Why Comics? From Underground to Everywhere
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Date: September 12, 2019 @ 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Cost: $10
Today Wonder Woman is a globally recognized character and brand. Her character was developed in the Golden Age of Comic Books (c.1930-1950) by William Moulton Marston, a psychologist from Saugus, Massachusetts. In Comics Cavalcade #1, published in December of 1942, Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor foil a group of Nazi saboteurs who seek to destroy The House of the Seven Gables. In the course of the adventure, she uses the secret staircase to surprise her foes. In those early days, the house was more iconic than the hero.
Join comics scholar Hillary Chute for a history of comics, comix, and graphic novels. Learn about the fearless men and women behind the stories and the influence of comics on today’s culture.
After the lecture, join us for a book signing in our Museum Store.
Members: Free
Non-Members: $10.00
To reserve your spot for this lecture please click here; email jarrison@7gables.org, or call 978-306-7003.
This is the sixth lecture in our Seven Lectures at Seven Gables Series. The 2019 exhibit, Pop! Goes The Gables explored how Hawthorne’s novel and our 1668 mansion have influenced pop culture over the centuries. The lecture series complements the many themes explored in that exhibit.
Hillary Chute is an expert on comics and graphic narratives and Distinguished Professor of English and Art + Design at Northeastern University. Her newest book is Why Comics?: From Underground to Everywhere (HarperCollins, 2017), a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Her other books include Graphic Women: Life Narrative and Contemporary Comics; Outside the Box: Interviews with Contemporary Cartoonists; and Disaster Drawn: Visual Witness, Comics, and Documentary Form. She is the Associate Editor of Art Spiegelman’s MetaMaus, and a comics and graphic novels columnist for the New York Times Book Review. Chute lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.