Well-known comic cartoonist Scott McCloud will present his lecture “Comics and the Art of Visual Communication,” at Mississippi State University on March 31 as part of the College of Arts and Sciences Institute for the Humanities Distinguished Lecture Series.
The lecture is free to all and will take place in McCool Hall’s Taylor Auditorium at 3:30 p.m. McCloud will sign copies of his new book, “The Sculptor,” following the lecture.
McCloud has been writing and producing comics professionally since 1984. During the lecture, he will discuss his new graphic novel “The Sculptor” and the evolving medium of visual communication.
McCloud engages in regular speaking presentations and workshops that highlight interest in visual communication, and he is currently introducing his new book to an international audience, which will take him to Germany, France, Belgium, Italy and several other countries. 
“Most of our official publisher-sponsored tour stops will be conversational, improvised events with some visuals included, focused on my graphic novel,” McCloud wrote on his website, scottmccloud.com.
Ben Harvey, professor of art at MSU, said he uses one of McCloud’s previously published books in his a class he teaches at MSU called, the “Art of the Graphic Novel.”
“It is going to be a really fascinating, funny and engaging talk,” Harvey said. “I think students will get a lot out of it. Do not think of it as a dusty lecture or an academic giving a standard lecture; think of it as a real innovator and inspiring figure in the world of comics.”
Harvey said there has been a lot of interest in McCloud’s discussions amongst students.
“I think there is a compelling message for students, maybe people in their late teens and 20s,” Harvey said.
Harvey said McCloud’s generosity of spirit makes him a great teacher and lecturer to listen to.
“He is somebody who is trying to grow an audience for comics outside of the traditional superhero, Marvel and DC market which is very defined, very established and pre-masculine,” Harvey said.
According to Harvey, McCloud is one among a community of comic artists that believe anyone can make a comic, and comics do not need to be based on superheroes.
“I think he is somebody who really kind of exploded and opened up the idea of what a comic book could be, and as an art historian that sort of interested me about what (McCloud) was doing,” Harvey said.
Harvey said comic books are more accepted and widely read in countries like Japan. Harvey said he believes this is a key aspect to the idea of growing the comic book readership.
McCloud practices more of a do-it-yourself attitude toward his comics, according to Harvey. He went on to say McCloud uses a production company for the finished product, but does most of the labor involved in creating the comic himself.
“I think if you take comics away from the bigger studio systems of organizing, then you get a lot more of a variety (of comics),” Harvey said.
Harvey said McCloud also suggests comics are not merely a construction of the 20th century, but have existed through the ages presenting themselves in Pre-Columbian and Egyptian art.
William Anthony Hay, the director for the Institutes for the Humanities, said McCloud is a practicing artist and cartoonist and has done a lot of criticism of cartoons and comics.
“We bring in leading creative writers, artists and scholars in the humanities to Mississippi State University,” Hay said. 
Hay said McCloud focuses on how comics have become a medium of mass communication.
“We try to give students, faculty and staff on campus a chance to engage in things they might not otherwise encounter,” said Hay.
Hay said the Institute for the Humanities’ goal is for students to engage and spark an interest in something new and also wants to give attendees of the lectures a chance to interact and connect with the speaker.
Hay also said he thinks students getting to ask authors they know questions about the works they have created is beneficial to students and can inspire them.
“Student enthusiasm has made the series a success over the past years. We have tried to foster the idea that education is more than what happens in a classroom,” Hay said.
Hay said the Institute began in the spring of 2005 and has since grown in its repertoire of speakers. Among these speakers have been several Pulitzer Prize winning writers.