Keynote Address is Tonight (Friday, January 21)

The Michigan State University Comics Forum starts this evening with the Keynote address by Nate Powell at 7:00 PM in the Residential College of Arts & Humaities Theatre located in the basement of Snyder Phillips Hall, Michigan State University.

The Comics Forum continues tomorrow, January 22, with an Artist’s Alley beginning at 11:00 AM in the LookOut! Gallery on the second floor of Snyder Phillips Hall.  Talented comic book artists will be there to talk with fans and show off their work.  There will also be three panel discussions on comic books beginning at 11:30 AM that will take place in classrooms next to the LookOut! Gallery.

Admission is free and everyone is welcome.

MSUCF 2011 Promotional Poster Unveiled

We are proud to unveil the Michigan State University Comics Forum 2011 promotion poster - designed, illustrated, lettered, inked, and colored by Ryan Claytor - the lead coordinator for the event. For more information on Ryan’s background, be sure to check out the About section of the site or check out Ryan’s website (www.elephanteater.com).  A limited number of signed posters (whose final printed size will be 18×24) will be available free to event attendees

Call for Presenters

The Michigan State University Comics Forum is an annual event that brings together scholars, creators, and fans in order to explore and celebrate the medium of comics, graphic storytelling, and sequential art.  Next year’s event is scheduled to take place January 21-22 at the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities on the campus of Michigan State University.

We seek proposals for 15-20 minute presentations during the panel discussions which will be held on Saturday (Jan. 22).  Comic book and graphic novel related presentations from a broad range of disciplines will be conssidered.  Proposals are due December 1.

Please submit proposals to Joseph Darowski at darowski@msu.edu.

Artist’s Alley Information

Save the Date for the 2011 MSU Comics Forum

We’re happy to announce that planning for the 2011 MSU Comics Forum is well under way.  This year we welcome Nate Powell (Swallow Me Whole; Eisner Award winner for Best Graphic Novel, LA Times Book Prize Finalist, and Ignatz Award winner) as our keynote speaker.  This year, the keynote address wil be delivered in the RCAH Theatre in the basement of Snyder/Philips Hall (same as last year) on Friday, Jan. 21st, 2011.  The following day (Saturday, Jan. 22nd, 2011) will feature our Artist Alley and Panel Discussions from 11am-5pm in and around the RCAH LookOut Gallery on the second floor of Snyder/Philips Hall (also, conveniently, the same location as last year).  We?ll be announcing more details shortly, so please watch the site for upcoming announcements!

Keynote Address with Guy Davis

A reminder that this Friday Guy Davis will be giving the keynote address for The Michigan State University Comics Forum.

Time: Friday, March 26th, 2010; 7:00pm - 8:30 pm

Location: Residential College of Arts & Humanities Theatre - Snyder/Philips
hall, Michigan State University

Comics Exhibit

The Michigan State University Comics Forum is pleased to announce that the comics exhibit at The LookOut! Gallery is now open.  “From Superman to the Small Press: The Library of Comic Shows Its Stuff” is running from Tuesday March 16-Friday March 26.  The exhibit is open to the public from 12-3 PM Monday-Friday.  In addition, on Tuesdays and Thursdays the exhibit is open from 4-6 PM, and on Wednesday it is open from 5-8 PM.  Come and see some of the earliest examples of comic art in the world.  The exhibit displays examples of pre-Golden Age comics, Golden Age superhero comics, independent and underground comics, as well as original art by Guy Davis, the keynote speaker at this year’s Comics Forum.  The Comic Art Collection is also making available stacks of comics for anybody to browse and read.  The LookOut! Gallery is located on the second floor of Snyder-Phillips Hall on the Michigan State University campus.

Guy Davis: MSUCF 2010 Keynote Speaker

We’re very happy to announce that Guy Davis will be the Michigan State University Comics Forum 2010 Keynote Speaker

A self-taught artist, Michigan-based Guy Davis (b. 1966) combines storytelling and illustrative realism in a classic adventure-strip style for a myriad of genres in a 25 year professional history. From horror, urban fantasy and science fiction to period crime drama and pulp adventure, he is a designer and storyteller of a highly personal bent, as seen in his creator-owned projects such as Baker Street (Caliber Press, 1989-1991) and the recently-revived The Marquis (Caliber, 1997; Oni Press, 2000-2003; Dark Horse Comics, 2009-). It was his work on Baker Street that led him to Vertigo/DC Comics and the acclaimed pulp series Sandman Mystery Theatre (1993-1999), written by Matt Wagner and Steve Seagle.

Since then he has worked on a variety of projects including Batman: Nevermore for DC Comics, the Eisner Award-winning Fantastic Four: Unstable Molecules (2003) for Marvel Comics, The Nevermen (2000) for Dark Horse Comics and Les zombies qui ont mangé le monde (The Zombies That Ate the World, 2004-2008) for the French publisher Les Humanoïdes Associés. His other works have included illustration and conceptual design for various role-playing games and multimedia projects, including designs for the animated television pilot based on Mike Mignola’s The Amazing Screw-On Head and animated comics for both the Pan’s Labyrinth and Hellboy 2 DVDs.

Currently Guy is illustrating Mike Mignola and John Arcudi’s ongoing B.P.R.D series (work which won him a 2009 Eisner Award for Best Penciller/ Inker), along with continuing his creator owned series The Marquis for Dark Horse Comics.

You can find out more about Guy Davis at his website, The Art of Guy Davis

MSUCF 2010 Promotional Poster Unveiled

We are proud to unveil the Michigan State University Comics Forum 2009 promotion poster - designed, illustrated, lettered, inked, and colored by Ryan Claytor - one of the event co-organizers. For more information on Ryan’s background, be sure to check out the About section of the site or check out Ryan’s website (www.elephanteater.com).  A limited number of signed posters (whose final printed size will be 18×24) will be available free to event attendees

MSUCF 2010 Promotional Poster, by Ryan Claytor

MSU Comics Forum 2009 Keynote Video

After a long wait, we are very happy to announce that we are releasing the video for the MSU Comics Forum 2009 keynote, delivered by David Petersen (http://www.davidpetersen.net/).

David Petersen was born in 1977. His artistic career soon followed. A steady diet of cartoons, comics, and tree climbing fed his imagination and is what still inspires his work today. David won the 2007 Russ Manning Award for Most Promising Newcomer. In 2008, David won the Eisners for Best Publication for Kids (Mouse Guard Fall 1152 & Winter 1152) and Best Graphic Album – Reprint (Mouse Guard Fall 1152 Hardcover). David and his wife Julia reside in Michigan with their dog Autumn.

Please note, the video needs the latest version of the Flash Player to display properly. To download the player, go to http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/. To View a (slightly) larger version of the video, go to http://vimeo.com/7939306

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.