Comics Arts Conference Announces Fourth Big Year of Programs at WonderCon 2010!

COMICS ARTS CONFERENCE

Room 204/206

East Mezzanine

FRI, APR 2

1:00PM - 2:30PM
Thinking Through Comics: Comics in Education, Research, and Music
2:30PM - 4:00PM
Focus on Darick Robertson
4:00PM - 5:00PM
Ink-Stained Amazons and Their Cinematic Warriors: Superwomen in Modern Mythology
» Complete descriptions for Friday's CAC Schedule

SAT, APR 3

12:00PM - 1:30PM
Manga, Manga!: Female Creators, Readers, and Characters
1:30PM - 3:00PM
Superheroes: Urban and Political Mysteries
3:00PM - 4:00PM
It All Began When...Making Meaning of Superhero Origin Stories
» Complete descriptions for Saturday's CAC Schedule

SUN, MAR 1

12:30PM - 1:30PM
From Buffy to the X-Men: Female Comic Book Superheroes in Women's Poetry
1:30PM - 2:30PM
Let There Be Comics: Jewish Creators, Past and Present
2:30PM - 4:00PM
How Comics Make Us Who We Are: Socialization and Graphic Narrative
» Complete descriptions for Sunday's CAC Schedule

» The Complete CAC Schedule

Why do we love manga? What is the "Dorothy Syndrome"? Who was the "Holiday Killer" in Batman: The Long Halloween? Can Batman teach biology? Do comics have rhythm? If you want answers to these questions and more, then you need to attend the Comics Arts Conference, a full-fledged academic conference that takes place each year at both WonderCon and Comic-Con International: San Diego.

Founded in 1992 by Dr. Randy Duncan (communications professor at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas) and Dr. Peter Coogan (who teaches American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis), the Comics Arts Conference brings scholars and professionals together to talk about comics with the public by breaking out of the ivory tower and holding sessions during two of the nation's major comic book conventions. This year marks the CAC's fourth year at WonderCon and its eighteenth at Comic-Con International.

This year's WonderCon CAC events focus on manga and female characters, readers, and writers, starting with San Francisco native and comics legend Trina Robbins' talk on "The Dorothy Syndrome" in shojo manga, in which a young girl is magically transported into another world and has an adventure there, paralleling the mythic hero's journey. Manga cartoonist and film-studies professor Lien Fan Shen of the University of Utah and the author of the Taiwanese shojo manga I Will Be Your Paradise, along with other award-winning manga, reflects on the production process, reveals her struggles with the publisher, and examines the negotiations of a manga artist with her "queer" identity and Taiwanese identity over the past ten years. Moving from creators to readers, June M. Madeley from the University of New Brunswick, explores the gender, fan, and reading practices of female American manga fans. Closing out the manga focus, Andrew Shaner of Pennsylvania State University examines the way anime and manga such as Akira, Ghost in the Shell, and Metropolis foreshadowed the real-world urban social and technological upheavals experienced by Japan and the world as a whole.

The female focus of the conference recurs in CAC favorite Jennifer K. Stuller's talk based on her new book Ink-Stained Amazons and Cinematic Warriors: Superwomen in Modern Mythology, as she explains how the female hero in modern mythology has broken through the boys' club barrier of tradition and reveals the pivotal role of high-heeled, costumed, and kick-ass crimefighters in popular culture. Stuller presents a lively history of these warrior women through video clips, slides, and readings from her book, with a question-and-answer session and signing to follow. Poet Jeannine Hall Gailey investigates how superheroines from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Lara Croft have appeared in poetry by women, and how female poets use those icons to talk about cultural influence, body image, and the role of women as victims, villainesses, and heroines in comic books.

But we haven't left the boys out. Steve Higgins of Lewis and Clark Community College tries to decipher the ambiguous conclusion to Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's Batman: The Long Halloween by explicating popular theories regarding the identity of the killer called Holiday. Dyfrig Jones from Bangor University in Wales examines the mystery of the relationship between the superhero and the state -- why do superheroes like Green Arrow, Iron Man, and Miracleman choose to exercise political, and what does it mean for democracy? Psychologist Robin Rosenberg, who wowed San Diego Comic-Con attendees last year with her panel "Is the Joker a Psychopath?," returns to the CAC with Batman scribe Steve Englehart to explore the way comic book writers and fans make meaning of superhero origin stories.

Speaking of making meaning, can Batman teach biology? Carquinez Middle School science teacher Lisa Vizcarra presents a curriculum for the biology classroom based on the book Becoming Batman: The Possibility of a Superhero by neuroscience professor E. Paul Zehr. And what was underground comix artist Rory Hayes up to? Comics publisher and novelist Jarett Kobek attempts to answer this question through the examination of Fantagraphics' Where Demented Wented and Hayes' corpus of work.

The CAC scholars take on two more questions. First up, are "silent" comics musical? Côme Martin of the Université Paris Sorbonne deciphers the way a "musical" rhythm is imparted to silent comics through panel size and layout. Lastly, how can the Grand Comics Database contribute to your research? GCD member Henry Andrews explores ways to use the matchless data of the database in academic research, and he seeks contributions from attendees on how to make the database even more useful to researchers.

Whether you're a fan, scholar, creator, or just along for the ride at WonderCon, the Comics Arts Conference offers you a chance to experience comics analysis and history and learn something along the way.