Industry Space and Structures of Power at the San Diego Comic-Con

Making Fandom Work: Industry Space and Structures of Power at the San Diego Comic-Con by Erin Melissa Hanna A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Screen Arts and Cultures) in the University of Michigan 2014 Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor Sheila C. Murphy, Chair Associate Professor Dan Chilcote Herbert Associate Professor Aswin Punathambekar Associate Professor Yeidy M. Rivero Comic-Con Souvenir Book Cover, Dick Giordano, 1981 (Stadler, Mark, ed. 1981 San Diego Comic-Con Souvenir Book. San Diego: San Diego Comic-Con, Inc., 1981.) © Erin Hanna 2014 For Daddy I only have to close my eyes dear And suddenly I’m where you are ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It seems strange, at the end of a process so dependent on intensive research and critical thought, to shift gears and channel something directly from my heart onto the page. Some people talk about their dissertation or book as a labour of love. But if I’m speaking from the heart here, I should confess that most of the time it just felt like a lot of really hard work; hard work that was fueled by the love and generosity of a lot of people, whom I’m incredibly lucky to have in my life. It’s really their love that made my labour possible. I was very fortunate to have an array of fabulous professors and mentors as I worked towards my Bachelors and Masters degrees at York University’s Department of Film. John McCullough and Suzie Young encouraged me to pursue graduate school and their instruction and mentorship spurred my intellectual growth and changed the way I thought about media. I am also indebted Scott Forsythe and the late Robin Wood, who taught me so much at key moments in my early academic career. Finally, I am so fortunate to have had Professor Mike Zryd as a mentor. His patience, thoughtfulness, and incisive feedback made me a better scholar and still serve as a pedagogical model to which I aspire. When I began my PhD at the University of Michigan, the Department of Screen Arts & Cultures was just two years old and, understandably, not without its growing pains. But I arrived with and to a group of individuals who were invigorated and excited about building something great. I’m so proud to have been a part of that and I am equally iii humbled by the support I have received over the past six years. Because this project hinges on my field research at Comic-Con, I can say without a doubt that this dissertation would not have been possible without Screen Arts & Cultures’ Graduate Student Summer Research Grants and Rackham’s Graduate Student Research Grants. This funding also allowed me to seek out and purchase rare Comic-Con ephemera, supplementing the material that I gathered during my visits to two wonderful archives: Michigan State University Library’s Comic Arts Collection and the San Diego History Center’s Shel Dorf Collection. I was fortunate enough to have Randy Scott’s assistance in locating Michigan State’s diverse assortment of Comic-Con materials and I am similarly indebted to Jane Kenealy and the wonderful staff at the San Diego History Center, for their help and hospitality during my visits. Finally, as a participant in the 2013 Sweetland/Rackham Dissertation Writing Institute, I received financial and intellectual support at a key stage in my writing process. I would like to thank the members of my writing group, who provided me with an interdisciplinary perspective on this project and the program’s co- director, Paul Barron, who gave me invaluable and encouraging feedback during that time. For the past six years, the Department of Screen Arts & Cultures has been my intellectual home. Thank you to the administrative staff, Marga Schuhwerk-Hample, Mary Lou Chipala, and Mariam Negaran, for going above and beyond every day, and a special thanks to Carrie Moore and Phil Hallman whose warmth, kindness, and constant support really did make this department feel like home. I would also like to thank the numerous Screen Arts faculty members, past and present, who made my time here such an intellectually enriching experience: Gaylyn Studlar, Giorgio Bertellini, Johannes Von iv Moltke, Manishita Dass, Daniel Chamberlain, Candace Moore, Hugh Cohen, Lisa Nakamura, Caryl Flinn, Matthew Solomon, Colin Gunckel, Damon Young, and Markus Nornes. I’d especially like to thank Richard Abel, who provided me with a foundation in historigraphic methods and left an indelible impression on my research. I am also appreciative to Mark Kligerman, for being such an enthusiastic supporter of my work and for always joining me at the front of the buffet line. Sadly, I leave this department having missed out on the chance to work directly with a lot of wonderful scholars and media practitioners, but I am always happy to see their friendly faces in the halls of North Quad. I am forever indebted to my incredible committee members, who have so graciously agreed to join me on this arduous journey: Sheila Murphy, Dan Herbert, Yeidy Rivero, and Aswin Punathambekar. Aswin’s reputation as a brilliant and incisive scholar precedes him and I am very lucky to have him as a cognate member on my committee. When I took Yeidy’s course on television genres, I knew that her incredible intellect and grounded, practical approach would make my work better, and indeed, it has. Dan Herbert has been a constant force propelling my intellectual growth; his enthusiasm and boundless intellectual energy are always invigorating and my work with him has been instrumental in the formation of this project. Finally, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my advisor and dissertation chair, Sheila Murphy, who I am even more grateful to call my friend. Sheila has been my mentor since day one and it was she who first suggested that I explore my research interests by attending Comic-Con. Sheila often speaks of the deep and influential relationship she formed with her own advisor during her graduate school years, and I want her to know that she has come to represent an equally significant presence in my own life. In addition v to the six years she spent encouraging and facilitating my intellectual growth, Sheila provided me with something deserving of much greater value in our field: continual faith in my abilities, emotional support, and heartfelt encouragement. There is always an awkward moment in acknowledgments where one must cross over from the professional to the personal. My colleagues in Screen Arts & Cultures have saved me the trouble by giving me countless hours of solid academic support, irreverent laughter, and genuine friendship. I am extremely grateful to Richard Mwakasege-Minaya, Yuki Nakayama, Josh Morrison, Feroz Hassan, Dimitri Pavlounis, Nathan Koob, and Mike Arnold. I’d especially like to thank Ben Strassfeld for being such a great sounding board and my Gilmore Girls salon-mates, Kayti Lausch and Katy Peplin, for helping to keep me sane in the final months of dissertating. As members of the Graduate Students Association, my colleagues have also been tremendously generous in reading and providing extensive feedback on several of my chapter drafts. I hope I am able to return the favor many times in the future, even if I am no longer an official member of the GSA. It’s not always easy to hold on to old friendships as we move through different stages of our lives. I’ve lost track of many friends along the way, but am forever appreciative of the ways they enriched my life and made me who I am today. My oldest and closest friends, Melanie Coussens and Carolyn Richter, have always helped me stay grounded in my life outside of academia. Even as we are dispersed across countries and continents, and are subject to the many distractions and demands that accompany our adult lives, I carry with me the deep and abiding belief that we be friends forever. I am grateful to my stepfamily, Barbara, Mike, Cole, Todd, Jenny, William, Andrew, and Nicholas, who have had a profound influence on my life and taught me so vi much about what family is and what it can be. Thanks, also, to my new family Jack and Gae Alilunas, who welcomed me with open arms. I am also lucky to have such great extended family in Ken and Robbin Olive and owe a debt of gratitude to Peggy Olive and Ralph Durand. As fellow academics, I know they understand many of my struggles better than most, and I will never be able to thank them enough for their generosity, which came at a time when it was most needed. My father, Jim Hanna, set me on this path in more ways than one. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of film and popular culture and we spent more weekends than I can count at movie theatres and video stores. He became suddenly ill in May, 2011 and passed away on August 3rd, just days shy of his 69th birthday. His death came at a time of monumental change in my life. I was advancing to candidacy and had finally found the love of my life. He didn’t get a chance to celebrate either of these things with me and while my grief has faded over time, that part never gets easier. The deep irony of all this is that when he was gone, I realized that I had really started this whole process for him more than myself. I know he was always proud of my sister and I, but the sure way to win his overt praise was through concrete achievements and prestige—the kind of thing that naturally accompanies a PhD.

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