The West Library, in conjunction with Dr. Cary Adkinson and Dr. Eddy J. Lynton, opened the Comic Book Room on Thursday to debut the newest collection donated to Texas Wesleyan.

Adkinson, an associate professor of criminal Justice, said that he and Lynton (who no longer teaches at Wesleyan) would donate their collection of comic books, from publishers such as DC, Image Comics, Marvel, and many others, including action figures and other items comic related.

“This was all done in an effort to encourage students to come to the library and just read,” Adkinson said.

Accord to Elizabeth Howard, director of the Eunice and James L. West Library, this process was started in late 2018 and included the long process of cataloging the collection and putting it in bags with protective bags so it could be presented to the university.

“Students will have the chance to do comic research,” said Howard, “or they can just come to the room and enjoy this extensive collection.”

The collection contains a wide range of titles, including  comics dating back to the 1940s, with the majority of the collection coming from the 1990s and 2000s; there are first editions and first appearances, and celebration issues, said Collection Management Librarian Natash Zinsou.

“We have a wide range of titles,” said Zinsou. “We have Batman and Superman titles, and a wide smattering of others.”

Adkinson believes this would be a perfect time to open the collection and have it be in conjunction with Halloween, because it was a great opportunity to promote the event with a costume contest.

“So Natasha and I are here to judge the contest, also,” said Adkinson.

Jordan Purnell and Taylor Ross, both seniors criminal justice majors, decide to attend the event because the are currently taking Adkinson’s Comic Books and Crime class, and wanted to dress up and take advantage of an extra credit opportunity. They won the event’s costume contest.

“Why not have a little fun and dress up?” said Ross.

Because of them taking the class with Adkinson this semester, they were able to have a sneak peek at the collection, and believe that it will be a great thing for the university, because it is a nice quite room to just enjoy this form of art, according to Purnell.

“I really like it,” said Purnell. “It has some really great comic books in it (the collection).”

Adkinson believe this is a collection that will only grow over the years, as more people find out about it, and decide to donate their collections.