Expanding Our View of Sherwood: Exploring the Matter of the Greenwood in Comics (A Roundtable) (virtual)
Sponsored by Medieval Comics Project and International Association for Robin Hood Studies (IARHS)
Organized by Michael A. Torregrossa and Carl B. Sell
60th International Congress on Medieval Studies
Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, Michigan)
Hybrid event: Thursday, 8 May, through Saturday, 10 May, 2025
Please Submit Proposals by 15 September 2024
Session Information
According to a recent search of the Grand Comics Database, creators of comic books and graphic novels have produced approximately five thousand comics directly based on or inspired by the Robin Hood tradition. These comics span over one hundred years and come from at least ten countries; however, the true scope of Hood’s influence on the medium appears much larger. A variety of archers, both heroes and villains, also feature within the pages of comics, and some, such as DC Comics’s Green Arrow, have even made the transition to the screen. In addition, Hood and his fellows have also frequented cartoons, comic strips, and manga, although their adventures there remain largely uncatalogued.
Of this vast array of comics and related media, relatively little of the corpus seems known to enthusiasts of the Matter of the Greenwood. Although Robin Hood scholars (working since the 1990s) have started to share some comics, much work still remains to be done to more fully assess the world of Sherwood Forest depicted in their panels. Therefore, in this co-sponsored session, we hope to create a deeper connection between Robin Hood Studies and Comics Studies to highlight items from this rich corpus and provide ideas and reflections on how to find, access, and employ Robin-Hood-themed comics in our classrooms and research.
Applicants to the roundtable are invited to revise their work for publication in a special issue of the open-access journal The Bulletin of the International Association for Robin Hood Studies.
Thank you for your interest in our session. Please address questions and/or concerns to the organizers at Comics.Get.Medieval@gmail.com.
Submission Information
The process for proposing contributions to sessions of papers, roundtables and poster sessions for the International Congress on Medieval Studies uses an online submission system powered by Confex. Be advised that submissions cannot be accepted through email. Rather, access the direct link in Confex to our session at https://icms.confex.com/icms/2025/round/papers/index.cgi?sessionid=5826. You can also view the full Call for Papers list at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/call.
Within Confex, proposals to sessions of papers, poster sessions and roundtables require the author’s name, affiliation and contact information; an abstract (300 words) for consideration by session organizer(s); and a short description (50 words) that may be made public. Proposals to sessions of papers and poster sessions also require a title for the submission (contributions to roundtables are untitled).
Proposers of papers or contributions to roundtables for hybrid sessions should indicate in their abstracts whether they intend to present in person or virtually.
If you need help with your submissions, the Congress offers some resources at the Participating in the Congress page at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/participating-congress. Click to open the section labeled “Propose a Paper” and scroll down for the Quick Guide handouts.
Be advised of the following policies for participating in the Congress:
You are invited to propose one paper (as a sole author or as a co-author) for one session of papers. You may propose a paper for a sponsored or special session or for the general sessions, but not both. You may propose an unlimited number of contributions to roundtables and poster sessions, but you will not be scheduled to actively participate (as paper presenter, roundtable discussant, poster author, presider, respondent, workshop leader, demonstrator or performer) in more than three sessions.
Further details on the Congress’s Policies can be found at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/policies-guidelines.
A reminder: Presenters accepted to the Congress must register for the full event. The registration fee is the same for on-site and virtual participants. For planning, the cost for the previous year’s event is posted at the Congress’s Registration page at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/registration.
If necessary, the Medieval Institute and Richard Rawlinson Center at Western Michigan University offer limited funding to presenters. These include both subsidized registration grants and travel awards. Please see the Awards page at the Congress site for details at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/awards.
Resources
For ideas and support, please see the following resources:
Torregrossa, Michael A. “The Matter of the Greenwood in Recent Comics.” Into a BrAIve New World: 14th Biennial Conference of the International Association for Robin Hood Studies, Missouri Valley College, Marshall, MO, 20 October 2023. Hybrid event. Academia.edu, https://www.academia.edu/108398145/2023_The_Matter_of_the_Greenwood_in_Recent_Comics_.
– – -. “Medieval Comics Project Bibliographies: Matter of the Greenwood (Robin Hood).” Medieval Comics Project Bibliographies, https://tinyurl.com/MedievalComicsProjectBiblios.
– – -. “Seeking Sherwood: Tools and Resources for Finding and Locating Comics Based on the Robin Hood Tradition for the Classroom and Research.” Global Outlaws: The Biennial Conference of the International Association for Robin Hood Studies, 5 December 2021. Virtual event. Academia.edu, https://www.academia.edu/63693049/2021_Seeking_Sherwood_Tools_and_Resources_for_Finding_and_Locating_Comics_Based_on_the_Robin_Hood_Tradition_for_the_Classroom_and_Research_.
For more information on the Medieval Comics Project and the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture, please check out our websites at https://medieval-comics-project.blogspot.com/.
For more information on the International Association for Robin Hood Studies, please view our website Robin Hood Scholars: IARHS on the Web at https://robinhoodscholars.blogspot.com/. Details on The Bulletin of the International Association for Robin Hood Studies can be accessed from https://openjournals.bsu.edu/biarhs.
