Matthew Levay
@matthewlevay.bsky.social
Professor of English at Idaho State University. Modernism, comics, popular forms. Author: The New Old Style (U Nebraska P, soon), Violent Minds (Cambridge UP). Co-Editor: Journal of Modern Periodical Studies. Alum: Fulbright Poland.
matthewlevay.com
matthewlevay.com
Pinned
Absolutely thrilled with the cover @univnebpress.bsky.social has designed for my book, The New Old Style: Anachronism in Contemporary Comics (coming August ‘26)! And special thanks to the wonderful and generous Cole Closser for allowing me to use their art.
For my print culture, periodical studies, and comics studies friends: this account is a great one. Give it a follow!
"Oliver's Adventures" by Gus Mager, 1926-1934
March 30th, 1933 as seen in the San Francisco Chronicle
March 30th, 1933 as seen in the San Francisco Chronicle
November 7, 2025 at 5:18 PM
For my print culture, periodical studies, and comics studies friends: this account is a great one. Give it a follow!
Reposted by Matthew Levay
New Lynda Barry comic alert
"My Grandma would want me to fight them." I have loved Lynda Barry cartoons for 40 years. Gift link:
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/31/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/31/o...
November 1, 2025 at 10:28 PM
New Lynda Barry comic alert
Reposted by Matthew Levay
The deadline for the joint BAMS/ MSA conference is fast approaching! It's exactly one month away on December 1, 2025. Please note it's the same deadline for panels, papers, roundtables, and workshop/ seminar proposals. You can propose in-person or online panels/ roundtables (but not hybrids).
Believe it or not, it's already time to think about MSA 2026 in Loughborough, UK. The conference will meet July 1-4, and proposals for panels, papers, roundtables, workshops, and seminars is December 1. Please note this MUCH earlier deadline. The CFP is here: www.moderniststudies.org/conference/M...
November 1, 2025 at 6:14 PM
The deadline for the joint BAMS/ MSA conference is fast approaching! It's exactly one month away on December 1, 2025. Please note it's the same deadline for panels, papers, roundtables, and workshop/ seminar proposals. You can propose in-person or online panels/ roundtables (but not hybrids).
Reposted by Matthew Levay
Always two, no more, no less.
Be honest. How many books are you in the middle of reading right now?
October 27, 2025 at 4:09 AM
Always two, no more, no less.
With the Mariners sadly missing out on the World Series, RSL falling flat in the playoffs, and Leeds flailing near the bottom of the table, it’s up to the Mammoth to resuscitate my sports fandom. So far, they’re meeting the moment.
October 27, 2025 at 12:55 AM
With the Mariners sadly missing out on the World Series, RSL falling flat in the playoffs, and Leeds flailing near the bottom of the table, it’s up to the Mammoth to resuscitate my sports fandom. So far, they’re meeting the moment.
We’ve been to orchards across New England, but the best apples I’ve ever had in my life are from Blackfoot, Idaho.
October 25, 2025 at 10:05 PM
We’ve been to orchards across New England, but the best apples I’ve ever had in my life are from Blackfoot, Idaho.
Stop scrolling and post two characters who bring you happiness.
October 22, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Stop scrolling and post two characters who bring you happiness.
For the last five years, being a Vanderbilt alum has been an exercise in humiliation. But today is easily the biggest humiliation of them all.
Saw someone say Vanderbilt "rejected" the compact so I'm reupping that they very much did not. As the student newspaper said, at best, they failed to reject the compact. Students, faculty, and staff should act accordingly.
Vanderbilt has arrived, late to the chat, with this shambles of a response. While technically true, this is a clear abdication of any moral responsibility. They even work in a mention of their commitment to "institutional neutrality" later in the email.
October 21, 2025 at 6:11 PM
For the last five years, being a Vanderbilt alum has been an exercise in humiliation. But today is easily the biggest humiliation of them all.
Scenes from the pumpkin patch
October 19, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Scenes from the pumpkin patch
2000 people, maybe the largest protest in Pocatello history.
'No Kings' rally in Pocatello draws massive crowd
POCATELLO — An estimated 2,000 people gathered at Caldwell Park on Saturday for the "No Kings" rally, possibly the largest protest in Pocatello history.
www.idahostatejournal.com
October 19, 2025 at 12:15 AM
2000 people, maybe the largest protest in Pocatello history.
A dramatic morning in Pocatello
October 15, 2025 at 2:45 PM
A dramatic morning in Pocatello
Reposted by Matthew Levay
Did you know the next MSA Conference in the UK will be a joint conference with BAMS @modernistudies.bsky.social? And if you can't make it to the UK next summer, there will be opportunities to present in online panels and roundtables at this conference. More information in the CFP:
The Modernist Studies Association is devoted to the study of the arts in their social, political, cultural, and intellectual contexts from the later nineteenth through the mid-twentieth century. The o...
www.moderniststudies.org
October 14, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Did you know the next MSA Conference in the UK will be a joint conference with BAMS @modernistudies.bsky.social? And if you can't make it to the UK next summer, there will be opportunities to present in online panels and roundtables at this conference. More information in the CFP:
Reposted by Matthew Levay
Believe it or not, it's already time to think about MSA 2026 in Loughborough, UK. The conference will meet July 1-4, and proposals for panels, papers, roundtables, workshops, and seminars is December 1. Please note this MUCH earlier deadline. The CFP is here: www.moderniststudies.org/conference/M...
October 13, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Believe it or not, it's already time to think about MSA 2026 in Loughborough, UK. The conference will meet July 1-4, and proposals for panels, papers, roundtables, workshops, and seminars is December 1. Please note this MUCH earlier deadline. The CFP is here: www.moderniststudies.org/conference/M...
Yesterday I spent time at one of my favorite places, talking to owner/all-around wonderful person Tony Davis. Even after a decade away, I still think of it as a third place. Grateful for independent bookshops and the people who make them what they are. See you soon, @myp-comics.bsky.social.
October 11, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Yesterday I spent time at one of my favorite places, talking to owner/all-around wonderful person Tony Davis. Even after a decade away, I still think of it as a third place. Grateful for independent bookshops and the people who make them what they are. See you soon, @myp-comics.bsky.social.
I am at a conference staying up until 1am to watch a baseball game and I’ve never been happier about that decision.
October 11, 2025 at 5:08 AM
I am at a conference staying up until 1am to watch a baseball game and I’ve never been happier about that decision.
Unexpected delight: returning to @harvardbookstore.bsky.social for the first time in a decade and discovering that I have an unused frequent buyer discount still on the books.
October 10, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Unexpected delight: returning to @harvardbookstore.bsky.social for the first time in a decade and discovering that I have an unused frequent buyer discount still on the books.
Morning run from the conference hotel to the hospital where my older daughter was born, and if this isn’t a metaphor for something I don’t know what is.
October 9, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Morning run from the conference hotel to the hospital where my older daughter was born, and if this isn’t a metaphor for something I don’t know what is.
Reposted by Matthew Levay
You could be reading a book right now.
October 4, 2025 at 2:41 AM
You could be reading a book right now.
“There is no end to the process of forming ourselves into people who are genuinely open to what the world has to teach us.” So good an affirmation of the humanities, and of what higher education should be.
Aims of Education Address 2009—Jonathan Lear
John U. Nef Distinguished Service Professor in the Committee on Social Thought, the Department of Philosophy, and the College
college.uchicago.edu
October 4, 2025 at 12:05 AM
“There is no end to the process of forming ourselves into people who are genuinely open to what the world has to teach us.” So good an affirmation of the humanities, and of what higher education should be.
Sad to see this news, belatedly. I was lucky to attend a week-long seminar with Lear as a graduate student, and he was incredibly kind despite (or perhaps because of) how green I was. 1/2
Safe travels to Professor Jonathan Lear, whose words and thoughts transported so many of us.
His radical hope remains.
His radical hope remains.
!["It is not only good but wondrous that there should be mourning [...]
In response to loss, we make meaning: re-creating in memory and imagination what we have lost and reanimating forms of life that might otherwise disappear."
—Jonathan Lear
Imagining the End
Image via harvard up](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:rkgmcmrlwobvdajgjmxlvfya/bafkreibadqnk2wnwereh7sx7ow5bov23j4h7g6unwnt2nlh233kngeg5by@jpeg)
October 3, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Sad to see this news, belatedly. I was lucky to attend a week-long seminar with Lear as a graduate student, and he was incredibly kind despite (or perhaps because of) how green I was. 1/2
Reposted by Matthew Levay
Absolutely thrilled with the cover @univnebpress.bsky.social has designed for my book, The New Old Style: Anachronism in Contemporary Comics (coming August ‘26)! And special thanks to the wonderful and generous Cole Closser for allowing me to use their art.
October 2, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Absolutely thrilled with the cover @univnebpress.bsky.social has designed for my book, The New Old Style: Anachronism in Contemporary Comics (coming August ‘26)! And special thanks to the wonderful and generous Cole Closser for allowing me to use their art.
Absolutely thrilled with the cover @univnebpress.bsky.social has designed for my book, The New Old Style: Anachronism in Contemporary Comics (coming August ‘26)! And special thanks to the wonderful and generous Cole Closser for allowing me to use their art.
October 2, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Absolutely thrilled with the cover @univnebpress.bsky.social has designed for my book, The New Old Style: Anachronism in Contemporary Comics (coming August ‘26)! And special thanks to the wonderful and generous Cole Closser for allowing me to use their art.
Reposted by Matthew Levay
Don't forget to register for the 2025 MSA Conference in Boston, starting Oct. 9. We have an exciting schedule of panels, roundtables, workshops, seminars, and plenaries. Plus we'll be celebrating all the amazing book prize winners.
Register here: www.moderniststudies.org/conference/M...
Register here: www.moderniststudies.org/conference/M...
The Modernist Studies Association is devoted to the study of the arts in their social, political, cultural, and intellectual contexts from the later nineteenth through the mid-twentieth century. The o...
www.moderniststudies.org
September 30, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Don't forget to register for the 2025 MSA Conference in Boston, starting Oct. 9. We have an exciting schedule of panels, roundtables, workshops, seminars, and plenaries. Plus we'll be celebrating all the amazing book prize winners.
Register here: www.moderniststudies.org/conference/M...
Register here: www.moderniststudies.org/conference/M...
Proud to have an essay in this volume. And congrats to Jon for his fabulous work as editor! @upmississippi.bsky.social
The runner-up for the 2025 MSA Prize for edited collections and anthologies is Jonathan Najarian, editor of Comics and Modernism: History, Form, and Culture.
Congratulations Jonathan and the University of Mississippi Press!
Congratulations Jonathan and the University of Mississippi Press!
Comics and Modernism
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2025 COMICS STUDIES SOCIETY EDITED BOOK PRIZEContributions by David M. Ball, Scott Bukatman, Hillary Chute, Jean Lee Cole, Louise Kane, Matthew Levay, Andrei Molotiu, Jonathan Naja...
www.upress.state.ms.us
September 30, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Proud to have an essay in this volume. And congrats to Jon for his fabulous work as editor! @upmississippi.bsky.social