Date/Time
Date(s) - 10/15/2026 - 05/27/2027
All Day
Location
The Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center
Categories
Check out the opening of The Black Hero’s Journey, an engaging exhibit tracing the evolution of Black comic book heroes and creators. It will focus on negative stereotypes, as well as protagonists and visionary storytellers. The show will feature Lion Man, Black Panther, Nubia, Storm, and Static. It will examine how comics have portrayed Black communities while highlighting connections to Philadelphia.
Christian Cooper, an Emmy-winning TV host, writer, and editor, will join exhibit co-curator the Rev. Charles “Chaz” Lattimore Howard for a candid conversation about representation in American comics. The exhibit will include items from the personal collections of Howard, University Vice President for Social Equity & Community at the University of Pennsylvania, and West Philly resident and comic artist Eric Battle, who has illustrated iconic characters for DC Comics and Marvel Comics.
The exhibit will showcase a 1940s-era replica newsstand that demonstrates the value of comic and print culture of that era. Underground comix and the Afrofuturism movement will be explored, as well as connections between X-Men and the Civil Rights Movement. The show will examine the creators behind the stories, including exhibit co-curator Battle, who contributed custom artwork of Paul Robeson, Sadie Alexander, W.E.B. DuBois, Orrin C. Evans, and others.
The opening night conversation with Christian Cooper: Free, 6 p.m. EST to 8 p.m. EST. The Black Hero’s Journey will be on view free until May 27, 2027, from 10 a.m. EST to 5 p.m. EST daily. University of Pennsylvania’s campus, The Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center (Goldstein Gallery/ 6th Fl.), 3420 Walnut St. (215) 898-7088 or https://www.library.upenn.edu/exhibits/black-heros-journey