New Book Update

It's been a while since I've posted to this blog but I see that people still find posts on it, so here's a quick update on current projects. The most up to date info is usually on my website www.neuroticraven.com and on Facebook if we are connected.

I am working hard on my latest book project, From Panels to Frames: Comic Art in Museums, for the University Press of Mississippi, which is scheduled for spring 2018. I am researching key exhibitions between 1934 and 1985, and I also have a stellar group of contributors.

I have a chapter on comic art exhibitions in the newly released Routledge Handbook of the Secret Origins of Comics Studies, edited by Matt Smith and Randy Duncan. This valuable book maps out who the pioneers were in their various specialties, and gives a quick overview of the scholarship that is already available. My chapter focuses on shows from 1934 to the present, particularly Bande Dessinee et Figuration Narrative (Paris, 1967), the founding of the International Museum of Cartoon Art (Mort Walker, 1974), the founding of the Cartoon Art Museum (Malcolm Whyte, 1988), Masters of American Comics (Carlin, Walker, Spiegelman, Philbin, 2005), the exhibitions of Trina Robbins, and the exhibitions of Paul Gravett. Links to a draft of this chapter and several related articles are posted on my writing web page at http://www.neuroticraven.com/writing/

Available from Routledge

Aside from this, I have recently presented on the 50th anniversary of Bande Dessinee et Figuration Narrative (1967) at the San Diego Comics Fest, WonderCon (Anaheim), and the Popular Culture Association's national conference (San Diego). I will be presenting on the exhibitions of Eisner and Kirby at San Diego Comic Con. Hope to see you at a Con or bookstore soon!

Stanford Superhero Symposium: Print & Cosplay

"San Francisco needs a real comics conference." That’s what I was thinking as I struggled upstream through end of day traffic to the lovely and sprawling Stanford University campus in Palo Alto, CA for a symposium hosted by the Graphic Narrative Project called Secret Identity Politics: Superhero Studies and Comics Scholarship (5/22). Losing WonderCon to Anaheim (probably permanently) has left a void for people in the Bay Area that need to assemble and talk about their work. APE was starting to build better content in terms of panels, but we might lose APE too, as they will soon be losing their long time venue at the SF Concourse. Smaller cons, like last weekend’s Big Wow! in San Jose have begun to fill the gap, but it will be a long time before one of them produces something on the level of the Comic Art Conference. The Bay Area is teeming with writers, artists and scholars that work and write, where can we go share our stuff?

Anyway, back to the symposium. Unfortunately, I missed the opening presentation by Scott Bukatman (Stanford Film & Media Studies, Dept. of Art & Art History), but his upcoming book on Hellboy sounds fascinating. Following him was an intro to Golden Age comics by Ben Saunders (University of Oregon), and a short presentation of visual representations of speed used in depictions of The Flash by Mark Vega (Stanford, English), concluding with Charles Hatfield explaining how the dynamics of showing the superhero body has contributed to breaking the grid layout of the comics page. After the break, a discussion followed with the 30 or so students in attendance at that point in the evening.

I didn’t hear enough from Bukatman and Vega to know much about the themes of their scholarship, but I’ve seen lots of excellent work on these topics from Saunders and Hatfield, and their mastery of the material really showed through. I thoroughly enjoyed Saunders’ often humorous presentation on the early comics industry, the motivations of the people involved in it, and the appeal of the material, both for its kitsch appeal and for the occasional creative gem. I liked how Hatfield began his presentation with the layout of a regular printed page of text, compared it to the more designed layout of a page of poetry, and then moved on to the comics grid, explaining why some conventions held over from printed text still communicate clearly to readers of sequential narratives . He showed early examples of superhero characters beginning to break the grid to show more dynamic action, and some really gorgeous contemporary examples, such as this 2011 Batwoman splash page by J.H. Williams.

2011 Batwoman splash page by J.H. Williams III

Looking around the room, the students in attendance seemed engaged with the material, but I couldn’t help wondering how many of them had ever read an actual printed comic book, particularly a monthly floppy. The average student in the room probably learned about superheroes in a completely different way than the four presenters and myself. They weren’t old enough to have discovered the adventures of Wonder Woman and Batman while standing at a spinning rack at the local drugstore. For the students, there have always been superhero movies, merchandise, video games, and friends that were interested in these things. Even reading comics digitally gives the reader a choice of different options on how they want to view the material. I suppose this is why the presentations seemed like introductions to print, even though the students were probably somewhat familiar with many of the characters involved before they arrived.

When the discussion period began, I wasn’t surprised that the main topic of audience interest was cosplay. I’m no expert on the topic, but based on my friends and their stories, it seems that most young fans interested in superheroes expect more active participation in their fandom than fans that discovered superheroes in printed comics decades ago. There are blockbuster movies, fan fiction, video games that enable you to inhabit a favorite character, and massive amounts of media attention on fan events like San Diego Comic Con. Cosplay is celebrated in SyFy series like Heroes of Cosplay (back for a second season), the make-up contest Face-Off, and mainstream hits like The Big Bang Theory. Friends that enjoy cosplay do it both as a creative challenge and as a way to honor and connect with a character they like.

Listening to the discussion, I was reminded of Michael Chabon’s excellent essay Secret Skin, included the catalog for the 2008 Metropolitan Museum of Art show Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy (slideshow here). In it, he has much of interest to say about the importance of fantasy and the hidden yet obvious narrative incorporated into the design of superhero costumes:

We say “secret identity” and adopt a series of cloaking strategies to preserve it; but what we are actually trying to conceal is a narrative; not who we are, but the story of how we got that way – and, by implication, of all that we lacked, and all that we were not, before the spider bit us. And yet at the same time, as I have suggested, our costume conceals nothing, reveals everything; it is our secret skin, exposed and exposing us for all the world to see. Superheroism is a kind of transvestism; our superdrag serves at once to obscure the exterior self that no longer defines us while betraying, with half-unconscious panache, the truth of the story we carry in our hearts, the story of our transformation, or our story’s recommencement, of our rebirth into the world of adventure, of the story itself. (22)

SF Bay Area comics fan and entrepreneur
Natalie Jumper's unique take on DC's
character Nightwing at SDCC 2013.

In some ways, cosplay can be a “coming out” to the participant’s family, friends, and the larger community. It can be a complex technical and creative achievement, or as simple as wearing a mask along with a special t-shirt. Still, the idea of transformation is the key. For a day, a person can be anyone they want and are welcomed as such into a supportive community. In the introduction to Wonder Women of America, a 2008 collection of photos featuring female cosplayers at SDCC by Ruth Wiggins, Russell Waterman comments on the accepting fan community in San Diego, and how this empowerment gave women more confidence to challenge the traditional superhero body type and let out their inner Jean Grey or Huntress. Many couples, families, and friends coordinate group costumes and themes, Waterman points out, and further observes that many women greatly enjoy sharing this experience with loved ones, and often find lasting friendships with like-minded individuals. I have witnessed this camaraderie more than once myself, and it is clear to me why it must be so upsetting to experience the type of shaming and harassment that has become a problem at other conventions. I hope the Cons in question can find a way to vanquish this problem, so cosplay can continue to grow as a joyful outlet of creative expression.

SDCC 2013 - CAC Defines Superheroes

CAC co-founders
Peter Coogan & Randy Duncan

Got pulled in too many directions, and didn't make it to as many of the Comic Arts Conference panels as I would have liked this year. The two I saw were really excellent!

The first, Geek Therapy: How Superheroes Empower All of Us, explored the many different ways people are using the good qualities of superheroes to inspire and empower people to heal mentally and physically.  I was pretty surprised to see the conference schedule show up on Psychology Today (posted by panel moderator Travis Langley) but SDCC has become such a media behemoth you can never predict where it's going to appear anymore. Panelists included Patrick O'Connor (Chicago School of Professional Psychology; Comicspedia) and Josue Cardona (Geek Therapy Podcast), Laura Vecchiolla and Elizabeth Smith (also from Chicago SoPP), and Frank Gaskill and Dave Verhaagen (Southeast Psych).

Many beautiful stories, and a welcome emphasis on the positive traits people can connect with enhance their lives. I loved the question, "What is right with people?" (as opposed the usual "What is wrong?") and the effort to build on the positive traits a troubled or ill person might already have. Positive superhero traits were listed as resiliency, strength, courage and overall happiness (the traditional Superman is used as an example).

What is a Superhero? Peter, Robin,
Stanford, Dana, John & Randy

The second panel, What is a Superhero?: Professional & Scholarly Views featured contributors to the new book, What is a Superhero? (Oxford University Press) edited by Peter Coogan (Institute for Comic Studies) and Robin Rosenberg (Huntington Post) with Randy Duncan (the Power of Comics) moderating.

Pete Coogan (Superhero: The Secret Origin of a Genre) defined the elements that make up a superhero: selfless, pro-social mission; superpowers or other extraordinary abilities or skills; codename & costume often signifying powers and/or origin; often has secret identity; can be distinguished from characters from related genres by generic conventions.

John Jennings (University at Buffalo) talked about the power of memory, and asked the audience to think about the circumstances surrounding the first time they experienced comics; In the newspaper? On a drugstore spinner rack? With family or friends? Which character? etc... I enjoyed this exercise because I clearly remember my father teaching me figure drawing using Captain American and Wonder Woman as models. They were exaggerated, yes, but I was probably all of 5-6 years old, and they held my attention. Comics have always been part of my life.

Stanford Carpenter (Institute for Comic Studies) talked about the responsibilities of power, and how superheroes often face sacrifice and/or self-denial. He used the example of Professor X, a powerful psychic with dreams of mutant/human co-existence. His mutant power is so strong, he could just change everyone's minds, yet he struggles allow everyone free will and often gets in trouble for psychically influencing the minds of his students and colleagues. In this way he is always struggling with elements of his larger goals and his own essential nature.

Dana Anderson (Maine Maritime Academy) provided a graphic designer's analysis of superheroes. He talked about how we subconsciously equate "good" with symmetry & balance, for example the stereotypical superhero stance, feet planted apart and hands on hips, or the commonly symmetrical costumes they wear. He pointed out that heroes costumes are often primary colors on a color wheel, and villains are often dressed in secondary colors. He also did a study of logos and chest emblems.

Robin Rosenberg laid out the four types of villain/hero relationships, and how these bring out the best in the hero:

1. Straightforward Criminal (bank robbers, etc). Motivated by material gain & power. Straightforward action on the hero's part.
2. Vengeful Villain. Conflict is personal. Wants to eliminate or be superior to the hero. Only happy when orchestrating a crushing defeat when the hero is at the height of their powers. Battle of wits or brawn, intensity builds.
3. Heroic Villain. Altruistic, believes they are fighting for a good cause. Here the hero has to deal with their own conscience and ethics.
4. Sadistic Super Villain. Gets kicks out of wrecking havoc, death, torture, inflict pain on innocents. Hero often has to "fight dirty" by getting into the villain's twisted mind-set to fight them. Hard moral choices.

A lively discussion followed as a series of slides were shown and the audience debated if a character was or was not technically a superhero.

Image Expo 2013

I've been giving a lot of thought to last week's Image Expo, an event held in the theatre at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco). Unlike many of the hugely inclusive comics conventions I've become accustomed to, this event was organized solely by Image Comics to share "the state of the company" and give fans a chance to interact with comics creators in a relatively intimate setting.  The day consisted a keynote and creator introductions by Image publisher Eric Stephenson, followed by panels, signings and opportunities to buy sneak peek & variant editions of new books.

Much has been written about this event, and it's not my goal to rehash the while thing here (overview by Deb Aoki). Stephenson spoke a great deal about digital comics, that they made up 15% of the companies total sales and seemed to drive new sales of paper comics (see The Beat). He also explained that they are releasing DRM free comics, so fans can actually own their digital copy and read it on the device/app of their choice (see ARS Technica). Creators attending were Robert Kirkman, Ed Brubaker, J. Michael Strazynski, Kurtis Wiebe, Matt Fraction, Rick Remender, Jason Aaron & Jason LaTour, who all announced new projects (photos Bleeding Cool | Image Comics). There was an after party, which I missed (but Frazer Brown didn't).

What I want to address in this post is a question asked of me by Stephenson. During Straczynski's Q&A, which was moderated by Stephenson, I got up to ask a question. When I mentioned that I've attended JMS's annual session at San Diego Comic-Con every year, Stephenson asked me "What do you think we can do to make this event better?" I admit that SDCC and the Image event are so completely different that I did not know how to respond in that moment. So, here's my opinion.

Dream Police from JM Straczynski
and Mike Deodato, Jr.

I think it was a good event and Image fans are passionate enough about hearing from the comics creators to support it (there was a full house even though there was a BART strike). YBCA seems like the perfect venue. The theatre itself showcased the presentions well, but it's still an intimate space. Even from the back, you could see everything and not feel too far from the action.  YBCA has enough hallways and lobbys for signings and sales, it was occasionally crowded at peak times, but not overwhelming.

After some discussion with my lovely husband and other friends, we concluded that the event model isn't SDCC, it's Creation Entertainment, the organizer of events featuring the stars of Sci-Fi shows we all know and love. In this model, you pay for different levels of access, including special seating, lunches, receptions, yoga classes, etc.  While the Image Expo obviously has different goals, the fans are clearly hungry for interaction with the writers and artists creating work for Image. Would 5 or 6 people pay a premium to have coffee & a chat with Matt Fraction or Robert Kirkman? I bet they would. The money could be donated to the Hero Initiative, CBLDF or another cause. Anything that encourages fan interaction in a safe way would be a plus (sounds like the after party was a success on this front).

I also wish that there had been more artists among the featured guests (I believe Jason LaTour was the only one). Many of the writers profusely complimented their collaborators, but panels like "Comics & Creativity" could have been much richer if both writers and artists were present to talk about their working relationship. There was no female presence, and I'm not sure if that was the "luck of the draw" due to the slate of upcoming books, or lack of female creators working with Image in general. I was surprised, given the level of artistry involved here, that there wasn't a special promotional poster for the event (this would have been popular for signings).

These suggestions aside, I enjoyed the day, and I support Image's "creator first" model. I wish them continued success! On to San Diego!

Big Wow! 2013 - San Jose

Enjoyed visiting the Big Wow! Comicfest at the San Jose Convention Center this weekend. It was a total throwback to the "all toys, art and comics" pre-Hollywood show WonderCon used to be. In fact there was rampant speculation about the status of Big Wow! and if they were making an attempt to become the show that fills the vacuum WonderCon left behind (what's wrong with Oakland, we all wondered). This year Big Wow! printed a nice program book, spent a wad on bringing in Stan Lee and promoted the hell out of it. I thought it was a good promotional move to visit local comics stores a couple of weeks ago on Free Comic Book Day and post photos of the events on Facebook. Seemed like a good crowd while we were there. Someone in attendance actually lost their paycheck out on the floor, and was reunited with it 5 minutes later (there was some unintentional humor in all the announcements, but I could have lived with less of them).

A collection of Bruce Simon's essays for Mineshaft Magazine.

There wasn't the type of programming we've come to expect from big shows like SDCC, but there was a community oriented emphasis that was really interesting. Live drawing, an archery booth with NERF arrows for kids, a CosPlay fashion show and a rock band.  Artist's Alley dominated at this show, taking up the center and back, with the rest of the small exhibit floor filled with book sellers, comics sellers, comic art dealers, toy vendors, Aspen Comics (Frank Mastromauro was there selling Turner pages, the only publisher with a booth) and tables for fan clubs. We really enjoyed the chance to talk with artists without a million distractions. I scored a copy of Bruce Simon's Mineshaft essays and a couple of his Burlesque posters (Blaze Starr! She's a Human Heat Wave!), a sketchbook and How to Train Your Dragon rough from Aaron Lopresti, an Arthur Adams sketchbook, and a Winged Victory poster and sketchbook from Brent Anderson (Astro City is coming back! Yay!). Marc was thrilled to get a Lady Mechanika iPhone cover from Joe Benitez.

I hope this show continues to grow. It had a good vibe. APE has a totally different audience, and no one we talked with wants to go to two Southern California shows two or three months apart.

Lady Mechanika iPhone covers. Looks like they are
mainly being sold at shows, although you could try the Facebook page.

WonderCon 2013 - Anaheim

Attendee at WonderCon in Anaheim.

The photo above pretty much encapsulates the feeling of WonderCon in Anaheim. There were panels I liked and friends to check in with. We enjoyed hanging out with the Scooby Gang from the Comic Outpost. There's a big difference between having this convention at Moscone Center in the middle of downtown San Francisco and having it in Anaheim across the street from Disneyland.  The convention center itself is spacious and surrounded by supporting hotels. Every chain restaurant you can imagine is in the area. We had a quick visit to Disneyland one evening, and there's no denying how Disneyland completely dominates the "Anaheim Resort" area.  I don't think it helped that they scheduled the convention in direct competition with Spring Break/Easter weekend in Disneyland. Personally, spoiled by the SF Bay Area and the selection of urban delights (or not so delightful slices-of-life) nearby, Anaheim just felt really weird. I've read that the organizers are happy and considering doing WonderCon in both SF and Anaheim. As a Northern California person, we already come to So. Cal for San Diego ComicCon, and there's APE and other smaller conventions, I don't visualize making Anaheim a regular thing.

Anyway, enough ranting about Southern California and too many meals at Coco's... one of the good things about WonderCon is that the artists in Artist's Alley are generally less overwhelmed and more receptive than they are in San Diego. The organizers used a large space at the convention center called "the arena" this year, and aside from some initial confusion about how to get in there on the first day, it seemed to work out pretty well. In the arena I saw The Animation Show of Shows, 10 animated shorts curated by Ron Diamond of Acme Filmworks and AWN.com. There were many excellent films but the one that follows, The Centrifuge Brain Project, had me laughing out loud!

As usual, the Comic Arts Conference (the academic conference within the convention) had some informative panels. I found the first panel of the day about publishing, scholarship and teaching methods very useful. Since I am outside of the traditional academic path and writing/researching purely because I want to, sessions that discuss options related to publishing are very helpful. In the CAC session Comics in Higher Education, I very much appreciated Robert Weiner's (Texas Tech University) and Hannah Means-Shannon's (Georgian Court University) presentations on publishing, writing and blogging.  I also thought that Christina Angel's (Metropolitan State University of Denver) method of exposing her students to classic literature through comics was interesting, for example using V's speech in V for Vendetta as a way to into MacBeth. This strategy is probably common for people that are teaching in this area, but for me, as a non-academic, it was a good presentation.

The other CAC panel that really excited me was Comics and Form. I loved Karma Waltonen's (University of California, Davis) presentation on Asterios Polyp. I will re-read it soon, and will have her comments and visual analysis in mind. John Rodzvilla's (Emerson College) presentation on Wally Wood's 22 Panels That Always Work was really thought provoking and I'm sure that I will be seeing Wood's layouts in every comic panel I look at from now on (as it should be). Rounding out this panel was Michael J. Muniz (Liberty University) talking about efforts by comics artist to break through the 4th wall, using film and film theory as a reference  (like this train sequence in the 1931 Joan Crawford film Possessed, below).

There were good panels on writing, notably Barbara Randall Kesel's "how to deal with writer's block" session Where Do Ideas Come From?, Michael Lovitz and Comic Book Law School (my husband Marc will be on one of these panels at SDCC), and all kinds of spotlights on upcoming films, including Guillermo del Toro talking about his new monster epic Pacific Rim (WonderCon trailer).

All this, plus an evening at Disneyland! We did Star Tours (below) and Pirates of the Caribbean, which I hadn't been on since sometime in the 1980's. Yay (and thanks Josh & Jessica)!

Comic Arts Conference Wrap-up SDCC 2012

One of the most amazing things about San Diego Comic-Con is that it contains more universes than that bag of marbles at the end of Men in Black.  There are so many different communities getting together that it would be just about impossible to touch on all of them. I’ll never forget the year that I went into a room early to catch a spotlight on J J Sedelmaier, and found myself in the middle of the Klingon Lifestyle Presentation, an annual drama featuring the crew of the IKV Stranglehold. It was so cool! And great costumes!

Anyway, not so many costumes at the Comic Arts Conference, the comics scholarship conference that celebrated its 20th anniversary at this year’s convention. The instigators, Peter Coogan and Randy Duncan  (still co-chairs and active participants) were awarded the Inkpot this year in commemoration of this feat.  The CAC room is like a sea of tranquility in the midst of a hurricane of craziness, and I am constantly slipping in & out of the room while the festivities are going on. You never know who you will see; comics professionals, independent scholars you never see anywhere else, professors from around the world, students & young scholars presenting for the first time … it’s a great experience.

The first CAC panel kicked things off with Subaltern Counterculture and Strengths of the Underdog, a group that opened my eyes to all kinds of viewpoints I hadn’t thought of. These included Crisis on Indigenous Earth: Comic Art Indigene Mateo Romero and Antonio Chavarria (Museum of the Indian Arts & Culture); Mexico City as the Field of Signification: Creating a Subaltern Hero in Daniel Munoz’s El Pantera Sam Cannon (U of Texas, Austin); Cyber-Blackness and the Ethics of De-Racialized Characters Kane Anderson (UC Santa Barbara) and Rebel Yell: The Physical and Racial Identity of Storm Ayanna Dozier (Chapman University). This last one, with her discussion of the “bad girl” punk version of Storm, really set me up for the next panel I was going to, CBLDF’s forum on women’s issues in comics.

I caught a number of great presentations on Friday, beginning with a humorous and provocative look at US comics from the Canadian perspective (it’s not all about you, USA) called “So that’s what an angry Canadian sounds like!” Fan Responses to Alpha Flight by Amanda Murphyao (Carleton University). Following her was the Revolution & Reaction panel, kicked off by the always amazing Trina Robbins (Lily Renée, Escape Artist) talking about her recent research on the art and life of Holocaust survivor Lily Renée Wilheim, one of the most successful women cartoonists during World War II and Fiction House's only woman cartoonist to draw covers as well as interior stories.  The rest of the panel was also interesting with a theoretical look at McCay, UM-CHOW: Winsor McCay’s Political Object Relations Eyal Amiran (UC Irvine); Make Way for the Fat Fury: Herbie and the Postwar Consumer Matt Yockey (U of Toledo) and a fascinating look at the comic-book-style evangelical tracts of Jack T. Chick by Cori Knight and Sean Sagan (UC Irvine).

Lily Renee. A great story by Trina Robbins

Following this were two important panels on Kirby. I’m sorry to say that I missed the first one, Jack Kirby and the Auteur Theory of Comics with Arlen Schumer & Randolph Hoppe (Kirby Museum) joined by Kirby scholars John Morrow (The Jack Kirby Collector); Charles Hatfield (Eisner Winner!) and Craig Fischer (Appalachian State University). I am happy to say that the whole thing was caught on video, and has been posted on Comics Journal for your viewing pleasure. Schumer’s article is also included in the current International Journal of Comic Art (Spring 2012), along with a rebuttal by Barry Pearl.

As regular readers of this blog might know, I have long been interested in researching and writing about Jack Kirby’s collages, so the next panel Jack Kirby, Modernism & Abstraction turned out to be one of the most exciting panels I witnessed at the Con. Andrei Molotiu (Indiana University; Abstract Comics Anthology & blog) and Mark Badger (Batman: Jazz, Martian Manhunter) succeeded in tying Kirby’s work not only into works I’ve written about before (Richard Hamilton, Hanna Hoch) but also Modernist masters like Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Kline, Lyubouv Popova and the theories of Clement Greenberg. It might not seem like it works, looking at this tiny picture of a Kline on my blog, but when you see Kirby's vibrant work and these dynamic paintings side by side on a big screen, it's a really strong argument.

Franz Kline (American, 1910-1962). Mahoning, 1956. Oil and paper collage on canvas.
80 x 100 in. (203.2 x 254 cm). Purchase, with funds from the Friends of the
Whitney Museum of American Art. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

© 2009 The Franz Kline Estate/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Saturday brought us a visit from John Lent (publisher of the IJOCA, and more books on international comics than I can name) who came to speak in San Diego as a sort of detour between Malaysia and a conference in South Africa (bet some airline owes him A LOT of miles).  The Pioneers of Comics Scholarship panel, moderated by Randy Duncan (Eisner nominee!), included Lent, David Kunzle (History of the Comics Strip), Vicki Green (The Indian in the Western Comic Book) and Joseph Witek (Comic Books as History, editor of the Conversations series for U of Mississippi Press). It was great to hear the stories of how they all started researching comics, how they overcame discouragement, and where they thought scholarship was going in the future.

Following this was an interesting trio of papers on the ideas of economics, ideology and politics in the writings of Grant Morrison by Marc Singer (Howard University); Jason Tondro (UC Riverside) and Karma Waltonen (UC Davis). Singer’s presentation, Morrison, Incorporated was particularly interesting because he collected together several storylines where Morrison made corporations a villain, or even an actual character, and I thought it was a good commentary on the Occupy movement and the financial crisis we find ourselves in. I also enjoyed Jade Hidle's (UC San Diego) presentation on comics exploring the Vietnamese view of the US/Vietnam War experience. In one of those "only at SDCC" type stories, she's a local girl and long-time Con attendee, there to present for the first time with her Dad in the audience, who finds that the writer/artist she wrote about, Eisner nominee GB Tran, was there and wanted to sit in on the panel, and it was moderated by Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics) who she cited extensively. I was so happy for this girl, and she did a great job.

My husband Marc and I couldn’t help comparing the Pioneers panel with the panel that closed the conference, a presentation of field studies by students that were looking at the culture of comic-con (organized by Matthew J. Smith, Eisner nominee!). Many of them were Con virgins, and it was interesting to hear their responses to fan culture, endless lines, getting into Hall H, mega-marketing, etc.  Stephen Cunningham (U of Central Arkansas) commented that it was the first time he’d ever been to a Con, and the first time he’d ever been to California, and he was shocked how nice people at the Con were in comparison to people attending a Razorbacks game. As I listened to the response from the audience (“oh, you didn’t see this person push me”… “oh, this line was terrible”), I was thinking to myself, “Boy… you people have never been to a Raiders game have you?” People at Comic-Con, with all 120,000 (plus) of us jammed in together do actually try to be mellow and get along. We are all happy to be there, with our peeps, in the one place all of our separate universes collide.

A Raiders fan in the Black Hole. Who knows? Maybe
he comes to SDCC dressed as Skeletor...

San Diego Comic-Con 2012 Photos

Getting caught up from SDCC. Another overwhelming and amazing con. Great panels, friends, announcements, books and toys! More posts to come.

If you can't see this slideshow, click here to see it on Flickr.

Conference - Beyond Dynamic Adaptability

Earlier this week, I attended the Beyond Dynamic Adaptability conference, the second in a series of free events, aimed at helping artists and arts institutions deal with the rapidly changing cultural & economic environment in the US. The conference was sponsored by The San Francisco Foundation, The Wallace Foundation, the San Francisco Arts Commission and Grants for the Arts (The San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund).  It was held at the Marine’s Memorial Club/Hotel on Sutter Street, a classic 1920’s Beaux-Arts hotel that was originally dedicated as a “living memorial” to the U.S. Marines who served in the Pacific during World War II. I was relieved to see that they had refurbished the theatre since the last time I was there, although the leg room in the balcony still reminds me of flying coach (and not in a good way).

Anyway, the theme of this year’s event was adapting to on-line social networking. Museums, symphonies, creators, theatres, small arts organizations, and nearly everyone else involved in the arts is trying to get a handle on how contemporary, plugged in audiences want to participate in the arts, and how they can best communicate with this audience. Financial survival is a big issue, as artists and arts organizations find themselves in a squeeze between reduced arts funding in general, and an audience that isn’t stimulated by the traditional formats arts institutions have relied on for decades. One of the conference participants told the story of talking to a representative of a government grant-giving entity, who said (paraphrase) “You want people to participate in the arts? People are doing everything for themselves now, painting, dancing, singing on street corners. You people should declare victory and go home.”  Not a great message if you’ve dedicated your life to your craft and want to make a living at it. What to do? This theme of inclusion, the expectation of audience participation on some level, has been the theme of almost every arts conference I’ve attended in last three years. This event was particularly interesting because audiences in the SF Bay Area must be about the most plugged in and culturally active community in the country aside from New York.

Although there were many points of interest, I found the opening panel to be the most entertaining and informative. John Killacky (Exec Director, Flynn Center) moderated a panel that included Ben Cameron (Doris Duke Charitable Foundation), Dante Di Loreto (Exec Producer of Glee and American Horror Story), Josephine Ramirez (Program Director, Irvine Foundation), and Nina Simon (Exec Director of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History &; author of Museum 2.0).




Cameron (see his TED session on YouTube, above), really encompassed the goals and challenges discussed throughout the entire event ) asked, “what if the current arts environment is comparable to the religious reformation that happened in the 16th century”? Technological advances like the printing press allowed more people to learn and communicate, and they began to question whether they actually needed a mediated religious experience, many decided that it was possible to talk to God without the Church as a middleman. Cameron sees contemporary arts institutions in the position of the Church, trying to keep their footing as they figure out how best to work with an audience that has endless other options for learning, cultural participation and entertainment.

Di Loreto, probably one of the most sought after producers in Hollywood, commented that he was humbled by his co-presenters, and wasn’t sure why he was invited to participate. He had a good story to tell though, as a huge part of the stupendous success of Glee is driven by fans participating in social media. He told us that when the pilot of Glee aired, no one involved in the production had any idea that fans would begin to post their own videos mimicking the performances and choreography.  Glee was a success, the moderator commented, because the producers decided not to enforce copyright infringement instead of zealous protecting their brand and image, allowing the community to form organically. Apparently, Say a Little Prayer for You was a fan favorite, and Di Loreto showed a fan video by “The Chunky Hunks,” as an example.  He said he was blown away by the enthusiasm of the fans, and hoped that his quirky new show, American Horror Story, could generate the same kind of energy.

He was followed by Ramirez, who was Vice President of Programming and Planning for the Music Center in Los Angeles before coming to the Irvine Foundation.  She presented research the IF had undertaken to understand audience involvement and expectations, from the receptive (spectator) to complete participation (audience as artist) and several variations in-between.  Her chart is really worth a thousand words, you can see it here on the Irvine Foundation site.

The last panelist was Nina Simon, a force of nature that took over the non-descript Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History and made it a model of artist/visitor collaboration. Her advice was both funny and practical. “Tell your staff to get furniture off the street, when your trustees see it, they’ll gasp and give you better furniture” (this information was tweeted by about 20 attendees).  Post-it notes were one of the stars of this conference, as the audience input mechanism of choice. Simon used post-its to get visitor commentary on exhibits, suggestions on improvements, and to find potential volunteers. I haven’t been to this museum in years, I’m going to have to go back there now, and check it out.

The conference included several arts performances. The one that most sticks in my mind was a short playlet by Liz Duffy Adams presented by the Crowded Fire Theatre Company, Talkback, A Play about Talkbacks, in which several actors posing as critical audience members give post-performance feedback to an actor, actress, playwright, director and dramaturge sitting onstage. After a few comments, it becomes clear that the play being discussed is Hamlet. “The cast is too big. It’s too long. Who the Hell is Yorick”? By the end, the critics were demanding a complete rewrite, which the playwright ultimately refused. “He’s not going anywhere with THAT attitude,” the “Director” commented.  Another piece that really exemplified the theme of the day was Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir, 2052 people singing separately yet together through YouTube. I missed “The Art Bar” which had a whole afternoon of performances.

I finished the morning with three short sessions by Alan Brown & Rebecca Ratzkin (WolfBrown); Linda Ronstadt & Eugene Rodriguez (Los Cenzontles); and Jessica Lustig (Artistic Director, YouTube Symphony). Brown and Ratzkin were commissioned to create a report for this event, exploring the bell curve of audience participation from the initial decision to buy a ticket, through the performance and resulting post-performance response. Lustig spoke about how she began the YouTube symphony, the audition process, and the 2011 Grand Finale concert with Michael Tilson Thomas at the Sydney Opera House (embedded below). Ronstadt and Rodriguez spoke about their long collaboration and the importance of passing on cultural traditions.




After lunch (Café de la Presse, yay!), there were breakout panels. I choose one about how to invite audiences into active collaboration. This one was moderated by Nina Simon, and included Rudolf Frieling (SFMoMA); Rene de Guzman (Oakland Museum of California); Jessica Lustig; Sabrina Merlo (Maker Faire); Sean San Jose (Intersection for the Arts/Campo Santo); and Lise Swenson (filmmaker). The thing that was fascinating here was listening to the experiences of such a diverse range of cultural producers with very different problems and solutions. As an arts professional, and as a web designer that specializes in usability, I was intrigued by the issues raised in this conference, loved to hear the war stories of the participants, and most of all, was happy to be exposed to works and artists I was unaware of that are using the new technologies with great results.

Late May in New York!

We love New York! There’s just never enough time. We managed to squeeze in a couple nights of theatre, meals with friends, a comics convention and lots of art!

On our day in the Village, we met our good friend Tom Griscom (see his fab photos here), and saw the stunning Eisner show at MoCCA (through 8/14/11). It was great to see so many of Eisner’s drawings and paintings in real life, set in a context that really helped the viewer (me) to understand and appreciate his life and career. I was impressed anew by Eisner’s line work, sense of composition and his intuitive use of body language to lend an immediate sense of personality to his characters. Also included was a smaller show featuring tributes to Eisner by colleagues and disciples. Kudos to curators Danny Fingeroth and Denis Kitchen for assembling an excellent show (photos here).

The Broken Kilometer, photo by Thomas Kellein

We continued our gallery tour with visits to two long term installations by Walter de Maria, The New York Earth Room and The Broken Kilometer, both supported by the Dia Art Foundation. I can’t describe The Broken Kilometer better than Thomas Kellein did in Tate Magazine on the 30th anniversary of the installation: “'There’s a faint hint of incense. The calm that you sense on entering the gallery is only intensified by the creaking of old floorboards. Outside we have left behind us countless boutiques, passers-by and clamorous restaurants. As soon as we step inside, passing a low wall where there are brochures laid out, the magnificent work greets us. Five hundred gleaming gold-coloured rods, receding into the distance, laid out majestically in a five-sectioned plane. Our gaze roams to and fro, lingering on columns, a double-window on the left wall, a white rope in front of us at knee-height. Do not enter, just look. A devotional image with no figure of Mary, no Joseph and no Lord God. Just pure brass, illuminated by some other sun for our benefit alone, it seems.” We were astonished and sat with it for a while, almost meditating. The Earth Room was also amazing, I won’t spoil it with a description if you haven’t seen it. As we were leaving, Tom said “That’s one great thing about New York, amazing things like this are hidden away in old buildings all over the city, just waiting for someone to discover them.”

The Duchess of Guiche, 1784.
Elizabeth Louise Vigee Le Brun

Also waiting was the Met and its incredible collection. I’ve been so many times, it’s like visiting old friends. Among its many treasures are quite a few works in pastel by Degas, a medium which I feel is greatly undervalued. Pastel is difficult to work with, but the texture and the richness of color can be deeply rewarding. I was pleased to see the special exhibit Pastel Portraits: Images of 18th Century Europe. Included among these was The Duchess of Guiche, 1784, a rare surviving pastel portrait by one of my favorite Neo-Classical artists, Elizabeth Louise Vigee Le Brun. The detail in the eyes, hair, lace and ribbons is stunning, as well as the fact that this fragile painting has remained crisp and unsmeared over all this time.

Thor by Chris Giarrusso

Getting back to comics, we attended the NY Wizard World spring convention. It was held on two floors of the Penn Plaza Pavilion. It reminded us very much of WonderCon about ten years ago, back when it was still in the Marriott’s basement in Oakland.  We enjoyed chatting with Craig Yoe, who was very proud of his Archie history from IDW, and his show Comics Stripped which is still on view at the Museum of Sex over on 5th Avenue. We chatted with Jerry Robinson (The Comics: An Illustrated History of Comic Strip Art), and got this cute “Mini-Thor” sketch from Chris Giarrusso. I also picked up a copy of the graphic novel Aaron and Ahmed: A Love Story from James Romberger (and Jay Cantor with Jose Villarrubia) and a very interesting independent comic about life on Earth as seen through the eyes of Martians called Martian Debut by Antonio Romero. We had a good time, but the space was chaotic and stuffy. The autograph area downstairs was unbearable (no crowd control, tight space).

We rounded the visit out with Broadway debuts by two veteran actors: John Larroquette, who was very funny starring opposite Daniel Radcliffe in the classic How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and Ellen Barkin as part of the tight ensemble cast of The Normal Heart. Both very much deserve their Tony nominations. Honestly, Succeed could have sucked if it came off feeling really dated, but Radcliffe had great energy and was perfectly cast, and we were blown away by the inventive retro design and choreography. Normal Heart, the 1985 AIDS drama by Larry Kramer, was touching, funny and grim all at once. Joe Mantello, Barkin and the rest of the cast all gave powerful performances.

For some reason, all our friends craved Italian on this trip, and we enjoyed meals at Angelo's on 57th, Emporio and Il Corallo Trattoria in the Village, and our personal favorite, Bond 45 in the theatre district. All these places were different as night & day, but all good.

PCA/ACA San Antonio

San Antonio River Walk

The Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association's national conference, in conjunction with the Southwest Texas regional chapter, was held in San Antonio a couple of weeks ago. Hundreds of scholars converged on the San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter for this always amazing convention, with presentations on everything from Tarot Cards and Medieval Literature to Buffy and Twilight (and every imaginable topic in between, the program looks like a phone book!). Comics scholars come out in force at this convention, and between the national conference, and the the fact that the SWTX-PCA has an active comics contingent on their own, there were around a hundred papers on comics and related subjects presented.

panel from Captain
America #125,
May 1970

I was honored to chair a session with a group of excellent presentations. Kerry Soper's Doonesbury Goes to War discussed Trudeau's treatment of BD's war injury, and the way that war and wounded servicepeople are depicted in comics. Brannon Costello's presentation Fascism and Mass Culture in Howard Chaykin's 'Blackhawk' focused on Chaykin's use of motifs and layouts from propaganda posters and advertising. Laura Perna talked about the eerrie nature of Charles Burns' comics in her presentation There Was Something Screwy Going On: Viewing Charles Burns' Comics through the Lens of the Uncanny.  My own paper, Censorship and Super Bodies: the Creative Odyssey of Margaret Harrison, concerned my on-going research on the British artist Margaret Harrison and her life long relationship with the Marvel Comics character Captain America, as a foundation for inquiries about world politics and gender (previous posts).

Aside from hearing many interesting presentations, I enjoyed having some "face time" with my fellow comics scholars, many of whom were previously just names on the Comics Scholars listserve. I enjoyed Randy Duncan's progress report on his research into the Superman: Grounded storyline, Yuri Shakouchi's presention on Beat Culture and Beatniks in MAD Magazine, and Russell Johnson's analysis of fan culture's response to Grant Morrison's Hypercrisis. There was a tea sponsored by the SWTX-PCA that celebrated Jeet Heer and Kent Worcester, authors of the Comics Studies Reader and recipients of the Peter C. Rollins Award.  The special session of the Institute for Korvac Studies was a fun and mystical experience. The PCA national conference always has a good exhibit hall, and as usual I have additions to my already groaning bookshelves. They also have an excellent tradition called "the paper table" where everyone brings 10 copies of their paper, and the papers are sold for a dollar to sponsor student travel to the conference. I always end up with lots of papers, because it's a great way to dip into other areas, and to get more detail on papers of interest (presentations are only 15 minutes).

I had mixed feelings about San Antonio itself, although I probably didn't have enough time there to do justice to such a large city.  The hotel was right next to the Alamo (it's the 175th anniversary) and the River Walk area. I admit, coming from California with our wealth of great Mexican restaurants, I wasn't very impressed with that part, but there's a big variety to be had, and I enjoyed my meals at the Zuni restaurant and the comics section dinner at Luciano's. I did feel a little sorry for people I'd talk with at the hotel that were looking for Vegetarian or Vegan meals, as it seems that San Antonio, at least in a touristy area like the River Walk, isn't real accommodating that way. I did really enjoy the conference though and the staff at the Marriott was unfailingly nice and helpful.  Next year, Boston!

Saturday at WonderCon 2011

View of the exhibit floor above the DC Booth.

WonderCon has grown up. My husband Marc and I started going around 10 years ago when it was in the basement of the Downtown Oakland Marriott, now it truly looks like San Diego Comic Con junior. For the last two years I’ve had a conflict with other conference that I attend regularly and had only been in & out on Sunday afternoons, so the crowd on the exhibit floor Saturday really took me by surprise. Although I have no real statistics on the matter, I saw a lot of bodies around the booths and money changing hands, so I hope all the exhibitors did well this year. Here are some notes on sessions I attended on Saturday:

Over at the Aspen Comics spotlight session, I felt that the company as a whole recovered fairly well from the tragic loss of Michael Turner. Soulfire continues to be one of my favorite fantasy series. One thing I’ve always liked about their books, and hadn’t realized was an conscious company policy, is that they don’t do many crossover books. They feel, rightly I think, that each of their specific books is set in its own world, and there aren’t many ways to bring those worlds together that aren’t really contrived and illogical. Personally, I’ve been suffering from Brightest/Siege/Crisis burn-out, and I wish some other companies thought this way. They also said that they have finally got a solid team working on Fathom, another really interesting and unique title.

Following the Aspen panel was the spotlight session on the legendary writer Marv Wolfman. I thought it was interesting to hear his war stories about projects like Crisis on Infinite Earths, but I really liked hearing him speak about his writing process, how he maintained interest in a book focused on an unsympathetic villain for the long run of Tomb of Dracula, within all the limitations he faced on that series; how he built the “family” relationships between the characters of the New Teen Titans and of the Legion of Superheroes by thinking of them in complimentary and conflicting triangles; the complications of researching his latest non-comics work, Homeland: the Illustrated History of the State of Israel (with Mario Ruiz & William J. Rubin). I thought it was odd that he seemed to talk about everything but Blade, but then, maybe it’s a topic he feels has been discussed enough. It cracked me up when he told us that Marvel hired him because they thought it would be funny to have someone named Wolfman writing horror titles.

As a big animation fan, I really enjoyed the Marvel animation session. Geoff Johns started with a tease of the upcoming Ultimate Spiderman series, which looked really good and continued with a full episode of The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes (trailer here), which featured the birth of Ultron. It rocked, the audience loved it. Next we saw clips from the anime series Marvel is rolling out starting this July on the G4 Network, starting with Iron Man and Wolverine (trailer here, in Japanese), with the X-Men and Blade in the works. I’m looking forward to seeing more of these. Iron Man and Wolverine seemed like a natural fit with the anime style of drawing and editing, especially Wolverine, who has had so many epic story arcs set in Japan.

Godzilla #1, WonderCon Exclusive

I’m really excited about IDW’s relaunch of Godzilla. I was always disappointed that the Godzilla series published by Dark Horse a few years ago never seemed to find an audience (I own several pieces of original art from that series). It sounds like IDW has established a good relationship with Toho, and has been able to license a dozen of the major monsters in the Godzilla universe (Mothra, Rodan, etc). The art, by Phil Hester, Victor Santos and others really captured the scale, mystery, and kookiness of Godzilla.

Otherwise, we bought lots of books. I was happy to find one of current favorite artists, Marko Djurdjevic, sketching completely unnoticed at the Marvel booth. Marc was happy to catch up with Darick Roberson at the Comic Outpost booth and get an original Witchblade cover drawing from him. I’m sorry to miss the Sunday panel organized by Trina Robbins and Jennifer K. Stuller, A Brief Herstory of Gum Shoe Gals, Spy-Fi Sheroes, and Private Dick Chicks, as it grew in response to the somewhat uneven Action Chicks panel at SDCC last year. I hope it went well, and they repeat it in SDCC this summer.

Are all the “Action Chicks” in the music business?

Since getting home from San Diego, I’ve been ruminating on an interesting but ultimately unsatisfying Comic Arts Conference panel I attended called “Where are all the Action Chicks”? Meaning, “Where are all the strong female lead characters in TV, Film and Comics”?

Kramer, Stuller & Misiroglu

The panel seemed promising (and had a huge line for a CAC panel). The moderator Katrina Hill (ActionFlickChick.com, see summary here) was joined writer/scholars Jen Stuller (Ink Stained Amazons) and Gina Misiroglu (Encyclopedia of Women in Popular Culture) who both did a heroic job of summing up the history of female heroes in Film, TV & Comics in ten minutes each. Comics writer Marjorie Liu (Black Widow) and the always insightful J. Michael Stracznski (Thor, Wonder Woman, etc…) were there and had interesting things to say but left early. Rounding out the panel was a bevy of media chicks & actresses including Jill Pantozzi (MTV Splash Page), Adrianne Curry (America’s Top Model, who was dressed in a Princess Leia Slave costume), Cindy Morgan (TRON), and Clare Kramer (Buffy).  Morgan told an interesting story about an on-line campaign to pressure the producers at Disney to include her in the new Tron: Legacy film, but otherwise, this panel seemed to kept circling around the usual litany of complaints with no real substance or suggested solutions.  I didn't disagree with most of what was said, but with all the brains in the room, I hoped for more. The fact that Angelina Jolie, arguably the chief female butt kicker in film these days, was just there the day before promoting Salt went without comment.  I think the public actually enjoys seeing a strong female heroine, but it has to be the right female heroine.  We need to figure out how to keep building on our successes. It will be interesting to see how Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow is handled in the upcoming Avengers film.

2010 The New York Times Co.

One of the panel participants asked “where are the women who could really kick some ass?”  I’ll tell you… have you seen Christina Aguilera lately? An article in Sunday’s New York Times (Pure Gaga: Spectacle Rules by John Caramanica) got me thinking about this.  Here are all these ladies in pop music: they are rich, famous, have athletic bods, wear crazy revealing costumes, and they can dominate an audience (Photo: Lady Gaga, foreground left, and Beyoncé, right, in the "Telephone" video). The point of the article was a compare/contrast between the sincere, singer-songwriter Lilith Fair style performers (not doing well) and the outrageous spectacle of the Lady Gaga generation bad girls.  Maybe the general public wants distraction from their problems instead of introspective confessions?  I don’t know, but if you are looking for women in spandex that look like they could kick some ass, here they are.

JMS & "WW 601 Players"

One comic heroine that is still kicking ass is Wonder Woman, who just got a controversial reboot by DC and J. Michael Stracznski. Although I understand some people’s concerns about the change to her iconic outfit, personally I’m glad to see her wearing clothes that she can actually fight in without her breasts or butt falling out.  It’s funny in a way that Wonder Woman is finally getting to cover up and Lady Gaga and Beyoncé in the photo above are obviously referencing her and not wearing much, but I digress…. I bring this up because I witnessed what must have been a ComiCon first at the JMS spotlight session, a staged reading of a comic book.  Bummed out that Wonder Woman #601 wouldn’t be out in time for SDCC, he brought in 4 voice actors (the "Wonder Woman 601 Players") and had them do a dramatic reading of the characters, while he narrated and the drawn pages were shown on the big screen.  Overall, I like this change. JMS is strong in character development, and I loved his reboot of Thor and his mythological world. I’m not sure how this version of the character will fit within the DC Universe (or if DC will completely screw it up when the next big crossover event comes along), but I’m willing to give WW & JMS a chance (here's another review I agree with).

Photos - San Diego Comic Con 2010

Greenberg on Kirby at SDCC 2010

We're off to ComiCon!  I'm not speaking this year, but husband Marc is doing his annual "state of the Superman case" round-up, plus a summary of the latest doings in the Kirby copyright recapture case.

Thursday, July 22
2:30-3:30 Comics Arts Conference Session #4: Recapturing Copyright for Gold and Silver Age Comic Book Creators— Copyright lawyer Marc Greenberg (Golden Gate University School of Law) covers key developments in the Superman case (Siegel v. DC) and explores the claims filed by the Jack Kirby estate to the rights to the major Marvel Comics characters he created or co-created. Room 26AB

As always, I look forward to meeting colleagues and just geeking out for a few days. Lots of news to come!

Conference Report - AAM 2010 LA

I've just returned from the annual meeting of the American Association of Museums, held this year at the Los Angeles convention center from May 23-26.  I had never been to this conference, and wasn't sure what to expect, especially since I was there representing CAPE (Comic Art Productions and Exhibits), and comics were, I thought, still an obscure genre in the eyes of museum people.

As is the case with most of these things, it's yes or no. Talking to people about underground comix, I got responses that ranged from "wow, that's a hot topic" from someone from the Cooper-Hewitt to a museum director from Houston that practically ran away. The conference started with a well-attended panel on pop culture and how it works in museums, which was fascinating (more about this in a minute).  I was also surprised to see (maybe unconcious) approval of comics/pop culture from the AAM itself when I walked onto the exhibit floor.  The first thing I saw, looking straight ahead at the AAM's own display, was a big banner featuring Green Lantern hanging above it (cell snap to the left). This well known Alex Ross painting was featured on the cover of Museum magazine in 2008 (included an interview with Michael Chabon).

Can't Stop It! Putting Popular Culture to Work for Your Museum wasn't the only panel that dealt with Hollywood and pop culture at the conference, but it was the one that provided the most useful information.  The panelists were from the Experience Music Project (Seattle), the Skirball Center (LA), the V&A (London) and the Rock and Rock Hall of Fame (Cleveland). Victoria Broackes, who had curated a show about the fashions worn by Kylie Minogue for the V&A, and Howard Kramer, curatorial director for the Hall of Fame, both had good advice about how to build a compelling narrative using pop culture material.  They also talked about the public vs critical response (popular with public, some negative criticism) and how to deal with adult material in the context of the display.  Robert Kirschner talked about a comic art show presented at the Skirball last year. Learning from Hollywood was another panel about using interaction and technology to tell a narrative, as explained by a very lively group of panelists representing Disney, ILM and WET Design (great web site, check it out).



There were other great panels on practical matters like strategic thinking, domestic couriers, and the importance of editing in narrative.Overall, I'd say the main thread that ran through the conference is that everyone is aware that things are changing rapidly, and they are scrambling to adapt. At one committee breakfast I attended, every presentation was about how their particular institution was using social media to build relationships with their audience, members and market.

The AAM's Center for the Future of Museums had an all day session brainstorming about the future of museums in California (get their report here).According to a recent mailing, some of the issues discussed included:

• Pop consumerism is driving the oversimplification of real messages—we are becoming a society informed by sound bites
• The withdrawal of the government from many functions promotes “social entrepreneurship” as hybrid profit/nonprofit/governmental collaboratives step to fill the gaps in social services. (education and public schools were a hot topic in this catagory).
• Might we be on the cusp of a potential disruptive moment in nonprofit history—could the government rethink the nature and number of tax exempt institutions?

Many of the participants in the all day workshop also attended a wrap up panel the next day, where it was agreed that these issues will be taken up actively.  What would happen, for example, if public education lost most of its funding and students were only in school a third of the day? How would museums and other educational institutions fill that gap?  What if there was a major earthquake? etc...  

On the exhibit floor, most exhibitors wished for a bigger turnout, and at times looked a little lonely. Still, there were autotronic dinosaurs and lots of displays where I stood in front of them and said "oh, that's who actually does that." I was happy to see that Cinnabar Design and Lexington Design and Fabrication were there.  They started as small non-union scenery shops in the Hollywood area, and I worked for both of them back in the 1980's.  Both companies have moved into exhibit design, in fact Cinnabar designed and built a large section of the California Academy of Sciences.

There were great museum events every night. One of the best was at the Getty Museum, which was lovely because we arrived in Malibu right around sunset.  They had a fabulous exhibition of da Vinci drawings related to his sculptures.  I was particularly thrilled to see his sketches for his (never built in his lifetime) grand equestrian monument, which he intended to be a horse and rider cast in bronze 24 feet high! At the entrance to the gallery, they installed a 24 foot photo of one of his models. It was positioned so you could look at it coming down one of the sweeping stairways from the upstairs galleries and it was an overwhelming sight. Leonardo actually did build a 24 foot clay model, that he presented to his patron, the Duke of Milan, in November 1493.  I can only imagine what they thought!

Outside of this, I joined Michael Dooley for an event celebrating the publication of Fantagraphic's Best American Comics Criticism at Skylight Books. There was a panel moderated by the editor, Ben Schwartz which included critics Brian Doherty & Bob Fiore, and artists Sammy Harkham, and Joe Matt.  It was interesting to hear the wide range of opinion expressed about criticism and it's worth, and the bookstore itself was amazing. I'm surprised I didn't need an extra suitcase!