In Brief: October 13

Alumni discuss growing role of comics

“Comic Books, Superheroes and Pop Culture” will be the topic of BGSU alumni Marc Sumerak and Valentino Zullo when they return to campus Wednesday (Oct. 15).

The two will speak at 3:30 p.m. in the Bowen-Thompson Student Union Theater. Their talk is free and open to all.

Highlighting the growing role of comics in today’s media landscape, Sumerak will discuss working in the industry, and Zullo will share how he uses comics as a social worker at a Veterans Administration hospital in Cleveland.

Sumerak is an Eisner- and Harvey Award-nominated comic book writer and editor who has helped steer the fates of such characters as the Avengers, X-Men, Spider Man and the Fantastic Four. His work has been featured in hundreds of publications released by Marvel Comics, DC Comics, IDW and others. He graduated from BGSU in 2000 with a bachelor of fine arts in creative writing.

Zullo, who received his master’s degree in English and women’s, gender and sexuality studies from BGSU, is a graduate student at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University and an early admissions candidate for psychoanalytic training at the Cleveland Psychoanalytic Center.

The talk is sponsored by the Chapman Learning Community.