New home for superheroes: Houghton Library

How has Reginald Hudlin ’83 succeeded in Hollywood the past four decades?

By staying true to his creative instincts no matter what the doubters say, he told the audience at a Lamont Library talk on Oct. 22.

“I like making a movie, then making a TV show, then doing a documentary, then putting on a concert, then writing a comic book, because I just want to create,” said Hudlin, an award-winning director and producer of TV and movies.

Hudlin, who launched his film career while a student at Harvard College, was on campus to discuss his love for pop culture and to celebrate the unique gift he recently made to the University: his comic book collection.

A lifelong comics fan, Hudlin built a formidable collection of nearly 25,000 titles issued between 1949 and 2025 by comic book heavyweights D.C. Comics and Marvel Comics as well as lesser-known publishers such as Atlas, Charlton, and Vertigo.

The Reginald Hudlin Collection of Comics, housed at Houghton Library, features many fan favorites, including The Avengers, Batman, Black Panther, Green Lantern, Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Wonder Woman. It will be open to scholars, students, and the public.

Leslie Morris, the Gore Vidal Curator of Modern Books and Manuscripts at Houghton, said that the collection “will have a transformative effect, not only documenting how comics reflect changing attitudes toward race, gender, class, and sexuality, but also inform the study of art and design and the history of publishing.”

Hudlin recalled that while College classmates were studying for careers in fields like law and economics, he took a more unconventional path as a Visual and Environmental Studies concentrator (what’s known today as Art, Film & Visual Studies). He hoped to become a filmmaker in an era when there were few Black directors working in Hollywood.

As a junior, Hudlin wrote and directed three short films. One became his first full-length feature, “House Party,” the 1990 hit comedy starring the hip-hop duo Kid N’ Play. In 2022, the movie was inducted into the Library of Congress National Film Registry.

Hudlin’s list of TV and movie credits is long and eclectic. They include “Django Unchained” (2012), the Oscar-winning Western from writer-director Quentin Tarantino, and broadcasts of the Academy Awards and Emmys.

In the early 2000s, he decided to bring his comic book fandom and cinematic storytelling skills to the long-running narrative of the first Black superhero.

In 2005, Marvel published the first issue of Hudlin’s “Who Is Black Panther.” The series, which ran for three years, later helped shaped the 2018 blockbuster film.

Hudlin noted some challenges in navigating Hollywood. The business remains risky and uncertain even for a seasoned pro, and there have been times when he’s been torn between the sensible move and the one that’s closer to his heart.

“Occasionally, you go, ‘You know, this passion thing is hard. Can I just do the smart move and win?’ But for me, it doesn’t work.” In the end, he said, “I’m just going to do what I care deeply about. That’s what makes me happy.”