Augustine in his Hillhouse art classroom.
Elm City Comics
A masked superhero has walked the halls of Hillhouse High School for almost a year, mostly in secret.
Students recently discovered his home base: Classroom C102.
That hero is Reginald Augustine, who has swooped into action in and outside the classroom, tapping a lifelong personal interest in comics, history, and animation to connect with his students.
In addition to being an art teacher, Augustine is a comic book creator. He runs a publishing company called Elm City Comics, which published the final issue of his first comic series in August 2020.
Augustine’s series is based in New Haven. It often highlights city landmarks with heroic fights on the Downtown Green and East Rock or with characters getting blasted through the Knights of Columbus. His characters stop for lunch at Louis’ Lunch and Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana.
“New Haven gets a bad rap too much. Good things happen here, and there are even heroes here too,” Augustine said.
Augustine, a New Haven native, has been teaching for New Haven Public Schools for the past 28 years. He taught art at the elementary grade level up until arriving to Hillhouse in 2019.
In addition to working on his next comic book series, Augustine is currently working with a group of Hillhouse students to start a comic book after-school club.
The hero and artist, Reginald Augustine.
Augustine and the students are currently looking to secure funding for the proposed after-school program. The students drafted the proposal to include lessons on digital art and character design.
Augustine began reading and drawing comics in elementary school. Drawing the cartoon characters as they moved on TV taught Augustine how to work quickly.
In the fourth grade Augustine got his hands on comic books for the first time. He recalled sitting in the back of his classes with his best friend, who would sneak Marvel comic books in for them to read.
With a dollar from his mother, Augustine began building his collection. At 15 cents a book, Augustine picked up Archie, Spiderman, Casper, and the Incredible Hulk editions.
By the time he began college, Augustine’s collection had grown to thousands of comic books.
Augustine's Aphro Physt Vs. Protector Force three-part series.
Augustine began with creating comic artwork and drawing some characters for another comic series known as Poverty Thrill Adventures. He created a gang of heroes for the third issue. He later got permission to revive those characters for his own book series known as Aphro Physt Vs. Protector Force. (Click here to get a book.)
The three-part series transports Aphro Physt from their dimension to New Haven and introduced New Haven’s local heroes, the Protector Force.
Augustine even brought comics to his wedding by creating a 10-page mini issue portraying him and his wife as superheroes named The Bouncer and Big Mama, fighting crime on their way to church to get married. The Bouncer and Big Mama make a cameo in Augustine’s second issue of Aphro Physt Vs. Protector Force.
The Bouncer and Big Mama's cameo in Aphro Physt Vs. Protector Force.
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Artwork with a message: Augustine's hand-drawn upcoming cover of Pandemic Stories series.
Augustine teaches his students about the history of comics, from how they started to the industry’s lack of portrayals of superheroes of color.
Heroes like Captain America have “always fit into popular trope of time” by fighting Nazis, Communism, and corrupt governments, Augustine noted.
Augustine uses lessons about comics to also help students feel seen. Marvel’s X‑men comics show realistic lessons like “teens finding way in world that fears and hates them,” he said.
Spiderman, Augustine’s favorite, dealt with realistic issues like caring for a sick aunt, struggling to pay rent and keeping a job, Augustine often reminds students.
Augustine has attended professional development lectures about educators using comics in the classroom. He recalled learning about teachers making historical figures into comic book characters to interest students. Teachers have also used heroes like Ant Man in math and science lessons to calculate the size of the character.
In Augustine’s classroom, conversations about Avengers: Infinity War have turned into debates about ethics, sustainability, and climate change.
Augustine made a 12-page comic about a superhero stepping up to fix his city after Hurricane Maria, with all proceeds were donated to relief efforts. He often reminds his students that comics and art can be a way to reach people with a message.
“Comic books have gone past the point of being something that you read and just throw over your shoulders,” Augustine said. “I want them to see that one person can make difference.”
Hoelotta Mama character based on Augustine's late older sister.
Many of his Augustine’s characters are based on people in his life. His brother and cousin, who were martial artists, inspired his character the Samurai. His sister, infamous for carrying objects in her bra, inspired his character Hoelotta Mama.
His series also includes characters inspired by his love for Egypt and Egyptian history.
The first hero Augustine made in the 1980s came to him while he was working at McDonald’s on Whalley Avenue. He asked kids: “What would be your super power in New Haven?” At the time several youth referenced a recent surge in local shootings. “You gotta be bullet proof out here,” one person told him. That inspired his first hero who was made of steel.
In the Aphro Physt Vs. Protector Force series, the Protector Force had its headquarters in Fair Haven.
In an upcoming issue, Augustine plans to place his characters in the times of the Covid pandemic. The story will include real-life perspectives of anti-maskers amidst the pandemic and the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests.
His goal is to get youth engaged in reading more and about real life lessons that they can relate to.
