CFP: Translations, Transformations, & Mutations: The Malleable Superhero Identity
Prospective panel for SCMS Conference, Montreal, Quebec, March 25-28, 2015

While superheroes have never been solely confined to the panels of the comic book page, the last decade has seen them become ubiquitous across multiple mediums. This flight from comic to film and television has garnered critical, scholarly attention, and, at first blush, suggests that superheroes are just now undergoing transformation and re-imaginings. However, superheroes have long been sites for drastic reconstructions, transformations, and translations. Their heightened popularity at this moment only quickens the pace and widens the breadth of these changes. But why? And, to what end? From the Japanese Spider-Man, to the casting of an African-American Kingpin, to fan productions that gender-swap DC characters, superheroes are ever open to purposeful reinterpretations.

This panel seeks to interrogate the status of these interpretations, translations, and mutations. Proposed papers should explore the various reconfigurations of superheroes. What do the changes in long-established characters signal? What effect do they have on consumers and fans? What about smaller changes—how do they speak to superheroes as both pliable and yet still also fixed?  How do these changes reflect societal concerns or values? And, why are superheroes such fertile sites of malleability?

Potential topics might include, but are not limited to: 
- Foreign interpretations of American superheroes (such as the Turkish Superman) 
- Gender-swapped heroes in fan fiction and art
- Diversity in transformed superheroes, such as the recent updates to characters like the Alan Scott Green Lantern (now gay) and Wally West, the Flash (now black) 
- Remodeling characters after their celebrity counterparts (like Loki and Iron Man played respectively, by - Tom Hiddleston and Robert Downey, Jr.)
- Age and the blatant de-aging of certain characters (like Loki).
- Transforming heroes into villains and vice versa
- Reinterpreted cartoon or video game superheroes marketed to non-comic reading audiences

Please submit a paper title, an abstract no longer than 2500 characters, a five-item bibliography, and a brief author bio (no more than 500 characters) to Matthew Cicci ([log in to unmask]) by 11:59 p.m. PDT on Saturday, August 9th.

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Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite
http://www.ScreenSite.org