Underground Heroes: New York Transit in Comics

Underground Heroes: New York Transit in Comics
New York Transit Museum Exhibit June 21, 2018 – January 6, 2019

The New York Transit Museum’s newest exhibition, Underground Heroes: New York Transit in Comics is a raucous ride through New York’s transit system from a range of visual storytellers and draws on satirical cartoons, comic strips and comic books from the 19th through the 21st centuries.


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Winsor McCay, 1905; Courtesy of the San Francisco Academy of Comic Art Collection, The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum

On view at the Museum in Downtown Brooklyn from June 21st, 2018 through January 6th, 2019, the exhibit includes such luminaries as Winsor McCay, Will Eisner, Bill Griffith, Roz Chast, Ronald Wimberly and Julia Wertz. The vivid visual commentary offered through the comics demonstrates the influence that mass transit has on the stories that are inextricably woven into the fabric of the City.

Underground Heroes: New York Transit in the Comics spans more than a century, allowing visitors to see the continuing influence that subways, buses, and commuter rail lines have had on the stories that astound and thrill us.

Underground Heroes: New York Transit in the Comics takes you on an incredible journey and highlights the simultaneous coming of age of the region’s mass transit systems and of comic books,” says Museum Director Concetta Bencivenga. “The foundation of each was built by immigrants who made New York their home and the influence of both mass transit and the comic book genre have expanded well beyond Gotham’s city limits. It is an honor to bring this exhibit to the public and share this rich history.”


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The Vault of Horror No. 30, 1950; Art by Johnny Craig, Courtesy of William M. Gaines, Agent, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Throughout the course of the exhibition’s run the New York Transit Museum will present a series of panel discussions, gallery talks, and sketch nights exploring Underground Heroes: New York Transit in the Comics.


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“Watch Out!”, 1944 by Alfred Andiola; Courtesy of the New York Transit Museum Collection.

Underground Heroes: New York Transit in the Comics is open to the public through January 6, 2019 at the New York Transit Museum in Downtown Brooklyn. Located in a decommissioned subway station at 99 Schermerhorn Street, the Transit Museum is open Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m; Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and is closed Mondays, major holidays and for special events. General admission is $10 for adults, $5 for children 2-17 years old, $5 and free on Wednesdays for senior citizens 62 years and up, and free for museum members. For more information on hours, admission and directions, please visit nytransitmuseum.org/visit.

New York Transit Museum Exhibits page here.

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