Representing Heroes, Villains and Anti- Heroes in Comics and Graphic Narratives

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H-Portugal CFP: Who’s Bad? Representing Heroes, Villains and Anti- Heroes in Comics and Graphic Narratives – A seminar sponsored by the ICLA Research Committee on Comic Studies and Graphic Narratives

Discussion published by Angelo Piepoli on Wednesday, September 7, 2016 Type: Call for Papers Date: July 6, 2017 to July 9, 2017 Location: Netherlands Subject Fields: Art, Art History & Visual Studies, Fine Arts, Humanities, Literature, Popular Culture Studies

This is a Call for Papers for a proposed seminar to be held as part of the American Comparative Literature Association's 2017 Annual Meeting. It will take place at Utrecht University in Utrecht, the Netherlands on July 6-9, 2017. Submitters are required to get a free account on the ACLA's website at http://www.acla.org/user/register . Abstracts are limited to 1500 characters, including spaces. If you wish to submit an astract, visit http://www.acla.org/node/12223 . The deadline for paper submission is September 23, 2016.

Since the publication of La vida de Lazarillo de Tormes y de sus fortuna y adversidades in 1554, the figure of the anti-hero, which had originated in Homeric literature, has had great literary fortune over the centuries. Satan as the personification of evil, then, was the most interesting character in Paradise Lost by John Milton and initiated a long series of fascinating literary villains. It is interesting to notice that, in a large part of the narratives of these troubled times we are living in, the protagonist of the story is everything but a hero and the most acclaimed characters cross the moral borders quite frequently. This is a fairly common phenomenon in literature as much as in comics and graphic narratives.

The advent of the Modern Age of Comic Books in the U.S. brought to completion a trend that in superhero comics had developed since the beginning of the 1970s. It marked the beginning of an era in which reality in comic was no longer black or white, but rich in nuances. The publication of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller and Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons contributed to this trend, which resulted in a profound renegotiation of the characteristics of the protagonists of comics. The origins of many characters were rewritten or reinterpreted, giving the protagonists of the stories a psychological depth that they had never had before and showing the readers that the borders that divide the world of the heroes and the villains are blurring.

Such a new course is not limited to superheroes and U.S. comics production. Successful stories from all around the world often feature heroic bad guys fighting against villainous good guys.

Citation: Angelo Piepoli. CFP: Who’s Bad? Representing Heroes, Villains and Anti-Heroes in Comics and Graphic Narratives – A seminar sponsored by the ICLA Research Committee on Comic Studies and Graphic Narratives. H-Portugal. 09-07-2016. https://networks.h-net.org/node/11273/discussions/142574/cfp-who%E2%80%99s-bad-representing-heroes-villains-and-anti-heroes-comi cs Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 1 H-Portugal

Furthermore, crossing the moral borders, not just towards redemption, is common to many protagonists of contemporary comics worldwide. It often constitutes the fulcrum itself of the narration, leading to the creation of remarkable works like the Japanese mangaDeath Note and offering psychological characterizations and representations of the social context more in line with the awareness of the complexity of the real world.

This seminar invites papers from various cultural contexts and disciplines that explore how comics and graphic narratives have engaged and engage with the representation of heroes, anti-heroes and villains and with the narrative negotiation and renegotiation of roles. We welcome work from all historical context and genres and encourage comparative examinations.

Guiding questions include, but are not limited to:

Literary figures and comics characters Rules of heroism and anti-heroism Justice and social acceptance Role reinvention Cross-media comparative approaches Representing the Other Shallowness and complexity of characters Political and social interpretation of the stories

Contact Info:

If you have any query, please do not hesitate to contact the Seminar Organizers:

Angelo Piepoli: [email protected] Stefan Buchenberger: [email protected]

Contact Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.acla.org/node/12223