C2E2: Listen to Fake Geek Girls, Common Core and more

Indefatigable Jamie Coville recorded the most interesting panels from C2E2—including the one The Beat was on!—for your listening pleasure. He also took 143 pictures.

Listen! and Learn! I’m especially interested in the Fake Geek Girl one as it was packed into a small room with a line of 20 people waiting to get in.

Integrating Comics into the Common Core (48:57, 44.8mb)
Moderating the panel was Josh Elders who is involved with Reading with Pictures.com On the panel was Carol Tilley from University of Illinois and Jim McClain. Josh talked about Reading with Pictures and how it’s purpose is to make graphic novel text books that could be used in class. He showed examples already done, one part by Roger Landridge of Muppets fame. Jim McClain is a math teacher who often heard that GNs could teach any subject except math. Challenge accepted he said.
He produced a comic book at his expense that had a team with math names and type powers and they get into problems that require math to resolve. He was selling the print edition at his booth, but a digital version is on Comixology. The book is called Solution Squad. Carol Tilley talked about her role as a teacher for Librarians trying to expand the use of graphic novels in classrooms and libraries. Questions were asked and answered towards the end of the panel.

Silver Age Trivia Challenge! (45:51, 41.9mb)
Mr. Silver Age Craig Shutt moderates an Silver Age Trivia Challenge between Mark Waid and 5 fans. The fans are:Mike Chary, Jason Fliegel, Mike Sangiacomo, Jim Caldwell and Doug Tonks.The microphone is by the 5 fans so you can hear them deliberate their answers. A mix of Marvel and DC questions were asked about a wide area of topics, from identifying the a villain by their first line if dialogue in a comic to whether a DC story was true, imaginary, a dream or a hoax. Do you know who Sif’s brother is? Who is the first super villain Daredevil fought? Who was the first DC Silver Age Superhero to debut in their own ongoing title? Or What does Superman have to write on the blackboard when he’s called into court? The answers are are revealed along with other brain devouring bits of Silver Age comic trivia. This was conduction on a stange located on the showroom floor, so some background noise is present.

Digital First Comics: The New Trend (56:57, 52.1mb)
On the panel are John D. Roberts co-founder of Comixology, writer Mark Waid, artists Peter Krouse, James Tynnion IV, and Rilley Brown. They talk about the new trend which is comics appearing digitally first, be it for free or for sale, then in print if the creators want to. Waid talked about seeing the print costs of monthly comics while working at Boom! and deciding to sell his print collection and start up Thrillbent, his online comics website. He and the artists talk about doing comics in a landscape format and also using the web’s
technology to change how they tell stories. Particularly they mentioned horror comics can be done better as there are more chances to surprise people. John D. Roberts talked about Comixology’s new indy/self publishers portal where people can submit their own comics to be published on Comixology. They showed a number of books that are already on available for purchase on their site now. Waid also announced that Thrillbent is starting a kids comic section on his site, with the comics being done by the Aw Yeah Comics group (Franco Aureliani,
Art Baltazar, and Marc Hammond).

Comix Chix with Kate Kotler – LIVE (1:00:42, 55.5mb)
Moderated by Katie Kotler, on the panel was artist Amy Reader, Game Developer Jen Aprahamian, editor & blogger Heidi McDonald, blogger Jill Pantozzi, artist Jenny Frison, and actress & entrepreneur Ashley Eckstein. The group first talked about getting into comics and eventually the controversies involving women in comics particularly in fandom and the way women are portrayed in comics and games. A point hit on at the end was the lack information on the demographic of those purchasing their comics. Those within the comic industry mentioned that
their editors have told them they don’t know who is buying their comics today, they only know what sold well recently. The audience also asked questions as well.

I Have No Sewing Machine, but I Must Cosplay! (1:02:44, 57.4mb)
On the panel was Chris Troy (cosplayer), Meryle Idzerda and Lyndsey Cepak (both costume makers). They had talked about not being ashamed about buying or having a costume made for you. They said cosplaying is about having fun and not to let other peoples opinions about the “proper” way to cosplay get in the way of that. They gave lots of advise on where to get costumes or parts of costumes, the pitfalls of buying costumes and places where there are great do it yourself tutorials. They also went into the types of materials to use that look
good, are light and easy to work with. Lyndsay also advised when starting to cosplay to do something simple and progress there (if you want to). She told a horror story of trying to do a full Iron Man costume saying how much time and money she spent on it and eventually had to give up on it. The group also answered questions and gave tips to the cosplayers in the audience.

The CHEW Panel (1:00:58, 55.8mb)
John Layman and Rob Guillory start of the panel by announcing the TV deal is dead, knowing that’s what everybody wants to know. He explained what happened with it and why he thinks Chew won’t be done as a Live Action TV series. They spend the hour answering questions from the audience and explaining what they plan on doing with Chew outside of comics. John goes into how Chew started and the how he ended up hiring Rob to draw it. John revealed when the series is going to end and at least 1 character who will live to the end. The group talked about funny comic industry in jokes that’s within the series. Rob also talks a bit about his history working in the comic industry prior to Chew. The two also answered questions from the audience.

Derf Backderk on My Friend Dahmer (54:03, 49.4mb)
Derf Backderf talked about his Graphic Novel My Friend Dahmer. He explained he was a friend and a fan of Dahmer in high school in the 1970s. He showed lots of pictures of Dahmer back then. He talked about the strange antics that Dahmer in high school that was (then) funny to him and his friends. He also talked about how the media, from the top to the bottom of the respectability scale were leaving messages on his answering machine and were parked outside his home and banging on his door at 6AM to get an interview. Backderf talked also about the history of the book and how he spent 20 years researching the book, from talking to his old high school classmates to going back to his high school and getting into Dahmer’s old house. Derf answered questions from the audience. The last bit of the panel got cut off due to space on the recorder.

Exorcising the Spectore of the Fake Geek Girl: Discussing Geek Culture, Gate-Keeping and Sexism (1:01:30, 56.3mb)
Sponsored by ChicagoNerds.com, Michi Trota, Dawn Xiana Moon, Laura Koroski, Jen DollFace, Erin Tipton and Karlyn Meyer talk
about the supposed fake geek girl and why people are so focused on the topic as of late. The group talks about “Gate Keeping”, the process where other geeks try to determine who can and can’t call themselves a geek. The group had asked the women in the audience how many “geek credentials” questioned and almost all of them raised their hands. They also talked about it not just happening by men to women, but how other women did it too (with one of the panelists admitting having done it in the past). They also went into how really attractive people go through this as well.