Comic Arts Conference @ Wonder Con

on February 4, 2009 in Uncategorized

I just found out that I’m scheduled to speak to speak at 3:00 on Saturday 2/28. If this conflicts with Trina’s Spotlight Session then I might try to switch with someone, but for now here’s the relevant info for anyone who is interested:

3:00-4:00 COMICS ARTS CONFERENCE SESSION #6: SUPERHEROES OF THE BRONZE AGE—Jennifer K. Stuller (www.ink-stainedamazon.com) attempts to reconcile the conundrum of 1970s feminist superheroines like the Valkyrie, Diana Prince, Ms. Marvel, Lois Lane, and The Cat, who presented a superficial image of feminism but continue to serve as symbols of female empowerment in the cultural imagination. Jeff Barbanell (Teenagers from the Future) argues that the “Marvelization” of DC’s Bronze Age was presaged in Jim Shooter’s run on the Legion of Super-Heroes with Shooter’s attempt to infuse his comic book narrative with the Lee and Kirby techniques of group dynamics, hyperrealism and cosmic context, which added a further dimension to Lee and Kirby’s humanization of the comic book superhero. Room 200/212

And a little more detail:

Emmapeelers, Disco Divas, and The Feministas of Justice: A Look at Superwomen in the American 1970s

Taking cue from the Women’s Liberation Movement, superhero stories in the 1970s featured righteous Lady Liberators, Femizons, and Amazons who fought to free women from gender inequity and oppression. But were they really feminist?

Jennifer K. Stuller, author of the forthcoming Ink-Stained Amazons and Cinematic Warriors: Superwomen in Modern Mythology (IB Tauris), explores such contradictory, and often cliché, characters as Valkyrie, Diana Prince, Ms. Marvel, Lois Lane, and The Cat. Though they presented an image of feminism that was superficial at best, they continue to serve as symbols of female empowerment in the cultural imagination—a conundrum Ms. Stuller attempts to reconcile.

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