By Mitch Holt, Staff Writer
Renowned comic book artist, theorist and lecturer Scott McCloud will speak at 7 p.m. Thursday in Cullen Auditorium in a free lecture about comics and the future of the industry.
McCloud has illustrated and authored many graphic novels, including DC Comics’ Superman Adventures and the comic book Zot! His storytelling for DC Comics’ Superman Adventures was a project in 1997 based on the Warner Brothers cartoon and one McCloud is proud of, he said on his Web site.
Michelle Finley, senior history major from Corinth, and the student who raised the money for McCloud to speak at ACU, said she’s been working for more than a year to bring the artist to Abilene.
“I wanted it on the ACU campus because I wanted to share McCloud’s lecture with the ACU community,” Finley said. “But I also wanted his lecture to be open to the rest of the community as well. I simply thought this event would bring a unique voice to this campus and the community as a whole.”
Finley is the manager of Comics & Collectables in Abilene, and she said she’s been a fan of McCloud for many years. She said this lecture is for anyone who is interested in connecting with and learning about the cutting-edge theories and technology in the art of storytelling through words, pictures and other graphics.
McCloud has written several books about the nature of the comic book medium, including Understanding Comics in 1993 and Reinventing Comics in 2000. This fall, Making Comics will be released and will discuss how to break into the industry as a creatively minded individual.
He has spoken at institutions such as Harvard, Massachusetts Institute Technology, Pixar, Microsoft and The Smithsonian Institution.
“I believe the lecture will benefit, fascinate and simply enrich the perspectives of those not necessarily involved in comics and the arts in general,” Finley said.
The visiting artist’s presentation will last about an hour and will include a multimedia presentation about Web comics, the future of comic book art and McCloud’s inner thoughts about comic books, she said.
