All posts by A. David

academic, events

Comics and Muslim Identity at Harvard

The Harvard University Center for Middle East Studies (CMES) has held a number of educator and creative workshops over the past year on comics and the Middle East. (See here and here.) This upcoming one at the end of April, though, is for all audiences and is open free to the public:

Comics and Muslim Identity at the Harvard University CMES
Flier for "Comics and Muslim Identity" at the Harvard University CMES

The day-long conference features talks by Jeffrey Melnick (University of Massachusetts, Boston), Hussein Rashid (Hofstra University), A. David Lewis (Boston University), Darby Orcutt (North Carolina State University), Laura Weinstein (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), and Nasser Weddady (American Islamic Congress Civil Rights Outreach Director).

It’s worth noting that the day prior, they will be holding another workshop, this time focused on making comics that address Islam and the Middle East region. Fascinating from all angles!

academic, articles and essays

Welcome Faith in Four Colors

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By Rao! wants to welcome the Religion and Comics blog out of Lund University to the blogosphere at FaithInFourColors.blogspot.com. The English-language Swedish blog has much the same mission as this site, though taken from the perspective of a Ph.D. student in Theology and Religious Studies. Its statement of purpose details:

The purpose of this project is to observe comic book culture in interaction with the world to see how comics as texts and mythologies are used and looked upon through the lens of theories on the role of religion in contemporary society. This is to be done by looking at comics in four ways:
1.      The representation of religions and religious ideas in the service of religions;
2.      The representation of religions and religious ideas in the service of the comics;
3.      Contestation and critique of religions and religious ideas in comics;
4.      Comic book fandom as a type of ersatz religion in postmodern society.
One of the main perspectives applied to that the material surveyed here is that it is placed and produced within a context of theological and philosophical thoughts on the role of religion, to wit the still burning debate on the role of religion in society and the relationship between theology and atheism. This is done to try to further an understanding of how popular culture fits into debates in the public sphere and how such debates affect our entertainment.
Rao urges readers of this blog to also follow this companion site. Select posts from it may also be noted here (and properly credited) but only in synopsis form.
If you have additional sites that should be in the Blogroll or monitored for stories, please comment below or send an e-mail to religionandlit (at) gmail (dot) com.
cultural

Father of Indian Comics Dies

Following the early February post on Indian Comics, news came in late last month that Anant Pai, creator of Amar Chitra Katha, died of a heart attack at age 81 in Mumbai.

AsiaOne News reported that Samir Patil, the current head of ACK Media which published Amar Chitra Katha, vows Pai’s work will go on. “We will keep his legacy alive.”

Amar Chitra Katha was founded in 1967 by “Uncle Pai” (as he was affectionately known) and has, according to one source, sold  “around 90 million copies of its more than 400 titles in more than 20 Indian languages.”

ACK Media Rememberance of "Uncle Pai"
controversy

Nightrunner as per The Daily Show

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Discussion of Nightrunner continues, now on the satirical The Daily Show.

Click image to be linked to full video.

The interview features Comics Alliance‘s Chris Simms and Bosch Fawstin, the latter of whom had already spoken about about the threat of Nightrunner becoming a Jihadist. Curiously, both the interviewees and interviewer Aasif Mandvi refer to Nightrunner as a “sidekick,” something that does not seem to have been established by prior stories nor the Batman comics themselves.

Continue reading Nightrunner as per The Daily Show →

cultural

Female Orthodox Jewish Monster-Slayer

Barry Deutsch, the Portland political cartoonist known as Ampersand, published a distinctly different work in November of 2010 entitled Hereville — “yet another comic book about an 11-year-old troll-fighting Orthodox Jewish girl.”

The Huffington Post praised the book, noting that it “won the prestigious Sydney Taylor Award for older readers from the Association of Jewish Libraries” and has garnered wide critical praise. A 15-page preview of the book, originally a webcomic launched at www.girlamatic.com, can be read here.