1.16.2008

WOW, ACTIVITY!

Hey! I'm delighted to inform everyone that I recently submitted an Abstract to be considered for presentation/publication at ImageSexT, the University of Florida's annual convention for comics scholarship.

My abstract, shockingly, was accepted! The conference is in March of 2008, in Gainesville, Florida, and there I will be bowing to the keynote speakers (Gail Simone and Phoebe Gluckner, among others). While I'm there, I'll be giving a presentation of about 15 minutes to cover my paper (about 8 pages). I'm thrilled, because I'm an undergrad, the U of F is my top choice for my grad school applications, and they said that they had a particularly high volume of submissions this year so they had to be even more demanding during the review process.

My abstract is copy/pasted below for your enjoyment (and it is my intellectual property, naturally, so no steelin'!):

How to Draw the (DC and) Marvel Way: Changes in Representation of Female Bodies and Attitudes are Changing "Superheroine Chic"

This article strives to engage and analyze the changing expectations about women and girls in mainstream superhero serials in two parts. It defines the genre's once-homogenous method of representing women as "Superheroine Chic," and goes on to describe the way in which DC and Marvel both subvert and reaffirm that method. Its focus in the primary half lies in representational progress made by both companies, specifically with regards to the portrayal of Barbara Gordon as Batgirl and Oracle and of Gertrude Yorkes as Arsenic and Heroine. Issues of body type, body dysphoria, disability, and empowerment are central to the first section. Secondarily it deals with recent regressions made during the same period, especially with regards to the Black Canary and Heroes for Hire's Misty Knight. Exploitation, visual and textual contradictions regarding women in positions of powerful- and powerlessness, and the effects that both progressive and regressive methods of representation have on how the characters are received by fans drive the latter portion of the essay. Dealing with internet-based fan communities, official Marvel and DC drawing guides, and the comics themselves as primary sources, it endeavors to show that, despite the common stance that comic book readers expect their heroines to fit a certain visual type, there is not only room but demand for heroines that push the boundaries of "Superheroine Chic".

I can't wait!

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