DAYTON — The idea: To create a summer exhibit that would engage a wide variety of audiences and bring people into the museum, especially first-timers.

The result: Superhero Summer.

“You Are My Superhero,” the newest exhibit at the Dayton Art Institute opening today and running through Sept. 23, traces the history of comic superheroes and the ways contemporary artists continue to use them in their work.

In addition to original art and hand-knitted costumes, the special exhibit galleries are filled with classic comic books, toys, games, books and autographed photos. Special events are planned, including costume balls — for kids and adults — and cartooning and costume-making workshops. Museum visitors can watch an artist turn original drawings into animation or draw their own hero.

“We think it matters that people feel comfortable here and want to come back,” says Jane Black, curator of the exhibit and DAI associate director. “We want to relate art to their lives. Everyone can relate to superheroes.”

The exhibit is especially timely with new “Spider-Man” and “Batman” films premiering this summer and four days of Comic-Con wrapping up earlier this week.

“Superheroes are a reflection of the human desire to be powerful and safe and to keep others safe,” Black told the DAI docents as she walked them through the exhibit.

What to expect

Museum visitors will learn about the comic artists whose careers skyrocketed in the Golden Age of comics when the popular little magazines were selling at the rate of 25 million a month as well as the current artists working in the field.

The exhibit also takes a look at female superheroes, sidekicks and the ways superheroes began showing up in advertising, movies and TV in the 1970s — the Silver Age of comics. Visitors will observe the step-by-step animation process and learn about the historical roots of superheroes that can be traced back to Hindu Gods and Goddesses and Greek myths.

“They were all magical beings that had powers that couldn’t be explained,” says Black, who explained there are universal models of human behavior that become characters in stories or myths.

Two contemporary artists who have incorporated superhero iconography into their work are featured in the exhibit: Pulitzer-Prize winning cartoonist Mike Peters, an editorial cartoonist for the Dayton Daily News and the creator of the “Mother Goose & Grimm” comic strip, and Mark Newport, the imaginative artist known as “Sweaterman” who knits Superhero costumes and embroiders the covers of comic books. He’ll come to town to lecture and perform.

Newport, who runs the graduate program in fiber art at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, has been transforming found objects since the 1990s, when he began sewing beads on football cards.

The idea is to reflect the cultural tension between the masculine and the feminine in our society. In the case of his superhero costumes, he combines familiar images of the “ultimate man” with domestic and feminine activities such as knitting.

“The costumes are life-size, my size, wearable objects that hang limply on hangers challenging the standard muscular form of the hero and offering the space for someone to imagine themselves wearing the costume, becoming the hero,” Newport has written.

He says he spends eight hours a day knitting and embroidering.

“Sweaterman came about because I was looking for a way to make traditional textures and patterns more prominent in the costumes I was making,” he explains. “His knitting is the way he protects people.”

You can’t help but laugh aloud when you stroll through the gallery filled with original artwork by Peters, whose mother made him a Superman costume when he was a child. He frequently uses superhero imagery in his work.

In one of the comic strips, Superman is seated at a table across from a young lady.

“Be honest, Superman, what do you see in me?” she asks him, as they hold hands.

“Two fillings and a plate in your head,” he responds.

About the collection

Much of the original art and memorabilia in the exhibit comes from the collection of Dr. Lawrence and Holley Thompson, a Springboro couple whose eclectic collection ranges from “fun art” to “fine art.”

It all began with Lawrence Thompson’s Little Orphan Annie Secret Decoder Ring and over the years has grown to encompass items ranging from sports memorabilia to radio and television collectibles.

“A lot of it is art but people wouldn’t call it fine art,” Holley says. “It’s art because an artist has imagined and created it.”

The couple’s items on display at the museum range from a Batman and Robin reversible flip mask to production cells that were used in creating animation. There are storyboards used to tell the story; a model sheet instructs the artist about characteristics that must be kept consistent.

“So Batman’s blue will always be the same color of blue,” Holley explains. “A character’s colors have a secret formula, so they can’t be replicated.”

She says the better animators had more cells per second.

“If there are cells of an animal winking, the cell with the eyes open is more valuable than the ones where the eyes are closed.”

The Thompsons have had the great good fortune, she says, of being in the back rooms at Disney, Warner Brothers and Hanna-Barbera studios.

Some items on display come from Maverick’s Cards and Comics in Kettering and Bookery Fantasy in Fairborn. Fresh comics will be arriving regularly for those who want to sit and read for awhile.

Even comics buffs might learn something new: Did you know that Captain Marvel transformative “SHAZAM” is an acronym that ties him to Biblical and Greek mythology? Each letter stands for a legendary hero — Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury. His powers reflect each of them — wisdom, strength, stamina, power, courage and speed.

Museum visitors will learn about the worlds that superheroes inhabit and how those worlds relate to reality.

Things visitors should know

DISCOUNTS: Visitors who arrive in superhero costumes will receive a discount on admission to the exhibit, and can pose for photos in front of an original comic book cover backdrop by local artist and Cox Media Group designer Randy Palmer, whose work will be featured in the cafe.

KNITTERS’ OPPORTUNITY: “Sweaterman” is also the inspiration behind the art museum’s planned “Yarn Bombing” activities. Those who’ve been to Yellow Springs have probably noticed the creative stitchwork wrapped around poles, benches, bike racks and trees.

Under the director of experienced Yellow Springs yarn bombers Nancy Mellon and Corrine Bayraktaroglu (known as the Jafagirls), the grounds of the museum will soon be covered with bright needle-and-yarn creations as well. Knitters and knitting groups will be welcome in the Knitting Nook in Gallery 222. Participants can nominate a superhero and add him/her to the “Hero Pole.”

CELL PHONES: So how can we explain the special powers that superheroes have and are those powers more realistic in the 21st century?

“We thought it would be interesting to look at the science of superheroes — so we asked the scientists for their thoughts,” DAI director of education Susan Anable says. You’ll hear the responses on the cell phone tour at the exhibit.

Dr. Charles Tyler, a senior research aerospace engineer at the Air Force Research Laboratory, talks about what modern technology might give someone the power of x-ray vision. Bert Whitaker, an engineering physicist at the Laser Radar-Technology Branch of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson, shares thoughts on how someone today might reasonably accomplish some of Spiderman’s feats such as climbing a building.

And because every superhero has villains in their lives, clinical psychologist Daniel D. Hrinko talks about what makes a villain.

DEFINING SUPERHERO: Black says the exhibit prompts thoughts and discussion about what makes a superhero. Some may wonder, she says, how Horton the Elephant ended up in the exhibit. Partly because Horton is Black’s personal superhero.

“The story is about an elephant who tries to save a microscopic community of creatures that no one else can see or hear,” she says. “I remembered the refrain from the book: ‘A person’s a person, no matter how small.’ This speaks to me of inclusiveness and the bravery in honoring what others may not.”