The MSU Museum will welcome acclaimed comic artist and writer Terry Blas for Speculative Futures | Latinx Futures in Comics on Thursday, September 17, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. in the Commons at the MSU Museum. Presented in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, the free program will explore how comics and visual storytelling can imagine alternative futures.
Blas will share insights into his creative practice, storytelling, and the role comics can play in expanding ideas about identity, representation, and possibility. Following the conversation, participants will be invited to create their own short comics through a hands-on activity designed to encourage experimentation and new ways of thinking.
“I’m excited to be involved with MSU and Speculative Futures during Hispanic Heritage Month,” said Blas. As the Latinx population continues to grow in the United States, and the interest in comics increases as well, participants will come to understand the importance that representation has in storytelling and the presence that storytelling has in our daily lives.”
No prior drawing experience is required. The workshop is open to anyone curious about comics, storytelling, or using images and words to explore the future.
Blas is the illustrator and writer behind the viral webcomics You Say Latino and You Say Latinx. His original graphic novels include Dead Weight: Murder at Camp Bloom, Hotel Dare, Lifetime Passes, and Eat Your Heart Out, all of which feature queer and Mexican characters. He has also written comics for Marvel, DC, Boom Studios, and Oni Press, including Reptil: Brink of Extinction, Nova, Runaways, Steven Universe, and Rick and Morty.
Latinx Futures in Comics is part of Speculative Futures, the MSU Museum’s year-long public program series featuring conversations, workshops, performances, and creative experiences that amplify diverse voices, broaden our understanding of the American experience, and expand our ideas of what is possible. Speculative thinking can help people understand the past, engage the present, and imagine more just and creative futures. Timed to the United States’ 250th anniversary, the series highlights visionary narratives across Black History, Women’s History, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage, Hispanic Heritage, and Native American Heritage Months.
“Having Terry Blas on campus is an incredible opportunity for our community,” said Delia Fernandez-Jones, professor of History and Chicano/Latino Studies, director of MSU’s Diversity Research Network, and member of MSU Museum’s Community & Culture Advisory Committee. “Blas has a long history of making complex concepts and conversations around identity accessible through his craft. His attention to intersectional identities, in particular, invites audiences to both see themselves and consider other perspectives. I’m thrilled our students, faculty, staff, and community members will have an opportunity to work alongside such an acclaimed artist and creator to think through what could be possible for our world and our relationships to one another.”
The event is free and open to the public. Registration is encouraged.