When worlds collide: Comic and gaming greats come to UF

February 26, 2007

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Holy symposium, Batman! A league of comic book and video game champions is descending on the University of Florida March 1-4 for the Department of English’s annual conferences on games, digital media, comics and graphic novels. All events are free and open to the public.

The third annual Conference on Games and Digital Media will be held March 1 in Reitz Student Union Room 361 and March 2 in Room 285. Guest speakers will include Dave Szulborski, creator of the game “Chasing the Wish,” and Nick Montfort, author of “Twisty Little Passages: An Approach to Interactive Fiction.”

The fifth annual Conference on Comics and Graphic Novels will be held March 3 in Room 282 of the Reitz Student Union and March 4 at the Alachua County Library, downtown headquarters. Guest speakers include comic artists Jeff Smith, “Bone”; Dylan Horrocks, “Hicksville”; and Tom Hart, “Hutch Owen.”

Events will run each day from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Held back-to-back for the first year, the two conferences will feature the joint theme of World Building and will explore how virtual, digital and narrative worlds are created in each medium.

The conferences are organized annually by English department faculty and graduate students. UF is unique in the country for its research in the field — publishing the only peer-reviewed journal for the study of comics and related media in the U.S., “ImageTexT.”

For a complete conference schedule or registration information visit http://www.english.ufl.edu/worlds/. To read the latest issue of “ImageTexT” visit http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext.