Rare and valuable selections from the Dr. Eddy Smet Comic Book Collection at Western University Archives will be showcased next month at London Comic Con. The pop culture event runs from September 23-25 at the Western Fair District Progress Building in London, Ont.
Smet, an award-winning professor who taught math at Huron University College for more than 30 years, has donated thousands of comics, books and magazines to Western since the collection was established in 2009.
The Dr. Eddy Smet Comic Book Collection at Western Archives includes Silver and Bronze Age classics like rare Batman appearances from the 1970s and 1980s written by Denny O’Neil, Frank Miller’s revolutionary run on “Daredevil,” Alan Moore’s complete runs on “Watchmen,” “Miracleman” and “Swamp Thing,” and the first 14 issues of “Captain Canuck,” arguably Canada’s most popular and recognized superhero comic.
Among Smet’s most recent donation to Western Archives is a rare collection of 125 ‘Canadian Whites.’ These are books that were produced and published in Canada as a result of the War Exchange Conservation Act (WECA), which banned the import of American comics during the Second World War. Implemented by the Canadian government in December 1940, WECA was repealed in 1946. Once U.S. imports resumed, the Canadian industry soon died.
Western Libraries is participating in London Comic Con this year and will mount an exhibit of comic books from the Dr. Eddy Smet Comic Book Collection, as well as other collections.
Tim Blackmore, an award-winning professor from Western’s Faculty of Information & Media Studies and an expert on pop culture and comic books, will also be a presenter at London Comic Con.
London Comic Con will also feature a prominent Western alumnus as organizers confirmed today that acclaimed Canadian actor, songwriter and talk show host Alan Thicke will be appearing as a guest on Saturday, September 24 and Sunday, September 25.
Having earned a Golden Globe ‘Best Actor’ nomination and seven Emmy Award nominations, television audiences know Thicke best as psychiatrist and father Jason Seaver from the hit series “Growing Pains,” now syndicated in more than 65 countries. Thicke can currently be seen with his family on the reality TV series “Unusually Thicke.” A proficient music composer, Thicke wrote the theme songs to more than 45 television shows including “Wheel of Fortune,” “The Joker’s Wild,” “Facts of Life” and “Diff’rent Strokes.”
MEDIA CONTACT: Jeff Renaud, Senior Media Relations Officer, 519-661-2111, ext. 85165, jrenaud9@uwo.ca, @jeffrenaud99
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