Super Stars

WOW! Superhero Day

by Jakob Dorof

With every other blockbuster for the last 10 years having been a comic book adaptation, it'd be easy to forget that the concept of the superhero actually goes back millennia. So goes the logic behind "WOW! Superhero Day," a celebration and evaluation of superheroes past and present at Penn Museum.

"The idea is to show people that there's a continuity across time and cultures with the concept of the superhero," says event consultant Louise Krasniewicz. "Everyone from Hercules in ancient Greece to the Maya Hero Twins, traditional shamans and Egyptian pharaohs — the idea of the superhero isn't anything new."

Penn classical studies professor Peter Struck will give a speech called "Ancient Heroes and Superheroes," followed by a program of movie clips by Andrew J. Douglas, Bryn Mawr Film Institute director of education, called "Costumed Culture Warriors." But the event isn't just for anthropologists and comic book intellectuals — less studious diversions include superhero mask-making and comic-drawing workshops; a marketplace stocked by Showcase Comics and West Philly's new gaming outlet, Redcap's Corner; and a superhero-centric adaptation of Twister. The playful nature of the event is reflected by the Penn Museum's offer to discount admission prices for those who come dressed as their favorite hero or villain, such as the pictured members of the museum's Fantastic Five.

Krasniewicz believes it's particularly worth noting that the members of the East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention — who are throwing their eighth annual comics shindig at the Crowne Plaza Hotel this May — will also be giving two all-ages tutorials on superhero-style storytelling and drawing during the course of the event.

"I probably learned how to read through comic books," she says. Now a senior research assistant and professor at Penn, Krasniewicz was reared on the likes of Archie and the Fantastic Four, and considers comics a valid and healthy part of her education.

"There are many academics that started their foray into the imaginative world through comic books," she maintains. She now teaches a course at Penn — Anthropology and the Cinema — which concludes with an analysis of modern superhero films and how they reflect and shape American culture.

One of the things about comics that interests Krasniewicz the most is how they predict where human evolution may someday lead, a topic tackled by both series like The X-Men and a concurrent exhibit at Penn, "Surviving: The Body of Evidence." The interactive multimedia presentation will invite visitors to explore their own human limitations — such as an aching back or protruding wisdom teeth — and make a prediction about how we may continue to evolve.

"We have tremendous physical limitations as human beings, and superheroes are one way we can imagine a world without them," says Krasniewicz. "That's why superheroes are so timeless and universal."

"WOW! Superhero Day" is part of a yearlong series of events at Penn called "POW: Comics, Animation and Graphic Novels," which began last September. The celebratory series was inspired by Havertown native Steven Rothman's recent donation of more than 25,000 comics and graphic novels to UPenn's library, and will conclude with a speech by graphic novelist and film director Marjane Satrapi on April 2.

WOW! Superhero Day | Sun., March 22, 1 p.m.-4 p.m., $6-$10, Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 3260 South St., 215-898-4000, museum.upenn.edu