WILBERFORCE — Central State University students studying comic books and graphic novels will be presenting their semester-long research work at a free, public event at the University of Cincinnati (UC) later this month.

“From the Page to the Public Arena: How Comic Books, Graphic Novels, and Superheroes Shape the American Experience,” which includes Marauders and UC undergraduates and graduate students as contributing participants, will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 27, in the Tangeman University Center, (2600 Clifton Ave.

As part of their work in Comics and Graphic Novels, a class instructed by associate professor of English and coordinator of Interdisciplinary Studies Vincent Haddad, Central State students will share and discuss origin stories of their own black superhero comic book characters. In the vein of interdisciplinary studies so inherent to Haddad’s class, the students will also have an opportunity to expand their presentations with explorations of pertinent social issues embedded in said comic characters’ origin.

Throughout the full-day event, other activities beyond the student presentations will include a roundtable panel discussion of industry professionals; a keynote speaker, Myron Strong, Ph.D., and a drawing workshop led by cartoonist Stephen Kroeger. The event will also spotlight the comic book arts and studies exhibit “Unmasked: Black Heroes in Comics,” originally established by and housed at Central State’s National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center.

That exhibit was moved to UC and premiered through a public presentation in the campus’ Walter C. Langsam Library on Nov. 9. It will remain in the library’s fourth-floor Digital Resource Commons until Dec. 8.

After UC professor Mark Raider, Ph.D., saw the “Unmasked” exhibit at the Afro-American Museum last summer, he suggested to Haddad that they collaborate on producing and moderating an intercollegiate comics studies event. This was the first spark of inspiration leading to the upcoming “From the Page to the Public Arena.”

Two years ago, Haddad created and began teaching the class from which Marauders will join in on the collaborative day of comics studies events at the end of the month.

“This semester, I wanted to focus on two themes,” Haddad said. “We’ve been talking about black superheroes and social issues related to them, and we’ve been learning about the history of Milestone.”

Milestone is a comics company that creates and publishes books focusing on black characters and whose history, going back to 1993, has been fraught with a tremendous degree of turmoil, fits of starts and stops, and recent revitalization by current parent company, DC Comics.

“When Dr. Raider approached me this past summer about the collaborative event, he was thinking about between our two schools; the pressure of that helped me shape how I would teach this semester’s class,” Haddad said. “I wanted to figure out a way to teach the class so that students, in their day-to-day schoolwork, would be successful in being able to present at the event.”

In setting them up for success, it was important for Haddad to create a long-form project students could work on in class that would help them to learn, express themselves creatively, and be able to later represent themselves well at the public gala ahead.

“Also, because our students are at an HBCU and UC is a PWI, a primarily white institution, I wanted to give our students a vehicle to represent their community on a larger level in the hopes they could teach something about that to the students in Cincinnati,” Haddad said.

Of the 30 Marauders in Haddad’s class, 20 will present their research projects on black superheroes and 10 will participate as supportive spectators. In bringing his students to the UC campus for this event, Haddad’s goal is that they will take part in an immersive learning event that they won’t forget.

“At first, I signed up for this class because it fit into my schedule and it sounded like fun,” said Olivia Jackson, a Chicago-born Honors College student junior majoring in English with a concentration in pre-law who transferred to Central State this semester. “I’m not a huge comic book or graphic novel person, but I do have some interest in superheroes and that sort of thing. I figured I would learn more about those topics and have really enjoyed learning about Milestone and how it was created by black people. That was a cool touch, to be sure.”

Added Detroit native Ethan Fields, “I love superheroes and stuff, and so this class really appealed to me when I first heard about it. I’ve actually learned a lot more in this class than I thought I would when I first got here.”

“I thought it would be an easy class to kind of drift through, and it’s definitely been less stressful than a lot of my other classes,” Fields added. “But I’ve gotten much more out of it than I thought I would, for sure. Like, the other day, I learned that Batman’s creators were Jewish. I did not know that. Or learning about Milestone definitely has been great because I’ve been able to read about superheroes who look much more like myself.”

Fields is looking forward to delivering what he referred to as his “lightning talk” — basically an “elevator pitch” about his superhero and its origin story — at the upcoming event.

Jackson’s character is particularly important to her, as she chose to imbue it with a mental health struggle, particularly dealing with bipolar disorder. This being a substantial topic for Jackson, who spoke candidly about her own struggles with the condition. Jackson would like to use her comic book character as a means of investigating, exploring, and engaging with such a vital hot-button topic in a more accessible way.

“Because of all of this, my character has something of an unorthodox origin story,” Jackson said. “And I was able to go in really deep to who the character is and how her mental health impacts how she acts and what she does. I’m excited to talk about that because I really want to get the conversation going about the issue while we’re also all talking about comics and graphic novels, too. I think it’s really cool because this will hopefully help de-stigmatize the issue, which is very important for me.”

Jackson went on to say that after she was diagnosed as bipolar recently, she wanted to find ways to talk about what she was going through in an authentic way. It was something she was disappointed to discover was not a readily available as deep conversation in mainstream media or entertainment.