Deadline - December 10, 2004
The Iowa Journal of Cultural Studies seeks original essays, review essays, and reviews for our Spring 2005 special issue, "Comics and Culture," co-edited by Corey Creekmur and Thomas Keegan.
Comic strips, comic books, and graphic novels remain surprisingly under-examined artifacts of mass and popular culture, despite their long-standing production and consumption alongside other, well-analyzed media (cinema, television, popular literature, etc.). Even recent film adaptations (Ghost World, Spider-Man, Hulk, X-Men, Hellboy, From Hell) have yet to generate significant critical (formalist, psychoanalytic, Marxist, feminist, or cultural studies) assessments of their often superior but still neglected comic book sources.
Essays for this special issue should aspire to correct this negligence by examining comics in cultural contexts and through sophisticated methods of cultural analysis. While innovative essays on underground comix (Zap, Arcade), alternative comics (Love and Rockets, Eightball), graphic novels (Jimmy Corrigan), and/or contemporary artists (Lynda Barry, Joe Sacco, Chester Brown, Julie Doucet) are welcome, essays on mainstream comic books and comic strips are especially encouraged, since these (unlike equivalent Hollywood movies, pop music, or detective novels) have been and remain overlooked by academic critics. Therefore, original treatments of classic comic strips and comic books are desired as well as critical essays on recent mainstream comics (such as The Authority, X-Force, The Invisibles, or Promethea) and/or their creators (Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Warren Ellis, etc.)
Essays should range from 9000-11000 words, review essays 2000-4000 words, and individual reviews less than 2000 words, not including citations. Essays must be in MLA format; essays not in MLA format will be discarded. If included, photocopies or digital scans of illustrations should be accompanied by a statement from the author that copyright clearance is being perused. Acceptance of a manuscript will be contingent on clearance of copyright.
Submit two hard copies as well as a copy on disc (in *.doc or *.rtf format)
along with a self-addressed stamped envelope to:
Iowa Journal of Cultural Studies
c/o Comics and Culture
308 English-Philosophy Building
Iowa City, Iowa 52242-1492
E-mail submissions will be discarded. Correspondence and inquiries may be
sent to ijcs@uiowa.edu.
The deadline for submissions is December 10, 2004.
