ONYXCON (for Comic Book Lovers and Afro Literature Aficionados)

For those didn't know. Apparently a group of Black Writers and Illustrators have come together and started what will hopefully an annual festival celebrating Black Writers and Afro-Literature. They range from artists, to comic book writers, novelists, etc. For those who want to see something different OnyxCon is it. I found out about going to a forum that focused on Black Writers in Speculative Fiction (ie Horror, Sci-Fi, fantasy). It's still going on this week so hopefully yall in GA who are near ATL might be interested in coming out. Below are links. I hope you are interested.

(The Festival)
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

(The Library Sponsored Forum)
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

(Site Dedicated to Black Superheroes)
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

(Black Superhero Museum)
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

black mainstream literature tends to be pretty fucking horrid. A bunch of people with less talent than tyler perry typing out stereotypes at 100 words per minute.

"black mainstream literature tends to be pretty fucking horrid."

I would go beyond literature and say most black mainstream media in general does that.

There are more shades than the stereotypes. Not every thing is Hood Chicks and Thug Life.

I'm talking Octavia Butler and Walter Moseley homies. Did yall peep any of the links?

Most of what I'm talking about is Speculative Fiction, not Sister Souljah knock offs of the Urban Fiction genre.

The mainstream in general is derivative. I'm suggesting a different avenue. Have any of you ever read Milestone comics?

Does Invisible Man count? Either way, read that shit. Top 3 book of all time for me.

Walter Mosley is my favorite author period... but his shit is few and far between when it comes to afro writers. And I should clarify I mean mainstream and modern. Mosley is the last halfway decent writer in a long long time IMO. And no I did not peep the links, sorry but I am not willing to sift through 100s of Homeboy Thugs In Outerspace Keeping It Real to get to one halfway decent novel.

Half wrote:

Does Invisible Man count? Either way, read that shit. Top 3 book of all time for me.

Depends on who you ask, but in the forum most in the panel agreed that it was. I think so too.

[quote="Southern Rap Pro"]Walter Mosley is my favorite author period... but his shit is few and far between when it comes to afro writers. And I should clarify I mean mainstream and modern. Mosley is the last halfway decent writer in a long long time IMO. And no I did not peep the links, sorry but I am not willing to sift through 100s of Homeboy Thugs In Outerspace Keeping It Real to get to one halfway decent novel. [/quote

It's not like that at all.

The OnyxCon link simply let's you know about the convention and some of it participants and the blacksuperhero is a link to different blogs and writers.

The Museum one, basically simply features exhibits of a wide variety of black characters that have appeared over the years organized by publishers. It even features independents. It'll tell ya about folks you never knew about.

Southern Rap Pro wrote:

Walter Mosley is my favorite author period... but his shit is few and far between when it comes to afro writers. And I should clarify I mean mainstream and modern. Mosley is the last halfway decent writer in a long long time IMO. And no I did not peep the links, sorry but I am not willing to sift through 100s of Homeboy Thugs In Outerspace Keeping It Real to get to one halfway decent novel.

This is the reason good writers have trouble getting shine because people assume this is what they will get. I'm just trying to offer a viable alternative so good writers can get some shine.

*And the library link is for those in ATL or near ATL. The forum will be going until sunday.

In that case I will click them. What's the point of the convention? And who are the good afro wrtiers?

Nalo Hopkinson (Midnight Robber), Tananarive Due (Living Blood), Octavia Butler (Parable Series, Lilith Series), Brandon Massey

Look up Dark Matter compendium, book of short stories by various Black Writers
Also look up Afro-Futurism, Cosmic Slop Shop the movie was based off some of those ideals although it was a low budget.
Those are two of the Black Writers I heard good things about.

I admit my knowledge of the indie Black comic game is limited. Most mainstream comic book shops don't sell them or attempt to sell them. However there are regular publishers of black comics.

Point of the Convention
1. Networking and workshops Black Authors and Illustrators
2. Connect with the fans they already have
3. Create new readers and writers
4. Create awareness of Black Products

Im a member at Herotalk. Which is the biggest site for Black comic know it alls. Or comic know it all periods. Onyxcon is a big deal there. I wish I lived in Baltimore where they hold onyxcon. On that site I go by the name CyberSambo, I know, stupid name, but you cant change your screenname there. A lot of the members there are very talented like Charlie Fab-creator of Blackbird . But some of the members are some uppity asss negroes that toss insults and claim to have multiple degrees and shit. But I must aggree a lot of those dudes alienate Black artist/writers. Theres dudes more worse than Steve at that site. But this comic concept tentatively called STREET TEAM is pretty dope. A dude named Standingo created this artwork.




[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Is it Herotalk.com, org, net or what?

I really like the pic.

And thanx for sharing DT. Do you relay any of the folks there to your artwork here?

Half wrote:

Does Invisible Man count? Either way, read that shit. Top 3 book of all time for me.

yea thats a great fucking book, have you read Native Son? if not id suggest it just to see the complete opposite approaches to Social Realism those books take

DT I found it. I just didn't know it was called. I'll keep an eye out for ya.

TheHazardous wrote:

Is it Herotalk.com, org, net or what?

I really like the pic.

And thanx for sharing DT. Do you relay any of the folks there to your artwork here?

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Heres a link to that site, you can register and become a member-membership may take awhile though. I been there little over a year. Naw, I haven't displayed any art there yet, still building my skills. They got some great artist there and its a powerful place to connect

Dang! Trotter wrote:

TheHazardous wrote:

Is it Herotalk.com, org, net or what?

I really like the pic.

And thanx for sharing DT. Do you relay any of the folks there to your artwork here?

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Heres a link to that site, you can register and become a member-membership may take awhile though. I been there little over a year. Naw, I haven't displayed any art there yet, still building my skills. They got some great artist there and its a powerful place to connect

Gotta make ya bones first before you swear the oath of omerta?

I've been wanting to get my hands on some good black authors. I'll definitely look into reading some of these over the winter.
Btw Native Son is a great read.

Roflmao @ "100 Homeboy Thugs In Outerspace Keeping It Real "

Now THAT's Funny!