[ecrea] CFP: Superheroes Beyond Conference – Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI)

*CALL FOR PAPERS*

**

*Superheroes Beyond conference*

*Venue:*Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) – Melbourne, Australia

*Date:*6-8 December, 2018*

A Conference Welcome Event will be held on the evening of December 5^th

*Proposal Deadline*: 29 June, 2018

*please note that the dates have changed slightly from an earlier 
version of this CFP

Superheroes are transmedia, transcultural, and transhistorical icons, 
and yet discussions of these caped crusaders often fixate on familiar 
examples. This conference will join wider scholarly interest in going 
beyond out-dated definitions of superheroes. We invite papers that 
unmask international examples, examine superheroes beyond the comic book 
page, identify historical antecedents, consider real world examples of 
superheroism, and explore heroes whose secret identities are not 
cisgender men. From big screen heroes to lesser-known comic book 
vigilantes and real-life costumed heroes, the conference will include 
papers that consider superheroes across all eras and media platforms

*Keynote Speakers:*

·Comics artist, writer, and "herstorian" Trina Robbins

·Award-winning scholar, writer, and documentary filmmaker Sheena C. Howard

*//*

We are inviting submissions for individual research papers of 20 minutes 
as well as pre-formed panels. Proposal topics might include, but are not 
limited to, the following areas:

**

*Superheroes Beyond… Comics*

Superheroes are often considered comics’ defining content, as 
traditionally the four-colour medium was the only format capable of 
fully capturing the superhero spectacle. Emboldened by digital 
technologies, superheroes can now be found across a rich array of media 
formats. Proposals are invited that consider superheroes across multiple 
media platforms including movies, games, television, digital comics, and 
virtual reality. **

**

*Superheroes Beyond… Men in Tights*

It is often suggested that superheroes reflect our attitudes and 
anxieties. However, while superheroes may articulate society’s 
interests, they have only recently begun to reflect its diversity. We 
welcome papers that consider how superheroes are no longer the white 
heterosexual men that once dominated the genre, with a more diverse 
array of characters donning capes and cowls.

**

*Superheroes Beyond (and Before)… 1938*

Is the vigilante Robin Hood a superhero? What about demigods and 
mythological icons such as Hercules, Māui, and Artemis? Superheroes are 
notoriously hard to define, making it difficult to identify when the pop 
culture icon first came into existence. We encourage papers that 
identify early examples of the superhero archetype and chart their 
influence on the heroes of today and tomorrow.

**

*Superheroes Beyond… America*

Comic books are often described as an American form, and the medium’s 
most popular character, the superhero, did much to affirm that link with 
dozens of star-spangled heroes created during the industry’s Golden Age. 
However, the superhero has been reimagined in a range of contexts to 
respond to local cultures, politics, and traditions. Papers that 
consider how superheroes engage with national and regional identities 
are welcome.

*Superheroes Beyond… Fantasy*

The term “superhero” is often applied to real-life individuals who have 
distinguished themselves through their bravery or compassion. However, 
superheroes in popular culture are often violent vigilantes. Papers are 
invited that consider superheroism in everyday settings and how that can 
be reconciled with the more colourful power fantasies.

**

The Superheroes Beyond conference is organised by the Superheroes & Me 
research team – Angela Ndalianis (Swinburne University of Technology), 
Liam Burke (Swinburne University of Technology), Elizabeth MacFarlane 
(University of Melbourne), Wendy Haslem (University of Melbourne), and 
Ian Gordon (National University of Singapore) – and supported by the 
Australian Research Council (ARC) and Australian Centre for the Moving 
Image (ACMI).

Proposals of 250-300 words for individual presentations or full panels, 
as well as any queries, should be sent to Liam Burke (wburke /at/ swin.edu.au) 
<mailto:(wburke /at/ swin.edu.au)> by 29 June, 2018, along with a 150-word bio.

*Keynote Speaker Trina Robbins*

**

Trina Robbins has been drawing and writing comics since 1966, when she 
drew comics for the /East Village Other/, New York’s iconic underground 
newspaper, while at the same time designing and selling clothes from her 
Lower East Side boutique, Broccoli. In 1970, she produced the very first 
all-woman comic book, /It Ain't me, Babe/.  In 1972 she was one of the 
founding mothers of /Wimmin's Comix/, the longest-lasting women's 
anthology comic book. (1972 - 1992)

In the mid-1980s, tired of hearing publishers and editors say that girls 
don't read comics and that women had never drawn comics, she co-wrote 
(with Catherine Yronwode) /Women and the Comics/, the first of what 
would become a series of histories of women cartoonists.  She has been 
responsible for rediscovering previously forgotten early women 
cartoonists like Nell Brinkley, Tarpe Mills, Barbara Hall, and Lily Renee.

In 1986 she became the first woman to draw a /Wonder Woman/ comic book. 
In 2013 Trina was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of 
Fame.In 2017 she was inducted into the Wizard World Hall of Legends, and 
at the San Diego comic convention she received the Eisner award for 
editing the two-volume reprint collection of the complete /Wimmin’s Comix/.

*Keynote Speaker**Sheena C. Howard*

**

Sheena C. Howard is an award-winning scholar, writer and documentary 
filmmaker. Howard is an Associate Professor of Communication, with a 
Ph.D. from Howard University in Intercultural and Rhetorical 
Communication. In 2014, Howard became the first woman of colour to win 
an Eisner Award (considered the Oscars of Comics) at San-Diego 
International Comic-Con for her first book, /Black Comics: Politics of 
Race and Representation/. Howard is the co-writer of the critically 
acclaimed comic book, /SUPERB/ and the author-editor of the 
/Encyclopedia of Black Comics/. Howard has been featured in the LA 
Times, NY Times and Washington Post. She has been featured in films and 
documentaries as an expert on race, gender, and sexual orientation. 
Howard is also the author of /Black Queer Identity Matrix/ and editor of 
/Critical Articulations of Race, Gender and Sexual Orientation/. Howard 
recently appeared in the Comcast On-demand short film, /Groundbreakers: 
Heroes Behind the Mask/.

Follow her on Twitter at DrSheenaHoward.

**

*Further Speakers and Industry Guests to be announced. *

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