Call for Papers—Edited Collection
Classics and Comics
Edited by George Kovacs (University of Toronto) and C. W. Marshall (University of British Columbia)
Proposals are invited for an edited volume to be entitled Classics and Comics.
Comics have been a major element of popular culture in North America, Europe, and Japan for
over a century. For the past two decades comics have been regarded increasingly as a legitimate
artistic and literary medium, through the emergence of the ‘graphic novel’ (developed literary
narratives extending beyond the 22-page single-issue format) and through efforts of scholar/
practitioners such as Will Eisner and Scott McCloud to define the relationship of the comic book to
audience, artist, and other artistic media. So far there has been very little work integrating the
medium into a larger understanding of Western artistic and literary culture. In Classics and
Comics, we shall begin this work by presenting the first extended integration of comics with the
foundations of western culture, in a collection of 12-18 chapters, each approximately 5000 words
in length.
There are many examples of comics appropriating the classics, including Frank Miller’s 300, Neil
Gaiman’s Sandman, Eric Shanower’s Age of Bronze, Bill Messner-Loebs’ Epicurus the Sage, Fred
van Lente’s Action Philosophers, and Goscinny and Uderzo’s Asterix series. Since at least 1939,
comics have drawn (on) material from Greek and Roman myth, literature and history. At times the
connection is cosmetic—as perhaps with Wonder Woman’s Amazonian heritage—and at times it is
almost irrelevant—as with Hercules’ starfaring adventures in the 1982 Marvel miniseries. But all of
these make implicit or explicit claims about the place of Classics in modern literary culture.
Classics and Comics will engage critically with the relationship between modern and ancient
culture. This proposal will develop the 2008 Outreach panel of the American Philological
Association, set to take place in Chicago in January. The response to the initial CFP was
exceptionally strong, and the wide-ranging proposals were so clearly relevant to several aspects
of reception studies, that it was evident that a critically engaged edited volume would break
exciting new ground in Reception Studies.
The editors seek contributors who will examine the intersection between Classics and Comics
from a variety of critical, theoretical, and cultural perspectives. This collection will be aimed at
both academic readers and an educated general audience. We seek essays that are both scholarly
and engaging, and authors who are equally comfortable in Greek, Latin, and the pre-Crisis history
of the Justice League. Given the nature of our subject material, images are essential and
contributors will be allowed the equivalent of three or four plates. A major university press has
expressed interest in the volume, dependant upon the final submissions.
Please send a 400-word abstract, along with a separate file containing your name, the abstract
title, and a brief biographical statement (or CV), as email attachments in Word or Rich Text Format
to both of the editors:
George Kovacs (george.kovacs_at_utoronto.ca), C.W. Marshall (toph_at_interchange.ubc.ca)
Further questions may also be addressed to either of the editors. The deadline for abstract
submission is November 15, 2007. Selected contributors will have until May 2008 for final
submission.
Classics and Comics
Edited by George Kovacs (University of Toronto) and C. W. Marshall (University of British Columbia)
Proposals are invited for an edited volume to be entitled Classics and Comics.
Comics have been a major element of popular culture in North America, Europe, and Japan for
over a century. For the past two decades comics have been regarded increasingly as a legitimate
artistic and literary medium, through the emergence of the ‘graphic novel’ (developed literary
narratives extending beyond the 22-page single-issue format) and through efforts of scholar/
practitioners such as Will Eisner and Scott McCloud to define the relationship of the comic book to
audience, artist, and other artistic media. So far there has been very little work integrating the
medium into a larger understanding of Western artistic and literary culture. In Classics and
Comics, we shall begin this work by presenting the first extended integration of comics with the
foundations of western culture, in a collection of 12-18 chapters, each approximately 5000 words
in length.
There are many examples of comics appropriating the classics, including Frank Miller’s 300, Neil
Gaiman’s Sandman, Eric Shanower’s Age of Bronze, Bill Messner-Loebs’ Epicurus the Sage, Fred
van Lente’s Action Philosophers, and Goscinny and Uderzo’s Asterix series. Since at least 1939,
comics have drawn (on) material from Greek and Roman myth, literature and history. At times the
connection is cosmetic—as perhaps with Wonder Woman’s Amazonian heritage—and at times it is
almost irrelevant—as with Hercules’ starfaring adventures in the 1982 Marvel miniseries. But all of
these make implicit or explicit claims about the place of Classics in modern literary culture.
Classics and Comics will engage critically with the relationship between modern and ancient
culture. This proposal will develop the 2008 Outreach panel of the American Philological
Association, set to take place in Chicago in January. The response to the initial CFP was
exceptionally strong, and the wide-ranging proposals were so clearly relevant to several aspects
of reception studies, that it was evident that a critically engaged edited volume would break
exciting new ground in Reception Studies.
The editors seek contributors who will examine the intersection between Classics and Comics
from a variety of critical, theoretical, and cultural perspectives. This collection will be aimed at
both academic readers and an educated general audience. We seek essays that are both scholarly
and engaging, and authors who are equally comfortable in Greek, Latin, and the pre-Crisis history
of the Justice League. Given the nature of our subject material, images are essential and
contributors will be allowed the equivalent of three or four plates. A major university press has
expressed interest in the volume, dependant upon the final submissions.
Please send a 400-word abstract, along with a separate file containing your name, the abstract
title, and a brief biographical statement (or CV), as email attachments in Word or Rich Text Format
to both of the editors:
George Kovacs (george.kovacs_at_utoronto.ca), C.W. Marshall (toph_at_interchange.ubc.ca)
Further questions may also be addressed to either of the editors. The deadline for abstract
submission is November 15, 2007. Selected contributors will have until May 2008 for final
submission.