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Continuing a tradition established in 2012, CU-Boulder faculty members, students and staff presented at the 2016 and its associated literary conference, . Members of CU-Boulder’s and departments presented on topics such as gender representation in popular media, action figure culture and the racial politics in recent Superman comics.

Denver Comic Con and Literary Conference is a three-day, family-friendly, pop culture fan convention with a scholarly twist. The event features comics, popular sci-fi and fantasy TV shows, movies, Japanese animation, cosplay (costumed role-playing), gaming and panel presentations.

Rick Stevens, an associate professor of media studies, and Christopher Bell, an alumnus of the media studies department, spoke on a panel about the manufacture and collection of action figures, especially the growing market for female action figures. Stevens was also joined by alumna Shannon Sindorf for a panel on superhero gender representation.

Stevens relished the chance to bring a media studies perspective to the comic book community. “One of our goals by coming into that community is to participate, but also to ask questions in a way that have people think about ‘why do you like this?’ ‘Why do you not like that?’ ‘Why does this particular hero speak to you?’”

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Photo: Rick Stevens and his son, Peter, stand in front of the Captain America shield at Denver Comic Con.