On June 5, the UC Irvine Department of Global & International Studies Global Forum, in partnership with the Center for Racial Justice, will host an interactive workshop to explore the power of comics as a vehicle for social change, community healing, and creative resistance. As part of the Battling Extremism project, participants will be invited to co-create a collective comic that confronts the “monsters” haunting academia — from imposter syndrome to institutional injustice. Below, organizer Long T. Bui, UCI professor of global & international studies, and invited artist-scholars Christine Peralta, Amherst College assistant professor of history and sexuality, women's and gender studies, and Krystal Gayle O’Neill, Babson College adjunct lecturer and lead volunteer coordinator at Comic Con, reflect on how comics foster empathy, spark dialogue, and imagine new worlds. Together, they share how the intersection of art and academia can be a powerful force against prejudice and extremism.

Q: What is it about the comic form that makes it such a powerful tool for social change?

O’Neill: Comics have always been a tool for social change, and it is powerful because it allows whoever - the artist, the creator, the writer, or the reader - to imagine the impossible.

Bui: It speaks to all demographic classes as well as ages and generations, from children to senior citizens. Everyone can pick it up and read it, and even if they may not understand the dialogue, the pictures tell the story.

Peralta: In my course on comics and the history U.S. empire we look at historical examples of how images paired with sparse words have been an effective means to teach average citizens complicated ideas this includes ideas about how nuclear power is good and how it is bad, why U.S. empire is bad and why it is bringing democracy and liberating you. In other words, there are many historical examples of comics being used effectively as a tool for indoctrination.

Q: You’re inviting participants to identify the “monsters” that haunt their university experience, like housing insecurity, cancel culture, imposter syndrome. Why use monster metaphors—and how does that framing help us talk about difficult topics?

Bui: Monsters are the embodiment of our fears. If we confront those monsters (and not try to kill them with pure violence) we can address fundamental issues underlying those fears, from anxiety to misunderstanding the Other.

Peralta: A caveat I would like to express is I did not come up with this cool metaphor, but I endorse it. An image that I like to get students to analyze early on is Through the Looking Glass Darkly, Mr. Fish, pencil, 2014 it shows a KKK clansman drawing a self-portrait of himself in the exact likeness of Captain America. For better or worse stories, especially good stories, are a very effective means to convey a point. Mainstream media often tries to portray good and evil within images of monsters and victims, but I think it is our job to understand that most people would cast themselves as the “good guy” fighting the monster. With that in mind I think the monster metaphor has the possibility to generate empathy and create solidarity with those who want to acknowledge monsters and call them out for who they are and identify harms and then understand them better and move into more complicated and nuanced stories which hopefully pushes these stories away from having the power to wreak havoc in our lives.

O’Neill: The monster metaphor helps to frame difficult topics because we tend to see monsters as scary, and most people do not like to experience discomfort because it is a scary thing to do. So, with this framing, I hope to demystify this notion of discomfort and things being scary by encouraging folks to share as bravely as they can, so they can see they are not alone and can find common ground or even advice on how to navigate these challenges.

Q: What role can comics play in conversations around free speech, academic freedom, and the politicization of higher education?

Bui: Comics as a democratizing medium can help make our society more democratic and open.

O’Neill: Comics have already done all this in very subtle but impactful ways. I remember sitting in a panel at Comic Con that was around the work of Jack Kirby, the creator of the X-Men comics. The one thing that stood out for me was how Kirby and by extension Stan Lee challenged the notion that the default superhero had to be white. By creating more diverse superheroes, many more kids like me could see ourselves in ways that we might not have. I mean, Marvel created a whole comic book called the Black Panther and leaned way into the political atmosphere at the time. Storm, who is my favorite comic character, was a powerful black woman and embodied for me the personal is political. Comics are still doing that, especially with the contemporary installations of the Black Panther by Ta-Nehisi Coates or Black Panther: World of Wakanda by Roxane Gay.

Peralta: From my experience comics can give common ground. Teaching Race Gender through Comics is basically a Trojan Horse. Everyone is like YAY we love the horse bring the horse in.  And then now you have all these comics that are telling really complicated stories because comic book artists are amazing story tellers who are inspired by the world around them. I think besides powerful stories, learning about comics and encouraging students to tell their stories gives them the tools to participate in a practice of freedom and demonstrate the type of school they want to be a part of through creating. It is important to give room and space to dream up the type of university we want so when it is torn down we know exactly what we want in its place. 

Q: This event isn’t just about listening—it’s about co-creating. What are you hoping students and attendees will take away from participating in building a collective comic?

O’Neill: I hope that participants bring their true, authentic selves to the experience. Imagining a world of possibilities includes being true to who you are. Some of us can’t always be the superheroes, some of us are the villains, some are the sidekicks, and some are the supporting characters. I want folks will create something inclusive of all potentials and also reimagine ways of being either as a collective or as individuals.

Bui: The students will contribute to dialogue as well as texts that will later be illustrated and put in a comic.

Q: With speakers coming from both comic culture and academia, what kinds of insights or surprises do you think will emerge from that intersection of art and scholarship?

Peralta: Actually, we overlap a lot in our vantage points.

O’Neill: I am going to lean into a cliché here and say that I often associate comics with academia in terms of the nerd culture. I was told as a kid growing up that only nerds read comic books. When I tell people I volunteer at Comic Con almost every year, they often follow up with “You really are a nerd.” I think the surprise would be seeing who fits into that stereotype these days. One example that sticks out to me is of my favorite rapper, Method Man, who hosts a weekly podcast called “Marvel/Method.” I had no clue back in the early 2000s that a member of the Wu-Tang Clan would be such a comic head. It was during an interview he was doing just a few years ago when he dropped that nugget just before he started the podcast. So I have always seen the intersections of academia and art because the creatives often straddle both sides.

Bui: Art and research come together to show that education is a public space for everyone to learn and create.

-image produced by Canva AI