Comics art show to close with convention
This month, Oklahoma Contemporary has taken a look at Oklahoma comic book artists with its exhibit, Comix OK.
Oklahoma comics artists, including Arigon Starr, Melanie Gillman, Jerry Bennett, Dorshak Bloch, Johnnie Diacon and Natasha Alterici, have had their work on display, as have more than a dozen artists chosen from an open call: Kent Clark, Tony Thunder, Steve Hill, Laura McPheeters, Jeremy Nelson, Kyle Van Osdol, Brent Learned, Shyanne Tilley, Justin Stier, Mandy Steward, Garrett Young, John Eric Osborn, Cassandra Peters, Tyler Kelting and Danny Rose III.
The exhibit will close this weekend with a comics convention, called ContempCon, with an artistic bent, as Oklahoma Contemporary offers free admission and dozens of comics-related panels.
Bennett will be on hand for a Sunday Q&A:
“I’ll have several pieces in the Comix OK show showing throughout the month; then, of course, I’ll be at ContempCon and will have a Q&A Sunday afternoon,” said Bennett, who has created shirt designs for Marvel, Lucasfilm and many more, and crafted an exclusive print for The Stan Lee Foundation. Bennett has worked on a variety of locally produced comics and is a children’s book illustrator, as well.
Alterici is scheduled to appear on Saturday’s panel on LGBTQ comics at noon.
Alterici is the writer/ artist of “Heathen,” about a young Viking woman on a mission to take down the Norse gods. Originally published by Oklahoma’s Literati Press, “Heathen” is now released by Vault Comics. Entertainment Weekly wrote in 2017 that “Heathen” is “burning up the sales charts.”
In addition to panel discussions, the convention will include dropin studios on drawing comics, making zines and cosplay; a game room with Loot & XP; and a family story time from the Metropolitan Library.
As part of ContempCon, Oklahoma Contemporary will screen “The Posthuman Project,” a teen superhero film made in Oklahoma for which I was a co-writer. It will screen at 5:30 p.m. Saturday. The film was named best Oklahoma film at deadCenter film festival in 2014 and screened worldwide. After the screening, director Kyle Roberts and I are scheduled to talk about the film, the comic book based on it and more about some of the trends in superhero cinema and its comics origins.
I’m also set to appear on a panel at 4 p.m. about comics writing with local comic-book writers Jackson Compton (“Nadir’s Zenith”) and Jeff Provine (“Okie Comics”).
Overall, more than 30 artist, publisher and vendor booths will be on hand at ContempCon.