As Black History Month comes to a close, Loyola Marymount University will present on Thursday the 23rd Outside The Lines: Reconfiguring Race in American Comics, Animation, and Graphic Novels.
Outside The Lines will take on topics such as descrimination, race, stereotyping, diversity, and the role and responsibility of the artist and the works they create in handling racial subject matter.
One of participants is John Jennings whose upcoming show Fantastic Blackness will be taking place in the days following the LMU event.
The following four images were executed by Mr.Jennings, mixing classic Kirbyesque superhero archetypes with powerful negritude and pride. The results need to be seen to believed.
Fantastic Blackness the art show will be curated by Dr. Adilifu Nama, author of Super Black: American Pop Culture and Black Superheroes.
Dr. Nama is also featured in the documentary White Scripts and Black Supermen: Black Masculinities in American Comic Books. Information about this film can be found at blacksuperherodoc.com. This documentary features interviews with many prominent figures in comics, including the late, great Dwayne McDuffie. It is produced by Dr. Jonathan Gayles, an Associate Professor of African American Studies at Georgia State University, Atlanta. Check it out at its website.
One of the panels at Outside The Lines will feature friend of Komplicated and Thundercats and Shadowlaw writer Brandon Easton, talking about film and television adaptations of graphic novels and comics.
Other panels will feature the likes of Eric Battle, Ashley Woods, and Nnedi Okorafor. The full list of panels can be found here.
Outside The Lines starts Thursday February 23. Fantastic Blackness starts Saturday February 25.
[Source: John Jennings, Brandon Easton]