TERRENCE
WANDTKE
Author · Speaker · Comics & Pop Culture Expert
- Author of many books and articles on comic books and related media
- Speaker on comics and graphic novels as industry, design, art, and culture
- Expert who founded a film festival, curated museum exhibits, edited book series, and taught in higher ed for over 25 years
Where to next?
Jump into a panel
About
Career, research, and the case for comics as culture.
Open → 02Books
Six authored and edited volumes on comics.
Open → 03Speaking Topics
Talks on history, art, genres, and creators.
Open → 04Podcast / Video / Articles
Sequentially Speaking, interviews, and essays.
Open → 05Contact
Speaking inquiries, books, and comics talk.
Open →Nice to meet you
About Terrence
Terrence Wandtke has spent his career in higher education as an advocate of comic book and pop culture studies; of open access to literature and media; and of teaching excellence in educational institutions capable of changing our world.
He currently serves as the Professional Development Specialist at Rock Valley College. He taught literature, film, and comics courses at Judson University where he also served as chair of the Media Studies department. He taught mythology, science fiction, mystery and thriller, and comics courses at East-West University.
He is the author of books such as The Comics Scare Returns: The Resurgence in Contemporary Horror Comics and The Meaning of Superhero Comic Books. He is the editor of collections including Robert Kirkman: Conversations and The Amazing Transforming Superhero.
He founded the Imago Film Festival, edited the Comics Studies Series for the Rochester Institute of Technology, curated exhibits such as Graphic Scenes: The (Re)Visionary Comic Book Art of Mike Mignola, Dean Motter, and Sean Phillips, and has been featured in Marvel Audio podcasts to discuss comics' history and significance.
Long Biography
Terrence Wandtke has spent his career in higher education as an advocate of comic book and popular culture studies; of open access to literature and media for everyone; and of teaching excellence in educational institutions capable of changing our world. He currently serves as the Professional Development Specialist at Rock Valley College where he is also the chair of the PAIC Banned Books Week Committee. He taught literature, film, and comics courses at Judson University where he also served as chair of the Media Studies department. He taught mythology, science fiction, the mystery and thriller, and comics courses at East-West University.
Research Interests
His research interests include the intersection of industry, design, and art in comic books and graphic novels; the complex connections in the history of photography, film, animation, television, video games, and, of course, comic books; and the creative cross-currents of the oral, literary, and visual in digital culture. Most recently, he has been exploring the collision of artistic, corporate, and fan cultures in the production of popular media.
Books and Collections
He is the author of The Comics Scare Returns: The Resurgence in Contemporary Horror Comics, The Dark Night Returns: The Resurgence in Contemporary Crime Comics, and The Meaning of Superhero Comic Books. He is the editor of collections including Robert Kirkman: Conversations, Ed Brubaker: Conversations, and The Amazing Transforming Superhero: Essays on the Revision of Characters in Comic Books, Film, and Television.
Other Accomplishments
He founded the Imago Film Festival at Judson University to explore varied expressions of faith and ethics. He edited the Comics Studies Series for the Rochester Institute of Technology. He served as the area chair of Comics and Comic Art for the Popular Culture Association Conference. He curated several exhibits on comic books including Graphic Scenes: The (Re)Visionary Comic Book Art of Mike Mignola, Dean Motter, and Sean Phillips at Benedictine University. He has been featured on the PBS show The Roundtable Perspective and in Marvel Audio podcasts to discuss comics' history and significance.
Education
He earned his PhD degree in Literature and Media from Saint Louis University and his Master's degree in Education from Truman State University.
The bookshelf
Books
"Regarding Dr. Wandtke's exceptional scholarship, his publication in the field of comics studies is simply unmatched…. His single-authored book, The Dark Night Returns: The Contemporary Resurgence of Crime Comics, for example, is one of the finest I have ever read…. His work is consistently well-written, entertaining, and it analyzes textually their subjects in a way that is both intellectually sound and eminently understandable for the person not formally trained in the field."
Gary Hoppenstand, MSU, author of Popular Culture: The Basics
Click a panel for details, reviews, and where to buy
The Comics Scare Returns
The Contemporary Resurgence in Horror Comics
Open panel → AuthoredThe Dark Night Returns
The Contemporary Resurgence in Crime Comics
Open panel → AuthoredThe Meaning of Superhero Comic Books
Superheroes as modern folk myth
Open panel → EditedRobert Kirkman: Conversations
The creator of The Walking Dead, in his words
Open panel → EditedEd Brubaker: Conversations
Crime and superhero comics, high and low
Open panel → EditedThe Amazing Transforming Superhero!
Essays on the revision of characters
Open panel →The Comics Scare Returns: The Contemporary Resurgence in Horror Comics
Suppressed in the 1950s, horror comics subtly returned to popularity and prominence decades later; Terrence Wandtke details the history and re-shaping of horror comics and their relevance to popular series such as Swamp Thing, Hellboy, and The Walking Dead.
Reviews
"The Comics Scare Returns is a substantial job … the book … manages to produce a continuous and nuanced history of the genre … Wandtke is particularly attentive to the graphic aspects of these productions."
La Breche"This approach to comics scholarship (and comics-making) is fascinating for analyzing horror's role in contemporary scholarship … highly accessible to students and/or independent researchers looking to deepen their understanding of the horror genre in comics."
ImageText
The Dark Night Returns: The Contemporary Resurgence in Crime Comics
Terrence Wandtke traces the history of crime comics from their beginnings to the current resurgence and analyzes the cultural forces that give rise to influential works like Frank Miller's Sin City, Brian Azzarello's 100 Bullets, and Ed Brubaker's Criminal.
Reviews
"[The Dark Night Returns] is full of some of the more careful insights into the genre I've seen … The whole book is a well-written, researched and analyzed effort."
Dean Motter, comic book writer and artist (Mister X)"Without question, Wandtke's text stands as a touchstone for subsequent crime comics scholarship, as well as a call to arms for rigorous, ongoing study into one of the medium's most historically significant genres."
ImageText
The Meaning of Superhero Comic Books
For decades, scholars have been making the connection between the design of the superhero story and the mythology of the ancient folktale. Moving beyond simple comparisons and common explanations, this volume details how the workings of the superhero comics industry and the conventions of the medium have developed a culture like that of traditional epic storytelling.
By revealing how contemporary superhero comics, like Geoff Johns' Green Lantern and Warren Ellis's The Authority, connect traditional aesthetics and postmodern theories, this work explains why the superhero comic book flourishes in the "new traditional" shape of our acutely self-conscious digital age.
Review
"Highly recommended"
Choice
Robert Kirkman: Conversations
Robert Kirkman is best known as the creator of The Walking Dead, the comic book and television adaptation that transformed the zombie horror story from cult curiosity to mainstream popularity and critical acclaim.
Yet Kirkman represents much more than this single comic book. After writing major titles with Marvel comics, Kirkman would publicly advocate for creator ownership as the future of the comics and build his own entertainment company with other titles/properties such as Invincible, a reinvention of the superhero genre that became a boundary-pushing animated series. This collection of interviews gives insight to his journey and explores technique, creativity, collaboration, and the business of comics as a multimedia phenomenon.
Buy the book ▸
Ed Brubaker: Conversations
This collection of interviews explores Ed Brubaker's work in mainstream (Daredevil, Captain America) and independent comic books (Criminal, Fatale), challenging the dividing line between popular entertainment and high art.
Review
"[With] some of the themes that Wandtke has arranged in Ed Brubaker: Conversations … Brubaker as subject proves a worthy and intriguing focus of dialogic exploration. There is much more to explore in these interviews …"
The Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics
The Amazing Transforming Superhero!: Essays on the Revision of Characters in Comic Books, Film and Television
This collection of essays analyzes the many ways in which comic book and film superheroes have been revised or rewritten in response to changes in real-world politics, social mores, and popular culture.
Reviews
"Wandtke provides an interesting classification of the types of superhero revisionism…. This book is a valuable contribution toward understanding the continuing appeal of superheroes in popular culture."
The Journal of Popular Culture"Overall, The Amazing, Transforming Superhero! is an excellent collection. Even as it covers a wide range of superhero-related topics, the diverse voices form a greater whole by giving a broad view of revisionism."
Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture"The introduction and the opening essays are quite strong and effectively balance the scaffolding of scholarly reference with an explication of the stories and subsequent exploration of their more unconscious content…. An interesting academic work."
School Library Journal
Available for your event
Speaking Topics
Terrence Wandtke speaks on the art and design of comic books and graphic novels in relation to history, social issues, and other media. In addition to those described, he speaks on topics designed to suit special events at educational institutions, museums, comic conventions, and media outlets.
Click a panel for sample talks
History & Culture
Cultural history, social issues, and free speech in comics.
See talks → Topic 02Art & Design
Mass production, technology, and comics as art.
See talks → Topic 03Comics Genres
The invention and reinvention of genre storytelling.
See talks → Topic 04Major Creators
The visions and influence of comics' great creators.
See talks →
History & Culture
Sample talks
From the Red Scare to the Comics Scare: Crime, Horror, and Cold War Politics
Purveyors of 1950s high culture accused popular crime and horror comics of causing juvenile delinquency. This lecture explores how Cold War politics led to Congressional hearings, comic book burnings, and the defeat of adult-oriented, culturally critical comics.
Comics discussed: Dick Tracy, Crime Does Not Pay, Crime SuspenStories, The Vault of Horror and Strange Tales (and Fredric Wertham's book Seduction of the Innocent)
The Fight Against Banning Comics: From the Comics Code to the Comics Legal Defense Fund
The Comics Code regulated content in comic books and made them supposedly safe for children. This lecture explores how clever publishers used loopholes, hippie creators invented Comix, and lawyers employed the First Amendment to present and protect sophisticated and subversive comics.
Comics discussed: Mad, Creepy, Zap Comix, Heavy Metal, and Weirdo
Writing About Comics Is Like Dancing About Architecture (and That's Not Bad)
Comics is a visual medium but the ideas unique to the form have been described by scholars almost exclusively with words. This lecture explores how this approach is not wrong per se but an image-rich interdisciplinary approach is needed to understand comics fully.
Comics discussed: Chris Ware's Jimmy Corrigan, Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, & Nick Sousanis' Unflattening
Also: Comics Publishers, Distribution, and Creator Rights: How the Industry Shaped the Art
How the business of comics (publishers, distribution, and the fight over creator rights) shaped the art form itself.
Art & Design
Sample talks
The Visual Narrative of Comics as Mass Culture and Post-Industrial Art
Like many media forms in the 20th century, comics are the product of technology and a phenomenon shaped by mass culture. This lecture explores how comics were unfairly derided as low culture but accurately set at odds with high art to ultimately change definitions of art.
Comics discussed: Will Eisner's A Contract with God, Alan Moore's Watchmen, Neil Gaiman's Violent Cases, and Chris Ware's Jimmy Corrigan
The Connections Between Word and Image in Comics Design Practice
As comics went from a disposable entertainment to a respectable medium, creators and advocates have often insisted on inserting comics into the traditional definitions of art. This lecture explores how comics have evolved at a distance from traditional art and alongside practices associated with design culture: image/text practices associated with technology, mass production, and commerce.
Comics discussed: Jack Kirby's Fourth World stories, Jim Steranko's Nick Fury, Howard Chaykin's American Flagg!, Dave McKean's Cages, and Chris Ware's Building Stories
Comic Book Masters of the Remix: From Imitation to Redefinition
Almost from their inception, comics have made visual references to images from other comic books as well as film, television, and pulp fiction illustration. This lecture explores why many artists have continued this tradition in less imitative and more self-conscious ways: remixing images in an effort to redefine art and take a stand against purveyors of "high culture."
Comics discussed: Dean Motter's Mister X, Mike Mignola's Hellboy, and Sean Phillips' Criminal
Also: Comics at the Crossroads of Multimedia: A Unique Form and a Synthesis
Comics as a crossroads of media, a unique form that synthesizes the visual languages around it.
Comics Genres
Sample talks
Superheroes: The Birth, Rebirth and Constant Reinvention of Cultural Icons: Comics and the Multiverse
Comic book superheroes have long been revised to keep an old product new but, with an approach like that of epic storytelling, superhero comic books have also anticipated our hypertextual love of variants. This lecture explores how superhero comic books have used traditional aesthetics to activate the multiversal sensibility of our self-conscious digital age.
Comics discussed: Geoff Johns' Green Lantern, Warren Ellis's The Authority, and Grant Morrison's Multiversity
Crime and Horror Comics as Cultural Threat and Catalyst for Change
Crime and horror comics almost completely replaced superhero comics in the 1950s with envelope-pushing content and cultural criticism. This lecture explores how these far-from-safe comic stories of the 1950s (and later, 1960s-1970s) embraced black humor and exposed the dark underbelly of the greatest generation.
Comics discussed: EC's Tales from the Crypt, Warren's Creepy magazine, DC's The House of Mystery, and Marvel's The Tomb of Dracula
The Memoir in Comic Books and Graphic Novels: Self-Awareness in Sequential Art
As psychological models of the self-aware mind, the visual narrative of comic books has expanded the conventions of the autobiography and memoir. This lecture explores the move beyond the innovations of the speech bubble, thought balloon, and narrative box to visual depictions of memories, dreams, and the imagination that encapsulate contemporary life.
Comics discussed: Harvey Pekar's American Splendor, Art Spiegelman's Maus, Alison Bechdel's Fun Home, Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, and Thi Bui's The Best We Could Do
Also: Comic Book SciFi and Posthumanism: Rethinking Western Culture
Science fiction comics and the posthuman imagination as a lens for rethinking Western culture.
Major Creators
Sample talks
Will Eisner: From a Contract with Publishers to the Spirit of the Graphic Novel
Due to the genre-defying The Spirit and the unprecedented realism of A Contract with God, Will Eisner has been identified as the father of the graphic novel. This lecture explores his persistent argument for comics respectability through his semi-autobiographical stories of New York tenements, notable experiments with the form, and pioneering works of comics criticism.
Comics discussed: The Spirit, A Contract with God, The Dreamer, and Comics and Sequential Art
The Grim and Gritty Frank Miller: The Reality of Criminal Superheroes
Frank Miller brought crime comics sensibilities to his earliest work with Marvel's Daredevil and forever changed the comics industry with a grim and gritty aesthetic in DC's Batman, Sin City, and 300. This lecture explores his lasting impact on comics art and creator rights as well as the changing appreciation for his work over the years in relation to his evolving style and politics.
Comics discussed: Titles above (and sequels) as well as Ronin, Give Me Liberty, and Holy Terror
Bill Sienkiewicz and Dave McKean: Defying Time and Space in Comics
In the midst of 1980s superhero stories, Bill Sienkiewicz's art in Chris Claremont's New Mutants and Dave McKean's art in Grant Morrison's Arkham Asylum disrupted comics' realistic and representational styles. This lecture explores how their work makes image/text in mainstream comics more experimental, disrupting conventional narratives and paving the way for a more abstract understanding of human experience.
Comics discussed: New Mutants, Elektra: Assassin, and Stray Toasters; Arkham Asylum, The Sandman, and Signal to Noise
Also: More creator spotlights
Jack Kirby: Beyond the Marvel Universe and Beyond Traditional Heroism.
Dean Motter: Retrofuturism and the (Re)Design of Comic Books.
Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips: Putting Pulp Fiction in Respectable Comics.
Robert Kirkman: A Comic Book Storyteller Rethinking the Company Model.
Listen, watch & read
Media & Articles
In addition to books and articles available in print, Terrence has podcast episodes, video interviews, and articles accessible online. He’s very excited about his new podcast project, Sequentially Speaking: Comics Reframed. The first season is coming soon!
Click a panel to access media & articles
Podcast Episodes
The first season of Sequentially Speaking: Comics Reframed is coming soon! The podcast is a conversation between two friends: filmmaker Nate Talan, who is new to comics, and comics scholar Terrence Wandtke, who is … old to comics. Comparing their respective first and second takes on classic comics, they explore comics as art, culture, industry, and obsession.
Video Interviews
Interviews of Terrence Wandtke
- Roundtable Perspective: Robert Kirkman & The Walking Dead2023
- Roundtable Perspective: The History of Comic Books2022
Interview by Terrence Wandtke
Online Articles
Short articles on adaptation
- "Horror, Adventure, and Adaptation: Locke & Key from Comics to Netflix", a three-part conversation with Julia Round 2020, Confessions of an ACA-Fan:
- Fox's X-Men Franchise: "The Other in the Superhero Mainstream and the Future of Franchise on the Fringes of Narrative"2019 · Sequart
- Avengers: Endgame: "The Limitations of the Marvel Superhero Formulae for the Family/Culture in Transition"2019 · Sequart
- Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse: "The Success of the Spider-Verse Narrative of Variants with Digital Age Fans"2018 · Sequart
- Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: "The Problem with Power and Uncertain Heroes as Fan Culture Goes Mainstream"2016 · Sequart
Start the conversation
Contact
Please contact me with inquiries about speaking, questions about my books, and/or thoughts about comics and media.
On X TRWandtke (@TerrenceWandtke)
