and Mike Carey will be contributing to Nottingham University’s conference, Sacrificing Iphigenia through the Ages, next Friday-Saturday (29th-30th January).
The interdisciplinary conference is on representations of the myth of Iphigenia in a variety of media through the ages. There will also be a paper on comics representations of the sacrifice by George Kovacs of Trent University, Canada. After the conference, on Sunday 31st January (1.30-3.30p.m.), Eric Shanower, creator of the Age of Bronze series, will be giving a workshop on creating comics based on Greek mythology at Nottingham Lakeside Arts.
The story of the sacrifice of Iphigenia, as told by the ancient tragedians Aeschylus and Euripides, has been repeatedly retold over the centuries. This international, interdisciplinary conference brings together scholars and practitioners to explore some of these retellings in a range of media: theatre, opera, cinema, television, radio, poetry, fiction, comics.
Mike Carey is a British writer whose work spans comics, novels, film scripts, and TV shows. After writing shorts for British sci-fi comic 2000AD and a few one-shots for Caliber Comics during the 1990s, he was offered DC/Vertigo’s Lucifer — henceforth the longest running and most successful Sandman-related spinoff to date. While continuing to work with DC on Vertigo series like Crossing Midnight and graphic novels like God Save The Queen, he took over as lead writer for Marvel’s X-Men (now X-Men: Legacy) in 2006. His work includes DC/Vertigo’s Hellblazer, Marvel’s Ultimate Fantastic Four, the Felix Castor novels, The Steel Seraglio (with Linda and Louise Carey), and DC/Vertigo’s The Unwritten (with Peter Gross).
Eric Shanower is the award-winning and New York Times bestselling cartoonist, author, and illustrator. His work has been widely published – from Marvel Comics to Random House, from Nickelodeon Magazine to BBC television. His current comics project, Age of Bronze, tells the complete story of the Trojan War in all its dramatic detail and has been published by Image Comics since 1998, garnering two Eisner Awards, a Gran Guinigi, and a slew of nominations. In addition to English, it has been published in Spanish, French, Polish, Italian, Croatian, and Indonesian.
Every version from Homer’s Iliad on down will be newly integrated in comics form when it’s finished. The project is also set in the correct period – the 13th century BCE.
For an additional fee (£5 or £3 concessions per person) delegates can attend a rare screening of the 1990 BBC production of Euripides’ Iphigenia at Aulis.
Both the conference and screening are held under the auspices of the Centre for Ancient Drama and its Reception (CADRE). The conference will take place on Friday afternoon and all day Saturday; there is the option to attend both days or one only. Concessionary rates apply for students, the unwaged and pensioners (please be prepared to provide evidence of your status on arrival).
Conference programme
Friday 29th January
13.00-15.00 Contemporary theatre productions/adaptations
· Mary-Kay Gamel (UCSC): A US West Coast Iphigenia
· Magdalena Zira (Fantastico Theatro): Coming of age at Aulis: the young women in Euripides’ IA
· Robert Icke (Almeida Theatre): Oresteia 2015 (video-interview exclusive to conference)
15.00-15.30 Coffee
15.30-18.00 Poetry & Keynote
· Lynn Kozak & Miranda Hickman (McGill): Graven Images, Wounds of Knowledge: H.D.’s Translation of the Iphigenia in Aulis in the context of the First World War
· Edith Hall (KCL): ‘Iphigenia and atheistic thought from Lucretius to the 21st century
18.00-19.00 Dinner in Pavilion Café (own expense)
19.00-22.30 Screening (open to members of the public)
· Iphigenia at Aulis (dir. Don Taylor), BBC2 1990
· post-screening discussion/pop-up exhibition of theatre & television memorabilia
Saturday 30th January
9.30-11.00 Fantasy
· Amanda Potter (OU) & Tania Evans (NUA): Return to Troy: David Benioff brings Iphigenia to Westeros
· Mike Carey (novelist): Short-story reading: ‘Iphigenia in Aulis’ + Q&A
11.00-11.30 Coffee
11.30-13.00 Visual Culture
· Lindsey Annable (Nottingham): Representations of the sacrifice of Iphigenia in the visual culture of the ancient world
· George Kovacs (Trent): Graphic sacrifice: Iphigenia in comics
13.00-14.00 Lunch
14.00-15.00 Eric Shanower (graphic novelist): Age of Bronze
15.00-15.30 Film
· Anastasia Bakogianni (ICS): Dying for Hellas: Michael Cacoyannis’ Iphigenia (1977)
15.30-16.30 Coffee
16.00-18.30 Early modern theatre and opera
· Alison Findlay (Lancaster) and Emma Rucastle (The Rose Company): Re-producing Lady Jane Lumley’s The Tragedie of Euripides called Iphigeneia (ca.1555)
· Susanna Phillippo (Newcastle): Iphigenia reconciled? Aulis recalled by Agamemnon’s children in early modern adaptations of Iphigenia in Tauris
· Sarah Hibberd (Nottingham): Gluck’s Iphigénie en Aulide at the Paris Opéra (1774)
• Full information on the conference here. The rate for Friday afternoon (Full £15/Concession £10) includes refreshments. The rate for Saturday (Full £25/Concession £20) includes lunch and refreshments. The Concessionary Rate is available to students, the unwaged and pensioners (please be prepared to show evidence of your status on arrival).
To register for the conference, click here or e-mail cadre@nottingham.ac.uk for further information. To register for the workshop click here. The workshop is free
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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.
Categories: Comics Education News, Comics Studies, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, US Comics
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