So I’m fresh back from the New York ComicCon and let me proclaim that joint was off the hook! My first experience with a convention of this magnitude was worth the effort and I’m just going to drop some science real quick on why I’ll be back next year. As a brutha who gets down with Comics, I feel that a lot of times I exist in a bubble where I am part of a small subset of Black people who enjoy the medium. At my local shop, I am one of 5 (and this is in a major city like Boston). I appreciated the fact that at NYCC, Black people from many sets came through and I was able to socialize and get down with many of them. We are obviously out there, and I enjoyed being able to rock with them.

Secondly, being able to meet face-to-face with creators I dig heavily and speak at length with them was the highlight of the show for me. A big shout out to Jonathan Hickman of Nightly News fame — he was definitely cool as a fan and I enjoyed the two days I got to rap with him and get to know that cat better. Also, I was fortunate enough to connect with Kyle Baker — we talked for a LONG time about TRUTH: Red, White, and Black, which is my favorite work by Baker (and believe me when I say that soon I will OWN some original TRUTH art ya’ll). I also got to rap quite a bit with Ron King, publisher for a new Comics-centric magazine with flavor called UVC (Urban Voice of Comics). I’m hoping they do big things with the magazine. He is tag teamed with my man Rich Watson from Glyphs — Rich is also the editor. Meeting The Mad Twiinz, Mike and Mark Davis, creators of a new flavored hero Comic, Blokhedz was on point forreal. I got an advanced copy of the Blokhedz TPB and the story is tight. Hero flavor on another format. Don’t judge that by the cover.

I also got down with quite a few panels while at NYCC. It was interesting to be in the room for DC Nation and Marvel Cup of Joe — I found that I couldn’t really relate to many of the cats in the room as they were screamin’ and whistlin’ at every third word said by Dan Didio or Joe Quesada. Maybe my hustle is not fanboy enough (in fact, I’m almost sure of it). Getting firsthand clue from the EIC’s of both houses made it worth going, but, given what they said about DC’s Countdown and Marvel’s Annihilation:Conquest, I didn’t walk away feeling like the next BIG thing from either house moved me. We’ll see how it plays out! I also attended the two Black panels at NYCC. It was inspiring to hear Denys Cowan lay down the truth. My man is taking over as the VP of animation for BET. That is not a bad thing. I finally got to see Reggie Hudlin face to face and hear words from the lions mouth about Black Panther, BET, and the state of Black heroes in Comics. I think he is the type of cat you love and hate all in the same sentence (I know I did both), but he is definitely on to something! We got to see quite a bit of what we can expect from Black creators for 2007 and I’m hoping for a huge impact. I leave it to the cats I’m linking below to get you full details on the Black panels, because I know they will handle it proper.

Big SHOUT OUT! to Cheryl Lynn from The Ormes Society — I see you Ms. Lady, keep doing your thing! I really enjoyed getting down with her face to face. Expect big things from her all year. Also, another big SHOUT OUT! to my man Rich Watson — sorry we kept missing each other at convention, bruh! Keep your eyes on the prize, especially with UVC — Funk the lil’ wizard, BOOM with the Black ish!!! Bahlactus has spoken.

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