Did you know today is International Geek Pride Day? Here in Special Collections, we’re celebrating with a selection from the Comic Art Collection. This collection contains over 3,500 catalogued comic book titles and hundreds of pieces of original art from cartoonists like Mort Walker, Frank Stack, and John Tinney McCutcheon, ranging in date from the 1850s to the present.
The Comic Art Collection unites fun and fandom with serious scholarship. It has been used by faculty and students for everything from freshman composition assignments to studies of the history of popular culture. In 2008, scholars, comic enthusiasts, artists, and students of all interests demonstrated the collection's broad appeal by convening at Ellis Library to celebrate 75 years of the comic strip Alley Oop. Special Collections holds the papers of the comic strip's creator, V.T. Hamlin.
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The Comic Art Collection is open to the public in the Special Collections Reading Room. All patrons – geeks and non-geeks alike – are welcome to make use of these materials.