The Gordy Honors College at Mississippi University for Women will host Bill Rosemann as part of its Forum Speakers Series Thursday, April 18. The longtime editor with Marvel Comics will speak on the topic “Superheroes On and Off the Page.” The free 6 p.m. presentation will be in the Limbert Assembly Room in Cochran Hall. It also marks the inaugural presentation in the Nell Peel Wolfe Lecture Series.
Rosemann follows in the footsteps of celebrated comic legends Stan Lee and Mark Gruenwald. Throughout his 20-plus year career in the industry, Rosemann has been a journalist, copywriter, script writer, “Your Man @ Marvel” blogger, marketing director, project manager and editor — a depth of experience that allows him to understand all sides of the comic book world.
He has edited titles starring Marvel’s most famous characters including Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and the Avengers, as well as cult favorites such as Black Widow, Hawkeye, Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy. He now oversees Marvel Custom Solutions publications as well as monthly comics including Avengers Academy and New Mutants.
The comics that Rosemann creates mirror archetypes of society — the superheros within us as well as those who aspire to have extraordinary abilities. In 2012, Marvel created the “Blue Ear” character in response to a mom who wrote that her son didn’t want to wear his hearing aid to school because “superheroes don’t wear hearing aids,” a testament to Rosemann and his team’s ability to touch lives.
What is the behind-the-scenes history of Marvel? Who are their top 10 characters and how are their creators using them to comment on modern life? Inspirational and entertaining, Rosemann gives audiences a rare look inside the world of an iconic brand while dispensing insights into what we can learn from the comics to tap into our own super-human potential in life and career.
New series
Rosemann’s presentation is the first in the new Nell Peel Wolfe Lecture Series. Nell Lyon Peel was one of four sisters from Waynesboro, Miss., who graduated from MSCW. An English major, who also studied French and Spanish, she finished in 1930. Miss Peel took a position for several years as a high school English teacher in Poplarville. In 1935, she met and married Hubert Heuck Wolfe.
An endowment created in her honor by her family allowed for the establishment of the new series which will be an annual part of the Gordy Honors College Forum Series.
“We are thankful to the family for their generosity and thrilled by the opportunities that this will present to MUW and Columbus,” remarked Dr. Thomas G. Velek, director of the Gordy Honors College. Her son, George Wolfe of Tuscaloosa, Ala., commented, “No memorial would have brought her greater satisfaction than the establishment of a lecture series at her alma mater dedicated to expanding the horizons of academically talented students at MUW.”
For more information email Velek, [email protected].
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