Comic book scholars gather for global conference

The University of Chichester event will bring together comics scholars from around the world.

The global comic book industry is the subject of an academic conference at a university in Sussex.

The event titled The Commercial Business of Comics: Transforming Authorship, Distribution, Technology, Story and Aesthetics in the Global North and South will be held at the University of Chichester in May.

It will bring together established and emerging comics scholars from the UK, Europe and North America, according to its organisers.

A spokesperson said the two-day event will "investigate the impact of new business practices on the social, economic, and political meanings of graphic narrative".

The conference on 11-12 May will encompass print and digital comics, manga and bande dessinée.

A spokesperson said: "Presenters will respond to two key questions: What are the global comics industries?

"And how do changing business patterns and practices lead to new authorship, distribution, technical manufacture, and the aesthetic production and reception of comics?"

Professor Hugo Frey, event co-organiser, said: “We were delighted to receive a British Academy Conference grant, and to be able to host this event here at the University of Chichester.”

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