Comics Get Medieval at MAPACA 2018

The Comics Get Medieval is back! 

Here are the details on our sponsored session for MAPACA's conference this coming November. Registration information is available at https://mapaca.net/conference.(For information on our other session, visit https://medievalinpopularculture.blogspot.com/2018/09/sponsored-sessions-for-mapaca-2018.html.)


29th Annual Conference of the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association, Lord Baltimore Hotel, Baltimore, Maryland

The Comics Get Medieval 2018: A Continuing Celebration of Medieval-themed Comics (a Round Table) (Medieval & Renaissance Area / Round table)

Sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture for the Medieval & Renaissance Area of the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association, organized by Michael A. Torregrossa (Independent Scholar)

Saturday, November 10, 2:45 pm to 4:00 pm (Salon E Calvert Ballroom )

This special round-table session is sponsored by The Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture. The session revives the successful Comics Get Medieval series after a multi-year absence and seeks to foster communication between comics scholars, medievalists, medievalismists, and specialists in other aspects of popular culture studies through the study of “medieval comics”: any example of the comics medium (e.g. panel cartoons, comic strips, comics books, comics albums, band dessinée, graphic novels, manga, webcomics, comics to screen/screen to comics, and other related media) that feature medieval themes either in stories set during the Middle Ages or in stories presenting some element of the medieval in anachronistic settings (pre-medieval or post-medieval eras or medieval-inspired secondary worlds).

Round Table Discussions will include:

Session Chair: Scott Manning (American Military University)

1. “Co-Starring Beowulf?: An Alternative Version of Beowulf in Jumbo Comics No. 50 (April 1943)”

Michael A. Torregrossa (Independent Scholar)

The story of Beowulf is one of the greatest legends of English culture and has inspired a wealth of texts that attempt to retell a traditional version of his deeds. However, there are also a number of works—most largely unnoticed by admirers of the hero—that introduce new characters into events from Beowulf’s life and attempt to make the Geat into a secondary figure in his own story. One of the earliest version of this motif appeared in Jumbo Comics No. 50 (April 1943), an American comic published during the Golden Age of the medium. Like other comics produced at the time, the story appears intended to educate readers about Beowulf, but the creators do not follow a Classics Illustrated approach and give readers a straight retelling. Instead, they adapt elements from Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court and bring modern-day figures into the Anglo-Saxon past, where these intruders to the story in effect alter history to create a divergent account of the epic that attempts to place a new hero in the dominant role once held by Beowulf. This presentation offers the first extended discussion of the Beowulfiana of Jumbo Comics No. 50 to offer suggestions on how this forgotten work can be of value in our research and teaching about Beowulf and its afterlife.

Michael A. Torregrossa is a medievalist whose research interests include adaptation, Arthuriana, comics and comic art, medievalism, monsters, and wizards. He is founder of both 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 and outgoing Fantastic Area Chair for the Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association.


2. “ ‘Ka is a Wheel’: The Arthurian Cycle and its Context in Marvel’s Stephen King’s Dark Tower”

Carl Sell (Indiana University of Pennsylvania)

Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series has distinguished itself as a series without an end and without a clear beginning; however, Marvel’s series Stephen King’s Dark Tower, which ran from 2007 to 2017 under the supervision of King himself, serves as a starting point to the adventures of Roland of Gilead, last in the line of Arthur Eld, the great king of All-World. Beginning with The Gunslinger Born, the Arthurian cycle repeats itself anew with Steven Deschain and the Affiliation, In-World’s incarnation of the Round Table and his treacherous advisor Marten Broadcloak, the man who steals Steven’s wife. As Roland’s story unfolds, he is caught up in the ka, the fate, of his long line, the fate of King Arthur Eld himself: death, renewal, betrayal, and the endless quest for the Dark Tower, the Grail-like salvation of All-World. Roland and his ka-tet, Cuthbert Allgood and Alain Johns, the stand-ins for Sir Kay and Sir Bedivere to Roland’s Arthur, are caught up in the Arthurian mythos and its endless cycle—ka, after all, is a wheel—and their journey together complicates the standard Arthurian narrative and blends character roles, motivations, and tropes found within more standard Arthurian adaptations. The story of King Arthur—as Arthur Eld—is ever-present in the world of Stephen King’s Dark Tower and in the gunslingers themselves as the new model of Arthurian chivalry.

Carl Sell is a PhD student at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He studies the Arthurian Legend and modern adaptations of the legend as well as adaptations of Robin Hood. He is interested in all things medieval and Early Modern.


3. “I’m Holding Out For A Hero: The Disparity Between Male Warriors and Valkyries in Norse Mythology and the Depiction of Valkyrie in the 21st Century”

Lindsey Poe (Georgia College and State University)

Norse mythology has many depictions of warriors. The stories we have today are presumably long held Icelandic oral tales that had previously been passed on generation by generation. The eddas, for instance, are old Norse oral myths that were written down in the 13th century by Snori Sturluson. The myths are traditionally pagan, however Snori Sturluson was compiling them while priests were attempting to convert the people of Iceland to Christianity. As such, the works became a blend of both Christian and pagan beliefs. While Icelandic peoples were still worshipping the Norse gods, Snori wove in a watered down version of the Christian message in his written Edda. Throughout these texts, we see descriptions of god-like men such as Thor and Loki as well as characters like Sigurd, who simply represent a traditional warrior male. Interestingly enough, some women like Brunhild are elevated and are portrayed as strong, battle ready individuals. They exist as supernatural beings who wield power over life and death. These warrior women are known as Valkyries. They are not merely women, rather, Valkyries hold a third classification of gender and exist outside of the binary. Through “The Elder Edda,” “The Prose Edda,” and “The Saga of the Volsungs” the characterizations of these two classes of warriors will be broken down and their differences analyzed. In addition, the Valkyries of literature will be compared to the depictions of these women in films and comics, particularly in the Marvel universe.

Lindsey Poe graduated with her bachelor’s degree in English Literature with a minor in Spanish from Georgia College and State University in the Spring of 2017. Following graduation, she applied to and got accepted at her alma mater, where she is currently in her second year of graduate school, working towards a master’s in English.

2013 Session Updates

A much belated notice:

The 2013 sessions of "The Comics Get Medieval" solicited for both the Popular Culture Association annual conference and the Plymouth State University Medieval and Renaissance Forum have been cancelled. Individuals who have submitted a proposal will receive an email later in the month and preference (if desired) for future sessions.

Contributors to "The Comics Get Medieval" collection should expect an update on the status of the project in the spring.

Michael Torregrossa

Comics Get Medieval Collections Update

To those who have submitted proposals for the Comics Get Medieval collection(s), decisions have been delayed until the fall, but we do hope to get back to everyone as soon as possible with formal acceptance notice and formatting issues.

Further interested parties may submit proposals as part of our current call for papers at http://medieval-comics-project.blogspot.com/2012/09/comics-get-medieval-2013-updated-cfp.html. 

Michael

Comics Get Medieval 2013 (Updated CFP)

Final call for papers

The Comics Get Medieval 2013:

A continuing Celebration of Medieval-themed Comics

PCA at Washington Marriott Wardman Park, 3/27-30/13

Special Sessions of the Comic Art & Comics Area

Organized By Michael A. Torregrossa and Jason Tondro

Proposals Due to Organizers by 1 September 2012

Celebrating our seventh year in 2013, proposals are now being considered for inclusion at “The Comics Get Medieval 2013,” a series of panels and roundtables sponsored by The Virtual Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages and to be hosted by the Comic Art & Comics Area of the Popular Culture Association (PCA) for the 2013 Joint Conference of the National Popular Culture and American Culture Associations to be held at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park from 27 to 30 March 2013 in Washington, DC.  

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 anachronistic settings (pre-medieval or post-medieval eras or medieval-inspired secondary worlds). We are also interested in papers looking at medieval-themed 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 during the early part of 2013. (Individuals only interested in submitting for the collection should also send proposals by 30 November 2012 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 Project web site available at <http://Arthur-of-the-Comics.org/>, both organized by The Virtual Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages.  

No later than 30 November 2012, interested individuals (who must be members of PCA or ACA or join for 2013) should submit full contact information (name, address, phone/cell, and email), titles, abstracts of 300-500 words, and a brief resume to the session’s organizers, who will then forward them to the area chair. Address all inquiries and proposals to the organizers at the following address: <Medieval.Comics.Project@gmail.com> and include “Comics Get Medieval 2013” in the subject line.

PCA Update

My thanks again to the presenters Nathan Breen, Michelle Braun, and Hannah Means-Shannon; special guests Nicole Freim and Jason Tondro; and audience members for making our sixth (and tenth anniversary) session of the Comics Get Medieval at PCA a rousing success.

PCA Sessions Info

As a further aid to our session this week, I include the abstracts of the three papers and biographies of the presenters and additional panelists for the concluding round table:


3286 Fri. 4/13 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM
The Comics Get Medieval 2012: A Celebration of Medieval-Themed Comics in Commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of Prince Valiant
Chair: Michael A. Torregrossa, The Virtual Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages

“Integrating Ideologies: Monarchy and Democracy in Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant”
Nathan A. Breen, College of Lake County

Nathan Breen is associate professor of English at the College of Lake County, in Grayslake, Illinois, where he teaches composition, British and world literature. Trained as a medievalist, Nathan has taught graduate and undergraduate courses and published several articles on Old English poetry and Anglo-Saxon culture, and he is currently researching twentieth-century adaptations of Beowulf in comics and graphic novels. His interest in medieval studies stems from a lifelong love of Prince Valiant, which was introduced to him at age six. 

As we celebrate the 75th anniversary of Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant, we cannot help but marvel at the consistent beauty of the illustrations, the brilliance of its creators, and the complexity of its storylines. In this paper, I argue that one of the  key elements in the success of Prince Valiant is the way that Foster nearly seamlessly integrated the vastly disparate political ideologies of monarchy and democracy. On one hand, readers are enticed with the aristocratic  hierarchy of Arthur’s court; on the other, they are intrigued by the democratic meritocracy among Arthur’s knights. As an analysis of some of the strips that were published in the first year (1937-38) shows, Hal Foster incorporated this blend of monarchy and democracy from the very beginning, juxtaposing Valiant’s rise in stature within Arthur’s court – based on his inherent nobility and his early acts of valor –with the rigid structure of obeisance to the authority of the king.

The complexity of the storylines allowed Foster to interpret the Arthur legend in a manner that simultaneously satisfies a desire for the otherness and awe inspired by Camelot and the competing, yet conflicting, desire for familiarity manifest in witnessing characters who seem contemporary in the way that they succeed and rise in stature according to their heroic deeds. While Foster researched his topic extensively and made sustained and serious attempts to adhere to his perception of the of early medieval Britain (which gives Valiant a sense of historical and monarchical grandeur), he simultaneously conceded, at times, to his audience’s preconceptions and to the legend of Arthur (including their desire to see the character of Val as someone identifiable – a husband, a father, a knight – who is valued and promoted because of his work ethic). This is not to say that Foster compromised his material; to the contrary, his ability to merge these divergent approaches to history is what made Prince Valiant so popular with audiences.

In short, Foster satisfies the dual urges toward antiquity and modernity in the complex reaction that 20^th and 21^st century audience have toward medieval topics. From the very first strip published, Foster develops Arthur’s knights (and especially Val) as the stuff of legends, but also as very identifiable and believable characters. In the strips published between 1937-38, we see this most notably in the way young Valiant himself, the descendent of beleaguered royalty, initially struggles to conform to the social structure of Camelot (in fact, he is nearly exiled for fighting with other page boys while drunk), yet eventually rises to become one of Arthur’s most trusted knights. It is Val’s royal lineage that distinguishes him from the modern audience and makes him seem medieval, yet it is his quest for recognition according to his merit and service that makes him seem modern and identifiable, and endears him to audiences. By appealing to these divergent expectations in his audience, Foster ensured the enduring success of Prince Valiant.

“Excalibur as Science Object: Democratizing the Power behind the Arthurian Throne in Camelot 3000” Michelle Braun, Mount Royal University

Michele Braun teaches in the English and General Education departments at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Canada. She is also the Vice-President of the Popular Culture Association of Canada, which will be holding its second conference in Niagara Falls, Ontario, this May. Her paper demonstrates Michelle’s ongoing consideration of the representation of technology in contemporary literature as well as her interest in Arthuriana.

Magical objects frequently appear in Arthurian narratives and the object that appears most frequently in stories about King Arthur is his sword, Excalibur.  In medieval and other Arthurian texts, Excalibur is a magical object, but in some contemporary iterations of the legend, Excalibur becomes a technological object, whose function can be explained by scientific principles. This paper will describe the use of science and technology as a means for explaining the king-making events involving Excalibur in Camelot 3000. It will draw upon observations about the relationship between magical and scientific explanations of phenomena, including the relationship between the practitioners of science and magic: Merlin and Morgan and the magical and scientific sources of their power. The personal relationship to power that Merlin and Morgan possess in their manipulation of magic and science is countered by the power that Arthur and Mordred wield, which is located in the artefacts they possess, namely the sword Excalibur and the Holy Grail. Thus power in some instances is understood to be diffuse and complex in the novel, but in others, it inheres in particular artefacts, including Arthur’s sword.

The graphic novel, Camelot 3000 (1988), follows the traditional presentation of Excalibur as symbol of Arthur’s right to rule, but it also reimagines Excalibur as a nuclear powered weapon. Introducing a potential scientific or technical component to the power of the sword introduces complexity into the relationship between Excalibur and power. In translating Excalibur as a technical object, the reader is invited to share in the understanding of its power and democratize the process of king-making by revealing it to potentially be facilitated by science. By re-imagining Excalibur as a technological, rather than a magical or symbolic object, the graphic novel reflects the tastes and interests of its twentieth century readers. 

“The Myth of the Death of the Hero: Eternal Return in Arthurian Literature and Neil Gaiman’s Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?”
Hannah Means-Shannon, Georgian Court University

Hannah Means-Shannon teaches English at Georgian Court University in Lakewood, New Jersey. She, too, is a medievalist by background and has published articles on the works of both Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman  in the International Journal of Comic Art, The Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics and Studies in Comics. She is currently writing on a book about Gaiman’s early works.

This study will investigate the ways in which the poetry of Wace, Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regnum Brittaniae, and Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur present the concept of the hero’s miraculous return from death in comparison to Neil Gaiman’s recent Batman story arc Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? (2009). Rebirth itself will be examined in terms of Carl Jung’s consideration of the “child-hero” archetype, both a “beginning and an end” to the heroic process, and in terms of Jung’s archetype of “rebirth” following specific psychologically significant patterns in the elucidation of developing “immortal” selfhood in the heroic role.  Jung’s interpretation of Buddhist reincarnation present in Psychology and the East (2008) will also be considered in terms of its psychological impact on modern heroic mythology.

Major factors concerning the death of the hero in Arthurian texts and Gaiman’s narrative will be explored, including the role of betrayal, and fundamental flaws in characterization that make a “cyclical” pattern necessary. Celtic mythological motifs that may inform the “eternal return” concept in Arthurian Literature will be examined, including the mythology of Taliesin and Merlin, as well as varying Buddhist-inspired concepts of reincarnation present in Gaiman’s text. Rebirth itself will be considered in terms of a concern for multiple versions of the death/resurrection motif, and degree of uncertainty concerning the exact process whereby a hero will be reborn to “return”. Within this ambiguous narrative, accompanying, guiding figures play a significant role in suggesting the positive nature of the “rebirth” outcome, including Merlin, the “queens” of Avalon, Alfred and Bruce Wayne’s parents. Application of key Jungian concepts of the “child-hero” archetype and “rebirth” will highlight the manner in which both Arthurian texts and Neil Gaiman’s Batman narrative represent a concern for the development of the heroic role in psychological terms, culminating in an affirmation of the “return” motif as an expression of the development of empowered unified selfhood in the central hero.

Additional panelists for the round table:

Nicole Freim, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee

Nicole is the current chair of the Comic Art & Comics Area, a position she has now held for nine years. She is also on the editorial board of the International Journal of Comic Art and is currently in the process of finishing her dissertation.

Jason Tondro, University of California Riverside

Jason Tondro is the author of Superheroes of the Round Table: Comics Connections to Medieval and Renaissance Literature, published last October from McFarland. For years, he has taught comics, composition, and Arthurian literature at University of California Riverside and neighboring city colleges, but this fall Jason will begin work as an Assistant Professor at the College of Coastal Georgia. He is also an avid blogger and can be followed at Doctor Comics at Blogspot.com.

Michael A. Torregrossa, The Virtual Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages

Michael A. Torregrossa is a graduate of the Medieval Studies program at the University of Connecticut (Storrs). His research interests include adaptation, Arthuriana, comics and comic art, medievalism, vampires, and wizards. Michael is currently Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Legend Area Chair for the Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association. He is also founder of The Alliance for the Promotion of Research on the Villains of the Matter of Britain, founder of The Institute for the Advancement of Scholarship on the Magic-Wielding Figures of Visual Electronic Multimedia, and co-founder, with Carl James Grindley, of The Virtual Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages; he also serves as editor for these organizations various blogs. Michael has presented his research at regional, national, and international conferences and has been published in Adapting the Arthurian Legends for Children: Essays on Arthurian Juvenilia, Arthuriana, The Arthuriana / Camelot Project Bibliographies, Cinema Arthuriana: Twenty Essays, Film & History, The 1999 Film & History CD-Rom Annual, The Medieval Hero on Screen: Representations from Beowulf to Buffy, and the three most recent supplements to The Arthurian Encyclopedia.

Kalamazoo Sessions

I just posted the details of our Kalamazoo sessions at the main blog. Our comics related session is as follows:


Saturday, 12 May: 10:00 AM
Session 394 (Bernhard 204)
The Comics Get Medieval at Kalamazoo: New Perspectives for Incorporating Comics into Medieval Studies Teaching and Research (A Roundtable)
Sponsor: Virtual Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages
Organizer: Michael A. Torregrossa, Virtual Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages
Presider: Mikee Delony, Abilene Christian Univ.
Grotesque in Comics
Fabio Mourilhe, Univ. Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Caliber (2008), or Arthur’s Mystical Six-Shooter and the Gunslingers of the O.K. Corral
Karen Casebier, St. Mary’s College of Maryland
Arthurian Themes in DC Comic’s Demon Knights (2011–)
Jason Tondro, Univ. of California–Riverside

Comics Get Medieval 2013 First CFP

The Virtual Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages is pleased to announce the following call for papers:

First call for papers

The Comics Get Medieval 2013:

A continuing Celebration of Medieval-themed Comics

PCA Washington, DC 3/27-30/13

Special Sessions of the Comic Art & Comics Area

Organized By Michael A. Torregrossa and Jason Tondro

Proposals Due to Organizers by 1 September 2012

Celebrating our seventh year in 2013, proposals are now being considered for inclusion at “The Comics Get Medieval 2013,” a series of panels and roundtables sponsored by The Virtual Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages and to be hosted by the Comic Art & Comics Area of the Popular Culture Association (PCA) for the 2013 Joint Conference of the National Popular Culture and American Culture Associations to be held from 27 to 30 March 2013 in Washington, DC. 

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 anachronistic settings (pre-medieval or post-medieval eras or medieval-inspired secondary worlds). We are also interested in papers looking at medieval-themed 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 during the early part of 2013. (Individuals only interested in submitting for the collection should also send proposals by 1 September 2012 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 Project web site available at <http://Arthur-of-the-Comics.org/>, both organized by The Virtual Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages. 

No later than 1 September 2012, interested individuals (who must be members of PCA or ACA or join for 2013) should submit full contact information (name, address, phone/cell, and email), titles, abstracts of 300-500 words, and a brief resume to the session’s organizers, who will then forward them to the area chair. Address all inquiries and proposals to the organizers at the following address: <Medieval.Comics.Project@gmail.com> and include “Comics Get Medieval 2013” in the subject line. 

PCA Reminder

A reminder that this year's Comics Get Medieval session will run next Friday at 11:30 AM - 1 PM at the annual meeting of the Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association. Details as follows (though I just realized the order of papers is altered, so I've numbered them in the correct order for the session):


3286 Comic Art and Comics (Freim): The Comics Get Medieval 2012: A Celebration of Medieval-Themed Comics in Commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of Prince Valiant: Rm: Simmons
Session Chair: Michael A. Torregrossa

2. Excalibur as Science Object: Democratizing the Power behind the Arthurian Throne in Camelot 3000
Michelle Braun, Mount Royal University

1. Integrating Ideologies: Monarchy and Democracy in Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant
Nathan Breen, College of Lake County

3. The Myth of the Death of the Hero: Eternal Return in Arthurian Literature and Neil Gaiman’s Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?
Hannah Means-Shannon, Georgian Court University

Comics Get Medieval 2012 Update

Here are the details on our meeting in Boston:

The Comics Get Medieval 2012: A Celebration of Medieval-Themed Comics in Commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of Prince Valiant
A Special Session of the Comics Art & Comics Area
Organizer/Presider: Michael A. Torregrossa, The Virtual Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages

Paper 1: Integrating Ideologies: Monarchy and Democracy in Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant 
Nathan A. Breen, College of Lake County

Paper 2: Excalibur as Science Object: Democratizing the Power behind the Arthurian Throne in Camelot 3000
Michelle Braun, Mount Royal University

Paper 3: The Myth of the Death of the Hero: Eternal Return in Arthurian Literature and Neil Gaiman’s Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? 
Hannah Means-Shannon, Georgian Court University


Following the papers will be a roundtable discussion on the use of medieval themes in the comics medium and their impact on our conception of the Middle Ages.

Comics Get Medieval 2012 Update

To those that have submitted proposals for PCA in Boston:

We are experiencing a temporary delay in reviewing proposals but do hope to evaluate everything by the weekend.

Thanks again for your interest,

Michael Torregrossa

UPDATE: Comics Get Medieval 2012

Further details have been made available regarding next April's Joint Meeting of the Popular Culture Association and American Culture Association. The conference is to be held from 11-14 April 2012 after Easter and Passover. This has necessitated an update to out cal for papers for The Comics Get Medieval 2012 as follows:

THE COMICS GET MEDIEVAL 2012:
A CELEBRATION OF MEDIEVAL-THEMED COMICS IN
COMMEMORATION OF THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF PRINCE VALIANT
CALL FOR PAPERS (PCA: BOSTON, MA 4/11-14/12)
SPECIAL SESSIONS OF THE COMICS & COMIC ART AREA
ORGANIZED BY MICHAEL A. TORREGROSSA AND JASON TONDRO
PROPOSALS DUE TO ORGANIZERS BY 1 DECEMBER 2011

Celebrating our sixth year in 2012, proposals are now being considered for inclusion at “The Comics Get Medieval 2012,” a series of panels and roundtables sponsored by The Virtual 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 2012 Joint Conference of the National Popular Culture and American Culture Associations to be held from 11-14 April 2012 in Boston, Massachusetts.

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 in the summer of 2012. (Individuals only interested in submitting for the collection should also send proposals by 1 December 2011 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 Virtual Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages.


No later that 1 December 2011, interested individuals (who must be members of PCA or ACA or join for 2012) 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 2012” in the subject line.

Hagar the Horrible Reprint Continue

Titan Books has recently released the second volume of The Epic Chronicles of Hagar the Horrible. The first volume (9781848562332), published last year, reprinted the daily strips from 1973 to 1974, and volume two (9781848562349) concludes the strips for 1974 and moves into 1975. As with the earlier volume, volume two features a number of supplementary texts, including a foreword by cartoonist Sergio Aragones and an introduction by cartoonist Brian Walker.

New Beowulf Graphic Novel

Barron's Educational Books has recently published a new graphic novelized retelling of Beowulf, adapted by writer Jacqueline Morley and illustrator Li Sidong, as part of its Graphic Classics series. With a complete adaption of the story in full-color art plus supplementary material for contextualizing the story (including a discussion of film adaptations), the book is available in both paperback (9780764144493) and hardcover (9780764163012) editions and can be ordered directly from the publisher.

Help with Hellboy

I am seeking the assistance of someone who would be willing to read and provide a summary of 2 essays in Spanish devoted to the Hellboy comic. The summaries will be included the bibliographic guide to medieval comics scholarship designed to accompany The Medieval Comics Project/The Arthur of the Comics Project. 

The two articles can be accessed at the following links:

Hernández, Santiago Cortés. "de Roberto el Diablo narrativa de un héroe de la Edad Media al cómic"

http://rlp.culturaspopulares.org/textos/16/07-Cortes.pdf

López, Jose Luis Cardero. "Hellboy y las Presencias de Otros Mundos.(El Chico del Infierno frente a los Dioses Primordiales)"

http://serbal.pntic.mec.es/AParteRei/cardero61.pdf

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