A Thompson Rivers University researcher says comics can be used to explain the real world.

Dr. Jeff McLaughlin, a philosophy professor who also teaches such courses as “Philosophy and Pop Culture,” will launch Comics as Philosophy (published by Mississippi UP), an inventive anthology that uses comics to explore the tenets of philosophy, on Thursday, March 9 at 4:00 pm in TRU’s Visual Arts Gallery.

The book’s unique focus has garnered a few invitations for McLaughlin, who has been asked to attend a conference in Greece and to participate in a panel discussion of the book in San Diego in July.

The book’s essays focus on a wide variety of genres, from mainstream superhero comics, to graphic novels of social realism, to European adventure classics, from Paul Chadwick’s long-running Concrete series to Herg?’s perennially popular The Adventures of Tintin and Marvel’s Captain America.

McLaughlin also explores the topic in his article, “9-11-01 Truth, Justice and Comic Books” to be published in an upcoming issue of the International Journal of Comic Book Art, and has submitted “Conversations With Stan Lee,” based on interviews with the creator of Spiderman, to Mississippi UP for consideration.

For more information, please contact Brian Mitchell at 828-5142