What part has genre played in the rise of comics and comics-related TV and film? We all know that different types of stories exist, from superhero tales to horror, science fiction, mysteries, and more, but at what point do those categories help stories reach fans and at what point do they become limiting? Was Watchmen just a superhero story? What about Captain America: Civil War, or Netflix superhero shows like Luke Cage,Jessica Jones, and Daredevil that embrace wide-ranging social issues, gender issues, and much more? Christina Angel (Metropolitan State University of Denver), Hannah Means-Shannon (Neil Gaiman: The Early Years), and Ilan Mitchell-Smith (California State University, Long Beach) discuss the fan-embracing role that genres have played in the history and development of comics, and the ways in which assumptions about genre limitations may still stand in the way of comics and comics-based storytelling reaching their full potential.
Saturday April 1, 2017 10:30am - 11:30am PDT
Room 210
CAC special guest Genevieve Valentine (Catwoman), author of the novels Mecahnique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti and Persona, writer of Batman and Robin Eternal and Xena, and winner of the Crawford Award, presents a talk: "'The Empire of a Wicked Woman': Catwoman, Comics, and the History of Power." Catwoman has been a lot of things in the last 75 years: thief, hero, crime lord, community advocate. But Selina Kyle isn't just Gotham's first moral gray area; she's part of a long tradition of women in power, both on the page and off-and there are some surprising parallels in how their stories are told. Valentine explores some elements of those narratives amid Catwoman's various incarnations, parallels, triumphs, and absences.
Saturday April 1, 2017 11:30am - 12:30pm PDT
Room 210
Just in time for the heated and hated 2016 presidential election, Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine De Landro's Bitch Planet released its 9th issue, appropriately emblazoned with "VOTE" and "President Bitch." In this panel, Tara Prescott (University of California, Los Angeles), David Hall (Old Dominion University), Philip Smith (College of the Bahamas), and Maite Urcaregui (University of California, Santa Barbara), contributors to the upcoming collection Gender and the Superhero Narrative, will examine the role of gender in the superhero narrative, starting a discussion for the audience to delve into the larger issues of comics in a post-Trump America and beyond.
Saturday April 1, 2017 12:30pm - 1:30pm PDT
Room 210
Andrew Barton (Texas State University) discusses how Vision offers a unique insight into the position of The Other through the story of the Avenger android's attempt to fit into a small community in his own ideal America. Karma Waltonen (University of California Davis) explores Kill Shakespeare's representation of the intersections of female villainy with sex, gender, and sexuality. Michael Lee Gonzales (Texas State University) explores how the transition from animation to comics of KaBOOM! Studios' Steven Universe allow for the exploration of queer spatiality/temporality and pleasure not possible in the animated version.
Saturday April 1, 2017 1:30pm - 3:00pm PDT
Room 210