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 at 2:30 p.m. EST on Saturday, July 31, on the Midwest BSFA YouTube channel! 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.
During the extremely long break we took from working on this blog last year and earlier this year, we were up to lots of things, including moderating a graphic novel panel at 
We recently talked to Newton Lilavois of Dream Fury Comics about his supernatural comic Crescent City Monsters. The story follows Jonas, a blues musician and sorcerer practicing Creole Magic, who’s determined to track down who put out a bounty on him. 
Cosplayer/geeklanthropist Sistah Geek, co-host of the 
I was a teenager when I started to like jazz. In high school, my marching band director played John Coltrane and Miles Davis in his office, the notes wafting in and out of our practice room during our breaks. I bought jazz CDs through that Columbia House CD Club scam when I was in college and by the time I was in grad school, I was crate digging for jazz on vinyl at local record shops. However, it wasn’t until I got deep into the Cincinnati jazz scene that I fell in love with the art of the live jazz show…and subsequently learned what gatekeeping was. 
Midwest BSFA member Mildred “Ill Mil” Fallen, host of Deeper than Atlantis: Diggin’ In Da Crates on Soul Public Radio, is one of nine MCs featured on Gamma, Cincinnati hip-hop producer Homage-CVG’s concept album centered around The Incredible Hulk. Fallen is on the roster among rhyme veterans, including Kyle David (Five Deez/Sons of Silverton), Boogie Bang (Red Eye Blue), Vibe One (Watusi Tribe), and Citoak (Watusi Tribe/Sons of Silverton). We talked to her about her Gamma contribution, her hip-hop background and her foray into comics. 
