CFP: Comics Get Medieval 2011 (12/1/10; PCA 4/20-23/11 San Antonio)

THE COMICS GET MEDIEVAL 2011: 
A CELEBRATION IN ANTICIPATION OF THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF PRINCE VALIANT
CALL FOR PAPERS (PCA: SAN ANTONIO, TX 4/20-23/11)
SPECIAL SESSIONS OF THE COMICS & COMIC ART AREA
ORGANIZED BY MICHAEL A. TORREGROSSA AND JASON TONDRO 
PROPOSALS DUE TO ORGANIZERS BY 1 DECEMBER 2010

Celebrating our sixth year in 2011, proposals are now being considered for inclusion at “The Comics Get Medieval 2011,” a series of panels and roundtables sponsored by the Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages and to be hosted by the Comics & Comic Art Area of the Popular Culture Association (PCA) for the 2011 Joint Conference of the National Popular Culture and American Culture Associations to be held from 20-23 April 2011 at the San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter & Riverwalk Hotels, 101 Bowie Street , San Antonio,TX 78205.

The goal of these sessions is to foster communication between medievalists, comics scholars, and specialists in popular culture studies in general.  The organizers define “medieval comics” as any aspect of the comics medium (panel cartoons, comic strips, comics books, comics albums, band dessinée, graphic novels, manga, webcomics, comics to film/film to comics, etc.) that feature medieval themes either in stories set during the Middle Ages or in stories presenting some element of the medieval in the post-medieval era.  We are also interested in papers looking at medieval comics from a pedagogical perspective.


Completed papers should be delivered in 15-20 minutes (depending on the number of presenters). All proposals will also be considered for inclusion in an essay collection to be edited by the panel organizers beginning in late 2011.  (Individuals only interested in submitting for the collection should also send proposals by 1 December 2010 deadline and indicate their preference in the email.)

In addition, a select list of potential topics and a bibliographic guide to medieval comics will appear as part of THE MEDIEVAL COMICS PROJECT web site available at <http://MedievalComicsProject.org> and THE ARTHUR OF THE COMICS website available at <http://Arthur-of-the-Comics.org/>, both organized by the Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages.


No later that 1 December 2010, interested individuals (who must be members of PCA or ACA or join for 2011) should submit full contact information (name, address, phone/cell, and email), titles, and abstracts of 300-500 words to the sessions’ organizers, who will then forward them to area chair. Address all inquiries and proposals to the organizers at the following address: <Medieval.Comics.Project@gmail.com> and include “Comics Get Medieval 2011” in the subject line.

The Comics Get Medieval Archive List

The Comics Get Medieval Panels Archive

The Comics Get Medieval Inaugural Session (2002)

14 March 2002: The ‘Knewts’ of the Round Table? Arthuriana & the Comics. Panel and roundtable discussion included under the Arthurian Legends Area of the Popular Culture Association. 32nd Annual Meeting of the Popular Culture Association, Sheraton Centre (Toronto, Canada). 

Organizer: Michael A. Torregrossa (University of Connecticut (Storrs))

Moderator: Katherine Charbeneau (Lawrence Technological University)

“The Future King: Camelot 3000”

Dominick Grace (Algoma University College)

“The Four-Color King Is Dead: Arthurian Comics Beyond the Superhero”

Jason Tondro (University of California, Riverside)

Roundtable on Arthurian comic books

Presider: Michael A. Torregrossa

Panelists: Dominick Grace, Jason Tondro, and Michael A. Torregrossa

The Comics Get Medieval Year 2 (2004)

8 April 2004: The Comics Get Medieval: Adaptations of Medieval Texts and Legends in the Comics Medium. Panel and roundtable included under the Arthurian Legends Area of the Popular Culture Association. Sponsored by the Arthurian Legends Area, the Comics Area, and the Medieval Popular Culture Area of the Popular Culture Association. 34th Annual Meeting of the Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association, San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter (San Antonio, TX).

Organizer: Michael A. Torregrossa (University of Connecticut (Storrs))

Presider/moderator: Michael A. Torregrossa

“Contains Adult Content, Suggested For Mature Readers: Childhood Fairytales and Exploitation in DC Vertigo's The Children's Crusade”

Robert A. Emmons Jr. (The Art Institute of Philadelphia)

“Dracula Sucks, But Vlad Does Not: A Romanian Response to American Popular Representations of Vlad Ţepeş”

Daniela Şovea (University of Connecticut (Storrs))

“Why the Middle Ages? A Roundtable Discussion on Medieval Comics"

9 May 2004:  Medieval Classics Illustrated: Using the Comics to Teach Medieval Legends and Texts (A Roundtable), sponsored by the Arthurian Comics Discussion List. 39th International Congress of Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, MI).

Organizer: Michael A. Torregrossa (University of Connecticut (Storrs))

Presider: Charlotte Wulf (Villa Julie College)

“The Comics Get Medieval: Defining the Corpus”

Michael A. Torregrossa

“Beowulf Stands Alone: Medieval Heroism in Four Colors”

Jeff Massey (Emory University)

The Comics Get Medieval Year 3 (2005)

24 March 2005: The Comics Get Medieval. Panel and roundtable discussion included under the Arthurian Legends Area of the Popular Culture Association. Sponsored by the Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages and the Arthurian Legends, Comics & Comic Art, and Medieval Popular Culture Areas of the Popular Culture Association.  35th Annual Meeting of the Popular Culture Association, San Diego Marriott Hotel and Marina (San Diego, CA).

Organized by Michael A. Torregrossa (University of Connecticut (Storrs)) and Jason Tondro (University of California, Riverside)

Chair:  Christina Francis (Arizona State University)

“Understanding Dante: Comics in the Commedia”

Jason Tondro

“Bran's Head and Other Things You Never Thought You'd See In Comics: Celtic Mythology in Comics”

Nicole Freim (Cardinal Stritch University)

“Holy Grail, Batman!  The Dark Knight Detective in King Arthur's Court--DC Comics' Batman and the Arthurian Legend”

Michael A. Torregrossa

The Comics Get Medieval Year 4 (2007)

6 April 2007: The Comics Get Medieval I:  Modern Comics & Their Medieval Sources and The Comics Get Medieval II:  Comics and Medieval Studies. Sponsored by the Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages and the Arthurian Legends, Comics & Comic Art, and Medieval Popular Culture Area of the Popular Culture Association.  2007 Joint Conference of the National Popular Culture and American Culture Associations, Boston Marriott Copley Place (Boston, MA). 

“The Comics Get Medieval I:  Modern Comics & Their Medieval Sources”

Organized by Michael A. Torregrossa (Smithfield, Rhode Island) and Jason Tondro (University of California, Riverside)

Chair:  Michael A. Torregrossa

“An Arthur for All Ages, Appearing Now in the Web Comic Arthur, King of Time and Space”

Christina Francis (Bloomsburg University)

“ ‘Thor Disassembled’ Dissected:  The Medieval Sources of Ragnarok (2004)”

Kate D’Ettore (CMS University of Toronto)

“From the Middle Ages to the Middle Market:  Beowulf and the Comic”

María José Gómez-Calderón (Universidad de Sevilla)

“Comic, But Not Funny:  The Concept of Gravitas in Gareth Hinds’ Graphic Adaptation of Beowulf (1999-2000)”

Nathan A. Breen (DePaul University)

 “The Comics Get Medieval II:  Comics and Medieval Studies”

Organized by Michael A. Torregrossa (Smithfield, Rhode Island) and Jason W. Tondro (University of California, Riverside)

Chair:  Michael A. Torregrossa

“Professor A and the X-Men:  Augustine of Hippo’s Non-Systematic Demonology in Marvel Comics’ X-Men”

Matthew S. McConnel (Western Michigan University)

“Vikings across a Millennium:  Comics in the Twelfth and Twentieth Centuries”

Rod McDonald (University of Sydney)

Roundtable on Medieval Studies and the Comics Medium

Moderator:  Michael Torregrossa

The Comics Get Medieval Year 5 (2008)

21 March 2008: The Comics Get Medieval 2008: From Comics of the Middle Ages to Modern Medieval-Themed Comics (listed in the program as “Comics from the Middle Ages to the Modern”). Included under the Medieval Popular Culture Area of the National Popular Culture Association. Sponsored by the Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages and the Arthurian Legends, Comics & Comic Art, and Medieval Popular Culture Areas of the Popular Culture Association.  2008 Joint Conference of National Popular Culture and American Culture Associations, San Francisco Marriott (San Francisco, CA).  

Organizer: Michael A. Torregrossa (The Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages)

Presider: K. A. Laity (College of Saint Rose)

“The Cycle of the Life and Passion of Christ in the Bible of Ávila: A Spanish Medieval Proto-Comic”

Monica A. Walker Vadillo (Universidad Complutense de Madrid)

“Jean d’Arras’ and Couldrette’s Mélusine depicted in Mélusine, fée serpente by Sophie Balland and Didier Quella-Guyot”

Julia A. Nephew (Dominican University)

“Four Colored Medievalism: DC Comics’ Beowulf, Dragon Slayer”

Peter Lee (California State University, Northridge)

  

10 May 2008: The Comics Get Medieval at Kalamazoo: A Workshop on the Comics Medium in the Medieval Studies Classroom and Medievalist Research.  Sponsored by The Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages.  43rd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, MI). 

Organizer: Michael A. Torregrossa (The Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages)

Presider: Dominick Grace (Brecia University College)

“Introducing the Medium”

Michael A. Torregrossa

“The Medieval Comics Project: Defining the Corpus (Again)”

Michael A. Torregrossa

“Using Comics in Your Teaching and Research” 

Michael A. Torregrossa

Introduction and History

Welcome to the The Medieval Comics Project Blog. The Medieval Comics Project (MCP) was first launched in August 2003 as a resource for scholars, educators, and enthusiasts of the Middle Ages. The website will be relaunched in the future, but, in the meantime, this blog, alongside The Arthur of the Comics Project Blog (associated with our sibling project The Arthur of the Comics Project) has been conceived as a way to catch up on new and forthcoming comics as well as commentary on previous comics and scholarship on medieval-themed comics. We also hope that the blog(s) can serve as a forum to generate new scholarship on this much-neglected form of popular medievalism.

Michael A Torregrossa,
Founder, The Medieval Comics Project
Founder, The Arthur of the Comics Project