CFP The Lives and Legacies of Medieval Comics: A Commemoration of Ninety Years of Hal Foster's Prince Valiant (Hybrid) (9/15/2026; ICMS Kalamazoo/Online 5/13-15/2027)

The Lives and Legacies of Medieval Comics: A Commemoration of Ninety Years of Hal Foster's Prince Valiant (Hybrid)

62nd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, MI), Thursday, 13 May, through Saturday, 15 May, 2026

Co-sponsored by Medieval Comics Project, Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture

Co-organized by Michael A. Torregrossa, Bristol Community College, and Carl B Sell, University of Pittsburgh

Rationale

The comics have a long history of adapting aspects of the Middle Ages, and, while many series and characters have disappeared over time, Hal Foster’s comic strip Prince Valiant has persevered, continuing under a series of writers and artists over nine decades.


In commemoration of the ninetieth anniversary of Foster’s comic in 2027, we’d like to assess the ways that comics (and their adaptations across media) have contributed to the public’s understanding of the medieval past and to illuminate strategies for expanding knowledge of and interest in this corpus as creators, researchers, and teachers.

Submissions that look directly at Prince Valiant (or any of its adaptations) are especially encouraged; however, we will also consider proposals devoted to other characters, creators, and/or series that make use of medieval themes.


Do check out our expanding resource, the Medieval Comics Project Bibliographies, at https://tinyurl.com/MedievalComicsProjectBiblios, for information on prior studies of medievalist comics.

Submission Information

Please post paper submissions into the Confex site using the direct link https://icms.confex.com/icms/2027/prelim.cgi/Session/8806.

Do send any questions to the organizers at comics.get.medieval@gmail.com. Submissions are due no later than 15 September 2026.


For this event, individuals are invited to make ONE paper proposal to ONE session of papers: either the sponsored or special sessions OR the general sessions. You may propose an unlimited number of contributions to roundtables, but you will not be scheduled to actively participate (as paper presenter, roundtable discussant, poster author, presider, respondent, workshop leader, demonstrator, or performer) in more than six sessions. See the conference’s policies page for more information at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/policies-guidelines.


Please be aware that those accepted to the panel must register for the conference in order to present. Past registration costs can be viewed at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/registration. The International Congress on Medieval Studies does offer limited funding as travel awards and subsidized registration costs; details are available at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/awards.



For more information about the Medieval Comics Project, do check out our website at https://medieval-comics-project.blogspot.com/ and consider signing up for our listserv, The Medieval Comics Project Discussion List, at https://groups.io/g/medieval-comixlist.


For more information about the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture, do check out our website, Mass Mediævalisms: The Middle Ages of Popular Culture: https://medievalinpopularculture.blogspot.com/.

Kalamazoo 2026 Sponsored Session - Medieval Classics (Re)Illustrated

Here are the details on our sponsored session at this year's International Congress on Medieval Studies:

Medieval Classics (Re)Illustrated: A Medieval Comics Project Teamup (Hybrid)

61st International Congress on Medieval Studies

Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, Michigan)/Online through Confex

Session 369: Saturday, 16 May 2026, 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM EDT

Sangren Hall 3110 (hybrid)


Organized by Michael A. Torregrossa, Bristol Community College, and Siân Echard, University of British Columbia

Co-sponsored by Medieval Comics Project; International Arthurian Society, North American Branch (IAS/NAB); International Society for the Study of Medievalism


Presider: Rachael Warmington, Seton Hall University (rkw2111@gmail.com)



1 - What Makes a Hero? (In-Person)

Jehan Parker, Independent scholar

A focused genealogy of "hero" as an archetype in the chronology of Western Canon, seeking to explore the central question of "what makes a hero?" and grappling with the enormous and frenetic variance in the virtues embodied therein.

Jehan Parker is an independent scholar—this is their first presentation! It’s part of a larger project on the genealogy of hero mythology more broadly.



2 - Trans Thinking: Exploring the Productive Consonances between Medieval Arthurian and Contemporary Superhero Comics Storytelling through the Lens of Camelot 3000 (Remote)

Adrian McClure, Independent Scholar

The 1980s limited series Camelot 3000, with its ground-breaking transgender content, provides a useful jumping-off point to explore the myriad and mutually illuminating connections between the generic universe of contemporary superhero comics and Arthurian chivalric romance, especially with regard to gender binaries and the interrelationship of embodiment and personal identity.

Adrian McClure is an autistic independent scholar whose research focuses on the intersection of gender and religious identity in medieval literature. They published an article in Speculum on the Chanson de Roland as a multi-layered, theologically inflected text, and an article in Arthuriana's special comics issue on trans Arthurian themes in Grant Morrison's Shining Knight and Luda. They are finishing a book on the thirteenth-century Perlesvaus as a work of trauma fiction tied to the Albigensian Crusade. Their new book project explores nonbinary gender in Arthurian literature, from Chrétien de Troyes through present-day Marvel and DC comics.



3 - An Unlikely Heroine: The Challenges of Depicting Joan of Arc in Bandes Dessinées (In-Person)

Deborah L. McGrady, Univ. of Virginia

This presentation examines the representation of Joan of Arc in French comics from the 1890s through 2023 with specific attention given to how the Maid's story, her appearance and her expression are constrained by misogynistic and conservative values that hold enduring influence in the comic world.

Deborah McGrady, professor of French and Director of Medieval Studies at the University of Virginia. She published a monograph last May on Joan of Arc: The life of a French Cultural Icon. The work she is presenting today is a spinoff of that work.



4 - Hermetic Text as Metafictional Artifact: Medieval Arcana in Recent Graphic Novels (In-Person)

Andrew Hartzell, Independent Scholar

This paper will highlight contemporary graphic novels that feature arcane Medieval texts as framing devices or nested narratives. We will explore the ways in which these cartoonists retrieve and/or subvert premodern mystical genres toward postmodern ends.

Andy Hartzell is a cartoonist, designer, independent scholar and recent transplant to Kalamazoo. He’s contributed to several award-winning anthologies, and his most recent graphic novels are available through Uncivilized Books. In a previous life he designed video games, educational toys and VR experiences at Google and elsewhere.

CFP Comics Session for Keene State Medieval and Renaissance Forum (1/15/2026; Keene, NH 4/10-11-2026)

The Medieval Comics Project would like to organize a session on comics for the 46th Annual Medieval and Renaissance Forum to be held at Keene State College in Keene, New Hampshire, on Friday and Saturday, 10-11 April 2026.


Presentations can be in-person or remote.

Possible topics might include

• “comics” of the medieval and/or Renaissance eras
• comics adaptations of medieval and/or Renaissance literary texts
• comics depictions of medieval and/or Renaissance historical events
• approaches to using comics to teach about the Middle Ages and/or Renaissance
• reception of Comics Studies with the disciplines of Medieval Studies and/or Renaissance Studies

Please send a brief proposal and academic biographical statement to comics.get.medieval@gmail.com by 15 January 2026.



For more information on the Medieval Comics Project, please check out our blog at https://medieval-comics-project.blogspot.com/.

We also welcome individuals to join our moderated discussion list at https://groups.io/g/medieval-comixlist.

CFP Medieval Temporalities and Comics (Hybrid) (9/20/2025; Leeds IMC 7/6-9/2026)

Medieval Temporalities and Comics (Hybrid) (Leeds IMC, 6th-9th July, 2026)

deadline for submissions:
September 20, 2025

full name / name of organization:
Natalie Hopwood and Michael Torregrossa / The Medieval Comics Project

contact email:
ennrho@leeds.ac.uk



Medieval Temporalities and Comics

Leeds International Medieval Congress, 6th-9th July 2026

Hybrid Session

Co-organized by Natalie Hopwood, University of Leeds and Michael A. Torregrossa, Bristol Community College (The Medieval Comics Project)

This session aims to discuss the lasting legacy of the medieval on modern comics, sequential art, manga, and related media, and how the medieval continues to affect us today. We invite proposals for 20 minute papers about topics including, but not limited to:

Adaptations of medieval sources/characters into modern comics
Parallels between medieval art and comics
Longevity of medieval-themed comics characters (Prince Valiant, Shining Knight, etc.)
Reimaginings of the medieval in science fiction (Camelot 3000, Fourth World, etc.)
Time-displaced medieval characters in modern comics



Abstracts (250 words) and a short bio can be emailed to Natalie Hopwood (ennrho@leeds.ac.uk) and Michael Torregrossa (comics.get.medieval@gmail.com) of The Medieval Comics Project by 20th September 2025. Feel free to contact us with any questions!

CFP Medieval Classics (Re)Illustrated: A Medieval Comics Project Team-up (Hybrid) (9/15/2025; ICMS Kalamazoo/Online 5/14-16/2026)

Medieval Classics (Re)Illustrated: A Medieval Comics Project Team-up (Hybrid)

61st International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, MI), Thursday, 14 May, through Saturday, 16 May, 2026

Co-sponsored by Medieval Comics Project, International Arthurian Society/North American Branch, International Society for the Study of Medievalism 

Co-organized by Michael A. Torregrossa, Bristol Community College, and Siân Echard, University of British Columbia

There is a rich tradition of illustrating medieval literary texts that stretches from the Middle Ages to the present, and the comics medium has been an important contributor to this continuum. Medieval literature has long been popular with comics creators as the source for stories and characters, which have been adapted, appropriated, and/or transformed within a variety of comics published for readers of all ages across the globe. Despite the wealth of the corpus, there has been limited attention paid by medievalists to this work, with the notable exception of scholars in Beowulf Studies and Dante Studies. 

In this co-sponsored session, we seek, primarily, to unite the disciplines of Comics Studies and Medieval(ism) Studies at large to explore the history of comics adaptations, appropriations, and transformations of medieval literature for their value to our teaching and research. In addition, we hope panelists will also address how these comics can shed insight into a creator’s personal connections to the medieval past and/or their readers’ reception of the content either at their contemporary moment or as relics of our recent past. 

Possible topics for exploration might include specific texts like Book of Kells, Cantar de mio Cid, Canterbury Tales, History of the Kings of Britain, Lais of Marie de France, Le Morte Darthur, Nibelungenlied, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Song of Roland, Volsung Saga, and Yvain as well as the Arthurian and Robin Hood traditions. The work of cartoonist Jodie Troutman on Lit Brick also warrants some attention. Further insights into adaptations of Beowulf or Dante’s Commedia (which have been the subject of much prior study) would also be welcome. (Do check out expanding resource, the Medieval Comics Project Bibliographies at https://tinyurl.com/MedievalComicsProjectBiblios, for information on prior studies of medievalist comics.)

Please post paper submissions into the Confex site using the direct link https://icms.confex.com/icms/2026/prelim.cgi/Session/7242.  

Do send any questions to the organizers at comics.get.medieval@gmail.com. Submissions are due no later than 15 September 2025.

Please be aware that those accepted to the panel must register for the conference in order to present. Past registration costs can be viewed at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/registration. The International Congress on Medieval Studies does offer limited funding as travel awards and subsidized registration costs; details are available at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/awards.   

For more information about the Medieval Comics Project, do check out our website at https://medieval-comics-project.blogspot.com/ and consider signing up for our listserv, The Medieval Comics Project Discussion List, at https://groups.io/g/medieval-comixlist. 

For more information about the International Arthurian Society/North American Branch, do check out our website at https://www.international-arthurian-society-nab.org/ and consider becoming a member of our organization.

For more information about the International Society for the Study of Medievalism, do check out our website at https://medievalisms.org/ and consider signing up for our listserv (details at https://medievalisms.org/issm-listserv/).