Introducing: Dr. Zack Kruse

Somewhere in time, along the misty mystic shores of Lake Michigan, Dr. Zack Kruse shambles and lurks, sifting through the sands of American subcultures. 

A scholar-maker at the University of Wisconsin Green Bay, Kruse is curious about how the politics and philosophies of the strange and unusual infiltrate our mundane lives. 

His book, Mysterious Travelers, changed the conversation about Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko and the impact of comics on 20th-century American thought and politics. The Eisner Award-nominated book was recognized as one of the best books on comics in 2021 by The Comics Journal. If it’s weird, cast aside, forgotten, or has a lot of heart, Kruse is dragging it out of the fog.

Zack has been working with Ehren Fleschner on the Volunteer subcommittee, signing up and preparing to train the many volunteers required to put on a successful film fest. He is also working with Jon Gollner to manage the film submission process. So far, over 200 films have been submitted for consideration, about half from Wisconsin and the rest from around the country and the world.