In association with Will Eisner Week, New York City’s Columbia University is hosting Comic New York: A Symposium, on Saturday and Sunday, March 24 and 25. In the Low Library’s Faculty Room, the event is free and open to the public.
The symposium “brings together creators and academics to discuss the intertwined histories of American comics and the town where they were born: New York City. From the role of New York as breeding ground for generations of comics talent to the political, periodical, and alternative nature of the comics themselves, the best NYC has to offer celebrates this unique medium.”
For a keynote, they’ll have “a discussion with Chris Claremont and his long-time editor Louise Simonson, in recognition of Claremont’s recent gift of his complete archives to Columbia’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library” (see this article). The keynote will be Saturday from 4:30 to 6:30PM.
Scheduled panels and participants include:
“New York, Real and Imagined” (Saturday, 10:30-11:30AM) with Kent Worcester, Ariel Schrag, Molly Crabapple, John Romita Sr, John Romita Jr, and Moderator Chris Irving.
“Political New York” (Saturday, 1:30-2:30PM) with Peter Kuper, Denis Kitchen, Sabrina Jones, John Carey, and Moderator David Hajdu.
“Alternative New York” (Saturday, 3-4PM) with Bill Griffith, R Sikoryak, Charles Brownstein, Julia Wertz, and Moderator Gene Kannenberg Jr.
“Periodical New York” (Sunday, 10:30-11:30AM) with Ben Katchor, Irwin Hasen, Emily Flake, Lauren Weinstein, and Moderator Eddy Portnoy.
“New York as Breeding Ground” (Sunday, 1:30-2:30PM) with Al Jaffee, Miss Lasko-Gross, Tracy White, Dean Haspiel, and Moderator Danny Fingeroth.
“Comic New York and the Academy” (Sunday, 3-4PM) with Jonathan W. Gray, Paul Levitz, N.C. Christopher Couch, and Moderator Jeremy Dauber.
Panelist bios are on this page.
The conference is organized by Jeremy Dauber (Director of Columbia’s Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies), Danny Fingeroth (MoCCA’s Senior VP of Education), and Karen Green, (Columbia’s Graphic Novels Librarian). Books will be available for signing and purchase.
Related articles previously published on SFScope:
MoCCA celebrates Will Eisner Week (23 February 2012)