Robert Loss is an associate professor in the Writing, Literature, and Philosophy Department at Columbus College of Art and Design (CCAD). In addition to teaching courses on fiction writing and American literature, he teaches The Literature of Comics and a team-taught, integrated studio/workshop course titled Comics and Narrative Illustration, both of which he designed. He frequently mentors independent studies in comics-making. Recently he helped design and secure accreditation for CCAD’s new undergraduate major, Comics and Narrative Practice, one of only four undergraduate BFA programs in comics in the United States. The new major launches in Fall 2017.
His interdisciplinary research and criticism regarding comics focuses on the intersections of popular culture, aesthetics, history, and form primarily in postwar and especially postmodern American comics. His writing has been published in The International Journal of Comic Art, The Comics Grid, and The Comics Journal. He has presented relevant papers at the International Comic Arts Forum, the National Conference on Liberal Arts and the Education of Artists at the School for Visual Arts, and the Southeast College Art Conference’s Annual Conference. In 2012 he founded and organized the Mix comics symposium at CCAD, an event which brought together artists and scholars. The symposium continued in 2013. From 2013-2015 he served as a CCAD representative on the programming committee for Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (CXC), a citywide festival founded by Bone creator Jeff Smith.
Currently he is working on a book about the history of a comic book series.
The Comics Reporter reviews Mix 2013 and visits Lit/Comics.
Interview with Spurgeon about Mix 2012.
For a few years he maintained a blog for Lit/Comics. The blog is no longer updated, but you can read Literature in the Gutter here.
Comics Studies Publications
Academic Publications: Comics Studies
“Profluent Lingering, Trauma and Subjectivity in Incognegro.” International Journal of Comic Art.
15.2, Fall 2013. Print. Click here for a PDF.
“Neil Gaiman’s ‘Façade’ and Patronal Feminism”. The Comics Grid. January 16, 2013. Online.
Cultural Criticism, Interviews and Reviews: Comics
“Poetry Comics, Profluent Lingering, and Two Works by Bianca Stone.” The Comics Journal. March 9, 2015. Online.
“Root Hog or Die: a documentary about John Porcellino.” The Comics Journal. October 21, 2014. Online.
“This One Summer by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki.” Heavy Feather Review. July 23, 2014. Online.
“No Man’s Land by Blexbolex”. Heavy Feather Review. December 10, 2013. Online.
“‘Real Basic Reality, Like AAAAAAAAAARGHHHH!’: Notes from Mark Beyer: With/Without
Text”. The Comics Journal. April 25, 2013. Online.
“Fanboy Fury and Authoring Before Watchmen”. PopMatters. August 20, 2012. Online.
“Afflicting the Comfortable: An Interview with Terry Moore”. PopMatters. June 29, 2011. Online.
“Their History, Our History: Hickman’s S.H.I.E.L.D.“. The Panelists. April 7, 2011. (Site defunct.)
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
“The Death of Mike Albergo: Ideology and The ‘Nam” at the International Comic Arts Forum,
November 13, 2014, Columbus, Ohio.
“Crossing Borderlines: Teaching Comics as an Interdisciplinary Art Form” at the National Conference
on Liberal Arts and the Education of Artists, October 29, 2014, School of Visual Arts, New York City, New York.
“Profluent Lingering, Trauma and Subjectivity in Incognegro” at the International Comic Arts
Forum, May 25, 2013, Portland, Oregon.
Panelist, “Comics and Education”; moderator, “Max Ink: 10th Anniversary of Blink“. Small Press
and Comics Expo (SPACE) April 13-14, 2013, Columbus, Ohio.
“Mysterious Villains: Comics, Authorship and Legitimacy” at the Southeast College Art
Conference’s Annual Conference, Oct. 18, 2012, Durham, North Carolina.
“Office Spaces and the Epic Ordinary in American Splendor and Jimmy Corrigan” at Mix 2012
Comics Symposium, Oct. 6, 2012, Columbus College of Art and Design, Columbus, Ohio.
Robert Loss 