On behalf of the organizers of the Comics and Popular Arts Conference at DragonCon, I would like to express a profound sense of loss and regret at the news of the passing of Thom Trainor, Director of Dragon Con Comics and Pop Art.

The Comics and Popular Arts Conference would not exist without Thom Trainor. In 2008, as a mere graduate student, our founder Matthew Brown decided to try to reproduce the academic Comics Arts Conference from SDCC at DragonCon. He contacted Thom out of the blue, and he immediately responded favorably to our request and offered us space for three panels. Thom was someone who very early on “got” what we were doing. He helped us thread the needle between retaining our independence as an academic conference and working within the structure of DragonCon, and he opened a lot of doors with other track directors and DragonCon officials. He was one of our greatest supporters.

Thom was also one of the friendliest, most gregarious human beings we’ve ever met. He was always happy to share whatever good fortune he had with you, to introduce you to someone interesting, to help you out with making something great happen. He often made a frustrating situation easier or a dark moment brighter.

Our thoughts are with everyone who Thom meant something to, which we know is a lot of people — friends, fans, creators, and scholars among them.