James R. Thompson (Duke University), Daniel Barer (Pollak, Vida & Barer), and Alex Grand (Comic Book Historians Group) look at lawyers' impact on comics narratives, such as the forced pantsing of Howard the Duck by Disney, Marvel's cease-and-desist demands on Cerebus and Dave Sim's inclusion and discussion of those demands within the comic, and Gerber and Kirby's Destroyer Duck. These cease-and-desist letters broke the fourth wall in a way that is now unavoidable, given the public awareness of legal machinations due to the weaponization of social media and the internet.
Thursday July 18, 2019 1:00pm - 2:00pm PDT
Room 26AB