Comics artist Bill Sienkiewicz of Moon Knight to speak at MSSU

Joplin, MO – The Honors Lecture Series at Missouri Southern State University will present “An Evening of Words and Pictures with Bill Sienkiewicz” at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13, in Plaster Hall’s Cornell Auditorium.

Sienkiewicz is known for his work as an award-winning comics artist and author. His work has been featured in such Marvel titles as “New Mutants,” “Moon Knight,” and “Elektra: Assassin.” His work uses every combination of mixed media: drawing, painting, collage, photography and digital art. He recently created artwork used in posters and marketing for the early 2022 film “The Batman.”

Dr. Michael Howarth, director of the Honors Program, said that Sienkiewicz fit with the mission of the lecture series.

“We’ve been really fortunate to have some big-name people speak here,” he said, citing recent lectures by Victoria Price (author and granddaughter of iconic horror actor Vincent Price) and Dacre Stoker (author and great grand-nephew of Bram Stoker).

“Students like the opportunity to talk to people who are doing great things in their field. Given the growing popularity in respect to comic books and graphic novels, I was looking for someone in that field who could come and talk.”

Howarth said he was put in contact with Sienkiewicz by Carolyn Trout, a former director of the Joplin Public Library who had the artist as a student during her teaching career.

“Carolyn put me in touch with him and I asked if he’d be interested in giving a presentation on his craft and talk about his artistic process. We’re very appreciative of his time.”

Sienkiewicz will appear at the New York Comicon this upcoming weekend, then will travel to Joplin for his presentation before returning home to Los Angeles.

The presentation at Missouri Southern is free and open to the public and will include a question-and-answer session immediately following. The artist will also have copies of his sketchbook for sale.