The Lion Man Literacy Project opened as a temporary exhibit on Aug. 25 with an open house and celebration at the Stearns History Museum.
The exhibit, which runs through September, features the super hero comic book art created by youth from the St. Cloud area under the direction of English professor Dr. Michael Dando.
The exhibit highlights the original artwork created by participants from various organizations that Dando worked with including Southside Boys and Girls Club of Central Minnesota, Too Much Talent, and ISD 742 South Junior High School CRUSH Academy.
The project was inspired by “Lion Man” the worlds first Black super hero, which debuted in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania in 1947 as part of the All-Negro Comics anthology. Dando worked with Eisner Award winning artists and writers and the St. Cloud area school children to revive “Lion Man” by working with the original seven-page comic and creating new stories.
The exhibit also features a Michigan State University Traveling Exhibition “Beyond the Black Panther: Visions of Afrofuturism in American Comics”.
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