midwestbsfa Interviews

Juice Lee Joins Queen City Black Comix Day Virtual Comics Creators Panel, Part Two

Nerdcore rapper Juice Lee will discuss his comic book Skrap during our Queen City Black Comix Day virtual comics creators panel on Saturday, July 31, at 2:30 p.m.!

Midwest BSFA: How did you come up with this concept and why?
Lee: I have been a fight fan for the last 15 years. I’ve had an extremely deep love for martial arts nearly all my life. This book started out as more of a side story to another story that I was writing. The main character in this story is the sister of the main character and the other story I was writing. Initially I had no intentions of writing this story off the bat. I ended up getting writer’s block with my initial story and just started spit balling ideas. Those ideas snowballed into this I wrote the story mainly because I wanted to tell the story of a black female UFC champion since there hasn’t been one. But then it started to evolve and change into so many things beyond the cage and it started to really take on a life of its own.

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midwestbsfa Interviews

Victor Dandridge Joins Queen City Black Comix Day Virtual Comics Creators Panel, Part Two

Victor Dandridge of Vantage:Inhouse Productions

We were lucky to snag “the hardest working man in comics,” Victor Dandridge, for part two of our Queen City Black Comix Day virtual comics creators panel on July 31! We’ll be choppin’ it up with him and Juice Lee so join us if you can! Below, Victor tells us about his start in comics, what he’s currently working on and the legacy he hopes will endure for years to come.

Midwest BSFA: How did you get into comics?
Dandridge: This is one of my FAVORITE stories: I HATED reading as a child. You couldn’t pay me to read a book. But I was a big fan of pop culture, so all of that changed the day they announced on the news that Superman was going to die! How do you kill Superman? WHO could even do it?? Immediately, my mind was abuzz with all the intrigue such an announcement was supposed to bring. I had no choice but to admit that I wanted to read that. Luckily, my mother overheard me, and the very next day, she started my comic collection with a stack of random books she picked up. I’ve been a fan ever since.

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midwestbsfa Interviews

Aziza the Graphic Novelist Participates in Queen City Black Comix Day Comics Creators Panel

Aziza the Graphic Novelist

Aziza the Graphic Novelist joins the Queen City Black Comix Day comics creators panel on Saturday, June 26, at 2:30 p.m. EST on Facebook Live! She’ll discuss some upcoming projects as well as her first comic, The Kaaiman’s Cry, which we interviewed her about last summer.

Midwest BSFA: How did you get into comics writing?
Aziza: In general, I feel like visual media tends to be more engaging. Originally, I started researching how to create my own video game.  However, the more I studied the more I realized that the barriers to entry were way too high and would’ve involved me learning skills that I don’t think I would’ve enjoyed learning.  On the other hand, I’ve always loved writing. And once I started studying on how comics were made, I realized that most of the skills that are required to self publish a comic are skills that I enjoy, want to improve, or do well.  So I decided on comics as the medium to tell my stories.

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midwestbsfa Interviews

Interview with Author/Educator B. Sharise Moore

b. sharise mooreWe recently talked to author/educator B. Sharise Moore, who’s currently crowdfunding her latest project, Conjuring Worlds: An Afrofuturist Textbook, on Indiegogo. The book of Afrofuturist poetry, prose, art, and cross-curricular extension activities is geared toward middle schoolers. Moore told us all about Conjuring Worlds, her favorite spec fic creators and works and how despite everything, 2020 isn’t so bad for her.

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midwestbsfa Events, Interviews

Interview with Filmmaker Akosua Akoben

akosua

Filmmaker Akosua Akoben found a new love in film production, and plans to produce several webseries and multimedia productions. Part of her webseries, The Pride, will screen at our “What Does the Future Look Like?” program on Feb. 23! We recently talked to her about her interest in science fiction and Afrofuturism and her webseries, The Pride. Continue reading “Interview with Filmmaker Akosua Akoben” →