London’s Imperial War Museum is organising a Comics & Conflicts Conference (curated by Panel Borders Alex Fitch) in August, aimed at comics scholars, practitioners, and enthusiasts.
Taking place on 19th-20th August, conference speakers and guests will include Charley’s War creator Pat Mills, Martin Barker and Roger Sabin on Doonesbury; Garth Ennis (Troubled Souls, War Story); Jacques Tardi (It Was The War Of The Trenches) and Jean-Pierre Verney (Putain de Guerre). Paul Gravett will chair.
Further details of this very special event (including details on the keynote speakers, special guests and registration) will be announced on the Comica News Blog.
Papers for the conference are welcomed that explore the ways in which comics around the world represent and articulate the experience and impact of war and conflict. For example, topics may include:
- Depictions of conflict in comics created for children.
- Representations of trauma in comic books, graphic novels, manga and other forms of international comics.
- Visual representations of conflict in such places as Afghanistan, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, The Middle East, Northern Ireland, and Vietnam.
- Journalism, biography, and memoir in comics on conflict.
- Focus on key practitioners such as Guibert, Kubert, Mills, Sacco, Satrapi, Spiegelman, Tardi & Trudeau.
- Comics as a space to depict/critique national ideology.
- Comics as tools of propaganda, both of the state and of protest organisations.
In the first instance please email abstracts of 250 words, with a brief author biography, to a.kahn@roehampton.ac.uk, including ‘Comics & Conflicts 2011’ in the subject heading. The deadline for submissions is 31st March, 2011.
The Comics & Conflicts Conference is organised by Ariel Kahn, Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Roehampton University, Alex Fitch, presenter of Panel Borders, the UK’s only weekly broadcast radio show about comics, and Paul Gravett, Director of Comica.
The Comics & Conflicts Conference will form part of a larger literary festival being held from 13-21 August 2011, which accompanies the Imperial War Museum’s new exhibition Once Upon A Wartime: Classic War Stories for Children.
• For more information about the exhibition and the festival visit the Imperial War Museum web site.
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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, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News
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