The Children in Comics: An Intercultural History project (aka, simply, COMICS), run by Belgium’s Ghent University, brings together young and established researchers with the aim of piecing together a cultural history of European comics. Their current focus is on comics from Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, Spain and Italy.
The project – funded by the European Research Council’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, and online at comics.ugent.be – takes Wilhelm Busch’s iconic “Max und Moritz” picture story from 1865 as its starting point and focuses on comic strips and comics magazines from the 20th century.
Combining comics studies and childhood studies COMICS incorporates specific insights from cultural studies (history of family life, history of public life, history of the body, affect theory and scholarship on the carnivalesque) to examine the different and changing roles played by children in comics.
In doing so, the project charts the transformation of the child figure in European comics. It examines key themes that are not only theoretical concerns for the humanities but also continue to shape our daily lives. These themes include the channelling of modern anxieties through popular culture, figurations of the child and childishness, adult-child power relations, the tension between freedom and liberty, the involvement of children in commercial endeavors, as well as representations of the body, family, school and public life and the prominence of affects such as nostalgia, happiness and shame.
COMICS also seeks to increase collective knowledge about European comic strips through focusing on comics that are often overlooked or forgotten and through presenting results to both scholars and the interested public.
Recent short publications about the project include an article in French by Sylvain Lesage about From Private to Public, Philippe Capart’s volume dedicated to exploring and contextualizing the Van Passen collection (link to the first episodes here).
Another item of interest might be this in-depth review (in Dutch) by Eva Van de Wiele, with contributions from Maaheen Ahmed and Lou Braibant, of the recent exhibition ISSUE ZERO – Reading the Van Passen Collection, which took place between September and December last year at KIOSK, Pasteurlaan 2 in Ghent (click on this link to download the biweekly ‘issues’ that accompany the exhibition).
• Check out the COMICS project at comics.ugent.be | Facebook | X
• The COMICS group is setting up a mailing list to keep followers updated about recent activities. If interested, please e-mail comics@ugent.be with “mailing list subscription” in the subject line
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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: British Comics, Comic Art, Comics, Comics Education News, Comics Studies, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News
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