The SF State Comic Studies department is inaugurating their new and exclusive comic book collection on Thursday, Feb. 28.

The comic book archive, titled “The Thomas Bentley Rue Collection of Golden and Silver Age Comic Art” includes 1,000 collected comic books worth $45,000, all collected by Thomas Rue. Rue collected these comic books from 1938 – 1952, and the collection even includes an original copy of “Superman No. 1.”

Virginia Rue, Rue’s wife, will speak at the event to discuss his collection and the reason for his donation to SF State at the Comic Studies Archive Reception. The event will take place in the J. Paul Leonard Library from 6 p.m to 8 p.m.

For the first hour of the event, guests will gather in library room 460 where the archive of comic books will be kept. From there, Virginia Rue will discuss the significance of the collection along with Joe Field, owner of Flying Colors Comics store. For the second hour of the event, guests are invited to meet in library room 121 for a reception with wine and cheese.

“There is something really special about him donating the comics,” said Nick Sousanis, Comic Studies coordinator. “He wanted the next generations to learn from and enjoy them.”

The Comic Studies Archive reception is free as long as guests register beforehand through the registration link on the Liberal and Creative Arts website.