Saturday, August 12, 2023

CFP UPDATE Comics Get Medieval 2023: New Work on the Comics Medium in Medieval Studies (virtual) (9/15/2023; ICSM 10/26-28/2023)

Comics Get Medieval 2023: New Work on the Comics Medium in Medieval Studies (virtual)





Call for Papers (UPDATED) - Please Submit Proposals by 15 September 2023

The Medieval in Cyberspace: 2023 International Conference for the Study of Medievalism

The UNICORN Castle (https://unicorn-castle.org/)

Online event: Thursday, 26 October, through Saturday, 28 October, 2023




Comics Get Medieval 2023: New Work on the Comics Medium in Medieval Studies (virtual)





Sponsoring Organization: Medieval Comics Project

Organizers: Michael A. Torregrossa, Richard Scott Nokes, and Carl Sell




The comics medium offers a wealth of material of relevance to medievalists from comic-like art and illustrations created during the Middle Ages to cartoons, comics, and related media designed in post-medieval times.

Comics from the medieval era present unique insights into the past and allow us to forge a connection with those that lived and worked then through a now-familiar artform.

Meanwhile, modern comics with medieval themes adapt, appropriate, and transform the medieval, allowing present-day creators to bring history, legends, literature, myths, and personages to life through disparate formats and genres presented for audiences across the globe.




In this session, we seek to celebrate and explore the variety and vitality of medieval comics (both those from the medieval past as well as more contemporary ones) and to share that material with our colleagues to promote further debate, discussion, and inquiry and to, hopefully, inspire future research and teaching.




Topics might include:

  • Creating medieval or medieval-themed comics
  • Sharing resources for accessing medieval or medieval-themed comics
  • Study of a particular character across a series or variety of comics
  • Study of a particular comic or series of comics
  • Study of a particular creator (artist, writer, etc.) of comics
  • Using medieval comics in the classroom or for research
  • Using medieval-themed comics in the classroom or for research




We are especially seeking coverage on comics from outside the United States. We also welcome assistance through bibliographies, interviews, and/or resource guides that can be shared with our audience.




All proposals for the session must be submitted directly to the organizers, at Comics.Get.Medieval@gmail.com, by 15 September 2023.





Please check out our growing resources on medieval-themed comics at the Medieval Comics Project (https://medieval-comics-project.blogspot.com/) and the Arthurian Comics Project (https://arthur-of-the-comics-project.blogspot.com/) websites. We also maintain two listservs of relevance–both the Medieval Comics Discussion List (at https://groups.io/g/medieval-comixlist) and the Arthurian Comics Discussion List (at https://groups.io/g/arthurian-comixlist)--and welcome new members. :




Thank you for your interest in our session. Please address questions and/or concerns to the organizers at Comics.Get.Medieval@gmail.com.

Monday, August 7, 2023

CFP Comics Get Medieval 2023: New Work on the Comics Medium in Medieval Studies (virtual) (8/15/2023; ICSM 10/26-28/2023)


Comics Get Medieval 2023: New Work on the Comics Medium in Medieval Studies (virtual)



Call for Papers - Please Submit Proposals by 15 August 2023

The Medieval in Cyberspace: 2023 International Conference for the Study of Medievalism

The UNICORN Castle (https://unicorn-castle.org/)

Online event: Thursday, 26 October, through Saturday, 28 October, 2023


Comics Get Medieval 2023: New Work on the Comics Medium in Medieval Studies (virtual)



Sponsoring Organization: Medieval Comics Project

Organizers: Michael A. Torregrossa, Richard Scott Nokes, and Carl Sell


The comics medium offers a wealth of material of relevance to medievalists from comic-like art and illustrations from the Middle Ages to post-medieval cartoons, comics, and related media. Comics from the medieval era present unique insights into the past and allow us to forge a connection with those that lived then through a now-familiar artform. Meanwhile, modern comics with medieval themes adapt, appropriate, and transform the medieval bringing history, legends, literature, myths, and personages to life through disparate formats and genres presented for audiences across the globe.


In this session, we seek to celebrate and explore the variety and vitality of medieval comics (both those from the medieval past as well as contemporary ones) and to share that material with our colleagues to promote further debate, discussion, and inquiry and to, hopefully, inspire future research and teaching.


Topics might include:

  • Creating medieval or medieval-themed comics
  • Sharing resources for accessing medieval or medieval-themed comics
  • Study of a particular character across a series or variety of comics
  • Study of a particular creator of comics
  • Study of a particular series of comics
  • Using medieval comics in the classroom or for research
  • Using medieval-themed comics in the classroom or for research
.

We are especially seeking coverage on comics from outside the United States. We also welcome assistance through bibliographies, interviews, and/or resource guides that can be shared with our audience.


All proposals for the session must be submitted directly to the organizers, at Comics.Get.Medieval@gmail.com, by 15 August 2023.



Please check out our growing resources on medieval-themed comics at the Medieval Comics Project (https://medieval-comics-project.blogspot.com/) and the Arthurian Comics Project (https://arthur-of-the-comics-project.blogspot.com/) websites. We also maintain two listservs of relevance–both the Medieval Comics Discussion List (at https://groups.io/g/medieval-comixlist) and the Arthurian Comics Discussion List (at https://groups.io/g/arthurian-comixlist)--and welcome new members. :


Thank you for your interest in our session. Please address questions and/or concerns to the organizers at Comics.Get.Medieval@gmail.com.

CFP Saving the Day at Kalamazoo: Finding Comics for Medievalist Research and Teaching (A Workshop) (virtual) (9/15/2023; ICMS 5/9-11/2024)

Saving the Day at Kalamazoo: Finding Comics for Medievalist Research and Teaching (A Workshop) (virtual)



Call for Presenters - Please Submit Proposals by 15 September 2023

59th International Congress on Medieval Studies

Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, Michigan)

Hybrid event: Thursday, 9 May, through Saturday, 11 May, 2024


Saving the Day at Kalamazoo: Finding Comics for Medievalist Research and Teaching (A Workshop) (virtual)



Sponsoring Organization: Medieval Comics Project

Organizers: Michael A. Torregrossa, Richard Scott Nokes, and Carl Sell


The comics medium has much to offer to the field of Medieval Studies, but medievalists are often unfamiliar with comics and how to go about locating them and incorporating them productively into their work.


The focus of this workshop will be to present resources for finding comics of relevance to medieval topics (and legitimate scholarship on them) and to allow participants to employ these tools under the guidance of experts in the field. In addition, we hope that this forum will serve as a safe space to ask questions and address concerns about comics and their value.


To support our endeavors, we are interested in contributions to the workshop towards helping participants access medieval-themed comics in general as well as approaches to more focused topics relevant to the field of Medieval Studies. We are especially seeking coverage on comics from outside the United States. We also welcome assistance through bibliographies, interviews, and/or resource guides that can be shared with our participants.


All proposals for the workshop must be submitted directly to the organizers, at Comics.Get.Medieval@gmail.com, by 15 September 2023.



Please check out our growing resources on medieval-themed comics at the Medieval Comics Project (https://medieval-comics-project.blogspot.com/) and the Arthurian Comics Project (https://arthur-of-the-comics-project.blogspot.com/) websites. We also maintain two listservs of relevance–both the Medieval Comics Discussion List (at https://groups.io/g/medieval-comixlist) and the Arthurian Comics Discussion List (at https://groups.io/g/arthurian-comixlist)--and welcome new members. :


Thank you for your interest in our session. Please address questions and/or concerns to the organizers at Comics.Get.Medieval@gmail.com.

Wednesday, July 12, 2023

Smith on Dante and Comics Theory

New scholarship update:

Smith, Philip. “Sandro Botticelli’s Visual Language in Illustrations of The Divine Comedy.” Inks: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society, vol. 7, issue 1, Spring 2023, 49-73. Project MUSE, https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/30/article/898386/.



Abstract

“This paper seeks to offer a close reading of Botticelli’s illustrations for The Divine Comedy using Neil Cohn and Thierry Groensteen’s tools of comics analysis. Botticelli uses a visual language, I argue, which is distinct from that of modern comics (what Neil Cohn calls American Visual Language), most notably in its flexible reading paths. Unlike modern comics creators, who use panel ordering as a primary means to convey sequence, Botticelli is not tethered to a specific horizontal reading direction; the vertical book positioning facilitates a narrative path which is not dependent upon a fixed start and end point to a given page but tracks a passage down the page. In the absence of a standard reading path, Botticelli uses a rising perspective and a distinctive color palette for recurring icons to guide his readers through a narrative.”





Sunday, April 2, 2023

Don Quijote in Comics New and Recent Scholarship

Just came across the first reference in the recent number of International Journal of Comic Art and found the second reference in the bibliography.


McGowan, Mackenzi. “Quixotic ‘Adaptations’: 21st Century Illustrations and Written Tributes of Don Quijote.:” International Journal of Comic Art, vol. 24, no. 2, Fall/Winter 2022, pp. 337-55.

Warrier, Karuna. “A Recreation of Don Quixote: From Comics to Popular Culture.” Ph.D. dissertation. McGill University, 2018. eScholarship@McGill, https://escholarship.mcgill.ca/concern/theses/37720g31g

Thursday, March 2, 2023

New Book: Beowulf in Comic Books and Graphic Novels


Cross-posted from Beowulf Transformed: Adaptations and Appropriations of the Beowulf Story.


Just released this week. Congratulations to Scott Nokes:


Beowulf in Comic Books and Graphic Novels

Richard Scott Nokes

(Full details and ordering information from the publisher are available from this link.)


Bibliographic Details


Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 209
Bibliographic Info: 25 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2023
pISBN: 978-1-4766-8778-0 ($49.95)
eISBN: 978-1-4766-4842-2
Imprint: McFarland



About the Book


The legendary story of Beowulf comes to us in only one medieval manuscript with no illustrations. Modern comic book and graphic novel artists have created visual interpretations of Beowulf for decades, both illustrating and altering the classic story to pull out new themes.
This book examines the growing canon of Beowulf comic books and graphic novels since the 1940s, and shows the remarkable emergence of new traditions—from re-envisioning the medieval look, to creating new plotlines, and even to transforming his identity. While placing Beowulf in a fantastical medieval setting, a techno-dystopia of the future, or modern-day America, artists have appropriated the tale to comment on social issues such as war, environmental issues, masculinity, and consumerism. Whether Beowulf is fighting new monsters or allying with popular comic book superheroes, these artists are creating a new canon of illustration that redefines Beowulf’s place in our culture.



Table of Contents


Acknowledgments vi
Timeline of Beowulf Comic Books and Graphic Novels ix
Note on Citations xi
Preface 1
Introduction 5
1. The Artist as Manuscript Illustrator 13
2. The Further Adventures of Beowulf 74
3. Beowulf as Storyteller 96
4. Beowulf Transformed 107
5. Beowulf for Younger Readers 129
Conclusion 172
Chapter Notes 177
Bibliography 189
Index 193



About the Author(s)


Richard Scott Nokes is a professor of medieval literature at Troy University in Troy, Alabama. His previous published research has focused on popular medievalism and manuscript culture.



Medieval Comics Papers at NeMLA 2023

Please support Casey and Rachael if you are attending this year's meeting of NeMLA.

Northeast Modern Language Association 54th Annual Convention
Niagara Falls Convention Center (Niagara Falls, NY)
23-26 March 2023
(full schedule at this link)

  • Friday, 3/24: Track 7 (10:00-11:30 AM): 7.15 King Arthur's Coconuts: Towards an Understanding of Animals and the Medieval Mind (Olmstead / NCC) - Karen (Casey) Casebier (University of Tennessee-Chattanooga) presents 1st on "Men and Monsters in the Old French Werewolf Lays and Merlin, the Graphic Novel". 

  • Sunday, 3/26: Track 21 (10:30 AM -12:15 PM): 21.18 Discrimination in Comic Books (Part 2) (Whitney / NCC) - Rachael Warmington (Seton Hall University) presents 3rd on "Oppressive Isms in Comic and Graphic Novel Adaptations of Arthurian Legend".


Friday, October 14, 2022

Comics Sessions in November at MAPACA

I'm pleased to announce the the Medieval Comics Project is sponsoring another session on medieval-themed comics at this year's meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association to be held online 10-12 November 2022. Access to the conference is through paid registration. Full details are available at MAPACA's website accessible from this link


Here the the session details:

Comics and Medieval Studies: Reflections on the Field in Commemoration of the 85th Anniversary of Prince Valiant

MEDIEVAL & RENAISSANCE / PANEL

Friday, November 11, 11:00 am to 12:15 pm (The Paper Nautilus)

Presentations

Comics in Medievalist Research and Teaching: Pitfalls and Possibilities

Michael A Torregrossa (Independent scholar)

Reworkings of Arthurian Legend in Comics: Positive Change and Perpetuation of Isms

Rachael Kathleen Warmington (Seton Hall University)

Horrible Hags and Villainous Vixens: Visual images of Female Villains in Medieval Comics

Diana Vecchio (Widener University)

Session chair

Scott Manning (Independent scholar)


Tuesday, October 4, 2022

Comics Sessions at ICSM This Month

Two sessions on medieval-themed comics (one sponsored by us and one independent of us) this month at the International Conference for the Study of Medievalism, a hybrid event hosted by Appalachian State University. The main page for the conference with information on registration and full program can be accessed by clicking this link. Do reach out if you have any issues. Please support both sessions if you can.



Friday, 10/21, at 2-3:30 PM EDT (virtual session)

*XII. Session: Making Comics Matter: A Celebration of Medieval-Themed Comics in Honor of the 85th Anniversary of Prince Valiant.

Sponsored by Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture

Presider: Michael Torregrossa, Independent Scholar
Richard Scott Nokes, Troy University, “Beowulf Comic Books as a Critique of Academia”
Carl Sell, Lock Haven University, “Arthuriana Post-Arthur: DC’s Demon Knights and the Extension of the Matter of Britain”
Rachael Warmington, Seton Hall University, From Swords to Lasers: The Evolving Arthurian Mythos in Comics and Graphic Novels
Iain A. MacInnes, University of the Highlands and Islands, “Comic Depictions of The Hundred Years’ War”


Saturday, 10/22, at 9-10:30 AM EDT (hybrid session)

XIX. Comics/Graphic Novels


Presider: Craig Fisher Appalachian State University
Karen Casebier, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga “Merlin’s Pseudo-Brythonic Prehistory in Merlin, the Graphic Novel
*Karl Fugelso, Towson University, “Direct and Indirect Validation in Green Dante/Green Virgil #1”
*Michael A. Torregrossa, Independent Scholar, “Arthuriana vs. the Axis Powers Revisited: Turning the Spotlight on American Comics of World War II
*Holly Aldridge, Appalachian State University, “The Fantastic Misadventure of Hawthorne and Bells”





Saturday, May 28, 2022

Coming Soon from McFarland: Beowulf in Comic Books and Graphic Novels

Beowulf in Comic Books and Graphic Novels

Not Yet Published

$39.95
New 2022 Pre-Order

Available for pre-order at https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/beowulf-in-comic-books-and-graphic-novels/




Richard Scott Nokes
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages:
Bibliographic Info: ca. 24 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2022
pISBN: 978-1-4766-8778-0
eISBN: 978-1-4766-4842-2
Imprint: McFarland




Richard Scott Nokes is a professor of medieval literature at Troy University in Troy, Alabama. His previous published research has focused on popular medievalism and manuscript culture.

Sunday, November 14, 2021

Murphy on Comics and Teaching

Published recently in SMART is a fascinating essay by medievalist and cartoonist Patrick Murphy of Miami University, in Oxford, Ohio. The full issue can be purchased directly from SMART


Here is the citation:

Murphy, Patrick. “Teaching the History of the English Language with Comics.” Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching, vol. 28, no. 1, Spring 2021, pp. 101-21. 



Monday, May 10, 2021

Our Sponsored Sessions for Kalamazoo 2021

56th International Congress on Medieval Studies

Hosted online by Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan.


Handouts, notices, call for papers, and a copy of the session agenda can also be accessed from the shared Google folder at https://tinyurl.com/Saving-the-Day-2021.


106 Tuesday, May 11, 11:00 a.m. EDT

Saving the Day for Medievalists: Accessing Medieval-Themed Comics in the Twenty-First Century I: Comics and the Classroom (A Roundtable)

Sponsor: Medieval Comics Project; Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture

Organizer: Michael A. Torregrossa, Independent Scholar

Presider: Richard Scott Nokes, Troy Univ.


Presenters:

A roundtable discussion with Dustin M. Frazier Wood, Univ. of Roehampton; Justin Wigard, Michigan State Univ.; Kara L. Maloney, Canisius College; Genevieve Pigeon, Univ. du Québec à Montréal; and Carl B. Sell, Lock Haven Univ.


Dustin M. Frazier Wood, University of Roehampton

Comics and the Canon: Medieval and Medievalist Texts in the Undergraduate Literature Classroom


Dustin M. Frazier Wood is Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Roehampton in London. He holds a PhD in English and Art History from the University of St Andrews, an MPhil in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic from the University of Cambridge, and a BA in Liberal Arts from Bethany College in West Virginia. His research focuses on medievalism in English culture c1600-c1800, with a particular emphasis on the interplay of textual and visual studies in antiquarian culture. He has published articles on Anglo-Saxonist drama and visual art, on early modern Old English translators, and on antiquarian Old English studies. His book Anglo-Saxonism and the Idea of Englishness in Eighteenth-Century Britain has just been published by Boydell and Brewer. 



Justin Wigard, Michigan State University

Arthurian Legend, Animal-Centric Illustration, and Play in David Petersen’s Mouse Guard

Justin Wigard is a PhD candidate in the Department of English at Michigan State University, where he works with and teaches popular culture, game studies, comic studies, children’s literature, and digital humanities in the literature classroom. His work covers a wide range of subjects, including the Hallmark Channel’s Garage Sale Mystery film series (co-written with fellow grad student Mitch Ploskonka); professional wrestling and Street Fighter; chronotopal representations of feminism in Marvel’s Jessica Jones; the visual rhetoric of dinosaurs in Calvin and Hobbes; monstrous motherhood in Neil Gaiman’s Coraline and Beowulf comics; and digital visualizations of early-Modern Mughal biographies. Justin’s dissertation focuses on utilizing, and developing, video games as learning tools within the classroom.


Kara Larson Maloney, Canisius College (she/her/hers)

Aquaman to Arthur: How the Round Table Lives on In the Classroom

Dr. Kara Larson Maloney is an adjunct professor of English at several Buffalo-area colleges. She received her PhD from Binghamton University in 2015, focusing on chivalry and identity in King Arthur’s court in medieval British and French texts. While her current teaching duties include convincing an 8 year old to actually do the schoolwork assigned, Dr. Maloney enjoys researching both medieval and modern Arthurian adaptations, including television, film, and graphic novels. She’s especially happy when she can bring this work into the classroom. 


Geneviève Pigeon, Université du Québec à Montréal

From Medieval Texts to Contemporary Comics: Sacred Spaces and Communication with the Other World

Geneviève Pigeon holds a Masters Degree in Medieval Literature and a PhD in Religious Studies, with a focus on Arthurian Britain and myth theories. She is a researcher with the Centre de Recherche Bretonne et Celtique (Rennes, Brest ; France), the Centre de Recherche International sur l’Imaginaire (CRI) and teaches in the Religious Studies department at Université du Québec à Montréal. She is interested in better understanding how humans use space and natural elements to create order out of chaos through popular narratives, whether they are promoted by institutions (religious, political) or not. 

Geneviève is also the owner and general director of a publishing house founded in 1986 (L’instant même).


Carl B. Sell, Lock Haven University

Medievalist Comics, ComiXology, and eReaders: Embracing Digital Accessibility and 

the Uses of eReaders in Scholarship and Teaching

Dr. Carl B. Sell is the TRIO SSS Writing Specialist at Lock Haven University. Carl’s research explores appropriations of Arthurian legend narratives, characters, and themes in popular culture as an extension of the medieval adaptive tradition. He serves as a member of the advisory boards for The Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture and the Alliance for the Promotion of Research on the Matter of Britain, and he is the author of various film and literature reviews on medievalist and scholarly blogs and his own website, as well as journal articles on Arthurian topics and DC’s Aquaman.





142 Tuesday, May 11, 3:00 p.m. EDT

Saving the Day for Medievalists: Accessing Medieval-Themed Comics in the Twenty-First Century II: Comics Scholarship (A Roundtable)

Sponsor: Medieval Comics Project; Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture

Organizer: Michael A. Torregrossa, Independent Scholar

Presider: Carl B. Sell, Lock Haven Univ.


Presenters:

A roundtable discussion with Richard Scott Nokes, Troy Univ.; Tirumular (Drew) Narayanan, Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison; Karen Casebier, Univ. of Tennessee–Chattanooga; Scott Manning, Independent Scholar; and Michael A. Torregrossa.


Richard Scott Nokes, Troy University

Beowulf in Comic Books and Graphic Novels

Dr. Richard Scott Nokes is an Associate Professor of medieval literature at Troy University. He earned his B.A. from Butler University (1992) and PhD from Wayne State University (2002). He taught English in Korea for two years, and developed the American Studies program at Klaipėda University in Lithuania. After being hired at Troy University in 2003, he won a Fulbright-Hayes award to study the Maya epic in the Guatemala highlands (2003), was a regional finalist for the White House Fellows program (2007), founded Witan Publishing (2011), and has been featured several times in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

His current book project is a study of comic book adaptations of Beowulf  His other recent book chapters and articles include a study of medieval leechbooks for Health: A History in the Oxford Philosophical Concepts series and an article on “Medieval and Public Discourse” for The Heroic Age. As Senior Academic Editor for Witan Publishing, he has edited and published a number of books on subjects ranging from an edition of Beowulf to Formal Combats in the Fourteenth Century. Most recently, he has published editions of much older works, such as Ælfric of Eynsham’s Letter to Sigeweard and Elizabeth Elstob’s “English-Saxon Homily on the Birth-day of St. Gregory.”

In addition to his academic work, his outreach into fan culture has earned him the title “Professor Awesome” among non-academics. He netcasts on “Professor Awesome and the Minions of Doom” and is co-host of the PopMedieval Podcast. His most recent popular novel, a work of whimsical horror entitled From A to Zombie, is published under the pseudonym “Professor Awesome.”


Tirumular “Drew” Narayanan, University of Wisconsin—Madison

“Tarzan the Crusader?” Visualizing the White Cross and the Raced Crescent in the Lord of the Jungle’s Comic Book and Pulp Illustration Appearances 

[no bio provided]


Karen (Casey) Casebier, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

French Arthurian Comics and the Contemporary Art of Inventio (access the handout at https://tinyurl.com/Saving-the-Day-2021)

Karen (Casey) Casebier is an Associate Professor of French at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.  Her principal area of research is the conflation of the sacred and the profane across different genres of thirteenth-century French literature, including saints’ lives, romance and the fabliaux.  Her research interests include manuscript studies, bestiaries and contemporary interpretations of Arthurian literature.  She recently published an article on representations of gender in Arthurian comics for Synergies as well as an article on resurrection motifs in Marie de France for Le Cygne.  In her copious free time, she is working on a series of unpublished, unedited miracle tales in a 14th-century manuscript branch of La Vie des pères.

Useful links:

Soleil Productions:  https://www.editions-soleil.fr/

BDthèque: https://www.bdtheque.com/


Scott Manning, Independent Scholar

Lessons Learned in Publishing Scholarship on Comic Books

Scott Manning is an independent scholar and the VP of Conference for the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association. He is published in The Year’s Work in Medievalism and Studies in Medievalism. Scott has several forthcoming works including a chapter in The DC Universe to be published by McFarland. 


Michael A. Torregrossa, Independent Scholar (he/him/his)

What If Merlin Was Mentor to Stephen Strange?: Philip DeGuere's Dr. Strange (1978) and Marvel Comics' Matter of Britain

Michael A. Torregrossa is a graduate of the Medieval Studies program at the University of Connecticut (Storrs) and works as an adjunct instructor in English in both Rhode Island and Massachusetts. His research focuses on popular culture’s adaptation and appropriation of literary classics, including the Arthurian legend, Beowulf, Dracula, and Frankenstein.  In addition, Michael is the founder of The Alliance for the Promotion of Research on the Matter of Britain and The Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture; he also serves as editor for these organizations' various blogs and moderator of their discussion lists. Besides these activities, Michael is also active in the Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association and organizes sessions for their annual conference in the fall. Michael is currently Monsters and the Monstrous Area Chair for NEPCA, but he previously served as its Fantastic (Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror) Area Chair, a position he held from 2009-2018.



Tuesday, May 4, 2021

Call for Responses: Comics and Medieval Studies Survey (7/1/2021)

Please forgive the cross-posting.

Call for Responses: Comics and Medieval Studies Survey


The Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture--in an attempt to further our outreach efforts--seeks to gather some information on experiences with the comics medium and uses of that material by teachers and/or scholars of Medieval Studies.

If you're willing to share, please complete the survey at https://tinyurl.com/Medieval-Comics-Survey no later than 1 July 2021.

More information on the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture can be found at https://medievalinpopularculture.blogspot.com/.

The Medieval Comics Project is based at https://medieval-comics-project.blogspot.com/. We also maintain a listserv, the Medieval Comics Project Discussion List. Please sign-up at https://groups.io/g/medieval-comixlist.



If you have any questions or concerns on the survey or other related matters, please reach out to us at MedievalinPopularCulture@gmail.com or Comics.Get.Medieval@gmail.com.



Michael A. Torregrossa, Founder, Blog Editor, and Listserv Moderator, and The Comics Get Medieval Sessions Organizer

Thursday, April 29, 2021

CFP Saving the Day for Robin Hood Studies: Perspectives and Reflections on Comics Adapted from the Matter of the Greenwood (Roundtable) (10/11/21; IARHS virtual 12/3-5/21)

Saving the Day for Robin Hood Studies: Perspectives and Reflections on Comics Adapted from the Matter of the Greenwood (Roundtable)

Sponsored by The Medieval Comics Project, an outreach effort of the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture.

For Global Outlaws: The Biennial Conference of the International Association for Robin Hood Studies

Tentative Date: 3-5 December 2021.                                          

Medium: VIRTUAL.

Deadline for Proposals: 11 October 2021.

 

            According to a recent search of the Grand Comics Database, creators of comic books and graphic novels have produced over three thousand comics directly based on or inspired by the Robin Hood tradition. These comics span almost ninety years and come from over twenty countries; however, the true scope of Hood’s influence on the medium appears much larger. A variety of archers, both heroes and villains, also feature within the pages of comics, and Hood and his fellows have also frequented both cartoons and comic strips, though their adventures there remain largely uncatalogued.

            Of these thousands of comics, how much and what items are actually known to enthusiasts of the Matter of the Greenwood? Robin Hood scholars, since the1990s, have started to offer some answers, but much work still remains to more fully explore the world of Sherwood Forest depicted in their panels. In this sponsored session, we hope to create a deeper connection between Robin Hood Studies and Comics Studies to highlight this rich corpus and provide tools and resources for how to find, access, and employ Robin-Hood-themed comics in our classroom and research.

Please send proposals of approximately 250 words and a short academic biography to the panel organizers at Comics.Get.Medieval@gmail.com. We will forward the full panel details to the conference committee.

For more information on the Medieval Comics Project and the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture, please check out our websites at https://medieval-comics-project.blogspot.com/ and https://medievalinpopularculture.blogspot.com/.

 

 

 

Thursday, April 15, 2021

The Comics Get Medieval This Weekend at Keene State

 Here are the details of our upcoming panel this weekend. Further details and registration information are available on the conference website.


41st Annual Medieval and Renaissance Forum: Scent and Fragrance in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

Virtual event, hosted by Keene State University, Keene, New Hampshire

Friday and Saturday, 16-17 April 2021

 

Session VI--Saturday, 17 April from 3:00 PM to 4:20 PM

Arthurian Comics (Breakout Option C)

Sponsored by the Medieval Comics Project, an outreach effort of the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture

 

Moderator: Hayley Cotter, University of Massachusetts—Amherst

 

From Canon to Comics: Adaptations of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in the Comics

Medium

Michael Torregrossa, Independent Scholar

Michael A. Torregrossa is a graduate of the Medieval Studies program at the University of Connecticut (Storrs) and works as an adjunct instructor in English in both Rhode Island and Massachusetts. His research focuses on popular culture’s adaptation and appropriation of literary classics, including the Arthurian legend, Beowulf, Dracula, and Frankenstein.  In addition, Michael is the organizer of The Comics Get Medieval, a series of sessions run at various conferences since the early 2000s. This work is sponsored by both Alliance for the Promotion of Research on the Matter of Britain and The Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture, which Michael founded and serves as editor for their various blogs and moderator of their discussion lists. 

 

Old Norse Gods and Ethnically Different Slaves in the Comic Book Series Thorgal

Anna Czarnowus, University of Silesia, Katowice (Poland)  

Anna Czarnowus, PhD, D. Litt., is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Silesia, Katowice (Poland). She specializes in Middle English literature and medievalisms. She published Inscription on the Body: Monstrous Children in Middle English Literature (Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego 2009) and Fantasies of the Other’s Body in Middle English Oriental Romance (Peter Lang 2013). She authored over 40 journal articles and chapters in monographs. She co-edited (with Professor Margaret Jane Toswell from the University of Western Ontario) Medievalism in English Canadian Literature: From Richardson to Atwood (D.S. Brewer 2020).

 

Vampires, Zombies, Aliens, and Superheroes: Reimaginings of Arthurian Legend in Comics

Rachael K. Warmington, Seton Hall University 

Rachael Warmington is a full-time instructor at Seton Hall University. She earned her B.A. in English from Montclair State University, M.A. in English from Seton Hall University, her MFA at CUNY City College and she is a doctoral candidate at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Rachael is also the editor-in-chief of the open access academic journal, Watchung Review.  She is currently writing her dissertation which focuses on themes of Arthurian Legend in medieval texts and in contemporary literature, film and television adaptations and appropriations and how these themes create the space that challenges oppression in its various forms, but have also been used to perpetuate racism, sexism and religious intolerance.