Books
Attack of the New B Movies: Essays on SYFY Original Films (2022)
Since its inception in 1992, the Sci-Fi Channel (later rebranded as Syfy) has aired more than 500 network-produced or commissioned films. Campy and prolific, the network churned out one low-budget film after another, finally finding its zenith in the 2013 release of Sharknado. With unpretentious charm and a hearty helping of commodified nostalgia, the Sharknado franchise briefly ruled the cultural consciousness and temporarily transformed Syfy’s original films from cult fringe to appointment television. Naturally, the network followed up with a steady stream of sequels and spin-offs, including Lavalantula and its sequel, 2 Lava 2 Lantula!
This collection of essays is the first to devote critical attention to Syfy’s original film canon, both pre- and post-Sharknado. In addition to unpacking the cultural, historical and critical underpinnings of the monsters at the heart of Syfy’s classic creature features, the contributors offer a variety of approaches to understanding and interrogating these films within the broader contexts of ecocriticism, monster theory, post-9/11 criticism and neocolonialism. Providing a further entry point for future scholarship, an appendix details a thorough filmography of Syfy’s original films from 1992 to 2020.
PUBLICATIONS – PEER-REVIEWED JOURNALS
““Time is Our Only Ally!”: Indigenous Heroism and Native Slipstream in Turok, Son of Stone,” Heroism Science: Vol. 9: Iss. 1, Article 16.
DOI: 10.26736/hs.2024.01.17
“Understanding Peanuts and Schulzian Symmetry: Panel Detection, Caption Detection, and Gag Panels in 17,897 Comic Strips Through Distant Viewing.” Written with Taylor Arnold and Lauren Tilton. Journal of Cultural Analytics, vol. 8, no. 1, Sept. 2023.
“Gamified Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Play: The Jurassic Park Ludo Mix.” Cinergie: Il Cinema e le altre Arti, 12(24), 53–70. 2023.
“Visual Afrofuturism and Dieselfunk in the works of Tim Fielder.” Third Stone Journal vol. 3, 2023.
“Automatic Identification and Classification of Portraits in a Corpus of Historical Photographs.” Written with Taylor Arnold and Lauren Tilton. CEUR Workshop Proceedings. 2022.
“From the Classroom: Critical-Making with Comics in ENG 325 at Michigan State University.”
Written with MSU ENG 325 students Zaria Cannon and Claudia Kramer. ImageText 13.3, 2023. https://imagetextjournal.com/from–the–classroom–critical–making–withcomics–and–graphic–medicine–during–the–covid–19–pandemic/
“Days of Future Past: Why Race Matters in Metadata.” Written with Julian Chambliss, Kate Topham, and Nicole Huff. Genealogy. 6(47): 1-11. 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy6020047
“The Marmaduke Problem: A Case Study of Comics as Linked Open (Meta)data).” Written with Julian Chambliss, Kate Topham, and Nicole Huff. KULA: Knowledge Creation, Dissemination, and Preservation Studies 6 (3):1-8. 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18357/kula.225
“‘The Fearless Spaceman Spiff, Interplanetary Explorer Extraordinaire’: Parodic Imagination and The Pulp Aesthetic in Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes.” INKS: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society 5(2), 2021. **Honorable Mention for the Comics Studies Society Best Article Prize, 2022.**
“‘Once Uploaded, This Cannot Be Undone:’ Osmotic Studios’ Orwell as Dystopian Simulation of Participatory Surveillance.” In Meaningful Play Proceedings 2018, ETC Press. 2019:
“Fiftieth Anniversary Best Essays.” Written with Ann Larabee, Bria Harper, Cameron Clark, Sean Guynes, Emily Yates, and Zack Kruse. The Journal of Popular Culture 50(5): 919928. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpcu.12610
PUBLICATIONS – BOOK CHAPTERS AND ESSAYS
“Ecofuturism in Subnautica.” The Deep: A Companion, edited by Simon Bacon. Peter Lang and Oxford, 2023.
“Pulp Heroism.” In Encyclopedia of Heroism Studies, edited by Scott Allison, James Beggan, and Al Goethals. Springer, 2023.
“Twine as a Digital Community Engagement Tool.” in Making Sense of Digital Humanities: Transformations and Interventions in Technocultures, edited by Julian C. Chambliss and Ellen Moll, MSU Libraries. 2022.
“Kwame Alexander.” In Dictionary Literary Biography 391: Young Adult Novelists, Second Series, edited by Anne Hiebert Alton, Gale. 2022.
“John Rowe Townsend.” In Dictionary Literary Biography 389: Young Adult Novelists, First Series, edited by Anne Hiebert Alton, Gale. 2022.
“Minecraft and Worldbuilding.” In Pop Culture for Beginners, Broadview Press. 2021.
“Black Panther and Afrofuturism.” In Pop Culture for Beginners, Broadview Press. 2021.
“Roll20, Access, and Rhetorical Agency in Digital Game Spaces.” Written with Daniel Lawson. In Roleplaying Games in the Digital Age: Essays on Transmedia Storytelling, Tabletop RPGs and Fandom. McFarland Press. 2021.
“‘Pull Up Your Big-Girl Pants, and Own Your Power’: Feminist Anger and the Working Woman in The CW’s Supergirl.” In Girl of Steel: Essays on Television’s Supergirl and Fourth-Wave Feminism, McFarland Press. 2020.
“Monochromatic Teats, Teeth, And Tentacles: Monstrous Visual Rhetoric in Stephen L. Stern’s Beowulf: The Graphic Novel.” In Monstrous Women in Comics, University Press of Mississippi. 2020.
“Rags to Riches to Murder: Cozy Mysteries and Class in Hallmark’s Garage Sale Mystery Film Series.” Written with Mitch Ploskonka. In The Hallmark Channel: Essays on Faith, Race and Feminism, McFarland Press. 2020.
“Ultimate! Atomic! Buster!: Street Fighter Video Games as Professional Wrestling
Convergence” Written with Ted Troxell. In Convergent Wrestling: Participatory Culture, Transmedia Storytelling, and Intertextuality in the Squared Circle, Routledge. 2019.
“‘Evil Witch! I’m Not Scared!’: Monstrous Visualizations of the Other Mother in Multimodal Adaptations of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline.” In The Artistry of Neil Gaiman: Finding Light in the Shadows, University Press of Mississippi. 2019.
“Is That Real or Is It Just In My Head?” “Both”: Chronotopal Representations of Patriarchal Villainy and the Feminist Antihero in Marvel’s Jessica Jones.” In Jessica Jones, Scarred Superhero: Essays on Gender, Trauma, and Addiction in the Netflix Series, McFarland Press. 2018.
“Guess what I majored in. Hint, not the secretarial arts!”: Sexism, Heroism, and Morality in The CW’s Arrow and DC Comics’ Green Arrow,” Written with Katherine E. Whaley. In Arrow and Superhero Television: Essays on Themes and Characters of the Series, McFarland Press. 2017.
“Harlequin, Nurse, Street Tough: The Visual Evolution from Traditional Harlequin to Sexualized Villain to Subversive Antihero.” The Ascendance of Harley Quinn: Essays on DC’s Enigmatic Villain. McFarland Press. 2017.
“Biographical Sketch of Neil Gaiman.” Critical Insights: Neil Gaiman, Salem House. 2016.
“‘We Have an Obligation to Imagine’ – Critical Reception of the Work of Neil Gaiman.” Written with Kyle Eveleth. Critical Insights: Neil Gaiman, Salem House. 2016.
“Waiting for Wonder Woman: The Problematic History of Comic Book Women and Their Cinematic Doubles.” Written with Katherine E. Whaley. Critical Insights: The American Comic Book, Salem House. 2014.
PUBLICATIONS – Public Scholarship
“Scars Prove You Lived: On Stephen Graham Jones’s ‘The Angel of Indian Lake.’” Los Angeles Review of Books, May 11, 2024.
“The Final Girl Returns Home: On Stephen Graham Jones’s ‘Don’t Fear the Reaper.” Los Angeles Review of Books, March 18, 2023.
“The First Found Footage Horror TTRPG: An Interview with John ‘Hambone’ McGuire and George ‘Geo’ Collazo, Creators of The Devil in New Jersey.” HorrorHomeroom, no. 7, 2023.
“‘They Know It Could Happen To Anyone!’: The Promise Of Nuclear Holocaust And Vaccination Fallout In The Werewolf (1956).” Written with Zack Kruse. Horror Homeroom, no. 6, “Classic Horror.” 2022. https://tinyurl.com/HH6ZKJWwerewolf
“Ludocomics: Play and Interactivity in Comics, Games, and You Are Deadpool (2018)” Vault of Culture. 2021. https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/feature/wigard/youaredeadpool
PUBLICATIONS – BOOK REVIEWS
When Stars Are Scattered by Oma Mohamed, Victoria Jamieson, and Iman Geddy. Graphic Medicine. 2021. https://www.graphicmedicine.org/comic-reviews/when-stars-are-scattered/
Understanding Genres in Comics by Nicholas Labarre. INKS: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society, 5(3), 2021.
Role-Playing Game Studies: A Transmedia Approach. ed. by José P. Zagal and Sebastian Deterding. 2019. Science Fiction Foundation. https://www.sf-foundation.org/wigard
Jurassic Park & Philosophy. ed. by Nicolas Michaud and Jessica Watkins. Extrapolation. 59.1. 2018.
Stephen King’s Modern Macabre: Essays on the Later Works. Eds. Patrick McAleer and Michael A. Perry. The Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, 29.3. 2018.
Adventure Time & Philosophy. Ed. Nicolas Michaud. The Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts. 27.2. 2016
“(Re)Imagining the World: Children’s Literature’s Response to Changing Times. Eds. Yan Wu, Kerry Mallan, and Roderick McGillis.” The Lion & The Unicorn, 38.3. 2014.
“Second Reaction: Academically Adrift in the World—Pedagogical Applications of Ichiro.” First Opinions/Second Reactions. 2013.