The Director of the Institute for Comics Studies
Peter Coogan
Ph.D. American Studies, Michigan State University, 2002
Author: Superhero: The Secret Origin of a Genre (Monkeybrain Books, 2006)
Co-Founder and Co-Chair, Comics Arts Conference
- Maintains contacts with comics publishers, scholars, institutions, and organizations, both American and international, in order to serve as a nexus of communication and contact for comics.
- Attends comicons to promote ICS and keep abreast of the industry through the trade and fan presses, professional blogs, and fan discussion boards.
- Coordinates indexing via the Comics Scholarship Index and keeps current on the literature of the field
- Organizes and chairs the Comics Arts Conference and Comics Arts Symposia.
- Makes information available through communication with the mainstream and comics press and by introducing scholars and others with similar interests to one another.
- Coordinates communication among and joint activities of the various comics museums and study centers, as well as among the various non-profit and professional organizations.
ICS’s board of directors is half academic and half professional. The academic side comprises American and international scholars, and a representative from a scholarly organization or non-profit institution. The professional side comprises creators, publishers, retailers, and distributors.
| Academic | Professional |
| Dr. Henry Jenkins Director, Comparative Media Studies Professor of English Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Danny Fingeroth Write Now! Magazine Creator |
| Dr. Angela Ndalianis Head of Cinema Studies School of Fine Arts, Classics and Archaeology University of Melbourne | Tim Stroup Cold Cut Distribution Distributor |
| Dr. Randy Duncan Professor of Communications Communications Department Henderson State University | Retailer Recruited, awaiting confirmation |
| Dr. Stanford Carpenter Professor of Visual and Critical Studies School of the Art Institute of Chicago | Publisher Recruited, awaiting confirmation |