The Black Hero's Journey

The Black Hero's Journey opens today, October 15, at the Goldstein Gallery on the sixth floor of the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center at 3420 Walnut Street. It's an exhibition tracing the evolution of Black characters and creators in American comic books, and it's free and open to the public.

Most of us know the big names—Black Panther, Storm, Luke Cage, Miles Morales—but the show goes beyond them to include figures like Lion Man, Nubia, and Static. It looks at the negative stereotypes these characters had to push against and the visionary storytellers who helped them do it. There's a 1940s-era replica newsstand, underground comix, and a look at the Afrofuturism movement, with a specific connection drawn between the X-Men and the Civil Rights Movement. The whole thing is part of a yearlong series of lectures and exhibits by Penn Libraries marking American history and art.

Much of what you'll see comes from the personal collections of the co-curators: the Rev. Charles 'Chaz' Lattimore Howard, University of Pennsylvania's Vice President for Social Equity & Community, and West Philadelphia comic artist Eric Battle. Battle has illustrated for DC and Marvel, and he contributed custom artwork of figures like Paul Robeson, Sadie Alexander, W.E.B. DuBois, and Orrin C. Evans.

If you want to catch the opening night, there's a conversation with Christian Cooper tonight, Thursday, October 15, from 6 PM to 8 PM. After that, the exhibition stays on view through May 27, 2027, open 10 AM to 5 PM daily. Admission is free.