*CFP* “FUTURES OF CARTOONS PAST: THE CULTURAL POLITICS OF X-MEN, THE ANIMATED SERIES”, EDITED COLLECTION

Collection under Advance Contract with the University Press of Mississippi.

This volume will collect new scholarship on X-Men: The Animated Series (1992-1997), providing scholars and fans with an overdue assessment of the series from perspectives in comics studies, fan studies, and media studies. While the 90s have often been viewed as a “regressive” era for comics by creators and scholars alike (e.g. Trina Robbins), this collection carefully examines the complicated cultural politics of X-Men: The Animated Series across disciplines such as animation studies, childhood studies, comics studies, culture studies, fashion studies, gender and sexuality studies, media studies, and visual art.

This collection will not only serve as a foundation for future scholarship on the animated series, but also on the transmedial landscapes of X-Men narratives specifically and “Saturday cartoons” more broadly. In addition to scholarly essays, we invite the contribution of original comics, zines, or transcripts of relevant interviews and podcasts. Contributors may choose to consider (but are certainly not limited to) the following topics and issues in relation to X-Men: The Animated Series:

• Historical considerations of the series—including nostalgia and the legacy of 1990s comics culture
• Transmedia and adaptation—including considerations of technologies such as coloring and animation
• Artistic considerations related to costuming, design, fashion, merchandising and the music in/of the series
• Representation and mutant metaphors—including issues of race, ethnicity, indigeneity, gender, sexuality, disability, class, etc.
• Youth culture, girlhood studies and other considerations related to audience engagement
• Reception studies, fan studies, and the importance of fan fiction, fan art, and other types of paratexts
• Post- futures and the potential failures of the series—including the postcolonial, the posthuman, etc.

Please submit CVs and 300-word abstracts to Nicholas E. Miller at nemiller@valdosta.edu. Final essays will be limited to 6000 words. Questions and inquiries before the deadline are welcome.

Abstracts Due: June 30, 2020

Notice of Acceptance: July 30, 2020

Completed Essays due: December 15, 2020