Comic-Con 2013

Ghenwa Hayek (Claremont McKenna College) examines how graphic fiction has flourished in Lebanon as a postwar generation copes with the burden of memories and a younger generation thirsts to know more. Andrew J. Friedenthal (University of Texas at Austin) compares Justice Society of America comics in the Golden Age with the 1980s' retconned account of their World War II adventures to show how escapist literature helps us deal with history as it happens and after. Sam Cannon (University of Texas at Austin) investigates how Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá's graphic novel Daytripper calls into question racial and national identities as well as the possibility of survival in contemporary Brazil.

Psychologist Patrick O'Connor (The Chicago School of Professional Psychology; Comicspedia) and licensed psychotherapist Josué Cardona (Geek Therapy podcast) discuss geek culture, the psychology of superheroes, and the therapeutic value of comics. Laura Vecchiolla and Elizabeth Smith (The Chicago School of Professional Psychology) and licensed psychologists Frank Gaskill and Dave Verhaagen (Southeast Psych) join them to provide the ultimate expertise on the healing power of superheroes. Travis Langley (Batman and Psychology: A Dark and Stormy Knight) moderates.

Writing instructors Rich Shivener (Northern Kentucky University), John Silvestro (Miami University), and Alex Jenkin (Miami University) discuss how they incorporate Batman, Scott McCloud, Will Eisner, and select indie comics into freshman-level college courses with diverse audiences, even those who are not fans of comics, considering both comics and academic writing as different methods to express arguments, narratives, and ideas. They reveal how students can use academic writing to analyze, realize, and understand comics and use comics to think about the limitations of academic writing and what it can and cannot show.

Aaron Kashtan (Georgia Institute of Technology) discusses why and how instructors can use comics to make students more aware of the materiality of media, both when analyzing media artifacts and when producing media artifacts of their own. Jeremy Johnson (University of Minnesota) describes empirical research on how teachers taught middle-school students about the Holocaust by using comics creation to share a nonfiction, research-based story. Peter Carlson (Green Dot Public Schools, UCLA) and Antero Garcia (Colorado State University) share the findings from their own research on how comic books can serve as tools to foster dialogue and nurture relationships that empower students.