744 ABOUT THE EDITOR AND THE CONTRIBUTORS
J. Gavin Paul is a postdoctoral research fellow and instructor in the Department of
English at Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia.
Joshua Plencner is a doctoral student in the Department of Political Science at the
University of Oregon, where his broad research interests include American political
culture and institutional development. A current ongoing project connects theories of
race and ethnicity, political assimilation, and early superhero comics.
James E. Reibman taught literature and media studies at Lafayette College, Easton,
Pennsylvania. A specialist on law and literature, he has published on legal writings of the
Scottish Enlightenment and on Samuel Johnson and his circle. His most recent lectures
and writings concern the graphic novel, popular culture, 20th-century American intel-
lectual history, the Roman world, and violence in the media. Reibman is the biographer
of Fredric Wertham and is the editor of the forthcoming A Fredric Wertham Reader.
Michael G. Rhode is an independent comics scholar who is editor of the book, Harvey
Pekar: Conversations and a contributing editor to the International Journal of Comic Art.
Brad J. Ricca , PhD teaches English at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland,
Ohio. He has been published in Th e Emily Dickinson Journal , Leviathan , Culture and
Cosmos , and elsewhere. His comics work includes presentations at the Comics Art
Conference and the Popular Culture Association. He wrote a documentary fi lm on
Superman titled Last Son.
Leonard Rifas is the proprietor of EduComics, a part-time educational comic book
company. He teaches courses in Sequential Art at Seattle Central Community Col-
lege. He has an MA and a PhD from the University of Washington’s School of
Communications. He welcomes correspondence pertaining to comics scholarship at
[email protected].
Trina Robbins is an independent scholar, writer, historian, and feminist. An important
cartoonist, Robbins has also written histories of women cartoonists and of superhero-
ines, and is responsible for the rediscovery of pioneer women cartoonists such as Nell
Brinkley and Lily Renee. Her collection of original art by 20th-century women car-
toonists has been exhibited in Germany, Portugal, Austria, Spain, and Japan, as well as
New York and San Francisco.
Mark C. Rogers is professor of communication at Walsh University, North Canton,
Ohio. He has previously written about the media industries for the International Journal
of Comic Art and several books about television.
