Rutledge on Dante and Alan Moore

New work on Dante in the comics from the latest issue of Mythlore:

Rutledge, Zachary. "Hell as an Exploration of Sin: A Comparison of Alan Moore’s Providence to Dante’s Inferno." Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature, vol. 42, no. 2, Spring/Summer 2024, article 10, https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol42/iss2/10.

The full issue can also be purchased from the Mythopoeic Society at https://www.mythsoc.org/mythlore/mythlore-144.htm. 

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.”

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”

New Scholarship in The Year's Work in Medievalism 33 (2018)

The latest volume of The Year's Work in Medievalism includes two items of interest to scholars of medieval comics:


The Year's Work in Medievalism 33 (2018)

Edited by Valerie Johnson & Renée Ward, with Laura Harrison


Karl Fugelso: A Mickey Mouse Inferno: Medievalist Legacies and the Marketing of the Middle Ages pdf

Scott Manning: Warriors “Hedgehogged” in Arrows: Crusaders, Samurai, and Wolverine in Medieval Chronicles and Popular Culture pdf


The complete volume can be accessed at https://sites.google.com/site/theyearsworkinmedievalism/all-issues/33-2018.

CFP Dante Alighieri and the Divine Comedy in comics and sequential art (7/31/2021)

The following call came on the Comix Scholars List earlier this month.



-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [COMIXSCHOLARS-L] Call for contributions: Dante Alighieri and the Divine Comedy in comics and sequential art
From: Mattia Petricola <mattia.petricola@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 13, 2020, 1:31 PM
To: COMIXSCHOLARS-L@lists.ufl.edu
CC:

(Apologies for cross-posting)

Dear all,

I recently became involved as co-editor in a project on the intermedial reception of Dante Alighieri headed by Caroline Fischer (University of Pau, France). The project stems from a panel originally held at the 2019 ESCL (European Society of Comparative Literature) Conference in Lille (France) and will result in a collection of articles. The articles will be published by the end of the year in Between (https://ojs.unica.it/index.php/between/index), the open-access, peer-reviewed journal of the Italian Society of Comparative Literature, in the wider context of an international number on intermediality edited by Massimo Fusillo (University of L'Aquila, Italy) and Hans-Joachim Backe (IT University of Copenhagen).

In order to further enrich our focus section on Dante and intermediality, we are looking for contributions in English or French (max 40.000 characters) exploring the intermedial reception of Dante (not limited to the Divine Comedy) in comics/graphic novels/manga/sequential art. The deadline for article submissions is July 30, 2020. If you are interested, please write to mattia.petricola@gmail.com as soon as you can with a short abstract and bio.

If you have any questions or require any further information, please let me know.

Kind regards,

Mattia Petricola

________________________

Mattia Petricola

University of L'Aquila

Department of Humanities

mattia.petricola@gmail.com

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