With over 9,000 people registered, this weekend, prepare to go back into the Spider-Verse at the 7th annual Black Comic Book Festival in Harlem.
Taking place once again at The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City on January 18 and 19, this year’s festival will feature more than a dozen panel conversations with leading creators of color in the comic book industry, along with book signings, a cosplay show, youth programming at Countee Cullen Library, and a special free screening of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
Free and open to the public, Schomburg’s Black Comic Book Festival begins at 10 a.m. this Friday. Register now and explore how creators of color are breaking down barriers in the world of comic books.
Highlights of the event include a program about creating black fantasy moderated by Mattie’s Rocket creator Tim Fielder of Dieselfunk Studios, a panel discussion on social activism through comics, moderated by Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez, creator of La Borinqueña and producer and contributor of Ricanstruction, and a program focusing on black women writers in comics, moderated by Karama Horne of theblerdgurl.com.
The Harlemworld comic book fest comes out of a lineage of Black comic book creators who launched the first comic com focused on people of African descent in the early 90s.
The full schedule of the event is listed below.
The Schomburg Center’s 7th Annual Comic Book Festival
Program 1: 10:00 am – 11:15 am
“Little Apple” Sci-Fi/Drama Comic & Series
Riley Wilson, Writer & Director
Screening, Discussion and Q&A
Program 2: 11:30 am – 12:30 pm
Creating Black Fantasy
Dedren Snead (Sorghum & Spear)
Roye Okupe (Malika, E.X.O. The Legend of Wale Williams)
Moderator: Tim Fielder (Infinitum, Molly’s Rocket)
Presentation and Q&A
Book Signing 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Esmerelda Santiago (When I Was a Puerto Rican)
Crystal Velasquez (Hunters of Chaos)
Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez (Ricanstruction: Reminiscing and Rebuilding Puerto Rico)
Program 3: 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm
AfroPuertorriqueños: Cultural & Social Activism in Comics
Crystal Velasquez (PBS Maya and Miguel, Hunters of Chaos series)
Esmeralda Santiago (When I was Puerto Rican, Almost a Woman)
Moderator: Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez (La Borinqueña, Ricanstruction)
Panel Discussion and Q&A
Program 4: 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Curating Black Nerdy Spaces
Hilton George (Blerdcon)
Clairesa Clay (BlerdCity Con)
Cagen Luse (#ComicsinColor)
Deirdre Hollman (Black Comics Collective)
Moderator: Kadiatou Tubman
Panel Discussion and Q&A
Program 5: 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm
#FortheCulture: New York City in Comics
Andre LeRoy Davis (The Last Word)
Mikayla Brown (The Boogie Down Brigade)
Ray Felix (Bronx Heroes)
Robert Garrett (Ayala)
Stephane Metayer (Tephlon Funk)
Moderator: Deirdre Hollman
Panel Discussion and Q&A
Shop and Sip Happy Hour
5:30 pm – 8:00 pm
Special Program: 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Screening & Talkback
[Limited Seating Available]
Saturday, January 19, 2019
Location: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Program 6: 10:00 am – 11:15 am
Black Villains Matter
Janicia Francis (Tea with Queen and J. Podcast)
Kennedy Allen, (Black Tribbles Podcast)
Kevin Mambo (Marvel’s Luke Cage, Netflix)
Ron Simmons (You Don’t Read Comics)
Moderated by Michael Flood
Panel Discussion and Q&A
Program 7: 11:45 am – 12: 30 pm
Coming of Age: Black Boys in Comics
Greg Anderson Elysee (Is’nana the Were-Spider)
Kwanza Osajyefo (BLACK)
Victor LaValle (A People’s Future of the United States: Speculative Fiction from 25 Extraordinary Writers)
Panel Discussion and Q&A
Program 8: 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Animating History: Comics and the Archival Record
Rebecca Hall (Wake)
Kamau Ware (Black Gotham)
Moderator: Deirdre Hollman
Presentation, Panel Discussion and Q&A
Book Signing 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Kwanza Osajyefo (BLACK, Black AF)
Victor LaValle (A People’s Future of the United States, Destroyer)
Greg Anderson Elysee (Is’nana the Werespider)*
Program 9: 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm
How to Launch Your Comic Kickstarter
Camilla Zhang
Presentation and Q&A
Book Signing 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm
Eve Ewing (Ironheart)
Jamila Rowser (Wash Day)*
Vita Ayala (Livewire, The Wilds, Submerged)
Shawnee and Shawnelle Gibbs (The Invention of EJ Whitaker)*
Program 10:4:30 pm – 5:30 pm
Cosplay Showcase
Kanene Holder and Aixa Kendrick
Program 11: 6:00 pm – 7:15 pm
Scripting Our Stories: Black Women Writers in Comics
Jamila Rowser (Wash Day)
Eve Ewing (Riri Williams: Ironheart)
Shawnee and Shawnelle Gibbs (The Invention of E.J. Whitaker)
Vita Ayala (The Wilds, Livewire, Submerged)
Moderator: Karama Horne (theblerdgurl.com)
Panel Discussion and Q&A
Saturday, January 19, 2019
Youth Programming
Location: Countee Cullen Library
Program 12: 10:00 am – 11:30 am
Saturday Morning Cartoons
Little Apple by Riley Wilson
Heroes of Color by David Heredia
Program 13: 12:00 pm – 1:00pm
How to Draw Comics Workshop
Tim Fielder (Dieselfunk Studios)
Presentation and Hands-on Workshop
Program 14: 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm
Superhero/ Supervillain Mask Making
Marcus Del Valle
Presentation and Hands-on Workshop
Program 15: 3:3 0 pm – 5:00 pm
Coloring Stations and Superhero Storytime
Marcus Del Valle
Hands-on Workshop
