Kirby Studies

5 April 2012

Review in Image [&] Narrative

Wow again. Hand of Fire‘s first academic review!

I’m overjoyed that the leading scholar Jan Baetens (of KU Leuven in Belgium) has reviewed Hand of Fire at the e-journal Image [&] Narrative, and that he has such perceptive and encouraging things to say! A fascinating and affirming response.

Some extracts from his review:

[T]he reading of this book has been, from the very first till the very last line, a wow experience that it is a pleasure (no, a duty) to share with all those interested in the field, a field which Hatfield’s investigation broadens significantly, beyond the incrowd of comics or even popular culture.

[A] landmark publication…. offers fascinating analyses to all those interested in gaining a better understanding of comics as storytelling… [and] fundamental contributions to all emerging and ongoing discussions on the semiotics of comics (and visual culture in general).

I’m so glad that the book’s larger theoretical potential is being recognized!

4 April 2012

Nominated for an Eisner!

Knock Me Over with a Feather Dept.:

Startling news times two! This year’s judges for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards have established a new category, Best Educational/Academic Work, and Hand of Fire is among the five books nominated in that category! Worthy company indeed:

The full list of Eisner nominees can be found at the Comic-Con International website, here. I’m sure it will be subject to debate, as is traditional (for example, why not Jaime Hernandez this time around, for goodness’ sake? And, in the Educational/Academic category, why no nod for Marc Singer’s Grant Morrison: Combining the Worlds of Contemporary Comics, Adilifu Nama’s Super Black, Brannon Costello’s Howard Chaykin: Conversations, or Tom Inge’s Will Eisner: Conversations?). But I’m very grateful to the judges for establishing this new, and I believe much needed, category—and it’s exciting to be among the first nominees in it!

1 April 2012

4 Comments

Events

Kamandi @ UConn!

Newsflash! I’ll be speaking about Kirby tomorrow, Monday, April 2nd, at my alma mater, the University of Connecticut—thanks to my friend and colleague Kate Capshaw Smith, her English 6200 seminar, and the UConn Department of English!

Wow. I’m really looking forward to this!

The topic of my talk? Well, besides joining Kate and 6200 for a discussion of Morrison, Quitely, and Grant’s We3, I’ll be presenting (gasp!) an outtake from Hand of Fire—an examination of Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth, my own boyhood favorite and a subject I am absolutely not done with.

My talk will take place at 7:00pm as part of English 6200, in CLAS (Liberal Arts and Sciences), Room 216.

20 March 2012

Kirby Dynamics covers Hand of Fire!

Rob Steibel, at his Kirby Museum blog, Kirby Dynamics, has posted a very kind entry about my recent interview with Tom Spurgeon, as well as about Hand of Fire itself. Thanks, Rob, for the encouraging words, and for the shout-out!

Rob follows this with a terrific series of posts building on the concept of the technological sublime as discussed in my book, with a focus on Kirby’s original pencils, and then the finished Kirby/Royer artwork, for page 14 of Kirby’s comic book 2001: A Space Odyssey #1 (Dec 1976)—a real beauty. Nice to see!

20 March 2012

3 Comments

Events

Talk and Signing @ Modern Myths!

Exciting news!

Modern Myths Comic Books and Games, a terrific shop and always one of the highlights of my annual to biannual visits to Northampton, Massachusetts, will be hosting the first-ever signing event for Hand of Fire!

That’s right: on Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012, from 7:00pm to 9:00pm, the oh-so-fittingly named Modern Myths will be up to its ears in Kirbyana!

I’ll be discussing Hand of Fire—what the book is about, how it came to be, and what I hope it contributes to the study of comics—and then taking questions, chatting for a while, and signing and personalizing copies. In fiery red!

I’m really looking forward to this gig. It’s a distinct pleasure to do an event at one of New England’s finest comic shops and one of my favorite ports of call. Please come if you can (here’s how to get there), and let others know about it too. This should be a blast!

And check out the Facebook page that the Mythos has kindly created to announce the gig!