Here's how AMS Ph.D. student Andrew Friedenthal will be keeping busy this summer:Aside from teaching the AMS 310 "Introduction to American Studies Course" this summer, focusing on the importance and history of popular culture in US history, I'm going to be attending the annual ground zero for upcoming popular culture - San Diego Comic-Con.  Rather than dressing up as Batman or Iron Man, though, I'll be in a suit and tie, as I'm presenting a part of my dissertation at an academic conference there!  The annual Comics Arts Conference runs congruent to Comic-Con every year, and is the top annual conference for comics studies, since it allows for academics and culture-makers to forge a joint conversation about the history and future of comics and popular culture in general.  I'll probably find time to switch into an Avengers t-shirt, though.