Comics exhibit opens in Special Collections Gallery
From “a galaxy far, far away” and “high on a mountain top in Tennessee” to neighborhood comic book racks and toy stores comes National Obsessions – Twentieth Century Pop Culture, Comics and Cross-promotional Merchandizing – the latest exhibit showcasing materials from The Suzy Covey Comic Book Collection and other related treasures from the Department of Special and Area Studies Collections. The Suzy Covey Comic Book Collection was recently named in memory of Covey, university librarian emerita, and a respected George A. Smathers Libraries colleague who contributed much to the creation and upkeep of this new area of academic study.
This colorful presentation, organized by Department Chair James Cusick and Curator of Popular Culture Collections Jim Liversidge, illustrates how cultural icons make their way into the comics and how characters from the comics became “national obsessions.” The exhibition features promotional tie-ins from the world of Walt Disney Productions (including vintage items from the Davy Crockett marketing phenomenon of the mid-1950s), Peanuts (featuring a display of material spanning the transition from comic strips to theatre and animation to books and toys), Star Wars (when mass marketing became an art form), and the enduring and timeless appeal of Superman and Batman.
The exhibition will run from March 21 through May 31 in the Smathers Library second floor exhibition gallery (9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday). A reception will be held Thursday, April 17 at 2:30 p.m. in the gallery.
A special “sweepstakes competition” featuring exhibit-related prizes will take place in conjunction with the “National Obsessions” display. Details are available in the Exhibit Gallery. The deadline for the Sweepstakes entries is April 11 with prize drawings at the reception on the 17th.
