Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Alice Mechi Li, Comics, Daniel Jose Older, entertainment, Ilieen W. Gregorio, LeSean Thomas, NYCC, Tracy Jong

Different Flavors Of Geek – Geeks Of Color Panel Coverage

Ra'Chaun Rogers writes for Bleeding Cool:

With the growing audience of comics and nerd culture, as well as the slow acceptance underrepresented groups being present at the table of geekdom there is a clamoring of voices from those  groups to be heard, shown and represented. In know as a young black male growing up in Brooklyn Milestone comics were invaluable to me as a source of hope, toward my own writing aspirations. So I was quite happy to attend the Geeks of Color panel to discuss the strides being made to get the myriad melinated masses their time to shine. The Mod Diana Pho (Veteran, at Tor books) introduce the audience to the panel Ilieen W. Gregorio, Author of the Young Adult Novel, None of the Above, Tracy Jong, former narrative director for Gameloft, Alice Mechi Li; Artist on Elephantmen. Daniel Jose Older, writer of Salsa Nocturna and LeSean Thomas, animator on The Boondocks, Black Dynamite and the Legend of Korra. Diana gave everyone the chance to open up with their origin story From Alice the daughter of Chinese immigrants in a poor Detroit neighborhood to Ilieen the Urologist whose treatment of an intersexed teen caused her to pursue her long desired writing career, to Daniel the paramedic who didn't feel that he or those in the community he served had faces that looked like theirs in their fiction. Inside each of the panelists stories was the narrative of a person of color who lived in a world where the heroes didn't look like them.

This touched me as both a creator, a fan and a retailer working for a comic shop in NYC.  I've had a number of black and latino parents come up to me looking for heroes which share their faces, backgrounds and culture, the biggest issue usually is that most of the stories on the shelf aren't written by the people they portray. Alice shed some light on one of the reasons why there maybe a shortage of creators of color and that is financial gain, her parents wanted her to be a doctor or computer engineer. Of course when they found out she choose to become a struggling artist "And I did struggle." she laughs they were crestfallen but eventually as she went to the artist alley at con's and met other artists she gained invaluable contacts and from that paying jobs. LeSean explained the sense of pride he felt working with an all black crew on The Boondocks and working on black characters for both that and Black Dynamite. "I've worked for a lot of white folks in my time and there's nothing wrong with it, but it was good to be around people who know where you're coming from and what you're getting at…."He goes on to say "If we were doing something it would have to do three things, be funny, be honest and be thought provoking…we weren't being controversial on the Boondocks for the sake of it there were reasons behind it."

One fan asked do they think that authenticity of their work is compromised by being appealing to a larger (white audience) and whether or not their work risks alienating themselves from their communities. Daniel responded by saying that our first refuge must be our communities, because these are the people we're telling stories about, everything is secondary. Summing it up to not making fiction for those who are represented but those that aren't initially.

I injected myself in the conversation during the Q&A asking the panelists Why we still needed to have this conversation, which took place at one of the latest time slots, in a far off corner of the convention center, and why this conversation wasn't on the main stage in the light of day, almost as if it was to be hidden. Diana responded saying that we need to keep having this conversation because it lets them know we're still here, last year the room we had was much smaller and we packed it so she asked for a bigger room. Next year we'll try to get it at an earlier time, She said. LeSean chimed in that he thought it would be great to have it a noon, when the sun is out.

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