Event Panels
Friday | September 29, 2023
Robert Rozema is a professor of English (secondary education) at Grand Valley State University, where he teaches courses on digital media, comics, literature, and teaching methods.
Robert Rozema | 11:30 a.m - Multipurpose Room
Not With but Instead: A New Framework for Freeing the Source-Bound Graphic Adaptation in Secondary Teaching Contexts
Within schools, graphic adaptations have long existed in subjection to their source texts, even as adaptations have proliferated and improved in craft, ingenuity, and ambition. This paper argues that this latest generation of adaptations, exemplified by Renée Nault’s The Handmaid’s Tale (2019), should be freed from their source texts in secondary and post-secondary schools. Simultaneously, they must be liberated from the fidelity standard (Hutcheon, 2013) used to judge their value as teaching tools.
Christopher Moeller has worked on Justice League, Lucifer and Wonder Woman for DC comics as well as many cards for Magic the Gathering. Moeller’s signature creation is the Iron Empires science-fiction universe, comprising painted graphic novels and a role-playing game. He creates boardgames including the just released Burning Banners.
Christopher Moeller | 12:30 p.m - Multipurpose Room
Gaming, Comics and Back Again
Christopher Moeller will share his experiences with world building and storytelling, particularly in as they relate to comics and game design. He will also discuss the importance, in creative work, of enjoying what you do, be it painting, creating graphic novels or card and board games.
John VanFleet has worked on Batman for DC comics, Typhoid Mary for Marvel and The X-Files for Topps Comics. His client also includes book publishers, video game makers, film studios and toy companies with traditional painting and 3D models.
John VanFleet | 1:30 p.m - Multipurpose Room
3D in Comics
John VanFleet will share the evolution of his work from traditional painting to digital sculpting in his comics and illustration. He will shed light on his current process in 3D model making and how it is very much like working on Aurora monster model kits of his childhood–minus the effects of the glue.
A freelance comic book artist known for his diverse storytelling, Scott Hampton has illustrated such iconic properties as Batman, Sandman, Black Widow, Hellraiser, and Star Trek in addition to work on his creator-owned projects such as The Upturned Stone. He recently won an Eisner award for his work on American Gods by Neil Gaiman.
Scott Hampton | 2:30 p.m - Multipurpose Room
Telling Stories with Ink and Paint
Scott Hampton will talk about and share his work from Batman to American Gods in which he will showcase painted, inked and digital techniques. He will give insight into his process but also how certain techniques can facilitate storytelling pacing and reading.
Louisa Tsui is a designer and illustrator operating out of a colorful box in Vancouver, B.C. They create background, set and color work in animation with clients including Atomic Cartoons, Netflix, and Muji Canada. They specialize in Zine creation and publication.
Louisa Tsui | 3:30 p.m - Multipurpose Room
Zines and Self Publishing
Come join Lou Tsui as they talk about self-publishing and their love for zines! They'll discuss their process from starting off small with folding zines to self publishing bounded illustrated books, as well as how to promote your work at local art fairs or online
Julia Kaye is an award-winning cartoonist whose critically acclaimed webcomic Up and Out has garnered hundreds of thousands of readers worldwide. She's best known for her 2018 comic memoir Super Late Bloomer: My Early Days in Transition, which The Beat listed as one of the 100 best comics of the decade. Julia has worked as a story artist in the tv animation industry at major studios and also voiced the character of Snapdragon on High Guardian Spice.
Julia Kaye | 4:30 p.m - Multipurpose Room
Autobiographical Comics: We're All Weird and Complex and Beautiful
Take a journey with Julia Kaye (Super Late Bloomer & My Life In Transition) as she explores different artists' approaches to the genre, her own influences, how she came to start making them herself, her methods, and why it's all way more interesting than you might think.
Saturday | September 30, 2023
Brian W. Parker grew up in Alaska, then Mississippi, and has always been in love with storytelling in every medium. He earned a BFA in graphic design & illustration and an MA in writing & publishing, and now spends his days working in youth publishing through his company, Believe In Wonder, which he co-owns with his wife. He is the author of Crow in the Hollow, You Can Rely on Platypi, and The Wondrous Science.
Brian W. Parker | 11:00 a.m - Multipurpose Room
Things I've Learned On My Way to Wonder
Author, illustrator, and educator Brian W. Parker discusses his work and creative process, as well as the many lessons he's learned along the way to becoming the publisher of twenty books and a staunch advocate for diversity and inclusion in the book industry. The award winning documentary, Believe In Wonder, also chronicles the life and work of the Parker family as they navigate foster/adoption, youth advocacy, and work as professional artists.
This will be a virtual presentation.
Guin Thompson is an illustrator, cartoonist and designer. She is Co-Coordinator of Illustration at Grand Valley State University. Her academic focus is historical women in illustration. She works primarily with sequential narrative, decorative and dimensional illustration. Her client list includes DC Comics, Upper Deck, Image Comics, Boom!/Archaia Comics, and a range of advertising and publication design and illustration. She is co-creator on the graphic novel Beautiful Scars.
Guin Thompson | 12:00 Noon - Multipurpose Room
The Power of Cute: Using Shape Psychology in Comics Character Design
Round and square, jagged and smooth, shapes have a language all their own. Using digital media, Thompson will demonstrate how to create interesting, unique, and above all, cute characters and designs to connect to your audience.
Comfort and Adam are an award-nominated comic creating team. Their acclaimed series The Uniques and Rainbow in the Dark put them on the map, and they also wrote and illustrated The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing Comics (Random House) and Kitty Game (with artist Corinne Roberts).
Comfort and Adam | 1:00 p.m - Multipurpose Room
Let's Make a Villain!
Creating great villains is essential for making great stories – whether you love their every appearance or just love to hate them. Award nominated creators Comfort and Adam lead this seminar in two parts: first, you’ll learn what makes great villains in both writing and in art. Then, Comfort & Adam will invite the audience to participate in creating a new villain which will be designed and drawn live.
David Petersen is the Eisner, Harvey, and NCS award winning artist, writer, and creator of the comic series Mouse Guard. He has also contributed covers for The Muppets, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Dark Crystal, and Usagi Yojimbo.
David Petersen | 2:00 p.m. - Multipurpose Room
Inside the Mouse Guard
Join David Petersen (Mouse Guard) as he shares the process of how he writes and draws his comics, reveals the architectural models he creates, and shows some of the unique merchandise to ever expand the world of Mouse Guard beyond the comic page.
Amy Jacobs is a professor of English at Grand Valley State University, where she teaches courses on genre. She's never met a comic book or horror work she didn't like. Her research interests are how these genre works present lessons on morality and humanity, and she has presented on these ideas at various comic cons, including San Diego Comic Con.
Amy Jacobs | 3:00 p.m. - Multipurpose Room
Heroes and Horrors: Genre-Driven Comics as Guides to Greatness
Amy Jacobs dives into the depths of meaning and morality waiting to be discovered through genre as it appears in comics and graphic novels. Focusing on the horror and superhero genres, audiences can expect to hear about the undead, the underbelly, and the unending importance of the so-called "lowbrow" and "escapist" genres so many of us learn from and love!
Special Guest: Robert Rozema speaking on How to Read Comics.
Mary Ruge is a liaison librarian at Grand Valley State University. Mary has worked in libraries for over a decade, both public and academic. She has spent a large portion of her career talking about comics at different conferences about the benefits of comics, and was awarded a grant from the ALA and the National Endowment for the Humanities to start a zine collection. Mary is most interested in the unique structures of comics, and how they can be applied in other disciplines.
Mary Ruge | 4:00 p.m. - Multipurpose Room
Making Sense of the Fragments: Using Comics Structure to Give Form to Chaotic Text
Playwright Sarah Kane’s final work, 4.48 Psychosis, is a mishmash of literary mediums–poetry, prose, stream-of-consciousness. It’s categorized as a play but it has no named characters, no scene delineation, no stage directions. It’s non-traditional structure can be hard to read and hard to understand, but by applying certain structural elements of comics to the text, structures defined by celebrated comics theorists, Will Eisner and Scott McCloud, a more cohesive storyline is revealed and a new interdisciplinary form can be examined.
Costume Contest | 5:00 p.m. - Multipurpose Room
Time to test out your costumes in plenty of time for Halloween! Prizes and glory given in the following categories:
- Best Youth Closet/Crafter
- Best Adult Closet/Crafter
- Best Group
- Best in Show
- Judges Choices
Sunday | October 1, 2023
Panel Discussions | 11:00 a.m. - Multipurpose Room
The GRAND FINALE! Laker Con Speakers will talk about the state of comics in a round table format.
The presenters will will discuss pressing issues for emerging comics creators including their career trajectories, the state of publishing and self-publishing, and the changing trends in art, media and technology.