A Celebration of Superheroes
In 2021 we held our first ever virtual conference, A Celebration of Superheroes. This included a full day of live Keynotes, workshops, and a discussion panel on Zoom, as well as pre-recorded panels hosted on our website with discussion on Discord.
The 2021 conference had been postponed from 2020, and we’re especially grateful for both keynotes and all the speakers that returned after the year we all had!
We raised $400 for 2021’s charity, Vigilant Love. Our Keynote speakers were Dr. Frederick Aldama and Sarah Kuhn. Our workshops were hosted by Michael Moreci and Dr. Anne C. Smith & Dr. Samantha Close
Keynote Speakers
Dr. Frederick Aldama
Frederick Luis Aldama is Distinguished University Professor, Arts & Humanities Distinguished Professor of English, University Distinguished Scholar, and Alumni Distinguished Teacher at the Ohio State University. He is the 2018 recipient of the Rodica C. Botoman Award for Distinguished Teaching and Mentoring and the Susan M. Hartmann Mentoring and Leadership Award. He is the award-winning author, co-author, and editor of 40 books. In 2018, Latinx Superheroes in Mainstream Comics won the International Latino Book Award and the Eisner Award for Best Scholarly Work. He is editor and coeditor of 8 academic press book series as well as editor of Latinographix, a trade-press series that publishes Latinx graphic fiction and nonfiction. He is creator of the first documentary on the history of Latinx superheroes in comics (Amazon Prime) and co-founder and director of SÕL-CON: Brown & Black Comix Expo. He is founder and director of the Obama White House award winning LASER: Latinx Space for Enrichment & Research as well as founder and co-director of the Humanities & Cognitive Sciences High School Summer Institute. He has a joint appointment in Spanish & Portuguese as well as faculty affiliation in Film Studies and the Center for Cognitive and Brain Sciences. His children’s book, The Adventures of Chupacabra Charlie will be published by OSU Press in 2020. For more on Aldama visit: www.professorlatinx.com
Sarah Kuhn
Sarah Kuhn is the author of the popular Heroine Complex novels—a series starring Asian American superheroines. The first book is a Locus bestseller, an RT Reviewers’ Choice Award nominee, and one of the Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog’s Best Books of 2016. Her YA debut, the Japan-set romantic comedy I Love You So Mochi, came out in summer 2019 and is a Junior Library Guild selection. She is currently writing Shadow of the Batgirl, a graphic novel about Batgirl Cassandra Cain for DC Comics. Other projects include “The Ruby Equation” for the Eisner-nominated comics anthology Fresh Romance, a comic book continuation of the cult classic movie Clueless, a series of Barbie comics, and a one-shot for the recent Jem and the Holograms anthology Dimensions. Her non-fiction has appeared in The Toast, The Mary Sue, Uncanny Magazine, AngryAsianMan.com, IGN.com, The Hollywood Reporter, StarTrek.com, and the Hugo-nominated anthology Chicks Dig Comics. Additionally, she was a finalist for both the CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment) New Writers Award and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. You can visit her at heroinecomplex.com or on Twitter: @sarahkuhn.
2021 Charity: Vigilant Love
MISSION
#VigilantLOVE creates spaces for connection and grassroots movement to protect the safety and justice of communities impacted by Islamophobia and violence in the greater Los Angeles Area.
VISION
In the face of cyclical violence, we envision the embodiment of vigilant love amongst generations of multi-ethnic and inter-spiritual community who create pathways to liberation and healing together.
2021 Conference Schedule
You can download the full program here.
Live Zoom Session: May 01, 2021
11:00-12:00 Academic Keynote Frederick Aldama
13:00-14:00 Keynote Sarah Kuhn
15:00-16:00 Featured Speaker: Writing Workshop Michael Moreci
16:00-17:00 Roundtable Discussion: Superheroes and Morality CarrieLynn D. Reinhard and Christopher Olson
17:00-18:00 Live Fan Vid Show Anne C. Smith and Samantha Close
Pre-recorded Panels: May 01-08, 2021
Defining the Superhero
Rebranding Superheroes: Jon Clarke
Superiterative: All Batmen are Batmen: Peter Coogan
Defining Superheroes: Blair Davis
Of Heroes and Hippies: A Reimagining of Superheroes from the Hippie Movement: Ailea Merriam-Pigg
Not-So Super - How Has a New Crop of Movies and Series Reinvented Our Views of Who Is Super: Eleanor Pye
The Real Superheroes? ‘The Boys’ of Supernatural and the Amazon Prime Series: Lynn Zubernis and Matt Snyder
Ethics and the Superhero
The Normative Ethics of the Marvel, DC, and X-Men Film Universes: Larrie Dudenhoeffer
Aquaman and the War Against Oceans: Comics Allegory in the Anthropocene: Ryan Poll
Superheroes?
Michael Bay’s Transformers Pentalogy as a Superhero-Film Saga: Yago Paris
How Godzilla vs. Kong Memes Turned Titans into Pandemic Superheroes: Steve Rawle
Mental Health and Superhero Media
Is Dissociation a Superpower? Novel Depictions of Coping in Netflix’s Umbrella Academy: David Eltz
Mental Health in Gotham: Krystal Kara
Harley Quinn and Joker: Fallon King
Silk, Superheroes, and Mental Health Journeys: Lisa Rothman
Politics and the Superhero
Overcoming a Pandemic with ‘Pan’: Anpanman’s Pertinence in the Context of the Covid-19 Pandemic: Antonia Cavcic
“I Control the Truth”: Objective Truth, Fake News, and the Spectrum of Authoritarianism in Spider-Man: Far From Home: Matthew Cooper
Embodying the Villian: Negotiating Political Cooptations of Joker: Gavin Farrow
A Spider on the Wall: Surveillance in the MCU’s Spider-Man as an Analogy for Youth in the Post-September 11 Era: Abby Kirby
Turkish Fantastic Cinema Between 1950-1985: Gurkan Mihci
Pulp, Noir, and the Gothic in Superhero Media
Reconstructing the Golden Age: A Critical Look at Sandman Mystery Theater: Gordon Dymowski
Batman and the Gothic in FOX’s Gotham: Carey Millsap-Spears
The Reward You Get for Being Batman: Storytelling and Resurrection in Neil Gaiman’s Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? Kristin Noone
Readership and Reception
Superheroes: The Ultimate Fanfiction Universe: Allison Broesder
Costumes, Capes … and Cooties: Cerebus’s Satirical Superheroes: Dominick Grace
Endgames & Doomsdays: COVID-19 and the 'Death' of Superhero Cinema: Andrew McGowan
Robin, Boy (Wonder) Next Door: Lauren O’Connor
WandaVision and the Cognitive Processes of Brazilian Fans on Twitter: Daiana Sigiliano and Gabriela Borges
Laughing Through Tragedy: Finding Comedy in a Post-Blip MCU: William Staton
Representation I: Blackness and Superheroes
“While You Were Dreaming, the World Changed”: Marvel Comic’s X-Men’s House of X/Powers of X and The End of the Superheroic Minority Metaphor? Tony D'Agostino
Breaking the Buck / Reliving the Tragedy: Afrofuturism and Black Masculinity in Black Panther: Danyella Greene and Abimbola Iyun
Uncle Vlad’s Cabin: Intertextuality Between ‘Cabin 33’ and Blade (Stephen Norrington, 1998): Khara Lukancic
“Black Lightning’s Back”: The Limits of the Politics of Respectability: Aseel Qazzaz
Representation II: New (and Old) Roles
Woke Marketing and Marvel Comics: Monica Flegel and Judith Leggatt
The Man with a Secret. Fashioning the ‘Camp’ Superman Body: Zara Korutz
Supersizing Diversity: A Path to More Representation in the Superhero Genre: Maseri Kisa Schultz
Superheroes as Feminist Icons
Superhero Himbos: Wish Fulfillment and the Female Gaze: Courtney Beresheim
Does Victoria’s Secret Sell Chainmail Bikinis?: Costuming and Gender in Comic Books Through the 20th Century: Lauren Clark Hill
Peggy Carter as a Feminist Icon: A Decade of Marvel-ous Impact: Annika Pallasch
“'No One’s Going to Be Looking at Your Face': The Female Gaze and the New (Super)Man in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman": Anna Peppard
“Eating nuts, kicking butts, and becoming a feminist icon: The transmedia history and actor-network theory critique of Squirrel Girl”: CarrieLynn Reinhard
Superhero Games and Other Adaptations
How Mary Jane Hit the Jackpot in Marvel's Spider-Man: Jack Fennimore
Managing the Superpowered Men: Mr. Love Queen’s Choice, Otome Games and Superhero Narratives: Sarah Ganzon
Live-Action Heroes: Kyle Meikle
Superheroes on Television
Mr. Stark, I Don’t Feel So Good”: The Disintegrating History of Marvel’s Non-MCU Film & Television Adaptations: Jef Burnham
The Boys Gives Superheroes a Good Spanking: Lisa Macklem
“Be careful of the Murdock Boys, they got the devil in ‘em”: Navigating Redemption through Violence and Religion in Netflix’s Daredevil: Rhiannon McHarrie
The Superheroic Narrative
The Noble Quest of Butchering Fiction: Metalepsis in Bunn’s Deadpool Killogy Series: Lucia Bausela
Superhero Time: Asher Guthertz
Arrow: The Archetypal Journey of Oliver Queen into Becoming A Larger-Than-Life Superhero: Jim Iaccino
Everyday Heroes: How the Multiverse Is Reinventing the Superhero Tale: Rebecca Johns Trissler
More Than Just a Sexy Body: The Subversion of Classical Mythological Frameworks in Jungle Comics: Owen Smith