By Monet A. Stevens
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
An estimated 200 people filled Towson University’s College of Liberal Arts last Saturday for the school’s second annual Black Comic Book Mini Festival.
The convention, which was sponsored by the East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention, Inc., included panel discussions, workshops and elaborate drawings of historically rejected African American superheroes.
Supernatural narratives with lesser known black characters with names like Major Victory, Freedom and American Dream stood on display. Children who scarcely see themselves represented in the world of comics posed excitedly beside superheroes who, for one day, came to life. Seventeen writers and illustrators were on hand to talk to festival participants.
“A lot of this revolves around the fact that most people do not see affirmative images of black superheroes,” said Yumy Odom, an African American Studies professor at Temple University who helped create the event. “This is for anybody. Any human being who wants to see these kind of images should be here.”
The annual Towson Black Comic Book Mini Fest was formed as a collaboration between Odom and Don Worgs, the director of African-American Studies at Towson.
The festival is the U.S.’s first national black comic book convention and serves as a regional subsidiary of the annual East Coast Age of Black Comics Convention, Inc. which is both a convention and a nonprofit literacy, arts and education organization.
Although the East Coast Age of Black Comics Convention has been around for 15 years and the Towson Black Comic Book convention is in its second year, Odom said planning, organizing and networking for these events began in the 1990s.
Odom said linking the men and women who author and illustrate these comic books took about 10 years. Artists came from as far as the Midwest and Brooklyn to attend the initial meetings.
As a result of Odom and his executive board’s work, black comic book writers and illustrators now have a better chance at expanding their community of readers and increasing their markets, Odom said.
This is the case for black comic book writer Roye Okupe, who authors “The Legend of Wale Williams,” a narrative about a young Nigerian man who in the year 2025 inherits a suit with superpowers. Wale uses the suit to find his father who has been missing for five years and simultaneously fights off the leader of an extremist group called The Creed.
“Ever since I was born, there weren’t any superheroes from Nigeria,” Okupe said. “When I got to the United States in 2002, there were a lot of superhero movies that inspired me to go back and try and see if I can get in touch with my childhood dream of creating a superhero. 2012 is when I said, ‘You know what, I’m just going to take a risk on myself.’”
Okupe said he has been successful since he decided to join the comic book industry in 2012, but he also admits that it is still challenging for minority comic book writers.
“It’s tough,” Okupe said. “I’m not going to sit down here and say it’s easy, but I’m the kind of person who tries to focus on what I can do to strengthen my own chances as opposed to focusing on my weaknesses. Being a black creator in the comic book industry, it’s getting better, actually.”
However, the comic book writer says events like these really help.
“It’s not where it needs to be, but there’re a lot of improvements, a lot more opportunities,” Okupe said. “Like I said, this is a convention for black creators, so if we have more things like this, then more opportunities to sell our products will come.”
Despite the challenges, Okupe said one of his main goals is to inspire others, including potential comic book writers and readers.
Black comic book fan Aaron McKnight said the he enjoyed seeing black comic book writers and illustrators have a platform to promote their craft. He said he hopes that the black comic book industry itself and the festival will grow bigger than it already is.
“It’s nice that we’re having this festival, but I feel like where the industry is in our community, it’s still too behind,” McKnight said. “We need more support for the public, and we need more people here. I think we could very easily get more people here, if more people know about it.”