Click HERE for the 2024 Call for Proposals!
FRIDAY, 9/1
Title: Nature, Ecology, and Comics
Description: Comics scholars explore depictions of nature, ecology, and environmental activism in comics, including the ecohorror themes of recent YA Poison Ivy and Swamp Thing.
Talk title:
“Envisioning Monstrous Activism in Ecohorror Comics” by Brianna Anderson (Georgia Institute of Technology)
Panelists: Brianna Anderson (Georgia Institute of Technology)
Moderator: Matthew J. Brown (Southern Illinois University)
Time: Fri 08:30 pm
Location: Westin Chastain I-J (Length: 1 Hour)
SATURDAY, 9/2
Title: Comics in the College Classroom
Description: Comics scholars and college faculty explore uses of comics in the college classroom, from teaching writing to philosophy to medieval literature.
Talk Titles:
Dreaming of Inclusive Spaces: Using Comics for Undergraduate College Readers and Writers by Matthew Guzman and Buck Weiss (Chattanooga State Community College)
Comics in the College Philosophy Classroom by Matthew J Brown (Southern Illinois University)
Artists vs. Academics: The Battle for Beowulf by Richard Scott Nokes (Troy University)
Panelists: Matthew Guzman and Buck Weiss (Chattanooga State Community College); Matthew J Brown (Southern Illinois University) [attending pro]; Richard Scott Nokes (Troy University)
Moderator: Jillian Browning (University of Alabama, Birmingham)
Time: Sat 11:30 am
Location: Westin Chastain I-J (Length: 1 Hour)
Title: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: The Gloom, the Doom, and the Reworking of Loss
Description: An analysis of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and how it provides a look at the grief and loss process from the perspective of a community that has experienced a major loss together.
Panelists: Jillian Browning (University of Alabama, Birmingham) and Tasha Cherry, PhD, LMHC (The Healing Body Method)
Moderator: Erin Gordon (Art Institute of Chicago)
Time: Sat 04:00 pm
Location: Marriott M301 (Length: 1 Hour)
Title: Gender, Sexuality, and Identity in Comics
Description: Comics scholars explore issues of gender, sexuality, and identity in comics from Golden Age Wonder Woman to Elfquest.
Talk Titles:
“Everyone Knows It Turns Ya Poly-Queer: Sexuality and Gender Identity and Express in Elfquest” by Don Unger (University of Mississippi)
“The Two Wonder Womans: Gender subversion and audience in the early Marston/Peter comic books and newspaper strips, 1941-1945” by Natalie Beglin (Indiana University, Bloomington)
“Not Your Female Sidekick: Empowered Female Superheroes, Their Mentors, and Their Sidekicks” by Margaret Robbins (The Mount Vernon School)
Panelists: Don Unger (University of Mississippi); Natalie Beglin (Indiana University, Bloomington); Margaret Robbins (The Mount Vernon School)
Moderator: Erin Gordon (Art Institute of Chicago)
Time: Sat 10:00 pm
Location: Westin Chastain I-J (Length: 1 Hour)
SUNDAY, 9/3
Title: History, Violence, and Philosophy in Video Games
Description: Scholars explore issues within video gaming, from mass violence to simulated war strategies, and the pedagogical opportunities offered by video games.
Talk Titles:
‘And then the humans slaughtered them.’ Mass Violence, Race, and High Fantasy Video Games by Anca Glont (University of Dayton)
“Simulating Clean Wars:” The Civil War and Second World War in Grand Strategy Video Games by James Frusetta (Hampden-Sydney College)*
Panelists: Anca Glont (University of Dayton), James Frusetta (Hampden-Sydney College)
Moderator: Richard Scott Nokes (Troy University)
Time: Sun 10:00am
Location: Westin Augusta A-B (Length: 1 Hour)
Title: Representing Race
Description: Comics scholars explore problematic issues of racial representation in comics from superheroes to Belgian bande dessinée. Topics include: It’s Not All Black and White (Diverse vs. Non-diverse Marvel and DC Comics) and Taking Aim at the Racism of Lucky Luke.
Talk Titles:
“It’s Not All Black and White: A Text Analysis of Diverse versus Non-Diverse Marvel and DC Comics” by Neil Granitz and Steven Chen (California State University, Fullerton)
“Taking Aim At The Racism of Lucky Luke: An Analysis of Black Characters In The Popular Comic Series” by Marion Duval (The College of Wooster)
Panelists: Neil Granitz and Steven Chen (California State University, Fullerton); Marion Duval (The College of Wooster)
Moderator: Jillian Browning (University of Alabama, Birmingham)
Time: Sun 11:30 am
Location: Westin Chastain I-J (Length: 1 Hour)
Title: Starstruck and Transmedia Storytelling
Description: Many comics exist not just as stories told within the confines of printed comic books, but as narratives that exist within a much wider web of transmedia storytelling. Transmedia storytelling differs from straightforward adaptation in that instead of each story in a new medium being a retelling of a previous one, stories build upon each other to expand a fictional world as opposed to continually re-interpret it.
The transmedia franchise Starstruck provides one such example of transmedia storytelling, one which reveals the radical possibilities of telling a continuous story across different media.
Talk Titles:
“‘The Fate of the Free Multiverse – In Your Hands!’ Starstruck and Transmedia Storytelling” by Spencer Chalifour (Georgia Institute of Technology)
Panelists: Spencer Chalifour (Georgia Institute of Technology)
Moderator: Matthew J. Brown (Southern Illinois University)
Time: Sun 7:00pm
Location: Hyatt Marrietta (Length: 1 hour)
MONDAY, 9/4
Title: Intersectional Approaches to Adaptation and Remediation
Description: Professors from Spelman College, the nation’s foremost historically Black college, facilitate a conversation about the promises and challenges of “diversifying” popular cultural forms using works like The Vampire Diaries, Lovecraft Country, Kindred, and Ms. Marvel. Panelists will be analyzing traditional literature, graphic novels, film and television to interrogate the capacity of popular media to respond to the ongoing afterlives of world historical events.
Panelists: Deanna Koretsky, Rebecca Kumar, R. Nicole Smith and Cocoa Williams (Spelman College)
Moderator: Jillian Browning (University of Alabama, Birmingham)
Time: Mon 01:00 pm
Location: Hyatt Hanover A-B (Length: 1 Hour)
The Comics and Popular Arts Conference (CPAC) is an annual academic conference for the studies of comics and the popular arts, including science/speculative fiction and fantasy literature, film, and other media, comic books, manga, graphic novels, anime, gaming, etc. CPAC presentations are peer reviewed, based in scholarly research.
CPAC Coordinating Board:
- Kari Neely (Middle Tennessee State University) – Coordinator and Program Chair
- Johnathan Flowers (California State University, Northridge) – Co-coordinator
- Matthew J. Brown (Southern Illinois University Carbondale) – Founder, Program Co-Chair
- Richard Scott Nokes (Troy University), Program Co-Chair
- Daniel Amrhein (Independent Scholar)
- Jillian Marie Browning (University of Alabama, Birmingham)
- Erin Gordon (Art Institute of Chicago)
CPAC takes place at DragonCon each year thanks to the generosity of the DragonCon track heads and other organizers. CPAC is not affiliated with the DragonCon organization. CPAC is an all-volunteer group aimed at bringing peer-reviewed academic content to DragonCon. It is supported by the Center for Values in Medicine, Science, and Technology at the University of Texas at Dallas. We hope you enjoy our programming! Please ask us how to get involved.