The study of comics has become too big for any one journal, even IJOCA, to cover, and other venues may be of interest to our readers. I was in an online conference recently with Shawn, and asked him to let IJOCA's readers know about his e-journal.
by Shawn Gilmore
I edit a cultural criticism site, The Vault of Culture, “an edited, semi-scholarly space devoted to publishing a wide range of approaches to a variety of cultural objects, from comics to film to novels to video games and everything in between.” We aim to be a home for public scholarship, and while we publish on a variety of media, we have a strong tradition of presenting comics criticism, and I'd like to invite members of the IJOCA community to contribute.
The Vault of Culture publishes writing aimed at a broad audience that takes a scholarly (or semi-scholarly) stance on one or more aesthetic/cultural objects, giving those writings some editorial guidance, a nice visual presentation, and a home beyond individual conference presentations, blogs, facebook posts, twitter, etc. We’re quite open to the kind of work you may already be doing, including previously-written/-presented or new work, one piece at a time or in series.
To give a sense of the range of works we've published on comics, here are some highlights from the last year or so:
- an introduction to the important collection COVID Chronicles (2021) by members of the U-C Comics Colloquium
- A roundtable on the “Walking Bed” Little Nemo in Slumberland strip, curated from Zachary JA Rondinelli’s ongoing #WelcomeToSlumberland social media project (which recently won the Comics Studies Society's Gilbert Seldes prize for public scholarship)
- Anna F. Peppard, on her love of undying superheroes, particularly Nightcrawler
- Michael VanCalbergh, on Tillie Walden’s use of backgrounds in On a Sunbeam, as part of our "On Comics" series
- Kelly Williams, on the problem of adapting the Dark Phoenix Saga
- Justin Wigard, on You are Deadpool as an exemplar of a recent trend of “ludocomics”
Feel free to take a look at the site and poke around. Or, like the facebook page to see new entries as they go up or follow along on twitter: @vaultofculture. If you are at all interested in participating, you can see ways to get started on the “about” page, including inquiring about one-off pieces or recurring series. Or, email vaultofculture@gmail.com and let us know what you’re working on.
Feel free to prompt those far and wide that might be interested in contributing—we always hope that VoC can include a wide range of voices and approaches.
Thanks for your time and attention.
Shawn Gilmore
Editor, The Vault of Culture
Here are the articles and features on comics that have
appeared in The Vault of Culture through June 2021.
Akhauri, Aki. 2021. “on Kay Sohini’s ‘Pandemic Precarities’.” In Gilmore, Shawn (ed.). “On Comics: a U-C Comics Colloquium introduction to COVID Chronicles (2021).” The Vault of Culture (24 May 2021): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/oncomics/covidchronicles
Ash, Evan. 2019. “Don't Know Much About Comic History: The Early Anti-Comic Book Movement, 1940-1944.” The Vault of Culture (29 September 2019): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/feature/ash/earlyanticomicsmovement
Babb, Tiffany. 2020. “The (Illusion of) Safety in Little Nemo’s Walking Bed.” The Vault of Culture (6 November 2020): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/slumberland/babbsafety
Bryan, Peter Cullen. 2020. “The Endless Media Adaptations of Little Nemo’s Walking Bed.” The Vault of Culture (6 November 2020): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/slumberland/bryanmedia
Gilmore, Shawn. 2019. “On Comics: Cole Pauls, Dakwäkãda Warriors (2016-19).” The Vault of Culture (11 November 2019): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/oncomics/paulsdakwakada
Gilmore, Shawn. 2019. “On Comics: Emil Ferris, My Favorite Thing is Monsters (2017).” The Vault of Culture (16 September 2019): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/oncomics/ferrismonsters
Gilmore, Shawn. 2019. “On Comics: Fiona Smyth, ‘Skin of Fate,’ in Nocturnal Emissions #3 (1991) & #4 (1992).” The Vault of Culture (9 August 2019): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/oncomics/smythskinoffate
Gilmore, Shawn. 2019. “On Comics: Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, Red: A Haida Manga (2009) and Alan Moore & JH Williams III, Promethea #32 (2005).” The Vault of Culture (26 August 2019): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/oncomics/yahgulanaasmoore
Gilmore, Shawn. 2019. “On Comics: Jillian Tamaki, ‘SexCoven,’ in Frontier #7 (2015).” The Vault of Culture (4 October 2019): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/oncomics/tamakisexcoven
Gilmore, Shawn. 2020. “‘Drake Waller’ (Arnold Drake & Leslie Waller), Matt Baker, and Ray Osrin, It Rhymes with Lust (1950).” The Vault of Culture (8 May 2020): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/graphicnovels/itrhymeswithlust
Gilmore, Shawn. 2020. “Don Freeman, It Shouldn’t Happen— (To a Dog) (1945).” The Vault of Culture (24 April 2020): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/graphicnovels/itshouldnthappen
Gilmore, Shawn. 2020. “Jules Feiffer, The Great Comic Book Heroes (1965).” The Vault of Culture (25 June 2020): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/graphicnovels/greatcomicbookheroes
Gilmore, Shawn. 2020. “Mike Butterworth and Don Lawrence, The Trigan Empire (1978).” The Vault of Culture (20 April 2020): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/graphicnovels/triganempire
Gilmore, Shawn. 2020. “On Comics: Chris Ware, ‘Rusty Brown’ in The ACME Novelty Library #19 (Fall/Winter 2008, collected 2019).” The Vault of Culture (28 January 2020): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/oncomics/warerustybrown
Gilmore, Shawn. 2020. “Otto Nückel, Destiny: A Novel in Pictures (1926, 1930).” The Vault of Culture (6 May 2020): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/graphicnovels/destiny
Gilmore, Shawn. 2020. “Scale and Formal Presentation of Little Nemo’s Walking Bed.” The Vault of Culture (6 November 2020): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/slumberland/gilmorescale
Gilmore, Shawn (ed.). 2021. “On Comics: a U-C Comics Colloquium introduction to COVID Chronicles (2021).” The Vault of Culture (24 May 2021): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/oncomics/covidchronicles
Gilmore, Shaw. 2021. “on Zack Davisson and Lili Chin’s Yōkai Parade Presents Amabie!’” In Gilmore, Shawn (ed.). “On Comics: a U-C Comics Colloquium introduction to COVID Chronicles (2021).” The Vault of Culture (24 May 2021): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/oncomics/covidchronicles
Peppard, Anna F. 2020. “‘Til Death Do We Part, at Least for a While: My Undying Love Affair with Undying Superheroes.” The Vault of Culture (9 March 2020): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/feature/peppard/undying
Rondinelli, Zachary J.A. 2020. “On Comics: Even Batman Has (K)nightmares: An Analysis of Form and Communication in Tom King’s ‘Knightmare’ Arc (Batman #61-63, 66-69).” The Vault of Culture (17 March 2020): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/oncomics/kingknightmare
Rondinelli, Zachary J.A. 2020. “Sunken Treasure: Transformation, Mysticism, and the Father in Jeff Lemire’s The Underwater Welder (2012).” The Vault of Culture (1 May 2020): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/feature/rondinelli/underwaterwelder
Rondinelli, Zachary J.A. 2020. “Trippin’ on a Prayer: Masonic and Anticlerical Readings of Little Nemo's Walking Bed.” The Vault of Culture (6 November 2020): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/slumberland/rondinellitrippin
Rondinelli, Zachary J.A. 2020. “The #WalkingBedWeek Roundtable at the #WelcomeToSlumberland Social Media Research Project.” The Vault of Culture (6 November 2020): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/slumberland/rondinelliintro
Smith, Axlan. 2021. “on Rivi Handler-Spitz’s ‘We made faces instead.’” In Gilmore, Shawn (ed.). “On Comics: a U-C Comics Colloquium introduction to COVID Chronicles (2021).” The Vault of Culture (24 May 2021): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/oncomics/covidchronicles
Thacker, Mara. 2021. “on Mike Heinrich’s ‘Two Weeks’ Notice’.” In Gilmore, Shawn (ed.). “On Comics: a U-C Comics Colloquium introduction to COVID Chronicles (2021).” The Vault of Culture (24 May 2021): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/oncomics/covidchronicles
Totten, Chris. 2020. “The Animated Legacy of Little Nemo’s Walking Bed.” The Vault of Culture (6 November 2020): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/slumberland/tottenanimated
VanCalbergh, Michael. 2020. “On Comics: The Universe is Watching: Backgrounds in Tillie Walden’s On a Sunbeam (2018).” The Vault of Culture (23 June 2020): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/oncomics/waldenonasunbeam
Wigard, Justin. 2021. “Ludocomics: Play and Interactivity in Comics, Games, and You are Deadpool (2018).” The Vault of Culture. (12 April 2021): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/feature/wigard/youaredeadpool
Williams, Kelly. 2019. “Female Readership and Corruption in The Dark Phoenix Saga (1980) and Dark Phoenix (2019). The Vault of Culture (23 May 2019): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/feature/williams/darkphoenix
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