ICAF 2019
Conference Schedule
April 4-6, 2019
Rogalski Center​
​​St. Ambrose University
West High Street
Davenport, IA 52803
Thursday, April 4th 

9:00 AM: ICAF Chair's Welcome

9:15 - 10:15 AM: Keynote Address
Introduced by Brittany Tullis, St. Ambrose University
  • Ana Merino, Associate Professor in the Department of Spanish & Portuguese and the Director of the Spanish Creative Writing program at the University of Iowa

10:30 - 11:30 AM: PANEL SESSION 1: Comics Change the World
​Moderated by Qiana Whitted, University of South Carolina
  • “Comics as Counterstorytelling.” Johnathan Flowers, Worcester State University
  • “Beyond University Boundaries: Comics Creation as Civic Engagement.” Leah Misemer, Georgia Institute of Technology
  • “Drawing Scholarship: Producing Comics Without Neglecting Reading Comics.” Robert Watkins, Idaho State University

​11:30 AM - 1:15 PM: LUNCH BREAK 
​1:15 - 2:45 PM: CONCURRENT PANEL SESSION 2
Panel 2a: Bande Dessinee’s Territories
Moderated by Arturo Meijide, St. Ambrose University
​
  • “Tintin and the Invention of Eastern Europe.” Anastasia Ulanowicz, University of Florida
  • “The Portrayal of Black Characters and the Persistence of Colonial Racist Imagery in the French Comic Series Astérix.” Marion Duval, The College of Wooster
  • “Rhythm as Humor or Repetition as Difference: Around Alexandre Fontaine Rousseau and David Desharnais’ Les Premiers Aviateurs.” Mathieu Li-Goyette, University of Montréal
Panel 2b: Outside the Frame
Moderated by Andréa Gilroy, University of Oregon
​
  • “Craftowne: A Case Study in Comics as Installation Art.” Billy Simms, Miami University
  • “Visual Community Organizing: Using Comics to Visualize Conflicting Temporalities Between Intensified Socio-Political Contexts and Inclusive Community Organizing.” Nicolas Vass, University of Leicester
  • “Shapereader, Towards User Diversity in Contemporary Comics.” Ilan Manouach, Aalto University (Helsinki)
3:00 - 4:30 PM: CONCURRENT PANEL SESSION 3
Panel 3a: Reimagining Visual Ideologies
Moderated by Brannon Costello, Louisiana State University
​ ​
  • “This Bear Barks Back!: Recuperating Carl Barks’ Barney Bear Comics through Eco-Animal Studies.” Daniel Yezbick, St. Louis Community College at Wildwood
  • “‘The Fearless Spaceman Spiff, Interplanetary Explorer Extraordinaire’: Dialogic Imagination, Genre Personas, and Visual Semiotics in Calvin and Hobbes.” Justin Wigard, Michigan State University
  • “From Slaves to Immigrants: The Dual Logic of Elephantmen.” Mark Heimermann, Silver Lake College of the Holy Family 
Panel 3b: Trauma, Disaster & Tragedy in the Hispanophone World
Moderated by Osvaldo Oyola, New York University
​
  • “Invisible Children: Identity Loss in Cuerda de presas and Historietas por la identidad.” Marta Aguero Guerra, University of Iowa
  • "The Blackout Generation: The Implications of Chile’s Military Dictatorship on Contemporary Comic Production.” Samuel Cannon, Louisiana State University - Shreveport
4:45 - 5:45 PM: John A. Lent Award Lecture
Introduced by Frank Bramlett, University of Nebraska, Omaha
  • Francesca Lyn, Virginia Commonwealth University, “The Fragmentary Body: Traumatic Configurations in Autobiographical Comics by Women of Color.”
6:00 - 7:15 PM: DINNER BREAK
7:30 - 9:00 PM: Artist Talk: Alberto Ledesma
Introduced by Brittany Tullis, St. Ambrose University
Friday, April 5th
9:00 - 10:30 AM: CONCURRENT PANEL SESSION 4
Panel 4a: South American Comics
Moderated by Brittany Tullis, St. Ambrose University
​
  • “Intertextuality and Iconic Images in Borges, Inspector de Aves, by Lucas Nine.” Tania Pérez Cano, University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth
  • “Comic Books Translated in Brazil: Interfaces Between Latin America and United States Publishing Markets.” Barbara Zocal Da Silva, University of São Paolo
Panel 4b: High Meets Low, Sacred Meets Profane
Moderated by Andy Kunka, University of South Carolina
​
  • “Question of Formats in Italian comics: The Case of Magnus.” Sara Dallavelle, Indiana University
  • “Uncomfortable Intersections: Japanese Erotic (Ero) Manga and Gekiga.” Jon Holt, Portland State University
  • “Christianity and Comics: From E.C. to Vertigo / Hot Stuff to Hellboy / Archie to the Underground.” Blair Davis, DePaul University
10:45 AM - 12:15 PM: CONCURRENT PANEL SESSION 5
Panel 5a: Sound Beyond Narrative Boundaries
Moderated by Joshua Kopin, University of Texas, Austin
​
  • “‘Reoccurring Dreams’: Music and the Elegiac Voice in John Porcellino’s Perfect Example.” Brian Cremins, Harper College
  • “Multi-(verse)ality: The Aural and Visual Simultaneity of Black Embodiment in Emanon.” Meshell Sturgis, University of Washington
Panel 5b: U.S. Chicanx Comics 
Moderated by Ana Merino, University of Iowa 
​
  • “Comics from El Barrio: Chicanx Graphic Narrative in the 1970s.” José Alaniz, University of Washington
  • “Breaking the Mold in HIV Prevention: The Comics of Jaime Cortez.” John Petrus, Grinnell College
  • “Love and Rasquache: The Vulgar Modernism of the Hernandez Brothers.” Corey Creekmur, University of Iowa
12:15 - 1:00 PM: LUNCH BREAK 
1:15 - 2:15 PM: Artist Talk: Marnie Galloway
Introduced by ​Shiamin Kwa, Bryn Mawr College
2:30 - 4:00 PM: CONCURRENT PANEL SESSION 6
Panel 6a: Spanish Comics and Cartoonists
Moderated by Arturo Meijide, St. Ambrose University
​
  • “Negotiating Chinese-Andalusian Identity in Quan Zhou Wu’s Gazpacho Agridulce (Sweet and Sour Gazpacho).” Kathy Korcheck, Central College (Pella, Iowa)
  • “In Between Panels and Across Borders: Comics and Immigration to Catalonia.” Sarah Harris, Bennington College  
  • “Sequential Dynamism and Iconostasis in the Art of Jose Luis García-López.” Robert Campbell, University of North Carolina - Charlotte
Panel 6b: Comics and Comics Scholars in Academia
Moderated by Elizabeth Nijdam, University of Michigan

  • “Graphic ‘Medicine’? Alternatives to the Medical Model of Disability in Comics.” Rachel Kunert-Graf, Antioch University
  • “Ethics & Empathy in Comics: Teaching Visual Representations of Violence Past and Present.” Maite Urcaregui, University of California Santa Barbara
  • “Building a Degree Program in Comics Studies: Contexts and Challenges.” Charles Hatfield, California State University - Northridge
4:15 - 5:15 PM: Event TBA
5:15 - 6:45 PM: DINNER BREAK​
7:00 - 8:00 PM: Artist Talk: Jaime Hernandez
Moderated by Andréa Gilroy​, University of Oregon and Osvaldo Oyola, New York University
Saturday, April 6
9:00 - 10:30 AM: CONCURRENT PANEL SESSION 7
Panel 7a: (Anti-)Colonialism Across Genres
Moderated by Osvaldo Oyola, New York University
​
  • “Drawing an Alternative Archive: Representations of Amerindian History and Experiences in Comics.” Jessica Rutherford, Ohio Wesleyan University
  • “On Panthers, Leopards, and White Racial Innocence.” Joshua Plencner, Union College
  • “Back to Black: Reorienting Colonial Progress Narratives Through Black Panther.” Jeremy Carnes, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Panel 7b: Women and Girls in Comics
Moderated by Elizabeth Nijdam, University of Michigan
​
  • “Charlotte, Amethyst, Misty and Angel Love: Historical Footnotes or Paths Not Taken?” Aaron Kashtan, University of North Carolina - Charlotte
  • “‘Nothing Quite Like Nueva York’: Graphic Puerto Rican Placemaking.” Katrina Martinez, Independent Scholar
  • “‘Even Magical Girls Have to Grow Up’: A Question of Fulfilled Destinies and Overcoming Trauma.” Braeden Jones, University of Iowa
10:45 AM - 12:15 PM: CONCURRENT PANEL SESSION 8
Panel 8a: Space, Gender, Memory
Moderated by Brittany Tullis, St. Ambrose University
​
  • “Hacia Una Voz Protestona: A Voice for Social Justice in Argentina’s Mafalda.” Caleb González, Colorado State University
  • “Spatialized War-Torn Masculinity: The Gendered Space of Baghdad in The Sheriff of Babylon.” Sean Rachel Mardell, Texas State University
  • “The People Upstairs: Vertical Space and Collective Memory in My Favorite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris.” Shiamin Kwa, Bryn Mawr College
Panel 8b: Memory and Identity in Comics About Asian and Asian-American Experience
Moderated by John Lent, Temple University
​
  • “Rendering Family History: Drawing Strategies in Vietnamerica and The Best We Could Do.” Jeanette Roan, California College of the Arts
  • “A Burden of Tales: Memories, Trauma, and Narratorial Legacies Across The Best We Could Do and Munnu.” Debarghya Sanyal, University of Oregon
  • “Photography, Identity, and Refugee Subjectivity in Thi Bui’s The Best We Could Do.” ​Isabelle Martin, University of Illinois at Chicago
12:15 - 1:15 PM: LUNCH BREAK 
1:30 - 2:30 PM: Event TBA
2:45 - 3:45 PM: Artist Talk: Fernando Iglesias "Kohell"
Moderated by Arturo Meijide, St. Ambrose University ​
4:00 - 5:00 PM: Artist Talk: Rob Guillory
​Moderated by Qiana Whitted, University of South Carolina

ICAF 2019 Sponsors & Partners

The 2019 Conference of the International Comic Arts Forum is presented in collaboration with St. Ambrose University, the Baecke Endowment for the Humanities, the Rev. Kokjohn Endowment for Catholic Peace and Justice, ICE CREAM, and the College of Arts and Sciences in conjunction with the 2018-2019 annual theme, Visual Narratives. Additional support comes from the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures and the Department of Women and Gender Studies. Special thanks to Ana Merino for her support of the John Lent Award.
Header Credit: Marnie Galloway