Category: Uncategorized

2019 MSUCF Artist Alley and Academic Panel Lists are Live

Ryan Claytor / / Uncategorized

We are proud to announce our 2019 Michigan State University Comics Forum (MSUCF) Artist Alley list of exhibitors (available on the Artist Alley page) and our schedule of Academic Panel Discussions (available on the Panel Discussions page).

I’d like to take a moment to thank all the applicants who submitted work to our 2019 event.  We had an overwhelming number of high caliber scholars and cartoonists interested in being a part of our event.  In fact, while we doubled the number of panel discussions offered in 2018 from 2017, in 2019 we are more than doubling our panel offerings again, expanding from 2 to 4 rooms and adding an extra 5th session to accommodate the increased demand.  We’re honored to showcase work from such a diverse and international group of scholars in the field of comics.

We also had a record number of artists apply, over two-and-a-half times the number of cartoonist applicants that we are currently able to host.  Due to present restructuring and renovation taking place in our venue, the MSU Main Library, we were unable to increase the number of artist exhibitors for 2019, which made our deliberation and acceptance process quite difficult.  However, we’re already in conversation with our venue to increase space for the MSU Comics Forum Artist Alley in 2020.  With that said, we’re excited about the group of cartoonists ready to assemble in 2019, which include a number of new, diverse, and established creators, from MSU Comics Minor students and alumni to established artists like mini-comics veteren, Matt Feazell, and National Book Award winner and former MSU Comics Forum Keynote Speaker, Nate Powell, in addition to our 2019 Keynote Speakers, Qiana Whitted and Seth, to highlight just a few.

I hope you’ll take a moment to familiarize yourself with the scholars and artists’ work.  Because of them, 2019 is shaping up to be another banner year for the Michigan State University Comics Forum.  The MSUCF committee and I look forward to seeing you in February.

Sincerely,
Ryan Claytor
MSU Comics Forum – Director

Comics Exhibition Dates Extended

Ryan Claytor / / Uncategorized

Due to popular demand, the Women Comics Professionals exhibit, housed in the MSU Main Library Special Collections exhibit cases on the first floor as well as the 4th floor exhibit cases near the Fine Arts Library, will be on display through June 2018 (contrary to their announced end date in March 2018).  Click here for MSU Main Library hours of operation to visit the exhibition.

2019 Event Announcements

Ryan Claytor / / 2019, Uncategorized

We’re proud to announce our 2019 MSU Comics Forum event dates, location, keynote speakers, availability of our artist and scholar submission forms, and our event artwork:

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Seth is the award-winning cartoonist behind the comic book series Palookaville, a semi-annual hardcover. His comics have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Best American Comics, and McSweeney’s Quarterly. His illustrations have appeared in numerous publications including the cover of the New Yorker, The Walrus, and Canadian Notes & Queries. He is also the designer for several classic comics reprint series, notably the collections of work by Charles Schulz, John Stanley, and Doug Wright. Seth has exhibited throughout the world in a variety of group and solo shows including exhibitions of his model city Dominion, which toured Galleries in Eastern and Central Canada as well as select galleries the world over. He was also the subject of the National Film Board documentary entitled Seth’s Dominion.

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Qiana Whitted is Associate Professor of English and African American Studies at the University of South Carolina. A graduate of Hampton University with a PhD from Yale University, her research focuses on African-American literary studies and American comic books. Her publications include the edited collection, Comics and the U.S. South (Mississippi, 2012) and the book “A God of Justice?”: The Problem of Evil in Twentieth-Century Black Literature (Virginia, 2009). She is an associate editor of INKS: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society and Chair of the International Comic Arts Forum. Her most recently published articles and book chapters explore race, genre, and comics in representations of historical figures such as Nat Turner, Stagger Lee, and Emmett Till. Her forthcoming book on race and social protest in 1950s EC comics will be published by Rutgers University Press in 2019.

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We look forward to seeing you again next year!

Sincerely,
The MSU Comics Forum Core Committee

Saturday of the 2018 MSU Comics Forum

Ryan Claytor / / Uncategorized

Saturday, Feb 24th, 2018, started with back-to-back behind-the-scenes tours of the Michigan State University Special Collections Library (the largest public collection of comic books in the world) guided by MSU Comics Bibliographer, Randy Scott, whose life’s work has grown the collection to over 300,000 copies:

Academic panel discussions and Artist Alley started promptly at 11am:

Diana Schutz delivered the 2018 MSU Comics Forum scholar keynote address at 12:30pm to a packed crowd:

A shot of her title slide:

MSU Comics Forum Director, Ryan Claytor, talks with local news stations about the event:

Artist Alley continues to draw a crowd throughout the day:

Two rooms of Academic Panel discussions ran concurrently all day Saturday, doubling the usual count of our panels:

Arie Koelewyn offered attendees the chance to personally print their own custom letterpressed bookmarks…

…which could then be taken to the next table to have Lucy Knisley and Diana Schutz sign them:

Many thanks to all the scholars, creators, and attendees who made the 2018 MSU Comics Forum such a successful year.

Stay tuned for an announcement about our 2019 event!

2018 Creator Keynote Address by Lucy Knisley

Ryan Claytor / / Uncategorized

This evening, Lucy Knisley delivered a well-attended keynote address.

She gave insights into her past, present, and future work and showed a number of never before seen illustrations, including an animated, narrated comic created specifically for this presentation as well as a poignant and unreleased excerpt from her upcoming graphic novel, Kid Gloves.

Thanks to all who attended.

Both our keynote speakers, Lucy Knisley and Diana Schutz, will be available in our Artist Alley tomorrow from 11am-5pm on the MSU Main Library’s 3rd floor West, along with several dozen other comics artists.  Panel discussions will also be running throughout the day.  For more detailed information you can reference our Panel Discussions and Artist Alley pages.

All events associated with the MSU Comics Forum are free and open to the public.

Exhibit and Book Discussion

Ryan Claytor / / Uncategorized

Women Comics Professionals is the first exhibition in the newly installed MSU Special Collections Library exhibit cases.  It opened this past week as part of the 2018 MSU Comics Forum.

All of the selections from this exhibit are part of the MSU Special Collections Library, home of the world’s largest public collection of comic books. Women Comics Professionals was curated by MSU Special Collections Comics Bibliographer, Randy Scott, and runs through March 2nd, 2018.

 

The first event of our main weekend was Thursday’s co-sponsored lecutre and book discussion with Muslim Studies, and was well received last night.

This event was part of “Muslim Journeys” series of events on campus.

Thanks to Muslim Studies for their sponsorship, to Deborah Margolis for spearheading this event and to @ranti for her photography of the book discussion.

Events continue throughout this weekend.  See our Schedule page for more information.

All events are free and open to the public.