Midwest Popular Culture Association Conference schedule

The popular culture conference I'm presenting at in October just released their programming schedule, which you can view here: http://www.mpcaaca.org/conference/2007index.html

Items of note:

Friday 2:30-4 From Modern to Postmodern in Contemporary Art Comics
“Modernity Versus Postmodernity in Grant Morrison's The Invisibles: ‘Which Side Are You On?’” Terrence Wandtke, Judson College
“Operating Under Different Rules: Automatic Kafka's Experiment in Critical Comics,” Brendan Riley, Columbia College
“Elektra Assassin: Pen and Ink Productions of Postmodern Identity,” Linda Baughman, Christopher Newport University; and Allison Burr-Miller, Colorado State University

Saturday 8:30-10 The Pre-Modern, Modern, and Post-Modern of Comic Book Superheroes
“Plastic Man and the Spirit: Pre-Postmodern Heroes of the Golden Age,” Steve Higgins, Lewis and Clark Community College
“An Orphan Under the Mask: Childhood Loss and the Modern Superhero,” William Bradley, Drew University
“The Ultimate Critique: Neoconservativism, Captain America and Marvel's Ultimates,” J. Richard Stevens, Southern Methodist University
“The Four Rs of Superhero Deconstruction: Retcons, Reimagenings and Reciprocative Rejoinders,” Carleton University

(So the good news is that my presentation looks like it will only be twenty to twenty-five minutes long. But the bad news is that it's at 8:30 in the morning. Oh well, shouldn't be too bad, I guess.)

Saturday 3-4:30 Comic Book Heroes and Postmodern Noir
“Noir and the Postmodern in Chaykin and Tischman's American Century,” Tony Rafalowski, University of Missouri – Columbia
“Postmodern Superheroics of Noir Journalism in Daredevil: Wake Up,” D.T. Kofoed, University of South Dakota
“Bat Mask of Bare Skin: The Noir of Batman in Nine Lives,” Chad Parmenter, University of Missouri – Columbia

Sunday 11:30-1 The Past as Present: Looking at Contemporary Issues in Comics Through an Historical Lens
“The N-Word as ‘Equipment for Living’ (or How Not to Live) in the ‘Return of the King’ Episode of Aaron McGruder’s The Boondocks,” Carlos Morrison, Alabama State University
“Mary Shelley’s Monster and The X-Men’s Magneto: Differently Abled? Yes. Evil? No,” Tracy Schrems, St. Bonaventure University
“The Twentieth-Century Redux: Facing Forward to the Past in Brubaker and Epting’s Captain America,” Paul R. Kohl, Loras College

Apart from the panels mentioned above, I will probably attend the Harry Potter panels on politics Friday afternoon at 4:15, characters at 6 on Friday, education on Saturday morning at 10:15, and Azkaban at 9:45 Sunday morning.

Also I may attend the adaptation panel on Saturday at 4:45 since it's on comic adaptations, but I might skip that instead and leave early that night to see a bit of Kansas City before it's too late. (And there's a good chance I will skip the HP education panel on Saturday too, so I can go out and about during the day as well.)

And I'm definitely sleeping in Sunday morning, because none of those panels look that interesting to me.