'Nuff Said: American Graphic Media

Vidhu Aggarwal, editor of specs asked me to write a review for volume III. specs is...well, specs. From the webpage: specs a journal that aims to produce a charged atmosphere around artistic and critical approaches. Hence, specs is willing to live in a constant state of flux, with the mission of propagating strange and involved sympathies between disparate genres and forms. We want to break down hierarchies between poems, fictions, and critical writing. We hope for see pages, warped conversations, and misappropriations between areas of content. Vidhu, like a lot of my colleague at Rollins, is extremely smart and when I listen very hard I can kinda follow what she says. Case in point, I am helping out with volume III, which has a theme of "toys" in contrast to volume II, which had a theme of "faux histories." It will actually be a very interesting issue. She knows my interest in comics-- it is not some dark secret I hide from the world --and she suggested I revi...

It should not be a surprise that I'm once again returning to discussion of the book. After dealing with a conference presentation on comics at the Florida Conference of Historians meeting in Wakulla Springs,FL I'm thinking about the collection again. The concept is sound, but the publishers' spirits are weak. So, after some consultation among the editors we have decided to revamp the proposal a bit, to highlight the themes we think are important. This is not to say we have not done that before, we have, and now we are doing it again with the intention of making the links clearer to the less comic savvy reader. One thing that came out of the discussion is me moving away from race in my chapter and incorporating an examination of Iron Man. Don't worry, I will send the chapter out to a journal, so eventually someone will read it. Moving away from my exploration of race in Marvel does not mean the book will not address race, in fact we have one article exploring Lat...

My original intention when I started blogging was to create a space to collect ideas and flush out concepts. I try to incorporate current events and new ideas into my thinking about ongoing concerns. Case in point, the President had his first "State of Union Address" this week. Once again, the hidden racial context of the President's term in office came to the forefront. MSNBC commentator Chris Matthews suggested he "forgot the President is black," for an hour. The implication that he needed to forgot the President's color is full of questions about the problematic way he sees the President the other 23 hours in the day. Matthews suggested the President was "post-racial" using language white people have used to get to a idea that the President is fulfilling the United States' destiny as place where everyone is treated equally regardless of race. While you can see this in many places, this is blog about comics, so.......... Obama has been d...

I'll admit it, here in cyberspace.....I'm a little frustrated. You know that Thomas Donaldson, William Svitavaky and I have pulled together a collection of essay based on a both a conference panel presentation and a targeted call for papers. The collection, dubbed Ages of Heroes, Eras of Men is less lit crit in approach than much of what is written about comics, but more interdisciplinary than a standard history. The latest feedback from prospective publisher talk about how much they like it, but it was really the lit crit approach they favor. Other publishers have talked about the market not being right for a "collection" versus single author manuscript. Of course, there also have been statement that basically equal out to, "You didn't write what I would have written...." The problem here is that any day of the week I can walk into a bookstore or turn on the news and see something about a new book that looks stupid . Wow, that felt good...yes stup...

The four billion dollar acquisition of Marvel Entertainment Group by Disney naturally has me thinking about comics in a new light. I can see a Marvel Team-Up with Steamboat Willie and Spider-Man looming in my future....not. Seriously, for academics and comic fans alike, there is something to be said about the mighty merger of brands. Disney got a lot out of this deal. If you have kids, sign your house over to Disney now, soon they will have your little boy just like they have your little girl (cue evil villain laugh:) That may be extreme, but the merger of corporate culture will be key to the success of this deal and that will create unique opportunities for both companies. I doubt many people remember Disney's decision to license characters for the Playstation 2 game Kingdom Hearts . Produced by Square Enix , the creator of the Final Fantasy franchise, the game was a crazy blend of Final Fantasy game play and Disney characters and worlds. The result was surprisingly playabl...

Don't worry if the title doesn't make sense, give it a minute. Ages of Heroes, Eras of Men is coming along. Our contributors are finishing up the last touches and the editors are making our list and checking it twice. As I have mentioned in the past, the book's contributors offer a complex and interesting look at comics and comic culture in the United States. Nonetheless, sealing the deal in regards to this book is keeping me working during my summer "vacation." I'm starting to miss the regular grind of grading papers and hearing student complain (I'm kidding...mostly). Anyway, I think the key to this process is to stay focus and work the process. The book exists, it just not in its final form. As it always the process, there are some people sending things in late, but most people have the their submissions done. We are a little concerned about length (the problems of a down economy, everything is more expensive--shaving a few pages from each subm...

I recently got feedback on Ages of Heroes, Eras of Men from a prospective publisher. It a tough process, getting feedback from someone who doesn't know all the work you have put into something. It is honest feedback and I will take it and make sure the final product answer the editor's questions. We have done a lot of great work on the book, but publishers are a cold and objective bunch slow to hand out praise (and contracts). As I scramble to reply to the press, I realize I have not done much with one of the chapters I am writing for the book. My chapter looks at the introduction of African-American superheroes to the Marvel Universe in the 1960s and 1970s. The decision to introduce minority characters to a fictional universe may seem petty compared to the titanic struggles occurring over Civil Rights during the 1960s, but those struggles drove the decision to incorporate minorities into comics. The question for me is what does the Marvel Comic experience integrating per...