Bids

Ryan Bidlack, through his ‘alter ego’, Bids, is the creator of “The Window” comic strip, a comic strip that appears literally on the storefront-like windows of his apartment in downtown Lafayette, IN. Ryan has a BS and an MBA from Purdue University, yet no artistic training whatsoever. Simply providing a creative outlet, “The Window” started with its first comic on March 17, 2009 and has refreshed roughly every week since then. Since its inception, “The Window” and its main characters, Sam and Maze, have garnered enough attention to warrant the formation of Bids Art, LLC, a small company with intent to merchandise the comic and raise money for animal shelters and other animal-related causes. Bids has followed up on his desire to be creative with a website, a blog (through the character Reece The Meece) and several other ideas still in the works. When Bids is not doodling on his windows, he’s out enjoying a plethora of other interests from golf, to football, to recently, parkour, or the theater, the orchestra or even a NASCAR race.

Troy Hickman

Troy Hickman is a comic book creator from Indiana. His series Common Grounds received Eisner Award nominations for Best Anthology and Best Short Story. He has also written for Witchblade and City of Heroes, among other titles.

Scott and Benita Story

Scott and Benita Story are the creators of Johnny Saturn, which appears in both web and print forms.

Scott Story
Scott Story is a freelance illustrator who lives in the Midwestern USA. He has been involved in the comic industry for over a decade and a half, and has drawn comics for numerous publishers, including Image, Amp, Arrow, Digital Webbing, Spinner Rack Comics, and many others. As a cartoonist, Scott co-writes, pencils, inks, colors, and occasionally letters.

Benita Story
Benita Story is co-creator and co-writer for “Johnny Saturn.” She also edits the series and letters it. Much of the characterization and character development is because of Benita.

Onsmith

Onsmith is a cartoonist and illustrator living in Chicago. His comics, prints, and illustrations have appeared in The Chicago Reader, The Portland Mercury, The Common Review, Oxford American Magazine, Hotwire Comics (Fantagraphics Books), Vice Magazine, Graphics Classics, both volumes of Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons & True Stories, and may also be viewed at http://www.onsmithcomics.blogspot.com. He recently began exhibiting in galleries as well as curating a show of comics.

Schedule v3.0 (August 31)

Purdue University’s Comparative Literature Program presents the Graphic Engagement: The Politics of Comics and Animation
West Lafayette, IN, September 2-4, 2010

The Comparative Literature Program and the conference organizers wish to thank the following Purdue University offices for their generous support:
The College of Liberal Arts
The Graduate School
The Department of English
The Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures
The African American Studies and Research Program
The American Studies Program
The Asian Studies Program
The Film/Video Studies Program
The Jewish Studies Program
Modern Fiction Studies

PROGRAM 8/31/10

Quick links:
Thursday
Friday
Saturday

CONFERENCE PROGRAM
(8/31/10)

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2

Registration begins at 8:00 am (Stewart, East Foyer)

Book exhibit opens at 9:00 am (Stewart 213)

Refreshments served mornings and afternoons (Stewart 204)

8:45-9:00
Welcome & Opening Comments (Stewart 214 A/B)

9:00-10:20

Session 1-A – Graphically Visualizing 9/11 (Stewart 214 A/B)

Chair: Christopher Gonzalez, The Ohio State University

1. “9/11 Comic Books and Graphic Novels: Multiple Mediums to Represent Trauma” – Amanda Doran, Drew University
2. “The Non-Universality of Form: Challenging and Reinscribing Cultural Images of War and Terrorism in Bosnian Flat Dog, Safe Area Gorazde, The 9/11 Report, and In the Shadow of No Towers” – Michele Hardesty, Hampshire College
3. “The Ineluctable Modality of 9/11: Wilfred Santiago’s In My Darkest Hour
and Narrative Empathy” – Christopher Gonzalez, The Ohio State University

Session 1-B – Superhero Narratives and the Configuration of Power (Stewart 214 C/D)

Chair: Dharmini Patel, Purdue University

1. “Ultimate Supreme Stars of Power: The Oligarchy in the Superhero Text” – Gary Gravely, Middle Tennessee State University
2. “The Transience of Batman and the Corrosion of the American Dream” – Jill Johnson, Liberty University
3. “The Post-Super Hero: Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing and Binary Transgression” – Daniel Anderson, Case Western Reserve University

10:30-12:30

Session 2-A – Race, Ideology, and African American Comics (Stewart 214 A/B)

Chair: Terrance Youngblood, Purdue University

1. “Not Getting Hanged ‘Til Thursday: Resisting the Status Quo in 1920s Black Comic Strips” – Sylvia Marques, Michigan State University
2. “Black History in Black and White: Still I Rise and the Graphic Construction of a Politicized Memory” – Adam Coombs, University of Tennessee
3. “Obama in Four Colors: Comic Representations of the USA’s Heroic President” – Jonathan Gray, John Jay College/CUNY
4. “Making a Ruckus: The Boondocks as Folklore and Ideology” – Terrance Youngblood, Purdue University

Session 2-B – Film Screening – Ratatouille (Stewart 202)

12:30-1:50
Lunch & Welcoming Reception (Union, West Faculty Lounge)

2:00-4:00

Session 3-A – Comics, Politics, and Faith (Stewart 214 A/B)

Chair: S.C. Gooch, Purdue University

1. “V for Vendetta and the Golden Mean: Government between Two Extremes” – Candyce Sweet, University of Memphis
2. “Marvel & Monotheism: Representations of the ‘Judeo-Christian’ Deity in the Marvel & DC Universes and Its Discontents” – Michael Moss, Case Western Reserve University
3. “Citizen Rex: ‘In for the cool science to be exploited for cash’” – S.C. Gooch, Purdue University

Session 3-B – Film Screening – Song of the South (Stewart 202)

4:00-5:20

Session 4-A – The Politics of Disney (Stewart A/B)

Chair: M. Thomas Inge, Randolph-Macon College

1. “A great artist can come from anywhere”: Globalization in Disney/Pixar Cinema” – Walter C. Metz, Southern Illinois University
2. “From Snow White to Lady and the Tramp: What Walt Disney Does for the Animal Rights Movement” – Robin Murray, Eastern Illinois University & Joseph Heumann, Eastern Illinois University
3. “Walt Disney’s Song of the South and the Politics of Animation” – M. Thomas Inge, Randolph-Macon College

Session 4-B – Manga and the Exploration of East/West Identity (Stewart 214 C/D)

Chair: Paul Rutz, Purdue University

1. “The Problem of Manga Theories as Theories of Japanese Identity” – Nicholas A. Theisen, University of Michigan
2. “Breaking Barriers: Moving Beyond Orientalism in Comics Studies” – Leah Misemer, University of Wisconsin-Madison

5:30-6:50

Session 5-A – Comic Feminism(s) and Drawing the Body (Stewart 214 A/B)

Chair: Tof Eklund, Full Sail University

1. “The Carnivalesque Cartoonist: Strategies of Subversion in the Comics of Julie Doucet” – Frederik Byrn Kohlert, Université de Montréal
2. “Rendering the ‘Other’ Visible in Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home” – Rachel Stonebrook, The Ohio State University
3. “Visionary Bodies: New Worlds in Queer Women’s Comics” – Tof Eklund, Full Sail University

Session 5-B – Illustrating War and Trauma (Stewart 214 C/D)

Chair: Peter Sinnott, Purdue University

1. “Forced Behind the Mask: Results of Punishment, Alienation, and Commercialization in Art Spiegelman’s Maus and Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta” – Jennifer L. Lozier, University of Toledo
2. “Graphic Representations of War” – Cara Takakjian, Harvard University
3. “The Liberal Imagination Unlimited: Joe Sacco’s The Fixer: A Story from Sarajevo” – Daniel Morris, Purdue University

Dinner on your own

8:30 – Screening of Sita Sings the Blues at the Lafayette Theater (those needing a ride to the theater should be outside the Union Club by 8:00)

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 3

Book exhibit opens at 9:00 am (Stewart 213)

Refreshments served mornings and afternoons (Stewart 204)

9:00-10:20

Session 6-A – Identity and Gender in Contemporary Comics and Animation (Stewart 214 A/B)

Chair: Katherine Tanski, Purdue University

1. “Queer Identity under Mussolini’s Regime: Historical Testimony of Discrimination” – Anna Giannetti, University of Oregon
2. “Archie Comics and the New Media Ecology” – Theresa N. Rojas, The Ohio State University
3. “Graphic Disruptions: Feminist Humor and the Politics of Engagement” – Sally McWilliams, Portland State University

Session 6-B – The Politics of/in Manga (Stewart 214 C/D)

Chair: Jason Buchanan, Purdue University

1. “The Politics of One Piece” – Thomas Zoth, Independent Scholar
2. “Administrative History of Japanese Manga Regulation” – Yuzuru Nakagawa, University of Tokyo, Japan
3. “Satire with No Wasted Draws: Mahjong as Politics in The Legend of Koizumi” – Shannon Granville, Independent Scholar

10:30-12:30

Session 7-A – Internationalizing Images (Stewart 214 A/B)

Chair: Juan Meneses, Purdue University

1. “US-Finnish Relations Reflected in the ‘Photo Fighter’ of True Comics” – Henry Oinas-Kukkonen, University of Oulu
2. “Nazi Villains, Ugly Germans, and Mutants – Germany and the Germans in Angloamerican Mainstream Comics since 1945” – Matthias Harbeck, Humboldt-Universität
3. “Le Courrier International: International Newspaper Comics Language and the Image-Text Third Space” – Juan Meneses, Purdue University

Session 7-B – Film Screening – Persepolis (Stewart 202)

12:30-1:30
Lunch Break

1:30-2:50

Session 8-A –Trauma, Memoir, and the Classroom (Stewart 214 A/B)

Chair: Aaron DeRosa, Purdue University

1. “Performing Trauma: Graphic Memoir” – Pauline Uchmanowicz, SUNY, New Platz
2. “The Search: A Graphic Narrative for Beginning to Teach about the Holocaust” – Wendy Stallard Flory, Purdue University
3. “Perceiving Persepolis: Personal Narrative, Sense Memories, and Visual Simplicity in
Marjane Satrapi’s Animated Autobiography” – Meghan Gilbride, University College London

Session 8-B – Sexuality and the Superhero (Stewart 214 C/D)

Chair: Paul Petrovic, Northern Illinois University

1. “SuperGay: Depictions of Homosexuality in Mainstream Superhero Comics” – Kara Kvaran, Purdue University
2. “Perfect Weapons: Killer Girl Superheroines and Active Fetishism” – Jeffrey Allan Brown, Bowling Green State University
3. “Signaling Butler and Groensteen: Gender Performance and ‘Coming Out’ of the Panel Borders in Rucka and Williams III’s Batwoman: Elegy” – Paul Petrovic, Northern Illinois University

3:00-4:20

Session 9-A – Images and the Politics of Adaptation (Stewart 214 C/D)

Chair: Nancee Reeves, Purdue University

1. “Emerald Ink: Graphic Novel Adaptations of Baum’s Wonderful Wizard of Oz” – Sarah K. Crotzer, Middle Tennessee State University
2. “You Can’t Do That in the Movies!: Comics Adaptation and Questions of Fidelity” – Nancy C. White, University of Washington
3. “Visualizing the Bard: Shakespeare, Comics, and the Politics of Authorship” – Christopher L. Morrow, Western Illinois University

Session 9-B – A Roundtable Discussion with Comic Artists (Stewart 313)

Participants will include Scott and Benita Story, Troy Hickman, and Onsmith, among others.

4:30-5:50
Keynote Address – Kim Deitch (Stewart 202)

7:00
Banquet at the Lafayette Country Club – Drinks begin at 6:30 (those needing a ride to the theater should be outside the Union Club by 6:15)

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4

Book exhibit opens at 9:00 am (Stewart 213)

Refreshments served mornings and afternoons (Stewart 204)

9:00-10:20

Session 10-A – Comics, Genres, and the Other (Stewart 214 A/B)

Chair: Namrata Mitra, Purdue University

1. “Teen-Age Diary Secrets: The Use of “True Stories” in Romance Comics” – Jeanne Emerson Gardner, The Bard Graduate Center
2. “Confronting the ‘Other’ (whom/what ever that ‘other’ might be) through Graphic Texts” – Marjorie Allison, Western Illinois University
3. “Androgynous Batman: The Superhero as Other in Paul Dini’s The Wonderland Gang” – Robert C. Petersen, Middle Tennessee State University

Session 10-B –Ethno/Graphic Texts (Stewart 214 C/D)

Chair: Andrew J. Kunka, University of South Carolina, Sumter

1. “Presents, Prophets (Profits?), and Piety: Celebrating Jewish Holidays in the Comic Strips” – Leonard Greenspoon, Creighton University
2. “Mestiza Consciousness across Racial, Ethnic, and National Boundaries in Love and Rockets: Flies on the Ceiling” – Katie Frank, University of Michigan
3. “Retcon and Race: The Changing History of Chop-Chop, 1940-Present” – Andrew J. Kunka, University of South Carolina, Sumter

10:30-12:30

Session 11-A – Comics and Pedagogy (Stewart 214 A/B)

Chair: B.J. Robinson, North Georgia College and State University

1. “Production or Consumption: Facing the Authority of Seven and Eight Year Old Children as they Make Comics” – M.R. Stoermer, Independent Scholar
2. “Side-aches That Teach” – Jennifer Lind, Liberty University
3. “Seeing is (Not) Believing: Teaching Critical Thinking through Graphic Novels (Maus I & II and Persepolis I & II)” – B.J. Robinson, North Georgia College and State University & April Loebick, North Georgia College and State University

Session 11-B – Philosophy, Technology, and the Image (Stewart 214 C/D)

Chair: Adryan Glasgow, Purdue University

1. “/Co/operation and /Co/munity in /Co/mics: 4chan’s Hypercrisis and Anonymous Authenticity” – Tim Bavlnka, Bowling Green State University
2. “My Own Private Illness: The Politics of Philosophy in Epileptic and Blue Pills” – Andrew Lesk, University of Toronto
3. “Shoot Your Way to the Truth: Sin City and Technology, Cinephilia and Neo-Noir” – William B. Covey, Slippery Rock University

Session 11-C Film Screening – various Tengen Toppa Gurren episodes (Stewart 202)

12:30-1:30
Lunch Break

1:30-3:00

Session 12-A – Form and Identity in Alternative Comics: The Examples of Daniel Clowes and Kevin Huizenga (Stewart 214 A/B)

Chair: Aaron Kashtan, University of Florida

1. “Daniel Clowes and the Lovers of Solitude” – Joseph George, University of North Carolina-Greensboro
2. “From Adolescence to Adulthood: Paratext and the Juxtaposition of Image and Word in Daniel Clowes’s Ghost World” – Don Spence, California State University, Northridge
3. “Nostalgia for Handwriting and Post-Digital Embodiment in the Work of Kevin Huizenga” – Aaron Kashtan, University of Florida

Session 12-B – Politics, Religion, and the American Comic (Stewart 214 C/D)

Chair: Tom Sura, Purdue University

1. “Picturing the Democracy: Political Cartoons and the Democratic Community of 1928” – Robert Elliot Chiles, University of Maryland, College Park
2. “You’re a Theologian, Charlie Brown” – Stephen J. Lind, Clemson University
3. “Molding the Mainstream: A Rhetorical Analysis of Logos in John T. McCutcheonʼs Cartoon ʻHome from College’” – Tom Sura, Purdue University

Session 12-C Film Screening – Grave of the Fireflies (Stewart 202)

3:10-4:30

Session 13-A – Animation and the (Traumatized) Self (Stewart 214 A/B)

Chair: Suneeta Thomas, Purdue University

1. “The Splendor of Misfortune: Wile E. Coyote” – Emre Koyuncu, Purdue University
2. “Why must fireflies die so young: War, Victimhood and Memory in the Anime Grave of the Fireflies” – Kim Wickham, Independent Scholar
3. “‘Later, Buddy’: The Politics of Loss and Trauma Representation in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann” – Vyshali Manivannan, Montclair State University

Session 13-B – Identity Politics in Contemporary Francophone Comic Strips (Stewart 214 C/D)

Chair: Hugo Frey, University of Chichester

1. “The Affrontier and Orientalism in bande dessinée” – Mark McKinney, Miami University, Ohio
2. “Joann Sfar Conjures Marc Chagall: The Politics of Visual Representation in The Rabbi’s Cat” – Fabrice Leroy, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
3. “Anti-Semitism in Francophone Comic Art Revisited: When Benoît Sokal Met ADG” – Hugo Frey, University of Chichester

4:40-6:00

Session 14-A – Techno-boundaries and Graphic Space (Stewart 214 A/B)

Chair: Thomas Lolis, Georgia Institute of Technology

1. “Apocalypse Now and Then: Dangerous Technology in Japanese Pop Culture” – Nicholas J. Gaspar, Purdue University
2. “The Pleasure of Confusing Boundaries in World War Robot” – Neil P. Baird, Western Illinois University
3. “‘You’re Forever Stuck in Neutral, Manmeat’: Hobbesian Biopolitics and the Rise of the Transhuman” – Thomas Lolis, Georgia Institute of Technology

Session 14-B – Nation, Class, and Mainstream Comics (Stewart 214 C/D)

Chair: Ehren Pflugfelder, Purdue University

1. “From Miss Canada (1891) to Wolverine (1974): the Ironic Evolution of Canadian Comics and Canadian Identity” – Amanda Murphy, Carleton University
2. “100 Bullets and America’s New Class in the Sequenced, Graphic Story” – Eric King, University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse
3. “The Evolution of Unknown Soldier: Teaching Ugandan History Through Comic Books” – Mauricio Castro, Purdue University

Saturday Evening Pub Run [not a Crawl, mind you, but a Run] (organized by Purdue Graduate students)