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CALL FOR PAPERS

Comics: Strips, Books, Graphic Novels, Web, and Everything in Between

The Comics and Comic Art Area of the National Popular Culture Association invites all comics scholars to participate in the annual meeting of the Popular Culture Association and American Culture Association, April 8-11, 2026, in Atlanta, Georgia.  Details of the conference can be found at pcaaca.org.

The Comics and Comic Art Area offers a venue for scholars from across the country to share their research and exchange ideas on the growing field of comics scholarship.  Papers on all aspects of the medium are invited.  Past papers have covered mainstream, underground, and global comics; characters and/or storylines from or the medium of cartoons, comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, and web comics; comics in connection with film, television, and video games; specific writers, artists, and publishers; teaching comics at various levels; and writing and publishing comics scholarship.

This call asks for individual paper proposals or submissions for entire panels.  If you are submitting a panel, please make sure to note the members of your panel.   In addition to general papers, if a presenter would like to propose a special panel topic or roundtable discussion, please e-mail the chairs so they can forward the request to the area mailing list and the Comics and Comic Art Facebook group. (All interested scholars are welcome to join the group.) 

Scholars interested in presenting a paper at the national conference should submit a 100-200 word abstract and a short introductory bio (2-3 sentences) to the PCA database by November 30, 2025.  Presenters must be current members of PCA in order to submit an abstract. 

Papers should be delivered in 15-20 minutes, and a projector and screen will be available for presentations.  The PCA limits presenters to one paper given at the conference, so if you are interested in presenting a paper in the Comics and Comic Art Area, do not submit a paper to another area.

All participants are eligible for the annual Inge Award for Comics Scholarship, awarded to the top paper presented in the Comics and Comic Art Area of the PCA. Student participants are eligible for the Lent Award for Comics Scholarship, awarded to the top paper presented by a student in the Comics and Comic Art Area of the PCA.

Please send all inquiries to the area chairs:

John Darowski, johndarowski@gmail.com                         

and

Nicole Freim, nfreim@gmail.com

Important Dates to Remember:

• Database opens for Submissions - Sept. 1, 2025
• Early Bird Registration Begins - Sept. 1, 2025
• Deadline for Paper Proposals - Nov. 30, 2025
• Travel Grant Applications Due - Dec. 15, 2025
• Early Bird Registration Ends for Presenters - Dec. 31, 2025
• Regular Registration Begins for Presenters - Jan. 1, 2026 
• Travel Grant Decisions / Notifications - Jan. 31, 2026
• Regular Registration Ends for Presenters - Jan. 31, 2026
• Late Registration Starts for Presenters - Feb. 1, 2026
• Preliminary Program draft available - Feb. 6, 2026

Those Presenters Not Registered by Feb. 15 Will be Dropped from the Program

CONFERENCE IN ATLANTA, GA - April 8-11, 2026