The eighty-seventh meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium will be held on Monday, June 2, 2014 at 7:00 PM at Columbia University, Butler Library, Room 523 (map). Free and open to the public.

Presentations by Scott Cunningham and Peter Kuper

Bad For You co-author Scott Cunningham will read the opening comic about America’s comic book censorship and burnings during the late 1940s and 50s, as well as other excerpts from his book with Kevin C. Pyle.

Bad For You: Exposing the War on Fun! It chronicles all things that are supposed to be bad for kids (but really aren’t). And not just the things that modern parents fear like violent video games, social media, and dirty hands. The book takes a historical look at the hysterical horror adults have felt about kids starting back with Plato (yeah, that one) and his worries over the new “technology” from his time: the written word!

Cunningham has worked as both an illustrator and writer (and sometimes even an illustrator/writer), for publications such as Heavy Metal, Mad Magazine, Mad Kids, Nickelodeon Magazine, Archie Comics, and a slew of DC Titles, including Vertigo, Looney Tunes, Scooby-Doo and Cartoon Network Block Party. He currently lives in Brooklyn, NY with his wife, daughter, dog and WAY too many cats.

Speechless: Wordless Comics
Peter Kuper will present a survey of work from Franz Masereel to the present. In conjunction with the release of an new edition of The System, he will be discussing his exploration of wordless storytelling including Spy vs Spy, Sticks and Stones and Eye of the Beholder.
Website: http://www.peterkuper.com