The unbelievable life of American hero Robert Smalls has been memorialized in an inspiring run of comics, a graphic novel on the near-horizon, and soon a feature film from Legion M. As an enslaved harbor pilot in Charleston at the height of the Civil War, Robert Smalls pulled off the most audacious heist in history by commandeering a Confederate warship and filling it with family and friends to run the naval blockade to freedom in the North. Smalls then helped convince Abraham Lincoln to accept African American soldiers into the Union Army—and became a naval hero. And that was only the beginning of Smalls’ extraordinary life. Comics/graphic novelist and screenwriter Rob Edwards (Captain America: Brave New World, Academy Award–nominated The Princess and The Frog), producer Marvin Jones (Black Lightning), and other members of the Legion M team talk about the process of adapting Small’s amazing story to comics and film. Legion M executives Chris Cooper and David Baxter will moderate the discussion.
Saturday March 29, 2025 4:15pm - 5:15pm PDT
North 100B