The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City has announced a day of panels and lectures on Superhero costumes in comics to be held on Sunday, June 22, 2008, from 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. in the museum's Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium. This event is free with museum admission, and is scheduled in conjunction with the Costume Institute's current exhibit,
Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy, curated by Andrew Bolton, Curator, The Costume Institute.
This all-day event of lectures and panel discussions is hosted by Dr. Peter Coogan, Director of The Institute for Comics Studies. It brings together leading international scholars, critics, and designers to discuss the world of costumes and comics. Themes include the appropriation of the uniform, the adaptation of superhero costumes for the screen, the creation of modern mythologies, and the role of the superhero as metaphor in contemporary society.
The schedule includes:
- Peter Coogan, "E Pluribus Unitard: Notes Toward a Theory of Superhero Costuming"
- Writers Panel: Danny Fingeroth (author,
Disguised as Clark Kent), Richard Reynolds (author,
Superheroes: A Modern Mythology), Paul Levitz (President and Publisher, DC Comics)
- Scott Bukatman (Associate Professor, Art and Art History, Stanford University), "The Boys in the Hoods: The Costumed Vigilante as Urban Dandy"
- Costume Designers Panel: Geoff Klock (Assistant Professor, Borough of Manhattan Community College), Adi Granov and Phil Saunders (costume designers,
Iron Man)
- Artists Panel: Alex Ross (comic artist), Stanford Carpenter (Assistant Professor, Visual & Critical Studies, School of the Art Institute of Chicago), Arlen Schumer (comic book art historian, Dynamic Duo Studios)
- Michael Uslan (executive producer,
The Dark Knight), "The Gods of Greece, Rome, and Egypt Still Exist - Only Today They Wear Spandex & Capes!"
For more information and a schedule of events, please consult the online Calendar at www.metmuseum.org.
