Loading…
WonderCon 2026 has ended
Venue: Room 210 clear filter
arrow_back View All Dates
Sunday, March 29
 

11:30am PDT

Comics Arts Conference Session #7: Metaphor and Interpretation
Sunday March 29, 2026 11:30am - 1:00pm PDT
Daniel Ambord explores how the figure of the monstrous CEO centaur Dario Agger in Thor playfully deconstructs the narrative limits of the superhero genre to examine predation and exploitation, institutional structures of money and power, and the very real predators that dwell within them. Elke Defever (Binghamton University) traces how French cartoonist Moebius blends ancient mythic storytelling with 20th-century political tension to create a new kind of speculative visual language, not to escape reality, but to interrogate it. Logan Uber (Once Upon a Time) builds upon McCloud's definition of comics to examine the sequential artistry of illustrated Medieval texts and marginalia as juxtaposed images in sequence.
Sunday March 29, 2026 11:30am - 1:00pm PDT
Room 210

1:00pm PDT

Comics Arts Conference Session #8: Fear and Loathing in Aztlan: Hunter S. Thompson, the Chicano Movement, and Comics
Sunday March 29, 2026 1:00pm - 2:00pm PDT
This panel looks at the continued and intertwined impact of both the writings of Hunter S. Thompson (author of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and other books) and the Chicano Movement (including the Chicano Moratorium against the Vietnam War) on comics. Librarian Xaviera Flores (UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center), cartoonist and producer Lalo Alcaraz (La Cucaracha), and animator Jeaux Janovsky (Orwell: 2+2 = 5) discuss the Chicano art journal Con Safos, the writings and activist work of Oscar Zeta Acosta, the art of Ralph Steadman (illustrator of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and other books), and prints from the East L.A. Art center Self Help Graphics. Moderated by Gustavo Alberto Garcia Vaca (Museum of Modern Art).
Sunday March 29, 2026 1:00pm - 2:00pm PDT
Room 210

2:00pm PDT

Comics Arts Conference Session #9: Representing Identity
Sunday March 29, 2026 2:00pm - 3:30pm PDT
Superhero comics serve as evolving cultural battlegrounds where questions of identity, otherness, race, queerness, disability, and social justice are negotiated and reimagined. Britton Payne (Nickelodeon) uses the Martian Manhunter to explore how superhero secret identities mirror the autistic experience of masking, belonging, and negotiating what it means to be American. Tracing queer themes, Esther Brito Ruiz (American University) examines how American superhero comics have wrestled with—and reshaped—LGBTQ+ identity over time. Focusing on Damian Wayne in The Boy Wonder miniseries, Juan Carlos Fermin (California State University, Fullerton) analyzes how Juni Ba reimagines the Batman mythos through postcolonial and Marxist critique. Mike Bittner (Stanford University) revisits 1990s teen superhero titles to assess how comics of the era tackled hot-button social issues—from LGBTQ+ rights to environmentalism—with varying degrees of insight and misfire.
Sunday March 29, 2026 2:00pm - 3:30pm PDT
Room 210

3:30pm PDT

Art as Stress Relief Instead of Stress
Sunday March 29, 2026 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT
Doing great art is difficult, right? Training in art is supposed to be hard, right? That's why 99 percent of people don't make it, right? Nope, wrong. Does your brain try to find ways away from art instead of into it? We did the opposite as kids. Why not still? Comic book artist Cutter Hays will give you several good tools to restore the fun and delight to your art, even if it's training hard. Loving it is the first, best way to continue doing it and get good. If it's grueling, or you have trouble sticking with it, if you feel it's never good enough, or you come up with excuses to not do it instead of the other way around, you'll want to hear this. You're not alone—many people, even professionals, have this problem, and it's curable. Come with an open mind and leave loving your artwork again.
Sunday March 29, 2026 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT
Room 210
 

Share Modal

Share this link via

Or copy link

Filter sessions
Apply filters to sessions.
Filtered by Date - 
  • 1: Programs
  • 2: Anime
  • 3: Children's Films
  • 4: Games
  • 5: Portfolio Review
  • 6: Autographs
  • D: d4 Tabletop Creative Conference
  • N: New
  • U: Updated
  • X: Cancelled