#MEccaCon

[straightpathjewlz]

@meccacon We Specialize In #CUSTOM #DICHRO Pieces. #SPJ ❤ #straightpathjewlz #oneofakind #handmadenecklace #wearableart #unique #Jewelry #Jewelryforsale #forsale #supportsmallbusiness #spiritual #positive #glassonig #beadwork #dichro #customjewelry #fashion #glassofig #IslamicArt #glass_of_ig #HipHop #Godhop spjewlz@gmail.com to order. https://www.instagram.com/p/CjAmT0iuZRe/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[meccacon]

OPEN UP MY WINDOW AGAINNNN: Godfather of Harlem is coming to #MECCAcon! Let’s ask the creator and executive producer EXACTLY why “you can’t be lucky like you LUCIANO”, lol. Y’all already KNOW this is my absolute favorite show, so pull up so you can find out why. Markquann Smith created this show, is one of the EPs, & also stars in it as the infamous right hand to Bumpy Johnson, Junie Byrd! Getcha roses ready! We’ll be asking the real questions the others won’t, as always. TUESDAY, March 23rd @ 8pm EST/ 5pm PST via the #MECCAconClubhouse #clubhouse https://www.joinclubhouse.com/event/PAXlzzqn Markuann Smith is an actor and television producer. He is the creator (television), executive producer, & plays a supporting role in the American crime drama television series, Godfather of Harlem, starring Forest Whitaker, set to premiere in 2019 on EPIX. Markuann has been working in the entertainment industry for almost twenty years. While in high school, Markuann’s brother, #FatherMC, received a record deal with legendary #UptownRecords at the start of the #NewJackSwing era. Smith began touring with his brother and was exposed to the likes of 2PAC, Tony! Toni! Tone!, Digital Underground, & Boyz II Men, to name a few. Through the years, hels landed roles on #TheChapelleShow, Juice, Poetic Justice - Movie, CODE BLUE, and the award-winning short film A Good Day to Die. https://www.instagram.com/p/CMsQuCFlCd0/?igshid=ysnit1xmoydy

[thenerdsofcolor]

A Conversation with the Creators of 'ALL CAPS,' a Webcomic Love Letter to the Late MF Doom

A Conversation with the Creators of ‘ALL CAPS,’ a Webcomic Love Letter to the Late MF Doom

On April 20, a crew of some of the most talented artists and creators came together to produce a free webcomic as a love letter to the late Daniel “MF Doom” Dumile. The work was a collaboration between longtime artists Troy-Jeffrey Allen, Sean Anthony Mack (a.k.a. Smack!), senior editor and MECCAcon CEO Maia “Crown” Williams, and others. The webcomic is a six-page trek across the many influences…

[blacknerdproblems]

MECCAcon is space that provides an atmosphere for nerds of color to interact with and support creators of color, check out new diverse titles, and free reign for cosplay. You can also meet up with other nerds of color that share the same interest across the genre of pop culture. Black Nerd Problems talked with Maia “Crown” Williams, the founder and organizer of MECCAcon, to learn more about the importance of the gap MECCAcon fills.

© NayMarie Photography for Taji Mag | www.TajiMag.com

Black Nerd Problems: For years you have nurtured MECCAcon/BSAM into a much-needed haven for incredible African diasporic comics, film, and art from some of the most slept-on Black and brown indie artists in the game. That seems to be the ultimate labor of love. What work or moment sparked that passion for you and what makes you so ride-or-die for this particular universe?

Maia “Crown” Williams: The biggest moment was looking thru my son’s comics collection, and noticing the severe lack of self in books my son was reading. Other than Black Panther, which he had many of, there were barely any others. Also, not one was an indie series of any kind. I began researching and discovered another person in Detroit, Andre Batts, who organized a local convention here in Detroit. I met him at the African World Festival and began working with him immediately. I also began googling indie Black comics and met quite a few online via Facebook. Us indies are everywhere on social media, but we form like Voltron via Mark Zuckerberg.

I was so amazed how many Black comic series existed, how many creators were Black that I had never heard of, and I became obsessed with buying my son… everything, lol. His comic book selection is insane, he has titles famous, legendary creators even tell me they’re jealous of. He even has like 50 first edition prints of Milestone. How? One will never know the Jedi mind tricks my son beholds. I believe in working in the comic book industry cuz I believe the self-sustainability of my people. I can’t complain about lack of this, that, and the third if I’m not out here contributing to the growth and elevation of it all. I do my part, then I complain.

BNP: You are constantly imagining ways to grow MECCAcon into a bigger and better entity. One of the cool things you’re introducing this year is a subscription box service. Can you talk a little bit about that and what we can expect to find inside?

Maia: #MECCAconSubBox is literally the first of its kind. A friend of mine came to me with the idea because she was crazy enough to think that I could pull this off, lol. It officially launched in full on October 1st, and I am very excited! You receive 3-4 printed comic books, downloads of international Black award-winning films, and maybe downloads or a physical gift of something else. We have many sci-fi, Afrofuturism, speculative fiction, and filmmakers participating, as well as Black-owned businesses, all from across the country and globally. It’s pretty exciting.

 Read on here. [x]

[rsbexpressions]

Black Super Hero’s

 AWSUM ISLOVE / SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2017

As you rave over Luke Cage, and soon Marvels’ Black Panther, Black SuperHeros have had a presence and history that out dates these two series. While this may the first time Black Superhero’s have been prominent on white owned media platforms, independent Black owned media platforms have been doing this for decades.

There are #AfrikanSuperHero movies, t.v series, & comics written, produced, directed & illustrated by actual Afrikans & the Afrikan Diaspora.

 Black Comic book conventions such as E.B.A.C.C (www.ecbacc.com/wordpress4) (Yumy Odom, Founder and President)  of the largest Black Comic book convention on the East Coast was created in May 2002 in Philadelphia.  The Schomburg will be doing its 7th Annual Black Comic Book Festival in January 2018, co-produced by John Jennings. The producers of the festival are replicating it in California. In the Midwest for have MECCAcon ( https://meccacon.wordpress.com/) (founder, organizer, CEO, Maia Crown Williams)

OYA: RISE OF THE ORISHAS  is a short film originally released in July 31, 2016. Created by Nigerian-UK filmmaker, Nosa Igbinedion, it was nominated for the Efere Ozako Award for Best Short film. You can currently watch the new installment, YEMOJA:Rise of the Orishas, on demand via the website.

(www.riseoftheorisha.com/)  

This generation of Black-African Super Hero creators has done what #SidneyPoitier #HarryBelafonte, #RubyDee, #OssieDavis, The Black Arts Movement, & many more have done before them. Most millennials, born between 1980-1999, only know Ruby & Ossie as the old couple from Spike Lee’s, “Do the Right Thing” film. What you probably don’t know is that they owned/operated a production co. for audio recorded cassettes of music and ent. Emmalyn II Productions Co., Inc. and a business consulting service Dee-Davis Enterprises in 2010. Ossie was a film, television and Broadway actor, director, poet, playwright, author, and civil rights activist. Ruby was an actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist and civil rights activist. 

Ivan Dixon, director of “The Spook Who Sat by the Door” in 1970, was an actor, director & producer from 1957 to 1991 . Brock Peters, producer of 1970 film “Five on the Black Hand Side” made his film debut in Carmen Jones in 1954, and sang background vocals on the 1956 hit "Day-O" by Harry Belafonte. He did voice overs in Batman: the animated series, and Darth Vador for the radio adaptation of the original Star Wars trilogy for National Public Radio (1981-1986).

White owned media saw the mass amounts of money that was being made by independent Black owned business & entrepreneurs that contribute to African diaspora characters. Not only was it making money, but it was taking money from their pockets as #BlackConsumers went to their own for empowering images of themselves. Prior to this, they cared nothing of us (and still don’t) only our money.

A living, elevated example of that transition, is Pamela Thomas. Culminating her collection as an adult, she looks back at her childhood. Disappointed with the  lack of empowering Black representation, if any,  in main stream comics, she looked elsewhere...and found it!  The Museum of Uncut Funk, (http://museumofuncutfunk.com/) is an online digital museum of BlackSuper Heros, She-rah’s, & paraphernalia that, “ celebrate[s] our contribution to history year round!” Everything from Fat Albert, The Jackson 5 cartoon, Mr. T comics, The Harlem Glob Trotters cartoon, and stuff I never knew existed. Her traveling exhibit, “ Funk Turns 40: Black Character Revolution” debuted at The Schomburg in 2014. That exhibition also eye-marked a new curation style for the Schomburg center; the walls were painted in bright solid colors dipping the viewer inside the luscious array of diversity and beauty, that is Black culture. It was this authors official introduction to Black Characters & the History of Black Characters. Since then, everything in regards to Black characters on t.v. and advertisements, failed in comparison. We have set a very high bar. That bar, is the norm for the independent Black image creators. Since then, everything in regards to Black characters on t.v. and advertisements, failed in comparison. We have set a very high bar. That bar is the norm for the independent Black image creators mentioned in this article.

“ Since then, everything in regards to Black characters... failed in comparison. We have set a very high bar. That bar, is the norm for the independent Black image creators...”

And again, my people have drunk the Koolaid of a white owned representation of something Black, thinking it will be "sweeter" & “cooler” than what we create for ourselves. This is a falsehood, (& an act of cultural treason) that must stop. Wanting Black content is not enough. We have to want ourselves.

* Pay Attn  to the Dates.* Your vision got drowned out by the white accredited version of a Black Superhero. (HHHmmmm) Their approval is not necessary for us to be fabulous, amazing, talented, disciplined, successful, & valued.

 The best pple to represent our stories is US! And it is EXCELLENT!

In Order of Mention:

The Schomburg Center: Black Comic Book Festival ( https://www.nypl.org/locations/scho...)

Cosplay at the 5th annual Black Comic Book Festival

John Jennings  (http://jijennin70.tumblr.com/)

EBACC

Yumy Odum: Founder/ Ceo Of EBACC (East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention, Inc)

MECCAcon

Maiya Crown Williams; CEO, Founder, Organizer of MECCAcon: (photo from www.sugarcayne.com)

Nosa Igbinedion ( https://www.nosa-filmmaker.com)

Sidney Poitier /  Bahamian Actor, film director, author and diplomat.

Harry Belafonte

Ruby Dee & Ossie Davis (Power Couple) 

Ivan Dixon

Brock Peters

The Museum of Uncut Funk / Pamela Thomas

HCIC Pam Thomas, with actress of Blaxploitation films, Pam Grier.

For a full article review with pics on the Funky Turns 40 exhibit http://www.a-r-t.com/funky/

Premier of FunkyTurns 40 at the schomburg; 2014

*****************************

Other Independent African Diaspora Creators Links:

*****************************

Banned Cartoons: What images of the African Diaspora ( & references to our culture) used to look like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNr...

OYA: Rise of the Orishas (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMb...)

The Rise of Sango and tthe Lagos Comic Con https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duV...

Michael Rima (Visual Effects artist):

Sango trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLa... / https://vimeo.com/user37190487

[dreamfurycomics]

SIX. HOURS. LEFT!! Only $1000 left to reach our STRETCH GOAL!! #linkInBIO 📚 #crescentcitymonsters #crescentcity #neworleans #voodun #voodou #voodoo #hoodoo #baronsamedi #baronsamdi #creole #nawlins #neworleans #blackcomics #blackcomicschat #blackheroesmatter #indiebooks #newcomicbookday #newcomicswednesday #marvel #meccacon #dccomics https://www.instagram.com/p/B8MQNj2pNbg/?igshid=1qfejj5s5fc04

[blackfolksmakingcomics]

Hardware and Static by N. Steven Harris for MECCACon 2017.

Saturday, September 16, 2017

Detroit Public Library

5201 Woodward Avenue

Detroit, MI 48202

Save the date.

Oh, and if you’re still wondering about the Milestone revival at DC Comics, Jim Lee says it’s coming shortly with details revealed in the coming months. Watch the skies.

[alltomorrowschildren]

Something slipped through a break in the timestream . . . Looks like a new #ATC poster for Autumn... UPCOMING TRANSMISSIONS//details on the soundtrack and its first music video from #NakedSweatshop!

[cookingwithque]

Today check us our at the 6th Annual #MeccaCon #meccacondsa2019 we will be there serving up some #Vegan Goodness! Visit from 11 am to 7 pm at DSA DETROIT! . Tickets at Filmfreeway.com . #Vegan #MeatEater #HeartHealthy #Daiya #CookingWithQue #WhereVegansAndMeatEatersCoExist #Healthy #EatToLive #WhatHealthyLooksLike #Blogger #Chef #Curator #Foodie #PlantBased #Organic #Detroit #Midtown #Caterer #Chef #Comics #Film (at Detroit School of Arts) https://www.instagram.com/p/B2q-N4Tpyjj/?igshid=1qc2idvtnji0p

[muttonchop1blog]

T-shirts coming sooooooooon!!! To etsy and to @meccacon in detroit, this month on the 21st! Cant wait, ya'll soon to come with bundles and all kinds of stuff. Made with love and a t-shirt printer... but mostly love!! #tshirt #tshirtdesign #comingsoon #muttonchop #mutton #worldsstrongestsheep #worldsstrongest #meccacon #comicconvention #dealersroom #love #ya #Manga #Anime #comics #webcomic #indie #indiecomics #sheep #pig #smashing #delicious #Anthro #furry https://www.instagram.com/p/B2MqZ0vBkQV/?igshid=1n51qculvqvlx

[wsatterwhite]

#Repost @meccacon (@get_repost) ・・・ Short Fuse Media Group, LLC. will be participating in #MECCAconSubBox!! PRE.REGISTRATION LIST is now open for #MECCAconSubBox by Midwest Ethnic Convention for Comics and Arts - MECCA!! please SHARE!! https://meccaconbox.cratejoy.com/ 1. The site is in pre-launch, just collecting emails of anyone interested. 2. Everyone who signs up by Oct 15th gets a discount code soon via email for signing up early. 3. Oct 1 the site will start accepting orders and payment, and you can use the discount and choose your subscription plan. 4. Deadline for the first box orders will be around end of Oct. They first batch of boxes will ship Nov 5. 5. Every 5th of the month a new box will be sent out. • First box of its kind • Special surprise gifts in many boxes • Groundbreaking and award winning artists • Curated for quality by the MECCAcon/BSAM organizers • Indie to SciFi to AfroFuturism and more • Hard to obtain, award winning, international films • Limited edition and collector's items PARTICIPANTS INCLUDE:: Jason Reeves​, N Steven Harris​, Khary Randolph​, Chuck DragonBlack Collins​, David Walker​, Alitha Martinez, Eileen Kaur Alden​, Kwanza Osajyefo​, Tim Smith​, Short Fuse Media, Focsi: A Modern Day Love Story​, William Satterwhite​, rahim shabazz​, Christina Alexander-Jiles​, Korstiaan Vandiver​, Evita M. Castine​, Ka'ramuu Kush​, and MANY MORE! Sign up for the #MECCAconBox before OCT 15 and get a special DISCOUNT CODE for our Nov 5 2017 launch, plus more exciting news and great deals! #subscription #comicbooks #blackcomicbookchat #blackheroesmatter #nubiamancy #fanbros #indiecomics #comiccon #blackcomicschat #weneeddiversebooks #director #Blackfilmmakers #indiefilm #meccacon #afrofuturism #BSAM

[meccacon]

CHUCK COLLINS @bounce_comic is a featured guest for #MECCAcon2020!! 9/19/2020 🗓 Check our website for a full list of guests, bios (many more upcoming!), donation tickets, film festival registration, and much more! #MECCAcon #bouncecomic #previewsworld #blackindiecomics #blackheroesmatter #marvel #dccomics #blacklit #indiecomics #blacksuperheroesmatter #blacknerd #blerd #blerds #marvel #dccomics #imagecomics #lionforge https://www.instagram.com/p/CDbovaTM8si/?igshid=8m800jk4t0ys

[nstevenh]

This little boy was was awesome!! #Solarman #mecha #meccacon #blackgirlmagic #blackheroesmatter

[lasantera]

Join us for a dope film festival in the BRONX! I will be facilitating a workshop on Afrolatino Religion, a panel discussion, and we are screening @afrolatinostv. Get your tickets! #meccacon2017 #meccacon2016 #meccacon #futuristic #futurism #afrolatina #afrolatino #repost PLEASE SHARE #bronx (at Story Ave Bronx N.Y)

[graphicpolicy]

POC-Friendly Comic Book Conventions

POC-Friendly Comic Book Conventions. A handy list to plan your year #comics

(originally posted at theblerdgurl) I get asked so often about conventions that are run by people of color, or are POC-friendly, that I decided to make this list to keep folks informed. I have either attended one of the cons myself of I know someone who has. I will be updating this list from time to time on my site, so feel free to check it out there as well.  Thanks! (more…)

[scifi4wifi]

Los Angeles, CA – Black Speculative Arts Movement is honored to be hosting our traveling afrofuturism and comic book convention at the historical Leimert Park Village in Los Angeles this June. BSAM will be held in multiple spaces at the village, including The Vision Theatre, KAOS Network, and Leimert Park People’s Street. The convention will be not only the official ART WALK for the month of June, but also their offical 7 year anniversary.

Although we mostly focus on afrofuturism at our other events, BSAM L.A. is excited to focus primarily on film. The convention will include MECCAcon International Film Festival, Q&A from multiple filmmakers and actors, workshops, and more. Our main films will be showcased at night at People’s Street park. Please feel free to bring your own chairs. Tickets can be purchased here.

Afrofuturism, astroblackness, afrosurrealism, black comic books, speculative fiction, black cosplay, and social injustice will also be included. There will be many presentations from known scholars, artists, publicists, and professors from across the country.

  About Black Speculative Arts Movement

Black Speculative Arts Movement, aka BSAM, is a monthly Afrofuturism, black comics, film, and arts convention held at multiple colleges, universities, museums, and other venues across the United States, Canada, and abroad.

Our annual conventions, co-founded by associate professor and chair of the Humanities department at Harris-Stowe State University, Dr. Reynaldo Anderson, and founder of Midwest Ethnic Convention for Comics and Arts – MECCA, Maia Crown Williams, will include vending from a vast amount of comics, art, and artisan creators and vendors, live performances, a full international film festival via MECCAcon, seminars, classes, hand on workshops, plays, and much more. Students are also welcome to submit proposals to participate as well.

PARTICIPANTS FOR L.A. INCLUDE:

Denys Cowan Derek Dow Jackie JJ Stone Carl Jones Erika Alexander Lo! NIkkolas Smith Nalo Haskinson Pochino Press Paul Lewin Underground Resistance (UR) Evita Castine Hannibal Tabu Xavier l Burgin Shawna Mills kris ex (Christian Fabien) Eric Dean Seaton Ka’ramuu KushKorstiaan Vandivar Jason Reeves Supersikh Comics Onyi Udeh Yajaira De La Espada Solomon Onita Jr Donnie and Eric Seals w/ Zo! Bobby Huntley Reynaldo Anderson Maia “Crown” Williams Quentin VerCetty Obi Ud Ajani Brown Steven Barnes J.O. Bankole Andrew RollinsKeithan Jones Tony Puryear Tanai Walker V.R. McCoy Marqueeda LaStar Myshell Tabu Marcel Williams Gustavo Alberto Garcia Vaca Javier Hernandezand MORE!

ACTIVITIES INCLUDE

MECCAcon INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL AFRICAN DRUMMING CIRCLE BLACK SPECULATIVE ARTS MOVEMENT panel MECCAcon IFF ANIMATION panel MECCAcon IFF LIVE ACTION panel CONCRETE PARK presentation UNDERGROUND RESISTANCE presentation AFROFUTURISM & TECHNO workshop THE AFROFUTURIST HUMANITARIAN lecture BACK2BLACK: ACCURACY vs ACCEPTANCE IN TODAY’S COMICS panel MEDIA OF THE FUTURE panel BLACK PUBLISHERS panel RED TAILS workshop/ presentation SEARCHING FOR WALTER’S LEGACY lecture ANSCESTRAL MASK FESTIVAL INTERGENERATIONAL WOMEN’S TALK LATINO FUTURISMO panel ARTISTS ON MINING STARDUST FOR THE ANSCESTORS panel

Afrofuturism and astro blackness have been practiced in our community for years, especially thru literature, visual arts, and music. Artists like Sun Ra, Octavia Butler, Basquiat, Fela Kuti, George Clinton, John Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Samuel Delaney, Jimi Hendrix, Paschal B. Randolph, Toni Morrison, Amiri Baraka, Tananarive Due, and the ZULU NATION are excellent examples.

Black Speculative Arts Movement is a loose umbrella term represented for different positions or basis of inquiry: Afrofuturism, Astro Blackness, Afro-Surrealism, Ethno Gothic, Black Digital Humanities, Black (Afro-future female or African Centered) Science Fiction, The Black Fantastic, Magical Realism, and The Esoteric. Although these positions may be incompatible in some instances they overlap around the term speculative and design; and interact around the nexus of technology and ethics.

BSAM is a continuation of the historical behavior within the Veil to engage the ideas of Dubois, Wright, Everett and others to pierce the Color Line, the Color Curtain, and understand the Digital Divide in the face of the challenges of the 21st century.

For more information, please contact co-founder, Maia Crown Williams, at BSAMstaff@gmail.com, 3134510297.

Vending spaces are limited.

Official illustration by TheOneWillFocus. Will Focus is also available for commission.

-30-

    Black Speculative Arts Movement Comes to L.A. Los Angeles, CA - Black Speculative Arts Movement is honored to be hosting our traveling afrofuturism and comic book convention at the historical Leimert Park Village in Los Angeles this June.