The value of integrating comics in the classroom at all levels and in various subjects is now well-established and documented; a useful approach in comics-specific teaching is the making of comics themselves. Like film production, many of the facets of comics creation are intentionally invisible to the reader and challenging to get students to see-and even more challenging to get them to theorize. This panel of educators seeks to encourage teachers at all levels to enter this critical, theoretical space with their students by engaging the form itself, to help them better understand the language of the medium and to be stronger critical thinkers overall. Christina Angel (Metropolitan State University of Denver) and Hannah Means-Shannon (Comicon.com) will explore practical ways to make comics in the classroom. Susan Kirtley (Portland State University) moderates.
Friday March 29, 2019 1:00pm - 2:00pm PDT
Room 210
Rylend Grant (Action Lab's Aberrant and Banjax) presents a diverse panel of creators, all of whom have waged wildly successful Kickstarter campaigns to fund their comic book endeavors. Come learn exactly what it takes to raise the capital to make your comic dreams a reality!
Friday March 29, 2019 2:00pm - 3:00pm PDT
Room 207
Brenda Bran (CSU Dominguez Hills) uses intersectional theory to examine the [re]oppression of indigenous figures like Scrapps in Tom King's The Omega Men. Terri Fleming-Dright (CSU Dominguez Hills) argues that Joëlle Jones' Lady Killer, a third-wave feminist text, creates agency through contradiction to allow women to better understand and develop their own distinct identities, diversity, and feminism. Salvatore (Tory) Russo (CSU Dominguez Hills) examines the "chosen child concept" in Kyle Higgins' Power Rangers, asking how such children sacrifice their innocence to save the world-and what happens when they are no longer heroes and have to integrate back into mundane society. Jennifer Henriquez (CSU Dominguez Hills) examines the extraordinary social and racial burdens placed on minority "chosen children" in Monstress and Ms. Marvel.
Friday March 29, 2019 2:00pm - 3:30pm PDT
Room 210
Combining the learning benefits of visualization with the power of storytelling, high-quality graphic novels make STEM subjects more accessible and engaging for all students, particularly students who may not see themselves as scientists or engineers. Panelists will discuss how the comics medium is perfectly suited to breaking down complex information, improving recall and transfer of learning, and making STEM engaging and fun. Featuring creators Mairghread Scott (Science Comics: Robots and Drones, City on the Other Side) and Yehudi Mercado (Sci-Fu, Fun Fun Fun World), educators Derek Heid (9th and 11th grade English Language Arts, TVUSD), Isabel Morales (11th-12th grade Social Studies teacher, LAUSD), and Betsy Gomez (educational content developer), and moderator Tracy Edmunds (Graphic Novels Are Elementary).
Friday March 29, 2019 3:00pm - 4:00pm PDT
Room 207
Where did Kirby-Krackle come from? Thor? Galactus? Black Panther? Hulk? The Avengers? Perhaps in 1943 when a machine gun was staring at his face, and he was about to die, the only thing Jack Kurtzberg from the Bronx could do is Fire! Fire! Fire! until he and his men were once again safe and the humans in front of him were dead. Michael Royer and Barry Ira Geller will discuss the continuous stream of Jack Kirby's Gods who have been fighting evil to the death throughout Jack's career-as if Jack was still fighting WWII. How had all this led up to Jack Kirby working with Barry Ira Geller in 1979? They'll also talk about how the drawings they designed together for Geller's proposed film of Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light and the theme park Science Fiction Land became the basis for the real CIA Mission ARGO, which saved six Americans' lives!
Friday March 29, 2019 3:00pm - 4:00pm PDT
Room 209
This panel is a presentation of the MFA in Comics program at California College of the Arts, one of only two programs in the country that offers an accredited graduate degree in comics. As academic institutions are slowly creating entire departments and offering degrees devoted entirely to the study of comics and sequential art, this panel serves to highlight the inner workings and experiences of studying and producing comics at the graduate level from a variety of disciplines, including technical production, cultural studies, digital media, pedagogy, and professional practice. Current and former students Phillip Fleming (The Long Road to Revolution), Kellyn Borst (Dredkuld), Maia Kobabe (Gender Queer: A Memoir), Ashley R. Guillory (California College of the Arts), Shuchita Mishra (California College of the Arts), Dustin Garcia (California College of the Arts), and Eric Wong (Kentucky Killzone) will present on their individual thesis projects, and faculty Allen Passalaqua (Battlepug) and John Jennings (Kindred) will speak on the courses they teach in the program.
Friday March 29, 2019 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT
Room 210
David Rosing (JPL Mars Sample Return system engineer), Shonte J. Tucker (JPL system group supervisor), Kobie Boykins (JPL mechatronics engineer), and Rhonda M. Morgan (JPL technologist, NASA HabEx concept) discuss how we go boldly where there's no one around to fix it. Hear stories from the trenches of the heartbreaks, close calls, and adventures of real-life solar system exploration. Q&A session following.
Friday March 29, 2019 5:00pm - 6:00pm PDT
Room 207
Come see this panel of experts in the educational role-playing field in an audience-driven demonstration! They'll give you an overview of role-playing and games used for learning, then demonstrate and deconstruct the process by running a simple sample game with the audience as participants (voluntary). Learn about the educational benefits and how to design and run role-play exercises and games in different learning environments like classrooms, homeschools, and adult education. Featuring Shawn Crosby (NASA immersive education lecturer), Emily Nguyen-Hoai (social media coordinator, The Game Academy), Ndindi Kitonga and Scott Stubbe (co-founders of Angeles Workshop School), Noah Sutton-Smolin (engineer), and Aaron Vanek (board of directors secretary, The Game Academy).
Friday March 29, 2019 8:00pm - 9:00pm PDT
Room 211
N. Scott Robinson (San Diego Mesa College) explores fluid transnational representations of American superheroes in comics published in Egypt, India, Indonesia, Japan, Lebanon, Norway, and the United Arab Emirates. James Thompson (Duke University, Comic Book Historians group) looks at how Dracula comics, as imported transnational texts, allow for/demand a reading that can be traced back to Dorfman and Mattelart's How to Read Donald Duck: Imperialist Ideology in the Disney Comic and its examination of dominance and passivity in cultural exchange. Sydney Heifler (The University of Oxford) explains how the 1950s romance comics in the UK shed new light on changing perceptions of female and male identity in British post-war society.
Saturday March 30, 2019 10:30am - 12:00pm PDT
Room 210
Haniyeh Barahouie (University of Virginia) examines how Posy Simmonds' 1999 graphic novel Gemma Bovery destabilizes/redefines the identity of Flaubert's heroine by situating Emma Bovary as still present in modern life. Katelyn McGirr (Carleton University) uses a graphic adaptation of the nineteenth-century diary of British woman Fanny Duberly as a case study to explore historical representation of Victorian gender and class relations. Stephen Connor (Nipissing University) reveal the ways in which Punisher comics reinforce and challenge evolving perceptions about the war in Vietnam and its aftermath.
Saturday March 30, 2019 12:00pm - 1:30pm PDT
Room 210
Creators David Baron (Stained) and Brian Stelfreeze (Matador) are joined by comics librarian Dan Wood (youth librarian, Escondido Public Library), comics retailer Rachel Parker (SoCal Games & Comics), and Morgan Perry (BOOM! Studios) to share their unique perspectives on how comics transform lives. Moderator Moni Barrette (adult librarian, Escondido Public Library) will lead a Q&A session between panelists and comic enthusiasts.
Saturday March 30, 2019 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT
Room 208
Travis Langley (Batman and Psychology: A Dark and Stormy Knight; The Joker Psychology: Evil Clowns and the Women Who Love Them) conducts a forensic investigation fitting together the three overlapping yet different accounts Jerry Robinson, Bill Finger, and Bob Kane gave regarding how they created the Clown Prince of Crime. Amy DeSuza-Riehm (California State University, Long Beach) takes a look at Jessica Jones, Harley Quinn, Wonder Woman, the role of trauma in superhero origins, and the psychology of Heroes in Crisis. Kyle A. Hammonds (University of Oklahoma) and Garrett Hammonds (American Choral Directors Association) use "The Anatomy Lesson" to show how Alan Moore's seminal run on Saga of the Swamp Thing reflects broad cultural issues which Moore uniquely addressed in the context of horror.
Saturday March 30, 2019 1:30pm - 3:00pm PDT
Room 210
From the medium's earliest days, women have taken to the comics form to communicate their messages to the world. Betsy Gomez (CBLDF Presents: She Changed Comics) will take attendees on an image-filled march through more than a century of comics activism, revealing how women used comics to address gender inequality, women's rights, and more!
Saturday March 30, 2019 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT
Room 208
The Internet is the planetary-scale nervous system for our species, and these days it consists of four giant sites filled with screenshots from the other three. The lesson of this moment in late-stage capitalism isn't that Facebook has figured out how to build a mind-control ray: Rather, it's that they've figured out how to scale up the paltry sums they extract from your personal life into piles so big, they add up to billions. WonderCon special guest Cory Doctorow shows us that fixing technology isn't a matter of paying for things instead of seeing ads: It's all about seizing the means of information and controlling your tech, rather than being controlled by it.
Saturday March 30, 2019 4:00pm - 5:00pm PDT
Room 211
Back by popular demand, this team of actors, TV writers, and psychologists discuss the psychology of beloved TV shows, such as Supernatural, The Punisher, Doctor Who, Arrow, Cloak and Dagger, and many others. Psychologists Dr. Janina Scarlet (Harry Potter Therapy; Dark Agents) and Dr. Billy San Juan (Doctor Who Psychology), builder and actor Tamara Robertson (MythBusters), TV writers Christine Boylan (The Punisher; Cloak and Dagger) and Deric Hughes (Arrow; Flash), and NYT bestselling authors Jonathan Maberry (V-Wars) and Alan Kistler (Doctor Who: A History) will be discussing these TV shows and more. Dustin McGinnis (Superhero Therapy podcast; Brothers McGinnis Music) moderates.
Saturday March 30, 2019 6:30pm - 7:30pm PDT
Room 300D
Ever wondered which Star Wars tech could one day be a reality? Curious whether NASA would rather take C-3P0 or R2-D2 into space? Maybe you're still baffled by the Falcon making the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs (even if they did round down)? Expert panelists Farah Alibay (systems engineer, NASA-JPL), Kieran Dickson (editor, CometTV.com, MGM Studios), Emily Manor Chapman (mission planner, NASA-JPL), Fon Davis (Star Wars production designer), Travis Langley (editor, Star Wars Psychology), Eliot Sirota (VFX expert), and host Jenna Busch (creator, Legion of Leia) act as your Bor Gullet into the mind of Star Wars creators and break down the science behind a galaxy far, far away. Q&As and giveaways will follow.
Saturday March 30, 2019 7:00pm - 8:00pm PDT
Room 300B
Are you a die-hard Harry Potter fan? If so, join mental health professionals Dr. Janina Scarlet (Harry Potter Therapy; Dark Agents) and Travis Adams (Supernatural Psychology), as well as director Justin Zagri (Snape and the Marauders), Mick Ignis (Snape and the Marauders; Stan Against Evil), and SYFY Harry Potter correspondent Katie Aiani for an interactive discussion of the psychology of Harry Potter and the Fantastic Beasts films. Dustin McGinnis (Superhero Therapy Podcast; Brothers McGinnis Music) moderates. Room 300D
Saturday March 30, 2019 7:30pm - 8:30pm PDT
Room 300D
As the business of video games now surpasses the annual revenues of both film and music combined, public interest in pursuing a career in the game industry has staggeringly increased in recent years. This has spawned a wide variety of educational and vocational options for individuals to pursue game development, but how exactly does one get the knowledge they need and then find a job in this very competitive industry? Learn from veteran game industry professionals about what it takes to launch a game development career and how there are many paths into the industry.
Sunday March 31, 2019 10:00am - 11:00am PDT
Room 207
How does a comics scholar win a Will Eisner Comic Industry Award? Step one, study comics. Step three, win an Eisner. To figure out step two, join WonderCon special guest Damian Duffy to discuss academic comics, the art books Black Comix and Black Comix Returns, his Eisner Award-winning collaboration with John Jennings in adapting Octavia Butler's masterpiece Kindred, and their forthcoming adaptation of Butler's Parable of the Sower. Travis Langley (Black Panther Psychology: Hidden Kingdoms) moderates.
Sunday March 31, 2019 11:30am - 12:30pm PDT
Room 210
The First Amendment guarantees the right to free speech, but in educational settings, those rights can be hard to understand and defend. CBLDF and a panel of experts will hold a discussion of First Amendment rights for teachers and students and real-world tips for defending those rights. Moderated by Betsy Gomez (Banned Books Week Coordinator).
Sunday March 31, 2019 12:00pm - 1:00pm PDT
Room 211
Hollywood regularly uses comic books to create the next summer blockbuster or hit television series. However, numerous video games have inspired their own comic book stories that provide insight into character backgrounds, narratives, and lore. This panel will discuss three well-known video games that use comic series to expand on their universes and to provide alternative perspectives. Daisy R. Herrera (California State University, Los Angeles) looks at how the comic series Assassin's Creed Uprising expands on the story of the mysterious antagonist, Juno. Jovi H. Hinojosa (California State University, Los Angeles) investigates Borderlands: Origins, a series that focuses on the protagonists of the video game of the same title and the specific events that send them on their journey throughout Pandora. Stephanie Herrera (Glendale Community College) shows how the comic series Bloodborne captures a different perspective into the critically acclaimed video game universe.
Sunday March 31, 2019 12:30pm - 2:00pm PDT
Room 210
2019 marks the 80th anniversary of Batman's debut in Detective Comics #27 and will see the premiere of The Joker motion picture. The grim, brooding hero who looks like a monster found his arch-nemesis in the bright, laughing monster who looks like a clown. What is it about these two characters that has kept them locked in relentless conflict through literally hundreds of stories? And why do people (not just Harley Quinn) love that killer clown? Join Dr. Travis Langley (Batman and Psychology: A Dark and Stormy Knight; Daredevil Psychology: The Devil You Know) and his panel of experts as they try to answer the killing joke.
Sunday March 31, 2019 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT
Room 300D
Victoria Minnich (Fishnik.Net!) shows how comics can depict the complexity of marine human-environmental problems that could not otherwise be captured or expressed by the languages of science or the written word alone. Tim Posada (Saddleback College) argues that the superhero film genre's visual and narrative excess (depictions of the "uncanny," narrative oddities specific to comics panels) makes these movies function more like comics. Meshell Sturgis (University of Washington) examines how autobiographical comics-as they appear in the music videos of Dreezy, Yemmy Alade, and Little Simz-reflect Black feminist means of performative resistance through the dual properties of comics panels as simultaneously closed and open narratives. Devon Keyes (Virginia Tech) argues that Jason Aaron's Doctor Strange repurposes the in-panel negative space to complicate the foreground, and that a reading of such a negotiation parallels the negotiation of physical space between the normal and mystical realms that Doctor Strange oversees and protects.
Sunday March 31, 2019 2:00pm - 3:30pm PDT
Room 210
Creator Scott Snyder (Batman, WYTCHES) is joined by comics librarians, educators, and fellow graphic novel enthusiasts for fandom conversations over coffee. Topics will range from how graphic novels are used in education today, how diversity is spreading in the comics community, and information about the new Graphic Novels & Comics Round Table of the American Library Association.
Sunday March 31, 2019 4:00pm - 5:00pm PDT
Room 204C
Potions class is in session! Is there some truth behind the enchanted elixirs and demonic deterrents in fantastical fare like Harry Potter, The Magicians, and Sabrina? Naturopathic doctor DeJarra Sims will walk you through nature's real-life tinctures for healing, sleeping, wit-sharpening, and love and also explain the science behind their effects. Moderated by Fast Company's Susan Karlin.
Sunday March 31, 2019 4:00pm - 5:00pm PDT
Room 207
