10:30-11:30 Comics Arts Conference Session #1: Comics, Courts, and Controversy— Marc Greenberg (Golden Gate University School of Law) examines contemporary legal cases dealing with comics and copyright. First are two cases in which the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund defended comic artists and comic book storeowners against charges of obscenity, then a case in which the CBLDF fought an effort by the California Franchise Tax Board to tax penciled comic book pages sent to publishers. Greenberg closes his overview with a detailed analysis of the 70-year battle by the Siegel family to terminate the grant of copyright in the character, art and story of Superman, culminating in a landmark decision issued last year. Room 30AB
Categories:  Cartooning and Comic Strips | Comic Books | Comics Arts Conference | Comics Law School | Retailer Programming

11:30-1:00 Comics Arts Conference Session #2: Comics Theory— Dru H. Jeffries (Concordia University) argues that Zack Snyder's film 300 mimics the form of comics by manipulating film styles, particularly slow motion. Neil Cohn (Emaki Productions) presents the results of psychology experiments investigating how our minds make sense of the sequence of images in comics. David B. Olsen (St. Louis University) uses examples that include Winsor McCay, Paul Pope, and Alan Moore to demonstrate how we negotiate the rhythm of comics reading. Room 30AB
Categories:  Comic Books | Comics Arts Conference | Movies

1:00-2:00 Comics Arts Conference Session #3: Nell Brinkley and the Brinkley Girls— Trina Robbins, comics creator, historian, and author of the recent book The Brinkley Girls, presents insights into the work and personal history of Nell Brinkley. Brinkley was once one of the most well known cartoonists in America, and her creations—the beautiful Brinkley Girls—appeared everywhere from the Sunday comics to the Ziegfeld Follies. Room 30AB
Categories:  Art and Illustration | Cartooning and Comic Strips | Comics Arts Conference | Writers & Writing

2:00-3:30 Comics Arts Conference Session #4: Myth and the Superhero— With examples drawn from the superman mythos and the Crisis of Infinite Earths, Angela Ndalianis (University of Melbourne) explores the intertextuality that has transformed superhero narratives into multiple myths. W. Stephen Combs (Wittenberg University) debunks the idea of superheroes as modern mythology, and suggests instead they should be viewed as a part of America's folklore. Richard Harrison (Mount Royal College) traces the way Bill Finger's origins of Superman transformed the mythos and mythology of Krypton and the Man of Steel. Room 30AB
Categories:  Comic Books | Comics Arts Conference | Superheroes

10:30-11:30 Comics Arts Conference Session #5: Fan Power— Daniel Debowy (MGH and McLean Hospitals) argues that the Millennial generation, represented by Hiro and Ando of NBC's Heroes, has moved away from Oedipal narratives of individuals desiring parental power toward quests that end with abandoning it. Andrew Friedenthal (Dartmouth University) examines the 1968 revision of Wonder Woman into a kung-fu superspy and the push by second-wave feminist activists to "rescue" Wonder Woman, and finds she is ultimately a moneymaking commodity and fan appropriation can only go so far. Room 30AB
Categories:  Comic Books | Comics Arts Conference | Superheroes | Television

11:30-12:30 Comics Arts Conference Session #6: Can College Prepare Creators for Comics Careers?— Hope Larson (Chiggers), David Petersen (Mouse Guard), Nick Langley (Rocket Llama), Jaque Nodell (Super Human Resources), Marko Head (Marko's Corner), and Steve Lieber (Whiteout) discuss whether college education can really help people pursuing comics careers. Room 30AB
Categories:  Cartooning and Comic Strips | Comic Books | Comic-Con Special Guest Spotlights & Appearances | Comics Arts Conference

1:00-2:30 Comics Arts Conference Session #7: Strategies and Resources for Teaching a Course in Comics— After brief statements about their own approaches to teaching a comics-based course, Alec Hosterman (Indiana University South Bend), Matthew J. Smith (Wittenberg University), and Randy Duncan (Henderson State University) create a dialogue with the audience so attendees can generate new ideas and glean information relevant to their teaching interests. Then Greg Urquhart (Alexander Street Press) previews forthcoming online collections of comic books and strips that will be useful for scholarship and teaching and discusses the issues and decisions the company has confronted in creating the collections.  Room 30AB
Categories:  Cartooning and Comic Strips | Comic Books | Comics Arts Conference | Webcomics

2:30-3:30 Comics Arts Conference Session #8: The Institute for Comics Studies— The Institute for Comics Studies is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the study, understanding, and appreciation of the comics medium. Director of ICS Peter Coogan discusses the organization's mission, goals, accomplishments, and plans. Board members representing the comics academy and the industry will contribute their comments and be available for Q&A: Randy Duncan (Henderson State University), Stanford Carpenter (School of the Art Institute of Chicago), Angela Ndalnias (University of Melbourne), Mimi Cruz (Night Flight Comics), Danny Fingeroth(Write Now!), Mike Richardson (Dark Horse Comics), Tim Stroup (Cold Cut Distribution), and Henry Jenkins (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Room 30AB
Categories:  Art and Illustration | Cartooning and Comic Strips | Comic Books | Comics Arts Conference | Webcomics

10:30-12:00 Comics Arts Conference Session #9: Is the Joker a Psychopath: You Decide!— Psychology professors Robin Rosenberg (The Psychology of Superheroes) and Travis Langley (Henderson State University) discuss the technical definition of a psychopath and review the criteria for antisocial personality disorder — does the Joker fit the clinical definition? Is he more than just crazy? They are joined by Joker experts Jerry Robinson (The Superhero: The Golden Age of Comic Books, 1938—1950), famed "Joker-fish" scribe Steve Englehart (The Point Man), and film producer Michael Uslan (The Dark Knight). Room 30AB
Categories:  Comic Books | Comics Arts Conference | Movies | Superheroes | Television

12:00-1:00 Comics Arts Conference Session #10: Becoming Batman and Batman Becoming— E. Paul Zehr (University of Victoria) in Becoming Batman—Is There Science Behind the Superhero? answers the question of whether it is scientifically possible to train to become Batman—it is, but for how long? Gearoid O'Brien (National University of Ireland Galway) contends that Grant Morrison's Batman: RIP is indicative of the way contemporary culture rejects conventional modes of resolution and ushers mainstream comic books headfirst into an age of uncertainty and cultural nihility. Room 30AB
Categories:  Comic Books | Comics Arts Conference | Superheroes

1:00-2:00 Comics Arts Conference Session #11: The (Strange) State of Siegel and Shuster Scholarship— Brad Ricca (Case Western Reserve University), director of Last Son, a scholarly documentary on Siegel and Shuster, moderates this conversational panel featuring Craig Yoe (Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman Co-Creator Joe Shuster) and Lauren Agostino, an independent scholar, who will share letters connected to the 1947 lawsuit and portions of the original Superboy script that completely upset a lot of myths about who created Superboy. Room 30AB
Categories:  Comic Books | Comics Arts Conference | Superheroes

2:30-3:30 Comics Arts Conference Session #12: Poster Session— Want to go in depth with a comics scholar? On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday the PowerPoints of the poster presenters will be available to read in printed "poster books," and the scholars will be available in this session to discuss their presentations in small-group and one-on-one discussions. Matthew J. Brown (University of California, San Diego) explains how psychologist William Moulton Marston used his creation Wonder Woman to enact his project of emotional re-education about female love-domination. Erica Ash (Henderson State University) explores the circumstances in the 1980s that lead to real-world vigilantes and a violent breed of fictional heroes and anti-heroes. Jonathan Brewer (Henderson State University) demonstrates how comic books can assist students in the study of American history of the 1900s and helps them understand political atmospheres and cultural trends. Thad Allen (Henderson State University) uses modern science and technology to examine whether some of the ways in which superheroes have gained their powers can actually occur. Alex Langley (University of North Texas) assesses addictive behavior in gamers, comics lovers, and other pop culture fanatics. Thomas Sepe (Henderson State University) looks at the history of comic books being used as a venue to communicate political propaganda. Evan Moreno-Davis (University of California, San Diego) analyzes the implicit value system in hero narratives that valorize individual achievement as a force for good. Sabrina Starnaman (UCSD) draws on disability studies to see how the facial disfigurement of figures like the Joker, Two-Face, and Jonah Hex makes meaning beyond the stigmatized existence of the impairment. Carly Cate (Henderson State University) examines how story-driven characters such as Batman have been usurped by commercial creations like Hello Kitty. Ariel Schudson (UCLA) focuses on the Jon Favreau Iron Man film as a palimpsest for the adaptation and re-adaptation of the Iron Man mythos. Law professors Jamie Cooper and William Aceves (California Western School of Law) show how comics are being used in legal education.

Gender Poster Panel: Jillian Burcar (University of Southern California) argues that The Walking Dead series calls for the destruction of the old order by rethinking the ways America conceives of gender and sexuality. Diana Green (Minneapolis College of Art & Design) examines the sexual conundrum of Paul Chadwick's Concrete, who not only has an active and successful sex life and has birthed a child but remains an active heroic figure.

Batman Poster Panel: Tommy Cash (Henderson State University) asks why the Dark Knight needs a Boy Wonder and finds that the Dynamic Duo exemplify Aristotle's ideal of the "Friendship of Virtue." Geri Lawson (CSU-Long Beach) examines how The Dark Knight Returns subverted the dominant voices of 1980s patriotism and the normative rigidity of the superhero's sexualized body.

Romance Comics Poster Panel: Jarett Kobek (www.kobek.com) explores the effect of the counterculture on romance comics and the tendency of American commercial art to easily commodify even the least likely sources. Jacque Nodell (Super Human Resources) unearths the forgotten romance comics work of artists like Winslow Mortimer, Don Heck, and Jim Steranko who breathed life into the beautiful women that grace the pages of romance comics.

Room 30AB
Categories:  Comic Books | Comics Arts Conference

10:30-11:30 Comics Arts Conference Session #13: Cold War Comics— Casey Alt (Duke University) investigates how Black Superpower was embodied in the popular cultural icon of the Black Panther and how it interacted with existing Cold War narratives of national technoscientific superpower. Patrick Jagoda (Duke University) examines how visual depictions of networks in American comic books and graphic novels, from Justice League of America to The Invincible Iron Man, channel cultural anxieties that accompany the emerging metaphor of the planetary network. Room 30AB
Categories:  Comic Books | Comics Arts Conference | Superheroes

11:30-1:00 Comics Arts Conference Session #14: Changing Identity of the Superhero— Martin Pedler (University of Melbourne) examines the transformation faced by superheroes as they shift from the niche audience of their comic book adventures to broader mainstream acceptance. Kate McClancy (Duke University) argues that Miracleman and Planetary actively engage the medium's embarrassing Silver Age history of starfish monsters and alternate universes to allow their titles to be invigorated by that history. Jack Teiwes (University of Melbourne) outlines Alan Moore's body of work on the Superman concept and how Moore's use of homage and pastiche, including Supreme and Miracleman, creates a metacommentary about the history of the superhero genre. Room 30AB
Categories:  Comic Books | Comics Arts Conference | Superheroes

1:00-2:30 Comics Arts Conference Session #15: Comics in Museums— How do comics bridge the worlds of popular art on the stands and fine art on museum walls? Kim Munson (Munson Art Consulting) revisits the 1983 "Comic Art Show" at the Whitney. Michael Dooley (Art Center College of Design) covers two MOMA shows, the 1990 "High and Low" exhibit and the 2005 "Masters of American Comics," with emphasis on the works of Kurtzman and Spiegelman. Denis Kitchen (Underground Classics) discusses new trends in museum exhibitions and the just-concluded "Underground Classics" show at the Chazen Art Museum and other shows he has worked on. Room 30AB
Categories:  Cartooning and Comic Strips | Comic Books | Comic-Con Special Guest Spotlights & Appearances | Comics Arts Conference

2:30-3:30 Comics Arts Conference Session #16: The Culture of Popular Things: Ethnographic Examinations of Comic-Con 2009— TBMatthew J. Smith (Wittenberg University) moderates a panel of students (Colin Barlow, Jessica Brewer, Ben Bolling, and Brian Swafford) who present initial findings of a week-long field study of how culture is marketed to and practiced by fans at Comic-Con International. Time will be allotted for engaging the audience in a dialogue about their own experiences. Room 30AB
Categories:  Comic Books | Comics Arts Conference | Fandom | Movies | Television