Comics Forum 2024 Mascots! (Image by Yiqi Zhang)

This November, I had the pleasure of to co-host Comics Forum 2024 with an amazing team from University of the Arts London, Kingston University London,  and City, University of London! 

Comics forum is an annual conference dedicated to comics and graphic novels, held in Leeds, UK, as part of the Thought Bubble Festival, one of the biggest comics festivals in the country.  Founded by Ian Hague in 2009, Comics Forum has become a space for some of the most intriguing and ‘wild’ academic discussions on comics! 

Leeds Central Library, where CF 2024 was held

Leeds Central Library, where CF 2024 was held

Leeds Central Library, where CF 2024 was held

There was actually a manga exhibition going on!

This year, Comics Forum 2024 is all about ‘Between Bodies: Embodiment and Comics’. We have an incredible lineup of speakers who explore a wide range of topics. The central question is: How things are embodied by/through/as comics? (Or, WHO is reading WHOM?) 

Check out the offiicial Comics Forum website to learn more! You’ll find the Call for Paper, the finalised programme and all the speaker abstracts there. 

This was my first experience co-organising a conference, and I’m so grateful to everyone who’ve been supporting and encouraging me throughout the process. A huge thank you to everyone who attended and shared such fascinating insights on topics I’d never even imagined!  

Delighted to be part of Unfolding Narratives 3, a PhD work-in-progress  exhibition at London College of Communication, University of the Arts London, taking place between 11 - 20 April 2023! 

The show has been a valuable opportunity not only to display my research outcome so far, but also to engage with the a general audience through inviting them to reflect on the research questions I have been asking. Here is an overview of the show itself:

On the left wall, you can find an introduction to my Phd research and a visual questionnaire on graphic narratives and transnationalism, both in comics formats:

What is on the left wall is constantly “growing” – you can participate in the visual questionnaire by putting stickers and drawing/writing on posters! While the result will not be used in my data collection, the questionnaire is designed in a way that encourages you to think more about graphic narratives, transnationalism, and comics cultures (I will be updating more about the design of the visual questionnaire soon!)

Once completing the questionnaire, you can have for free a small zine I made - “The Life of a Comic Book Character”:

I won’t post photos of people participating in the exhibition here for ethical reasons. But I have to say the fact that many have been attracted to the show has been encouraging and inspiring for me (as a first-year PhD student)! Many thanks to those who have been supporting me throughout the show. 

If you would like to participate in this visual questionnaire, too, don’t hesitate to contact me😊

Finally, a small flower I drew for the mural of the show: 

Five-page visual essay how I developed my research topic (with working title - Globalised Storytellers: Imagining Graphic Narratives from Transnational Perspectives) and what I hope to investigate in my research. 

Zhang, Y (October 2022) Visual Demonstration of My Research Proposal [Comic page 1] 21.6 x 32.7 cm, ink on paper and digital.