We have a creative, insightful slate of comics professionals and scholars who are putting on panels and workshops for you to check out, as always.
| 11:00-5:00 | Show Off Your Collection, with Marc Fischer, Christy Knopf, Isiah Lavender III, Rachael Zubal-Ruggieri, and the Punk Zines class of Jiamin Chen, Jay Cronkrite, Alex Milchovich, Present Payne, Wynn Staples, Isabella Stewart, Lily Traub, and Gwendalynn Waiters | Hallway outside of Goldstein |
| 11:00-12:00 | Conlang workshop, with Jordan Chiantelli-Mosebach, Chris Green, and Kiley Jolicoeur | Schine 228 |
| 12:00-1:00 | Geek Creativity, History, and Pedagogy, with Wayne Brown, Kiley Jolicoeur, Jessamyn Neuhaus | Schine 228 |
| 1:00-2:00 | Body Anthology Reflection, with Ella Larson, Normandie Luscher Acevedo, Janna Morton, and Keith Wilson | Schine 228 |
| 2:00-3:00 | Ryan Dunlavey and Fred Van Lente | Schine 228 |
| 3:00-4:00 | Cathy G. Johnson and Nick Sousanis | Schine 228 |
| 4:00-5:00 | Here There Be Monsters, with Meg Healy, Will Scheibel, and Elena Selthun | Schine 228 |
Details on each panel below.
Conlang Workshop
How to start your ConLang: designing a number system
With Jordan Chiantelli-Mosebach, Chris Green, and Kiley Jolicoeur,
Building your own ConLang (Constructed Language) takes a lot of planning, as early choices made about the sounds and word shapes your ConLang will use set the stage for the overall “feel” of the language. These choices also ensure that your ConLang is “natural” and can be used to communicate among the humanoids or other creatures in your ConWorld. Join us to gain insight on some of the key building blocks in ConLang formation. In this workshop, you will choose a sound system for your ConLang and start designing its vocabulary, starting with a number system.
Jordan Chiantelli-Mosebach is a Master’s student in the Linguistics program at Syracuse, concentrating in Linguistic Theory. He researches the historical relationships between languages, with a focus on languages of West Africa, using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Currently, he is working alongside Dr. Green on the underdocumented Jarawan languages of eastern Nigeria, hoping to gain a better understanding of their place within the larger Benue-Congo language family. He has a passion for all aspects of language and loves how Conlanging facilitates explorations of the interactions between different linguistic systems.
Chris Green received his PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University in 2010 and was a faculty research scientist from 2011-2016 at the University of Maryland Center for Advanced Study of Language (CASL). Chris is currently Associate Professor of Linguistics in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics at Syracuse University, having joined SU in 2016. Green is a two-time recipient of NSF research funds, and a 2021 recipient of an NEH fellowship, as well as a recipient of grant funding from the Endangered Language Foundation. He has conducted fieldwork in Mali and Kenya, as well as with African language speakers in disapora populations in the US and Europe. Green’s research specialization is in prosodic phonology, and he has published on phenomena related to syllables, metrical structure, wordhood, and tone. Chris is currently developing a ConLang based on the Hollow Knight videogame series.
Kiley Jolicoeur is the Metadata Strategies Librarian at the Syracuse University Libraries and an adjunct professor in the Library and Information Science program at the Syracuse University School of Information Studies. She holds an MLIS and an MA in Linguistics and Data Science. In her free time, she volunteers as a Tag Wrangler with the Organization of Transformative Works (OTW).
GEEK CREATIVITY, HISTORY, AND PEDAGOGY
A panel by three experts from three areas: a local sci-fi fan and organizer, a librarian and instructor in the iSchool, and a professor in the School of Ed! Moderated by Rachael Zubal-Ruggieri.
Wayne Brown: “The History of Fandom”
We explore the History of Fandom from the first conventions in the late 1930’s to the First costumes also in the 1930’s.
All the things that draw different generations of fans together.
Bio: Wayne Brown is president of the Rochester Fantasy Fans. We are a local science fiction club here in Rochester. We put on Astronomicon which is a science fiction convention in Rochester. I was chairman of the 2024 North American Science Fiction Convention in Buffalo, New York.
I went to my first convention in 1979. It was the Chicago Comic-Con. Back before there were media stars at conventions. It was all about comics. I’m a science fiction fan, comic collector, gamer, and all around fan.
Kiley Jolicoeur: “Transformative Tagging: How a Community of Fandom Enthusiasts Wrangle AO3”
This talk will explore the “Tag Wranglers” of fanfiction repository Archive of Our Own (AO3). The Wranglers are volunteers with the Organization of Transformative Works (OTW), united by their love of fandom and the fan community. Creators posting to the repository use tags to describe their content so other fans can find it. Instead of editing creators’ tags, Wranglers use a transformative process to connect the tags and create controlled metadata. This allows the repository to be searchable, filterable, and fun, connecting fans with the works they want.
Bio: Kiley Jolicoeur is the Metadata Strategies Librarian at the Syracuse University Libraries and an adjunct professor in the Library and Information Science program at the Syracuse University School of Information Studies. She holds an MLIS and an MA in Linguistics and Data Science. In her free time, she volunteers as a Tag Wrangler with the Organization of Transformative Works (OTW).
Jessamyn Neuhaus: “Nerd Out About Teaching”
In this presentation, I discuss ways that nerdy college instructors like me, who are often better at research, reading, and scholarly work than “peopling,” can apply our academic skills and abilities towards acquiring pedagogical content knowledge and effective teaching, whether online or face-to-face. In short, I’ll be inviting you to geek out about teaching and learning! Through the lens of the five pedagogical practices I detail in my 2019 book Geeky Pedagogy: A Guide for Intellectuals, Introverts, and Nerds Who Want to Be Effective Teachers (West Virginia University Press)—awareness, preparation, reflection, support and practice—we’ll explore some proven, sustainable techniques for effective teaching and learning.
Bio: Jessamyn Neuhaus is the Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence (CTLE) and Professor in the School of Education at Syracuse University. A scholar of teaching and learning, Dr. Neuhaus is the author of Geeky Pedagogy: A Guide for Intellectuals, Introverts, and Nerds Who Want to be Effective Teachers and editor of Picture a Professor: Interrupting Biases about Faculty and Increasing Student Learning, both published in the West Virginia University Press series, Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Her 2025 book, Snafu Edu: Teaching and Learning When Things Go Wrong in the College Classroom, was published in the Oklahoma University Press series, Teaching, Engaging, and Thriving in Higher Education. Jessamyn holds a Ph.D. in history and in addition to two historical monographs, has published pedagogical, historical, and cultural studies research in numerous anthologies and journals, and is editor of Teaching History: A Journal of Methods. As a professor of history at SUNY Plattsburgh, she earned the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, and has over twenty years of classroom experience at a range of higher ed institutions, teaching courses on U.S. history, gender studies, history of sexuality, popular culture history, and specialized seminars she created, such as “The Prom: History, Politics, Culture, and Society,” “Food: Culture, Society, Economics, and Politics,” “The Apocalypse in U.S. Popular Culture,” “Zombies in Popular Culture,” and most recently, “Problems with Grades.”
Body Anthology Reflection
“Contributors of Body: An Anthology, a curated collection of comics about the human experience”
The speakers all contributed comics to the graphic novel Body: An Anthology.
Ella Larson is an Illustration MFA candidate at Syracuse University. She likes bizarre animals, kooky humor, fairy tales, wild science, and art that does a little good in the world.
Normandie Luscher Acevedo is a US east coaster, originally from Northern VA, but currently resides in central NY. Normandie is an author and illustrator whose work often depicts slice of life narratives with an interest in unearthing original stories and perspectives with distinctive characters. She is an Assistant Professor at Syracuse University where her current research focuses on sequential narratives, particularly around concepts of trauma and recovery and representation of unique experiences. Her work has been recognized by American Illustration, Creative Quarterly and Applied Arts Illustration Magazine, among others.
Janna Morton is a Baltimore-based artist known for colorful and captivating illustrations, comics, and paintings. Her work explores themes of nature, inclusivity, overlooked beauty, grief, and joy. Discomfort is a comic about struggling to feel positive about one’s body when nothing in the world seems to be built with it in mind. This comic was created traditionally with gouache and mixed media and edited digitally.
Keith Wilson is a second-year MD/MPH student at SUNY Upstate Medical University. He grew up between Colorado and Utah and lives in Syracuse with his wife and son. He loves to doodle during class and enjoys the field of graphic medicine as a bridge between comics, medicine, and the stories that make us human.
Ryan Dunlavey and Fred Van Lente!
They both went to Syracuse University and have now worked as creative partners in making comics for many years. They will be tabling and will also appear together on a panel. Moderated by Frank Cammuso.
Ryan Dunlavey is a freelance illustrator and comic book artist of Action Philosophers, Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K., The Illustrated Weird Al and many more comics and graphic novels. He is an alumni of Syracuse University’s School of Visual Arts (BFA Illustration, ‘93).
Fred Van Lente is the six-time New York Times bestselling writer of such comics as Amazing Spider-Man, Marvel Zombies, Archer and Armstrong, The Future Is ****** and numerous humorous non-fiction comics with artist Ryan Dunlavey, like Action Philosophers and The Comic Book History of Comics. His book Gamemasters: The Comic Book History of Roleplaying Games with artist Tom Fowler recently released to great acclaim. His original graphic novel Cowboys & Aliens was made into the film with Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford.
We’re thrilled to have both of them here together,
Nick Sousanis and Cathy G. Johnson
We will also have Zoom talks with Nick Sousanis, creator of the well-known Unflattening graphic novel, and Cathy G. Johnson, a comic creator, printmaker, and educator. Moderated by Dr. James H. Rolling, Jr.
Cathy G. Johnson (she/they) is an award-winning cartoonist, printmaker, and educator from Providence, Rhode Island, on occupied Wampanoag and Narragansett land. Her published graphic novels include Jeremiah (2015), Gorgeous (2016), and The Breakaways (2019), with her newest book, Fox River Comics Camp, forthcoming from Abrams Fanfare in October 2026. She is a printmaker who regularly exhibits silkscreen prints in juried exhibitions throughout North America. She creates work at Binch Press x Queer.Archive.Work, a cooperative studio centering queer and trans artists. Johnson is also an educator and scholar, teaching workshops throughout New England and courses in the MFA Visual Narrative program at Boston University, Center for Cartoon Studies, and Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). She earned her master’s degree from RISD, where she wrote her thesis on the benefits of teaching comics creation in arts classrooms. Her portfolio is available at http://www.cathygjohn.net, and her education work is documented at http://www.comicarted.com.
Nick Sousanis is an Eisner-winning comics author and an associate professor at San Francisco State University, where he started and runs an interdisciplinary Comics Studies program. He is the author of Unflattening, originally his doctoral dissertation, which he wrote and drew entirely in comics form. Published by Harvard University Press in 2015, Unflattening received the 2016 American Publishers Association Humanities award for Scholarly Excellence and the 2016 Lynd Ward prize for Best Graphic Novel. Sousanis’s comics have appeared in Nature, The Boston Globe, Columbia Magazine, MIT Technology Review, and more. See more at www.spinweaveandcut.com or on Bsky: @nsousanis.bsky.social
Movie Monsters!
“Here There Be Monsters: Sci-Fi Pulps, Legacy IPs, and Neo-Victorian Adaptation,” a panel discussion by faculty and graduate students in the Department of English.
The talks will be:
Meg Healy: “Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and the Growth of a Science-Fiction Film Genre”
Meg Healy (she/her) is an English PhD candidate at Syracuse University, where she studies the relationship between cinematic and literary science fiction. Her dissertation explores the evolution of the sci-fi genre as it is discussed, defined, and redefined by various groups that participate in its production, distribution, and reception.
Will Scheibel: “Van Helsing (2004) and Universal’s Cancelled Monster Franchise”
Will Scheibel (he/him) chairs the Department of English at Syracuse University, where he is Professor of Film & Screen Studies. He is currently writing a book on the monster movies of Universal Pictures and their afterlives in media and popular culture.
Elena Selthun: “You Are The Monster: Adapting Frankenstein as a Bad Dad”
Elena Selthun (they/them) is a fourth-year English PhD candidate at Syracuse University, where they research Gothic ecologies in Victorian literature and their contemporary echoes and adaptations. They are especially interested in monsters, fungi, haunted houses, and decaying empires.
SHOW OFF YOUR COLLECTION!
We’re bringing back our zoom-era Show Off Your Collection feature with a new twist!
Four awesome people (faculty, staff, and artists), and one of our SU classes, will bring one of their collections to the CON to show off and talk about with you.
Isiah Lavender III will bring in his first-issues of Black superheroes in comics. Rachael Zubal-Ruggieri will being in all kinds of X-Men memorabilia, from clothes to toys. Christy Knopf will bring in her DC Scarecrow and Sleepy Hollow collections, with their interesting intersection of horror. And March Fischer will being in some classic MAD magazines. Plus, the Punk Zines class will bring in their collection of (you guessed it!) punk zines.
AND, you are welcome to bring something that you collect to share with the folks at the table as well! Hey, we’re geeks, we collect things and it’s nice to have a place to talk about them with other geeks.
BIOs of our collectors:
Marc Fischer is the administrator of Public Collectors, an initiative he formed in 2007. Public Collectors encourages greater access to marginal cultural materials, and brings the periphery to the foreground. Public Collectors’ work includes the exploratory Library Excavations publications, and Hardcore Architecture—a blog and publication series about where people in punk bands lived. Public Collectors has produced over 100 publications. Fischer is also a member of the group Temporary Services with Brett Bloom (founded in 1998) and a partner in its publishing imprint Half Letter Press (ongoing since 2008). He is based in Chicago. His publications are distributed through www.halfletterpress.com
Christina M. Knopf is a Professor in the Communication and Media Studies Department at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Cortland. She is the author of Politics in the Gutters: American Politicians and Elections in Comic Book Media (2021) and The Comic Art of War: A Critical Study of Military Cartoons, 1805-2014 (2015), along with dozens of critical essays on pop culture and politics, including three on the Scarecrow/Jonathan Crane. She is also completing a book manuscript for the University Press of Mississippi on the Scarecrow. Christina is a series co-editor for the Routledge She Advances in Comics Studies. She holds a PhD from the University at Albany in sociology/communication.
Isiah Lavender III is University Professor at Syracuse University, where he researches and teaches courses in African American literature and science fiction. The author/editor of 7 books and 2 special issues of journals, his forthcoming book Race, Law, and Speculative Fiction: Future Pasts will appear from the University of Pennsylvania Press in May. His current research agenda concerns Afrofuturist tropes, Black characters in comics, and portrayals of the health/wellness industry in SF.
A long-time Syracuse University employee, Rachael A Zubal-Ruggieri has written about and presented on the X-Men comic books, popular culture, and disability rights and identities for many years. Her poetry and prose have been previously published in Wordgathering: A Journal of Disability Poetry and Literature and Stone of Madness Press.
(If you bring something in, consider how much effort it would take to bring it in. Schlepping your 30 longboxes of comics to the CON would be a lot of work! But maybe bringing in your top 3 comics, or your 3 favorite action figures, or your 3 favorite pieces of fanart, would be a good example of the kinds of things you collect and would be a good conversation starter!)
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Past speakers have included A. Andrews (A Quick and Easy Guide to Sex & Disability), Alexandre Tefenkgi (The Good Asian), Atagun Ilhan (Poison Ivy), Ben Marra (Jesusfreak), C. Spike Trotman (Iron Circus Comics), Dani Pendergast (Demon in the Wood), Jeff Trexler (Comic Book Legal Defense Fund), JoAnn Purcell (Comics, Caregiving, and Crip Time), Mady G (A Quick and Easy Guide to Queer and Trans Identities), MariNaomi (Turning Japanese and multiple comics databases), Marcos Chin (Kama Sutra), Marella Moon Albanese (Gorillaz art book), Marie Enger (Death to the Wizard Kings!), Maya McKibbin (The Song That Called Them Home), Natalie Riess (Power Within), Noah Fischer (Occupy Museums), Tyler Boss (What’s the Furthest Place from Here?), and Valentine De Landro (Silver Surfer: Ghost Light).
Geek/Art CONfluence 