Comic Forum 2013 Call for Papers: Small Press and Undergrounds

By John Freeman on July 10, 2013

This year’s Comics Forum in Leeds this November (21-22nd – tying in with Thought Bubble) is titled Small Press and Undergrounds: A Conference on Comics, and a Call for Papers has just gone out.

Although comics tend to be understood as a mass produced and highly industrialised medium, there has long been a tradition of small scale/artisanal production through which voices alternative to the “mainstream” have been able to speak. Small press and underground publications have served as platforms for artistic experimentation, political expression and technical innovation that have often had major influences upon the field of comics, and upon wider culture as well.

Technology has also driven change, with the growth of the internet and web 2.0 facilitating low-cost worldwide distribution that perhaps challenges the term “small press”.

Comics Forum, part of the Thought Bubble sequential art festival (which has always been a popular venue for small press creators to present their works), is ideally situated to consider this aspect of comics. At Comics Forum 2013, the fifth event in the annual conference series, we will discuss a wide range of subjects relating to small press and underground comics.

Subjects for discussion may include, but are not limited to:

· Fanzines

· International manifestations of the small press

· Methods of production and distribution

· Notable small press/underground comics creators and/or movements

· Political applications of small press and underground comics

· Small press/underground comics as a platform for speaking the unspeakable

· The small press in the age of the internet

Proposals of 250 words are invited for talks of 15-20 minutes in length, and should be emailed along with a short biography (around 100 words) to comicsforum@hotmail.co.uk. Please put the phrase ‘CF2013 Paper Submission’ in your subject line. The deadline for submission is 14/07/2013 and notification of acceptance or rejection will be emailed by or before 01/08/2013.

• CF2013 page at the website: http://comicsforum.org/comics-forum-2013

About the Author
Latest Posts

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.