Postmodernism: Visualizing A Movement
A Call for Comics
Call for Comics:
The late-20th Century ushered in a multi-disciplinary reaction to modernism that influenced various
disciplines, artists, and thinkers. Since this time, postmodernism has been taken up in literature,
film, music, philosophy, architecture, theory, and more. Despite its widespread influence, however,
postmodernism remains a debated movement with many scholars and creators arguing that it lacks
clarity and meaning. Characterized by an emphasis on deconstruction and critical theory,
postmodernism has evolved in past decades to include innovative, if contested, ideas and
structures.
For Sequentials’ first Call For Comics, we seek visual interpretations of the concept of
postmodernism (please refer to a more in-depth description of Sequentials below). Submissions
must be illustrated in comics form and can visualize a particular aspect of the concept or the
movement as understood through a particular discipline. Additionally, submissions may visualize
an explanation and/or critical inquiry of the subject.
Possible topics may include, but are not limited to:
 Postmodernist literature, music, art, or history (or another relevant discipline)
 Postmodernist architecture
 Postmodernist thinkers and/or their theories
 Digital postmodernism
 Postmodernist representations
 Critiques of postmodern texts, art, or music pieces
By “comics,” we loosely mean illustrated, sequential images that may or may not incorporate
words and may or may not be bounded within panels or other boundary markers. We invite
submissions from individuals in all academic disciplines, regardless of their level of experience
with comics or illustration “skills.” Further, submissions will be welcomed from non-academics, as
well, and the editorial team at Sequentials will consider all submissions equally.
We strongly encourage contributors to consider how the comics form can interpret, envision, or
reflect meanings associated with the given topic. To submit, please send high-resolution image
submissions to https://trace.submittable.com/submit by January 1, 2017. Submissions may be of
any length and may be either a large, single image or a series of "pages" to be displayed in a given
sequence. All submissions will be blind reviewed by the Sequentials editorial team and accepted
comics will be published online at the TRACE Innovation Initiative’s journal site. If you have any
questions, please contact Ashley Manchester at [email protected] or Sid Dobrin at
[email protected].
Description of Sequentials:
Following Scott McCloud’s 1993 publication Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, as well as
other visual comics scholarship from authors such as Nick Sousanis and Neil Cohn, Sequentials
solicits and publishes interpretations of various academic subjects or themes drawn and explained
through the comics medium. As a TRACE Initiative project, Sequentials contributes to the
flourishing field of comics scholarship and seeks to expand the production and circulation of
knowledge.
This project asks contributors to (re)imagine the meanings of both the subject they are drawing
about and the form that their interpretation takes. By encouraging contributors to conceptualize
their work in a distinctly visual way, this project highlights the unique creative capabilities of the
comics medium and reflects TRACE’s overall focus on innovative research, writing, and
knowledge production. The Sequentials project seeks to display and circulate original visual
scholarship, providing alternative modes of meaning making and centralizing issues of form.
Visit the TRACE website here.
View TRACE’s informational video here.