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Note: All panels take place in Salon H of the Philadelphia Marriott;
Last speaker in each panel will serve as Panel Chair;
Numbers in parentheses--e.g. (217)--are the PCA Event Numbers in the program

Wednesday, 11 April
5:00-6:30 p.m.: From Shakespeare to American Mainstream Comics (17)

“100 Bullets, Butcher Knight, New Gods and Wonder Woman? Case Studies of Race, Gender and the Practicalities of Creating Comic Book.” Stanford Carpenter, Research Associate at Friends Research Institute

“A Postmodern Prometheus: Tony Stark and the Iron Frankenstein.” Nicole Freim, English, U. of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

CANCELLED: “Superman: The Last American Hero.”  Pete Coogan, English Department, Webster University

"'Nor More Yielding Than a Dream': The Construction of Shakespeare in the Sandman Comics."  Annalisa Castaldo, Temple U.

CANCELLED: “Supercrip: Disability and the Superhero.”  José Alaniz, U of California, Berkeley

Thursday, 12 April
8:30-10:00 a.m.: Maus and Holocaust Narrative (47)

“Playing with Maus: Deconstructing Narrative Voices in Art Spiegelman’s Graphic Novel.”  Anne Stipo Nicol, University of Alabama at Birmingham

“Framing the Holocaust: Transmitting History and Transferring Trauma in Art Spiegelman’s Maus.” Elisabeth Friedman, Department of Rhetoric, University of California at Berkeley

“The Holocaust in Comics.” Christopher Sharrett, Communication, Seton Hall University

10:30-Noon: Mutating Identities: The X-Men on Film, on the Web, and in the Toy Store (80)

“Anger and Assimilation: Identity Politics, Queer Theory, and the X-Men.” Jonathan Alexander, University of Cincinnati--University College, Language Arts Department

“The Incredible Shrinking X-Women: Characterization in Media Exchange.” Julie Ratliff, Southern Illinois University--Carbondale

ADDED: "'Wham! Bam! The X-Men are Here!': The British Press, the Film and the Comic."  Mel Gibson, Tyne & Wear, Great Britain

“Storm’s Hair Sucks!!!”: Fan Culture and the Making of X-Men: The Movie.” Rebecca Sutherland Borah, University of Cincinnati--University College, Language Arts Department

2:30-4:00 p.m.: Serial Storytelling, Production, and Publication (117)

“Flash Gordon: The Fifties Version by Mac Raboy.” Albert Wendland, English, Seton Hill College

“Innovation in American Mainstream Comics.”  Alvise Mattozzi, University of Bologna, Italy

“The Comics of Chris Ware as Visual Literature.”  Gene Kannenberg, Jr., English, University of Connecticut

“The Gentrification of Life in Hell: The Rise and Fall of Oppositional Satire in Alternative Weekly Comics from 1985 to 2000.”  Kerry Soper, Dept. of Humanities, Classics and Comp. Lit., Brigham Young University

6:00-7:00 p.m.: Area Meeting (124B)

Moderator: Gene Kannenberg, Jr., U Connecticut, English.  Please join us for the presentation of the "M. Thomas Inge Award for Comics Scholarship" as well as for discussion of Area business.

Friday, 13 April
8:30-10:00 a.m.: Social and Political Examinations from Several Countries (151)

CANCELLED: “Political and Theoretical Implications of Non-Western Comic Arts.”  Janet Hess, Department of Art History, University of California Santa Cruz

“Brazilian Pornographic Comics: A View on the Eroticism of a Latin American Culture.” Waldomiro C. S. Verguiero, Sao Paulo, Brasil

“Escobar: A Critical Resistance to Francoism through Comics.” Ana Merino, Hispanic Language and Literature Department, University of Pittsburgh

“Moral Entrepreneurs and Industry Regulation: An Institutional Analysis of the Comic Book Industry in United States: 1938-1970.”  Joan Weston,  History and Society Division, Babson College

12:30-2:00 p.m.: Group Representation in Comics (217)

“Victims, Villains, and Victors:  Construction of Children and Teenagers in American Superhero Comic Narratives.”  Anne Edwards, England

“The Image of Blacks in Underground Commix; New Liberal Agenda or Same Racist Stereotypes?”  William H. Foster III, Arts and Humanities, Naugatuck Valley Community College

“Reflections on Social Inequality American Society: Social Structure, Identity Politics, and The Uncanny X-Men.”  Kelley Hall, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, DePauw University

“The Humor of the Old Southwest and the Comics.”  Paul P. Somers, Jr., Department of American Thought and Language, Michigan State University

2:30-4:00 p.m.: Representing/Reflecting Culture (250)

CANCELLED: “A Feminist’s Bird’s Eye View of the Black Canary.”  Kathleen A. Daye, Women’s Studies, Roosevelt University

“Garth Ennis’ ‘Shoot’ and Media Passivity.”  Thomas Alan Holmes, P. O. Box 70610 ETSU

"The World Ozymandias Made: Utopias in the Superhero Comic."  Matthew Wolf-Meyer, American Cultural Studies, Bowling Green State U

“It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's a Journalist: An Analysis of Superman's Day Job.”  Amy Kiste Nyberg, Dept. of Communication, Seton Hall University

4:30-6:00 p.m.: A Tribute to M. Thomas Inge (283)

Organizer: Kathy Merlock Jackson, Communication, Virginia Wesleyan College

"On the Way to Comics Scholarship:  A Long, But Bumpy and Unfinished, Road."  John Lent, Temple U

"From Comics as Culture to Comics Culture."  Joseph (Rusty) Witek, English, Stetson U

"M. Thomas Inge: Inspiration for the Next Generation of Comics Scholars." Amy Kiste Nyberg, Dept. of Communication, Seton Hall University

Saturday, 14 April
8:30-10:00 a.m.: Reinventing or Revisiting?: Examining Contemporary Comics (327)

“Postmodern X: Teaching Earth X and Post-Marvel Theory.” Donald Snyder, Department of American Studies, University of Maryland, College Park

“Kingdom Code.”  A. David Lewis, Department of English, Georgetown University

“Animal Man as a Postmodern Hero: Redefining the Boundaries of a Genre.” Brett Bossard, Popular Culture Department, Bowling Green State University

“Deconstructing ‘Reconstruction’: Challenging the Discourse of Contemporary Comics.” Marc Singer, Department of English, University of Maryland--College Park

10:30 a.m.-Noon: Creating Comic Books (360)

“Lee and Kirby Revisited: Toward a Superhero Aesthetic.”  Dan C. Shoemaker, American Studies, U. of New Mexico

“Same as it Never Was: Nostalgia in Contemporary Comics.”  Charles Hatfield, English, University of Connecticut

"Bitter, Unattractive, and American: Robert Crumb's Autobiographical Comics."  Edward A. Shannon, School of Amerian & International Studies, Ramapo College

“Half an Art: The Practice of Comic Book Writing.”  Randy Duncan, Communication and Theatre Arts, Henderson State
University

2:30-4:00 p.m.: European Comics: Context and Influences (426)

“The Rhetoric of Parody in Claire Bretécher’s Le destin de Monique.”  Nhu-Hoa Nguyen, Université du Québec à Montréal

“Different Drafts of ‘a Future Horizon’ - Weird Science versus Nick der Weltraumfahrer.”  Ole Frahm, Arbeitsstelle fuer Graphische Literatur,
Universitaet Hamburg

“Fantasy Voyages, Fairy Spells, Psychedelic Trips, and Nightmare Voyages: Interludes in European Comics.”  Ellen Vartanoff, Rockville, MD

“Construction of a ‘Female Hero’: Iconography in Les aventures extraordinaires d’Adèle Blanc-Sec.”  K.A. Laity, Medieval Studies, University of Connecticut

4:30-6:00 p.m.: Comics Research and Academic Careers--A Roundtable Discussion (459)

Mark C. Rogers, Division of Communication and Fine Arts, Walsh University (organizer)

Charles Hatfield, English, University of Connecticut

Amy Kiste Nyberg, Dept. of Communication, Seton Hall University

Joseph Witek, English, Stetson University

Studying comics can present a number of obstacles for scholars pursuing an academic career.  Comics research often contains an interdisciplinary component, and lacks a departmental home at many universities. Scholars often have to explain the nature of their work, and negotiate a path that lets them pursue their work while fitting into a more traditional academic framework. The panelists, all of whom make comics their primary area of research, will briefly discuss strategies for dealing with the job market, tenure and promotion, publishing, and other issues.

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