Through the dynamic synthesis of textual and pictorial information, graphic narrative media provide a rich and complex wellspring for critical investigation. Since Paleolithic times, humans have used graphical images to record and transmit information. From cave paintings, to Biblia Pauperum and Bayeux Tapestry, to the comics of the 20th and 21st Centuries, coded/sequential images have been developed and employed for a number of utilitarian, ornamental, and artistic/informative purposes. Currently, the graphic novel represents, perhaps, the most vital form of textual/pictorial narration. Often unafraid to exist outside the boundaries set by mainstream culture, graphic narratives can be seen as representing a new cultural avant-garde; one in which the limits of tastefulness are pushed, hegemonic truths are called into question, and societal norms are subverted.

This panel solicits scholarly papers on diverse aspects of the graphic narrative (comics, the graphic novel, sequential art): historical analysis of the media (including evolution of the graphic novel from pre-comic sequential illustration to modern forms of visual storytelling); visual methods of graphic narration (structure and semiology; visual grammar, rhetoric and tropes); comics and popular subculture (mini-comics, zines and D.I.Y. ethos; emo culture; subversive culture); political ideologies; treatment of sexualities (feminism; queer theory; masculinities and male melancholia); the canonical works; comics and the culture war (Comics Code Authority, Cold War anxiety); superhero mythology; the mainstreaming of the medium, and the rapport between graphic narrative and other media (reciprocity, autophagia, and co-option in graphic narrative, literature, film and the visual arts).

Papers should be 6-8 pages in length, which will be delivered in 15-20 minute presentations. Proposals should include the paper’s title, presenter’s name, and contact information (day and evening phone numbers, fax number, e-mail address, surface mail address and institutional affiliation), along with a 250-350 word abstract of paper.

Deadline: March 1st, 2009. Early submissions requested.

Participation is not limited to graduate students. All comics scholars and creators are invited to participate.

Interested parties should contact:


Michael G Sivak
Sivakm1@southernct.edu

Or

Dr. Kenneth Florey
Floreyk1@southernct.edu

Michael G. Sivak
c/o Dr. Kenneth Florey
Department of English, SCSU,
501 Crescent Street,
New Haven, CT 06515