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However, this is not the take that most comparisons of the verbals and visual forms take. Rather, they often try to make direct superficial analogies between specific types of structures. For example, "such and such" is the equivalent of a "word" or "sentence." This is often why many want to claim that single images have "grammar" — because a single image has lots of information in it, like a "sentence" and unlike a "word" — even though composition within single images behaves nothing like a grammar. (...nor should we expect it to given the differences between sound and light!)A similar endeavor has tried to find "minimal units" of the structure of the forms, following the school of Structuralism (most popular in American linguistics from around 1920-1960ish). However, again, just knowing minimal units doesn't tell you about the broader structure, and units larger than minimal units might also be useful and insightful. It also gives no beneficial comparison other than that "minimal units" exist in both domains.All of this is an argument for looking beyond the superficial understandings of "language" and to look for comparisons in deeper, more fundamental aspects of structuring.

At most, various sources mention one or two different conventions, but I couldn't find any extensive type of cataloging. (though, if anyone is aware of such a thing, please let me know)I started trying to make a cross-cultural list like this back when I used to have the forum, but that project seems to have stagnated. This is a research project just waiting for someone to take it up (like oh so many)...

Underlying message: Graphic systems are not universal

one graphic system can influence another one

He also did some eye-tracking studies comparing the eye movements of an "expert" versus a "non-frequent" manga reader. The "non-expert" fixated far more on word balloons than images and had higher reading times. On the other hand, the "expert" reader made "fewer useless eye movements" that were smoother, in addition to a higher rate of skipping over more panels and balloons. However, the expert also had higher story comprehension recall than the non-expert, despite reading faster and skipping elements.

frequent reading of manga correlated to achievement in language arts (particularly sentence comprehension) and a liking of social sciences, though "not significantly with liking for art class." Several studies also indicated a higher comprehension for learning from manga than from pure textual "novelized" writing.

I've been thinking lately about the differences between "visual language" and "comics", and why no one has really made the separation between the two before. It struck me that our culture has never really identified there being a system of graphic communication.

IBBY UK/NCRCL MA CONFERENCE, 14 NOVEMBER 2009 Roehampton University, London - Call for Papers The theme this year is Comics and Graphic Novels. Graphic novels are becoming increasingly popular and diverse in the UK and have been highly valued in many countries, notably France, Belgium and Japan, for many years. The 2009 IBBY UK/NCRCL MA conference will explore the developing interest in this medium from a variety of perspectives, in addition to considering developments in the range and content of comics available to children and young people. The conference will include keynote presentations by well-known writers, publishers and academics. Proposals are welcomed for workshop sessions (lasting about 20 minutes) on the following or other relevant issues: International perspectives – comics and graphic novels in a particular culture and/or across cultures Comics from a contemporary or historical perspective. Has the number and range of comics declined and, if so, why? Manga - its origins in Japan and developments and adaptations in other cultures New literacies – the changing interface between visual images and text Links between media – computer games, films, internet comics, character toys Animations and cartoons The work of individual and collective creators of comics and graphic novels. What collaborations are involved in the production of a graphic novel? Is the author a major or minor player in the design of a graphic novel? Use of artistic styles – colour/black and white artwork/photography/fonts and typography. What are the technical complexities of producing comics and graphic novels? Engagement of children and young people with/through this medium. Is there a particular appeal to the `reluctant' reader? Gendered reading. Do comics and graphic novels have more appeal to male readers? Controversial issues/taboo subjects – the notion of `appropriate' material for What is the appeal of a graphic novel as against an illustrated book? How do picture books compare in popularity with graphic novels for a younger age group? We welcome contributions from interested academics and others. of these areas. Brief accounts of the papers that are presented at the conference will be published in the Spring 2010 issue of IBBYLink, the journal of British IBBY. Also we hope that the proceedings of the conference will be published later that year in full in book form. The deadline for proposals is 20 July 2009. Please email a 200-word abstract (for a 20-minute paper) as an attached Word document to Pat Pinsent and also contact her if your require any further information on this call for papers. Please also include a short biography and affiliation. Pat Pinsent, 23 Burcott Road, Purley, CR8 4AD. Tel: (020) 8668 4093. Email: patpinsent@aol.com The IBBY has just opened the CFP for its September 2010 conference in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. The theme is "The Strength of Minorities". Details here: http://www.ibbycompostela2010.org/ Topics Children's and young people's literature: a minority area within the literature arena Despite the high quality and notable presence of children's book editions and the general growth of literature, they still hold a minority status in the eyes of editors, writers and the media, generally. Why are we writing or illustrating for children in these conditions? Children's and young people's literature in minority languages: from difference to survival Literature written in minority languages invariably face a wide set of challenges. Its survival is dependent on factors such as socio-political context, the extent of the official status bestowed on them and the general public response to cultural and linguistic diversity. Children's books can contribute towards the standardization of the edition in minority languages. However, publishers targeting a reduced market undoubtedly encounter many difficulties. Readers in a minority situation Children and young people with disabilities or special needs usually encounter many obstacles with regards to access to books or the pleasure of reading. We must find solutions to help combat these difficulties. A readership bereft of childhood Books and reading matter are generally considered staples for intellectual and cultural development and the growth of the youngest members of society. However, not all children have easy access to books. How do we broach the subject of books and reading material with those readers who missed out on their childhood: exploited children and those without even enough to eat? I am a reading girl, you are a reading boy... Do we still need children's literature which takes into account the gender issue? How do we tackle questions relating to sexual orientation and the rights of sexual minorities within children's books? Globalizing diversity and tolerance through children's books The 21st century must ensure the survival of minorities on the road to a better future. Diversity and tolerance - which are vital for a fairer world - must respectively make inroads in relation to minority groups.

CALL FOR PAPERS Title: From an Intercultural Crossover to a Transcultural Phenomenon: Manga, Comic, Graphic Novel International Conference at the Cultural Institute of Japan, Cologne (Japanisches Kulturinstitut Köln, The Japan Foundation), September 30 – October 2, 2010, in cooperation with CITS (Center for Inter- and Transcultural Studies, University of Cologne) Manga, comics and graphic novels are shaped by different cultural codes and shifting visual and narrative conventions. This conference focuses on the historical development and theoretical aspects of comics and manga by stressing their mutual influences. Whereas European and North American art and popular culture exert a great impact on Japanese manga, such as the Franco-Belgian tradition of “ligne claire” on Ōtomo Katsuhiro and Taniguchi Jirō, Walt Disney’s animated films on Tezuka Ōsamu and Christian and Antique ideas on Miyazaki Hayao, Japanese manga influence the concept and visual conventions of modern European and American comics as well, as can be seen in the work by Frédéric Boilet, Moebius, and Frank Miller, among others. Moreover, the intercultural exchange between the Japanese manga tradition and equivalent forms of sequential art in other Asian countries (i.e. China, India, and Korea) largely contributes to the dissemination of new hybrid art forms in the realm of comics and manga. The purpose of this conference is to bring together scholars and other experts of different countries and different fields, i.e. literary studies, picture theory, cultural studies, linguistics, narratology, film studies, and semiotics, who pursue different areas of investigation in this field. In order to adhere to a general outline for this conference, the papers might deal with one or several of the following topics: • Intermedial, intercultural and narrative perspectives for the interpretation of the graphic novel and other genres of sequential art prominent in both comics and manga • Comparative analysis of the construction of time and setting in comics and manga • The functions of color in comics and manga • Similarities and differences between Japanese and other Asian manga and European and North American comics • Impact of wordless comics and manga • Historical development of the mutual influence of comics and manga • Change of the conventional verbal signs (such as speech balloons, sound effects, typography) • Influence of films and cinematic style on the production of comics and manga • Influence of visual codes derived from art history and popular culture in order to create an individual artistic style Contributions from academics and experts interested in any of these areas and in international perspectives are particularly welcome. There are plans to publishing the proceedings of the conference afterwards in book form. The deadline for proposals is: *31 August 2009*. Please email a 300 word abstract (for a thirty minute paper, followed by 15 minutes for discussion) and a short biography as an attached word document to Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer at: bettina.kuemmerling@t-online.de and Franziska Ehmcke at: amm07@uni-koeln.de Notification of the acceptance of proposals will be made by 30 September 2009. The conference fee will be 120 Euro, including catering, technical equipment, conference folders and various arrangements. The conference venue is located in the Cultural Institute of Japan, not far from the University of Cologne. For details, go to www.jki.de (text in German and Japanese). For further inquiries contact the conference convenors: Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer Universität zu Köln Institut für deutsche Sprache und Literatur II Gronewaldstr. 2 50931 Köln Germany E-Mail: bettina.kuemmerling@t-online.de Franziska Ehmcke Universität zu Köln Ostasiatisches Seminar (Japanologie) Albertus Magnus-Platz 50923 Köln Germany E-Mail: amm07@uni-koeln.de

                                  H-JAPAN                                April 5, 2009 From: David Slater <d-slater@sophia.ac.jp> Graduate Fieldwork Workshop April 18th, 2009 Sophia University (Yotsuya Campus) http://www.fla.sophia.ac.jp/about/location.html Bldg. #10, room 301 10 am-noon ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Title: Economic competitive advantage and cultural exports: how Japan got round cultural distance to claim global leadership in comic book publishing. Julien Vig (Sociology MSc candidate at Hitotsubashi University and research student at the Institute of Innovation Research) ABSTRACT: Since the 1990s, the joint influences of nation branding efforts and the increasing globalization of the economic and technological contexts within which media organizations operate have brought upon an era where America's dominant position as an exporter of contents is becoming increasingly challenged by new entrants, often industrial consortia backed by state agencies. Serious contenders may include India's Bollywood movies, Brazil's telenovelas, or South Korea's array of dynamic entertainment industries. Yet beyond the cultural significance of the phenomenon, their actual export performance only qualifies them as cultural niches when compared to the incumbent transnational American corporations, whose distribution monopolies and market power make their economic control of global flows a reality that remains hardly escapable. Japan, however, distinguished itself by securing global leadership in no less than three content industries. In videogames, animation and comic books, it stands out a leading exporting country, boasting impressive trade surpluses with America and Europe. There is a solid, established interdisciplinary body of international literature dedicated to Japan's videogame industry, and the anime industry has been similarly attracting increasing attention in the past ten years. The comic book industry on the other hand, arguably because of its limited legitimacy and economic significance outside the $4bn+ Japanese domestic market, remains largely understudied except for comic book and popular culture scholars. An overlooked specificity of the comic book industry stems from the most peculiar pattern of globalization it has experienced. From the 1950s onwards, the United States, France and Japan each developed their own publishing paradigm and standard formats: *comic book*, *album* and *manga*. These path-dependent creative and industrial trajectories would hardly interact until the second half of the 1990s. After their late encounter, Japanese manga emerged as the undisputed winner, reaching shares of about 1/3 of total comic book sales in value in both France and America in 2007. This achievement has interesting theoretical implications. On the one hand, media scholars showed that the primary vehicles for the development of * contra-flows* (defined as non-Western media flows which counter the previously established one-way information flow from western to non-west countries) are geographic, cultural or linguistic regionalism; yet this framework cannot account for how Japanese manga could succeed in Western markets, as none of the above patterns seems to apply. On the other hand, management scholars, in the dominant models of firm- and industry-level internationalization, accept as a prerequisite that agents are actively and strategically trying to internationalize; yet Japanese manga publishers long maintained a passive attitude towards market expansion outside of Asia. Drawing upon fieldwork in France and Japan, international comparisons of industry data and evidence from a consumer survey conducted in France in December 2008, my research aims to uncover the economics at work behind the success of Japanese manga on the global comic book scene. What are the conditions for the emergence of sustainable contra-flows? The study of Japan's prominent success in exporting domestic contents may hold the answer to this question and provide a blueprint for later entrants in the global cultural market. -- David H. Slater, Ph.D. Faculty of Liberal Arts Sophia University, Tokyo The Sophia server rejects emails at times. Should your mail to me get returned, please resend to: dhslater@gmail.com. Sorry for the inconvenience.