Panel Information: Saturday, March 15th

Over the last few years, graphic novels and comics have moved from the fringes of popular culture to the center. Films like Spider-man and Batman Begins are at the top of the box office, comics artists are getting retrospectives in serious art museums, and books like Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home are cited in “Best of the Year” lists alongside prose novels and scholarly non-fiction. Who is fueling this shift? What is the comic-reading demographic? We’ve all heard the line, “Comics aren’t just for kids anymore,” but are they truly for everyone? Top industry insiders share a discussion about the evolution of the comics audience.

10:30 – 11:45 What's in a Graphic Novel?: Superheroes, Manga, and Independent Comics

In most people’s minds, the word “comics” used to equal “superheroes.” Now, with Japanese manga becoming popular in America, and “independent” or “alternative” comics winning awards, the definition has to expand. What makes a superhero comic a superhero comic? Can an “alternative” graphic novel feature superheroes? Can manga be made in a country other than Japan? This expert panel will explore the characteristics of the three largest genres in comics.

12:00 – 1:15 Writing Autobiography

The aspects of our lives that we consider the most personal are often the things that help others relate to us. Nothing shows this more than the rise of the Graphic Memoir. Giving the creator an unmatched canvas to tell their story, to truly evoke not only the bare essentials of their story, but the textures, sounds, and very landscape, works like American Splendor and Persepolis are proving once again that the personal is universal.

1:15 – 2:15 LUNCH

2:15 – 3:30 Comics: For Kids, Too

When the shift in comics readership came, it caught people by surprise. Even though articles about “graphic novels for adults” are often titled, “Comics: not just for kids anymore!” - the interesting truth is that comics are now read more by adults than by children. This panel brings kid-friendly authors and editors together to talk about the special art of making comics that can capture kids’ imaginations and keep them reading comics for life.

3:45 – 5:00 Webcomics: A Primer

Webcomics offer creators a flexible medium with an 'infinite canvas' - your work doesn't have to fit into the consistent dimensions of a book.  This allows veteran creators to enter a new world of possibility, free of the constraints of page limits. It also, perhaps even more importantly, opens the life of a comics artist to plenty of people who don’t have the connections or artistic training to write for one of the big publishers – but who can draw a funny (or interesting, or beautiful, or angry) comic on the computer once or twice a week, and share their vision with the world!

5:15 – 6:30 How To Get Published: A Comics Publishing Primer

Do you want to write a personal, gripping black-and white memoir? Do you want to write a great superhero script and submit it to your favorite DC editor? Do you just want to get your foot in the door of the industry, and figure it out from there? No matter what genre you work in, you will need to face the age-old problem of getting your work out to the reading public. This panel is here to help answer your questions! The comics industry often works quite differently than the book industry, so you’ll want to know the ins-and-outs up front.

TRACK 2: SO YOU’VE ALWAYS WANTED TO CREATE A GRAPHIC NOVEL

What are the elements of a good story? Critically-acclaimed editor Mark Siegel talks about the heart of storytelling.

10:30 – 11:45 Comic Deconstruction

The experience of reading comics is fundamentally different than that of reading a book. This workshop will examine the basic language of comics, by the deconstruction of a few classics. Then, just to make sure the lesson sticks, you’ll be guided through making your own comic! There are few people in comics more qualified to teach you how to tear a comic down and build it in a new way than Paul Karasik. After studying with Art Spiegelman (author of the classic graphic novel Maus) he worked with Speigelman and Francoise Mouly (The New Yorker) on their avant-garde publication RAW. More recently, his adaptation of Paul Auster’s City of Glass was named one of the best 100 comics of the century by The Comics Journal.

12:00 – 1:15 Place in the Graphic Novel

Because graphic novels and comics encompass both the visual and the verbal, when you write a comic you’re building a world from the ground up. Paying attention to the details in both your writing and your art are just the things that will push your story from being readable to being enthralling. Brian Wood has a special insight into this topic – his series, Local, is a unique 12-issue work focusing on the quirks of a different town each time.

1:15 – 2:15 LUNCH

2:15 – 3:30 Masterpiece Comics: Looking at Literature Through the Cartoon Medium

This slide show explores the intersection of "high art" literature and "low art" comic strips. Through the last century, many cartoonists have adapted classic novels and plays. Sikoryak (whose own work includes adaptations of Dostoyevsky and Emily Brontë) discusses the history of these reinterpretations, with images from over ninety years of comic strips, comic books, and graphic novels.

3:45 – 5:00 The Co-Creation Process: Working With a Writer

One of the unique challenges of being an artist working in comics is that you’ll need to develop a memorable style all your own - and then find a way to balance that style with words of a writer. This panel will help you learn the vocabulary to start a dialogue with a partner. George O’Connor will give you an artist’s-eye view of the fine art of collaboration, how to make an author’s words sing, and how to express yourself within the lines of the author’s story.

5:15 – 6:30 D.I.Y comics and Self Promotion

You don’t have to work at Marvel or DC to be a comics artist. Edwin Vazkez will teach you the art of home-grown comics, from the basics of plotting and storyboarding your book, through printing and binding, and finally to the crucial step of promoting your work to the reading public.

TRACK 3: GRAPHIC NOVELS ON THE SHELVES AND IN THE CLASSROOM

9:00 – 10.15am Graphic Novels in the Academic Library

Graphic Novels are making their way onto the university and college campuses around the country. Find out how various universities are buying, what sort of graphic novels they purchase and how the books are ultimately being used. Find out why these books are important additions for the college campus library.

10:30 – 11.45 am Comics in the Classroom: Promises and Challenges

Like any high-interest material in the classroom, graphic novels bring a host of questions for educators to consider. How do we teach form as well as content? How do we promote intellectual engagement with a medium that students may want to approach only as “entertainment”? A sixth grade language arts and social studies teacher before becoming an Eisner-nominated comics writer, Gutiérrez will provide key concepts and practical strategies for leveraging the richness of graphic novels in K-12 education. Topics covered will include: aligning learning objectives with core curriculum; recognizing opportunities for differentiated instruction; connecting to students’ expressive and generative modes of learning rather just the receptive and analytic; creating lesson plans in social studies, media literacy, and reading intervention.

12:00 – 1:15pm Comics…In A School? Using Graphic Novels to Enhance Student Achievement

Do graphic novels have a place in our nation’s schools? For a long time, the universal answer amongst both teachers and administrators has been a resounding no. But in the last few years, graphic novels and comic books have been gaining support from both teachers and librarians – and it has become evident that they do in fact have a place in our country’s schools. Join this session to discover how graphic novels and comic books can have a positive impact in your school media center.

2:15 -3.30pm Why Anime and Manga Belong in Your Collection

Here is one of the first graphic novels formats that can actually compete with online computer access in your library. Anime and Manga draw new readers to your library but there are some things you need to know when you start building your collection. Get ready for a workshop that will give you great ideas to light the fire under your YA collection.

3.45pm – 5:00pm Dealing with Challenges to Graphic Novels in the Library

Graphic Novels are becoming more and more popular, and becoming an integral part of libraries everywhere in the process. But as well as being one of the most-circulated segments of the library, they're also one of the most frequently challenged segments of the library. What about graphic novels causes them to draw so much critical attention? How can you defend the medium and individual works in it and keep them on the shelves at the library?

5.15 - 6.30pm Graphic Novels for Adults

Comics for kids and teens are being widely accepted in libraries around the US. With the YALSA Great Graphic Novel Committee and a graphic novel receiving a Sibert Honor and the Printz Award, children and teen librarians are realizing that graphic novels should be a part of their collection. But comics for adults are receiving less recognition, with adult comics often shelved in the teen section of the library or simply not acquired. What's out there in the world of adult comics, and why should these comics be part of your library collection?

6:30 – 7:30 CLOSING RECEPTION