On my way to New York Comic Con, I saw this wonderful Rosie the Riveter display at the SFO Museum, Harvey Milk Terminal 1. The SFO Museum is the first and only airport museum to be accredited by the American Association of Museums.
I’m talking today with Matt Dunford, one of the organizers of San Diego Comic Fest, a wonderful small convention that is reemerging at a new date and location after struggling to find their footing again after Covid. Everyone I’ve ever talked to who has been to this show says it’s one of their favorites all year, so we are excited about their return.
Kim: Hi Matt! I’m happy to see the return of Comic Fest! I love this show. The guests, programming, and exhibit floor are exceptional for a smaller show, and everyone is so relaxed and open to conversation. It’s at a different time in a new location this year. Could you talk about that?
Matt: The feel of San Diego Comic Fest has always been around a relaxed and intimate atmosphere. One where fans and professionals alike can meet in an environment to have a wonderful weekend getaway. We have upgraded our setting to the Westin Carlsbad Resort & Spa this year. It is a very luxurious spot, and I am in disbelief that we could have San Diego Comic Fest. It is such a beautiful place. It is located in North County San Diego, right next to Legoland and has a stunning ocean view.
Matt Dunford as seen on “Love on the spectrum.”
Kim: You have an impressive group of special guests this year. Please talk about them.
Matt: We always like to shake up the Special Guest list with new creators every year. We want fans to have the chance to meet these icons and learn about their work and as individuals. This year, our Guest of Honor is the legendary Rick Geary. Many people know him as the creator of the San Diego Comic-Con Toucan mascot, but there is so much more to him. He earned an Eisner Award for his work on Gumby and did the Treasure of XX Century Murder graphic novels, MAD, and National Lampoon. I grew up with his work in Disney Adventures. We also have Special Guest Jill Thompson, who was just inducted into the Eisner Hall of Fame. Fans worldwide know her as the creator of Scary Godmother and for working on comics such as Sandman, Beasts of Burden, Wonder Woman, and The Invisibles. I'm looking forward to seeing Special Guest Mark Russell, who I have become such a huge fan of in recent years. His work on comics such as Superman: Space Age, The Flintstones, Not All Robots, Batman: Dark Age and Billionaire Island have all been incredible stories. The thing I like most about San Diego Comic Fest is looking up to these creators as heroes on the show's first day, and by the end, you call them friends.
Kim: I saw Rick Geary at SDCC on the Gumby aniversary panel a few years ago and the entire audience sang the Gumby theme song at the end. It was awesome! It looks like there is a Twilight Zone theme this year. Are you going to decorate?
Matt: This year, we had a tough time deciding on a theme for the show. We were stuck between a giant of science fiction and a giant of cartooning. In the end, we decided that both of their contributions were too important to overshadow each other. For the 2024 San Diego Comic Fest, we are celebrating 100 Years of Rod Serling and 100 Years of Harvey Kurtzman. We will have plenty of decorations around the event to celebrate their work and legacies.
Special Guest and Kurtzman expert Michael Dooley checking out a giant at a previous SDCF.
Kim: I see you have added an educational track with instructions on how to use software to make comics. Who is teaching these sessions?
Matt: We want San Diego Comic Fest to be an opportunity to meet creators and learn from them. So, we offer digital arts workshops to anyone wanting to learn from industry professionals. These workshops offer a variety of classes, including photo editing, creating webcomics, and digital coloring. Some very decorated industry veterans are teaching these classes, including Tony Washington, who recently won an Eisner Award for his work on the All-Negro Comics 75th Anniversary Edition.
Kim: I’m happy to see many panels celebrating Harry Kurtzman, who was a giant in comics and such a huge influence on so many cartoonists.
Matt: I'm thrilled that we get to celebrate 100 years of Harvey Kurtzman. His cartoons redefined how we view satire, and many creators cite him as an inspiration for their work. The world mainly knows him as one of the founding fathers of MAD, but his creative reach spans far beyond the usual gang of idiots. Kurtzman did war comics and science fiction and spent 26 years at Playboy doing “Annie Fanny” cartoons. His styles are always funny, creative and entertaining. There is always something to learn about Harvey Kurtzman's life and career.
Kim: I am sorry to miss the tribute to Trina Robbins, who passed this year in April. I always looked forward to meeting her and Steve for breakfast, and we had many long conversations in the lobby. Trina loved your show, it was one of her favorites. Best of luck with the show Matt, I hope it’s a great success! Here’s a link to all SDCF information: https://www.sdcomicfest.org/
I’ve just returned from the CXC Comics Festival in Columbus, OH, where I presented a tribute to Trina Robbins as part of the academic symposium. The Festival had a lot of great speakers and I was happy to see The Nancy Show, curated by Brian Walker.
Subversive Comics
A Call for Proposals from the Radical History Review
Issue number 155 (May 2026)
Abstract Deadline: July 15, 2024
Co-Edited by Andor Skotnes and Paul Buhle
This RHR issue will explore the recent history of comics—defined broadly as works that combine sequences of visual images, frequently with text, to convey narratives. Comics in this sense have existed in the U.S. and elsewhere for well over a century as independent publications as well as appearing in circulars, newspapers, magazines, pamphlets and other print (and more recently digital) media. During the 1930s, popular audiences for comics grew rapidly, especially among youth, and then grew explosively during the 1940s into the 1950s. The range of subject matter for comics expanded from cartoon characters (often anthropomorphic animals) to human caricatures (sometimes humorous), to “realistic” genres like romance and crime, as well as historically-based situations, and—especially with WWII and is aftermath—war.
Having seemingly secured a firm place in popular culture, something of a shift occurred in comics in the late 1950s, when they came under attack in a number of countries by guardians of morality as a result of the Red Scare of the period and of hysteria over juvenile delinquency. But by the 1960s, shaped by rising social struggle (especially the peace and anti-colonial movements, and in North America, the Black freedom movement)— along with proliferating cultural insurgencies (jazz, rock and roll, the Beats, youth culture, etc.)—a subversive wing of the comics movement emerged that became known as underground or radical comics, and, more recently, alt comics.
This oppositional wing of the comics movement continues to develop to this day in many modalities and forms, expressed in comics that are vehicles for social criticism and graphic journalism; that subvert hegemonic cultural and political norms; that ridicule established hierarchy and power; that pay increasing attention to historical subjects, themes, biographies, and memoirs; that sometimes protest but more often satirize. Simultaneously a new kind of comics—graphic novels and books—rapidly expanded its presence and popularity. This new wing which draws on the political and cultural movements of the recent period in complicated ways, and in turn contributes to them (feminism is a key example), will be the subject of this issue of Radical History Review.
This RHR issue will offer critical perspectives on the field of subversive comics—on its strengths as well as its weaknesses. It will aim to appreciate, understand, but not romanticize. We should add that over the years comics have been features of RHR, and we see this issue in that tradition as further advancing the study of this important aspect of cultural history. This RHR issue will focus on comics in North America, and will encourage contributions on and about comics abroad. And we will encourage contributions from historians and other commentators and from comic artists— both written and drawn, as well as “hybrids” that merge prose and images.
Topics of submissions may involve but are not limited to:
The relationship of comics and comic artists to important democratic social movements: Black, Latinx, and Asian American liberation; feminism, and LGBTQ rights.
The involvement of comics as aspects of various countercultures.
Comics by artists of color, and about communities of color.
Comics by artists in countries outside the United States about Africa. Asia, Europe, or the Americas.
The aesthetics of various types of comics.
Comic art in relationship to other artistic and cultural practices.
Radical History Review publishes material in a wide variety of forms. The editors will consider research articles and extended essays; interviews with comic artists or others in the comics field; “conversations” between scholars and/or activists; brief interventions and commentaries; essays on museum and other public forums; film and book review essays”; annotated course syllabi; and, of course, comics, either as short strips or substantial pieces. Preliminary inquiries may be sent to issue editors: Andor Skotnes (skotna@sage.edu) and Paul Buhle (PaulBuhle@brown.edu).
Procedure for submission of articles:
By July 15, 2024, please submit a 1-2 page abstract summarizing the article you wish to submit to our online journal management system, ScholarOne. To begin with ScholarOne, sign in or create an account at https://mc04.manuscriptcentral.com/dup-rhr. After signing in, select “Author” from the menu up top, and click “Begin Submission” or “Start New Submission.” Upload a Word or PDF document, including any images within the document. After uploading your file, select “Proposal” as the submission type and follow the on-screen instructions. Please write to contactrhr@gmail.com if you encounter any technical difficulties or have any other questions about the process.
By August 15, 2024, authors will be notified whether they should submit a full version of their article for peer review. The due date for completed articles is expected to be in November 2024. Those articles selected for publication after the peer review process will be included in issue 155 of the Radical History Review, scheduled to appear in May 2026.
Abstract Deadline: July 15, 2024
Contact: contactrhr@gmail.com
Raven photo: Hristo Pershev/Shutterstock. All opinions and images shared here are for scholarly purposes.
Kim Munson is a writer, art historian, independent curator, and fine artist based in the San Francisco Bay area. Her publications include the photography book Dual Views: Labor Landmarks of San Francisco, On Reflection: the Art of Margaret Harrison, and several articles about comic art and pop culture.
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