This is a very special essay for Comics Academe, and a formal announcement, of sorts.
A (Re) Introduction to Comics Academe and Call for Submissions
A little over six months ago, I was approached by the fantastic WWAC editorial team about bringing back Comics Academe. Comics Academe was how I came to be a part of this amazing team of women writing about comics, and I am so appreciative for the opportunity to invite more women who are or have been…
A Tale of Comics Academe in a History Department: An Interview with Professor Julian Chambliss
Professor Julian Chambliss’s true origin remains shrouded in mystery but his LinkedIn page tells us that he has been a professor at Rollins College in Florida since 2003. In an interview by Chris Rawlins, Chambliss recounted his first experience teaching with comic books in 2006. As an editor and contributor for a recent compilation of research…
Stories from Comics Academe: The Culture of Production in Marvel’s Media Franchises
On May 1, 2014, I attended Derek Johnson’s lecture, “My Hero?: The Practices and Politics of Sharing Worlds in Marvel’s Media Franchises” presented by the University of California at Irvine Humanities Collective. Johnson is a professor of Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who researches identity and hierarchy in the production of…
Stories from Comics Academe: Visualizing a Story of Cancer’s Culture
What Graphic Novels Tell Us About Cancer Care, Greedy Stories, and the Ethnographic Method On April 30, 2014, I attended a lecture at Soka University in California entitled “What Graphic Novels Tell Us About Cancer Care, Greedy Stories, and the Ethnographic Method” by Juliet McMullin, a professor of anthropology at the University of California-Riverside. Among…
COMICS ACADEME: Comics Are a Graphic Education for Dyslexic Readers
I am more than a fan of comics. I have made them my career, and I advocate for their importance any chance I get. One of the major reasons why I do so is because of the impact comics have had on me as a dyslexic woman, as well as the potential they have to…
COMICS ACADEME: Spriggan: A Fun, Action-Packed Mix of Archaeology, Aliens, and International Politics – Part Three
By Solène Mallet Gauthier and Stephanie Halmhofer This text contains spoilers This post concludes a three part series! Read Part One here, and Part Two here. Spriggan made a comeback in 2022 with the release of a deluxe edition of the complete original 1989-1996 manga series (Seven Seas Entertainment) and a 6-episode Netflix animated series….
COMICS ACADEME: Spriggan: A Fun, Action-Packed Mix of Archaeology, Aliens, and International Politics – Part Two
By Solène Mallet Gauthier and Stephanie Halmhofer This text contains spoilers This is Part Two of a series! Read Part One here. Spriggan made a comeback in 2022 with the release of a deluxe edition of the complete original 1989-1996 manga series (Seven Seas Entertainment) and a 6-episode Netflix animated series. In both the original…
COMICS ACADEME: Spriggan: A Fun, Action-Packed Mix of Archaeology, Aliens, and International Politics – Part One
By Solène Mallet Gauthier and Stephanie Halmhofer This text contains spoilers Spriggan made a comeback in 2022 with the release of a deluxe edition of the complete original 1989-1996 manga series from Seven Seas Entertainment and a 6-episode Netflix animated series. In both the original manga and recent Netflix adaptation, Spriggan follows the adventures of…
Comics Academe Review: ‘Supersex’ Puts the Sex Back into Comics Scholarship
Superhero bodies and superhero sexuality are frequent talking points. As on-screen bodies increase muscle, with actors bulking themselves to unattainably immense proportions, the superhero sex drive remains virtually non-existent. It often appears redundant and a contradiction, mainly because the actors portraying superheroes are objects of desirability. But on screen, they are sexless, without desire, and…
Comics Academe: 7th Anniversary Retrospective
The first Comics Academe was published 7 years ago yesterday, on January 28th, 2014. Francesca Lyn was at the time a second-year doctoral student in the Media, Art, and Text program at Virginia Commonwealth University, and has since then graduated and become a well-known figure in comics studies and a mentor to other graduate students…
Comics Academe: 2020 in Review
To close out 2020, Comics Academe asked contributors to write about the conferences, articles, and books that had the biggest impact on them. They attended virtual conferences and comic cons and read, wrote, and were recognized for groundbreaking work in and around comics studies.