The Modern Moment:
Comics and Cinema
Thursday, July 14 11:00 - 12:30 Room 7B
Comics
and the Critique of Chronophotography
Scott Bukatman, Stanford University
Superadaptoid, or Successful Superhero Cinema
Peter Coogan, Fontbonne University
Steel Ideals: Superman, Modernism, and the Limitations of the Enlightenment
Alex Boney, Ohio State University
Art Spiegelman:
Trauma, Memory, and Survival
Thursday, July 14 12:30 - 2:00 Room 7B
Images of Survival: An Approach to Art
Spiegelman’s Maus
Alicia Gil
In the Shadow of Representation: Mourning, Trauma, and Political Irony in
Spiegelman’s In the Shadow of No Towers
Patrick Jagoda, Duke University
A Newer Bigger Holocaust: Art Spiegelman, the Holocaust, and 9/11
Jason Tondro, University of California, Riverside
Viewing the World: Interpretive
Screens
Thursday, July 14 2:00-3:30 Room 7B
Graphic Novels and Autobiography – A Perspective
from Childhood
Vanessa Raney, Southern Connecticut State University
The Cognitive Frame of Lenses in Ernest Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann’s “The Sandman”
in Relation to Neil Gaiman’s Sandman
Leonora Souza, Universidade
Federal de Minas Gerais
Daniel Clowes’ Surrealist Tropes in Ghost World
Kirsten Clemens, Duke University
The
Interrelationship of Industry and Art
Friday, July 15
10:30-12:00 Room 7B
The Multiplicity of Superhero Universes: Fictional
Worlds/Real Territories
David Sweeney, University of Glasgow
The Effect of Shifts in the Structures of Production on Comics’ Visual
Consumption
Frank Verano, Temple University
Spider-Man: Authorship and Adaptation
Marc DiPaolo, Drew University
The Visual
Language of Comics
Friday, July 15
12:00-1:00 Room 7B
It has been proposed that the sequential images in comics create a language that unites with writing to create a meaningful whole. Neil Cohn provides a general overview of what it means for there to be a “visual language” used in comics, an introduction to its structure, and an examination of how it fits into a broader understanding of human communication.
Alternative
Comics: An Emerging Literature
Friday, July 15 1:00-2:00 Room 7B
Charles Hatfield (California State University, Northridge) presents an illustrated lecture taken from his new book on alternative comics, and provides a preview of a forthcoming essay collection on undergrounds comix.
The Superhero Defined(?) or The Evolution of the Superhero
Friday, July 15 2:00-3:30 Room 7B
What is a superhero, and how did that definition change over the twentieth century? Scholar Peter Coogan leads a discussion of the genre of the superhero; he is joined by panelists Michael Eury, editor of Back Issue and author of the just-released Justice League Companion from TwoMorrows Publishing; Danny Fingeroth, author of Superman on the Couch and the upcoming Disguised as Clark Kent, and editor in chief of Write Now! magazine (published by TwoMorrows); and Gina Misiroglu, editor of The Superhero Book: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Comic-Book Icons and Hollywood Heroes, as they answer this question and discuss their favorite heroes.
Supervillains:
Those Who Worship Evil’s Might
Saturday, July 16
10:30-12:00 Room 7B
Contributors to The Supervillain Book: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Comic-Book and Hollywood Masterminds, Megalomaniacs, and Menaces (Visible Ink Press, May 2006) discuss the way their encyclopedia defines and explores the supervillain in comics and other media. Panelists Gina Misiroglu (The Superhero Book), Michael Eury (Back Issue), Heidi MacDonald (Disney Adventures), and Peter Sanderson (Marvel Universe) discuss the popularity of the villain in the popular culture, the evolution of the villain in comics, characters who have alternately been hero and villain, and the modern supervillain. These topics are framed within an overarching presentation of how the villain is reflected in the popular culture.
Superheroes and Philosophy
Saturday, July 16 12:00-1:30 Room 7B
The panel is based on the new book Superheroes and Philosophy, edited by Tom Morris and Matt Morris and written by over a dozen academic philosophers along with a team of comics professionals including Mark Waid, Dennis O'Neil, and Jeph Loeb. The editors lead a discussion of how superhero comics and films introduce and treat in vivid ways some of the most interesting and important questions facing all human beings—questions regarding ethics, personal and social responsibility, justice, crime and punishment, the nature of evil, the mind and human emotions, personal identity, the soul, destiny, meaning, science and nature, faith, friendship, love and openness, the bonds of a family, the classic virtues like courage, partnership, and many other important issues.
Telling Stories
Over Time
Sunday, July 17
12:00-1:30 Room 7B
Learning History from Comics: Neil Gaiman's
The Sandman
Suzanne J. Covey, University of Florida
There is a City: Tradition and Legacy in Robinson's Opal City
Randy Duncan, Henderson State University
E-Book Comic Books: Wave of the Future, or Vestige of the Past?
Mike Jones, Jr., Ouachita Baptist University
Sin, Transgression, and Redemption
Sunday, July 17 1:30-3:00 Room 7B
The
Mythic Effect in American Comics
Orion Ussner Kidder, University of Alberta
Kathleen McClancy, Duke University
Chris Carpenter, Christ the King
Selling the Man: Masculinity and Adulthood
Sunday, July 17 3:00-4:30 Room 7B
Comic Book Masculinities: America’s Cold War
Superheroes, 1970s & 80s
James Sherman, University of California, Santa Barbara
“Are You a Boy?’: Masculinities Outside the Panels
John A. Walsh, Indiana University
(Re)Packaging Grittiness: Selling Adult Themes to Young Readers
Aaron Thomas Nelson, Imperium Dei