Indigenous POPX comes to OKC, bringing Native actors and creatives
For Arigon Starr, the chance to return to her home state to share her work as a Native American illustrator, writer and comic-book creator is a home run.
The Kickapoo and Creek actor, singer and playwright, who hails from McLoud, will be back in Oklahoma this weekend as a special guest at Indigenous POPX, or IPX, set for March 10-12 at First Americans Museum.
Billed as “the original Indigenous Comic Con,” the event started in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 2016. The Oklahoma City museum will host the first in-person edition of Indigenous POPX since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I think it’s great. I think it’s a good fit because there are so many talented folks like Johnnie Diacon, who’s Creek (and) coming down from Tulsa, and Roy Boney from Tahlequah. I’m excited that they’re gonna be there, and I know that there will be others. I know that it’s not just us, there’s a lot more, which is fantastic,” said Starr, who is based in Los Angeles, by phone from the road on the way to OKC.
Who and what can people expect at Indigenous POPX?
Indigenous POPX will bring Indigenous celebrities, film screenings, cosplay contests, panel discussions and more to the First Americans Museum.
“I am so excited to have IPX back again for 2023 and thrilled that we get to work with First Americans Museum,” said Lee Francis IV, the Laguna Pueblo executive director of Native Realities Press and founder of IPX, in a statement.
“This is such an important event because it allows us, as Native people, to celebrate the work of Indigenous creatives and showcase our incredible contributions to pop culture.”
Expected to participate in this year’s Indigenous POPX are actor and producer Tahmoh Penikett, from the television shows “Battlestar Galactica” and “Supernatural”; actor, producer and director Kaniehtiio Horn, from the series “Letterkenny” and “Reservation Dogs”; producer and Oklahoma native Jhane Myers, from the hit “Predator” prequel “Prey”; Tulsa artist Muriel Fahrion, creator of Strawberry Shortcake; actor and producer Jonathan Joss, from “Tulsa King”; and musician, songwriter and podcaster Pete Sands, who has appeared on “Yellowstone.”
Also expected to appear are Norman filmmaker and artist Steven Paul Judd, who directed Wes Studi in the short film “Ronnie BoDean”; actor, writer and producer Cara Jane Myers, who appears in Martin Scorsese’s upcoming film “Killers of the Flower Moon”; actor, TV host and gamer Shauna Baker, known for the movie “Drunktown’s Finest,” and more.
What projects will Oklahoman Arigon Starr be promoting at IPX?
An avid baseball fan, Starr and Oklahoma-based Cherokee author Traci Sorell will appear together at 11 a.m. March 11 at Indigenous POPX to talk about their upcoming nonfiction children’s book “Contenters,” which follows pitcher Charles Bender (who was White Earth Ojibwe) and catcher John Meyers (Cahuilla), who made history in 1911 as the first two Native American pro baseball players to face each other in the World Series.
“Everybody talks about ‘Jackie Robinson broke the color line.’ And I love Jackie Robinson; however, the color line was broken a long time before Jackie. It just wasn’t talked about,”
said Starr, who is hoping to stop by the Los Angeles Dodgers’ spring training camp in Arizona on her way back to California after this weekend’s con.
“Traci Sorell approached me about being the illustrator for the book. First of all, she said, ‘I can’t think of anybody else that would be perfect for this project.’ And when I heard what the project was, I said, ‘Oh, yes. I am in. Oh, I am so in.’ It just took a little while to get things going. But what’s exciting is that it’s a major publisher; it’s Kokila Books, which is an imprint of Penguin Random House.”
Although “Contenders” isn’t due out until April 11, a limited number of copies will be available for sale at the Literati Press booth at Indigenous POPX, where Sorell and Starr will be signing them.
A 2017-2019 Tulsa Artist Fellow, Starr also will be signing copies of her comic book “Super Indian,” which is featured in a First Americans Museum exhibit.
“We’re going to our 10th printing of Volume 1 and our fourth printing of Volume 2. Because I got to these big milestones, I said, ‘I’m going to redesign a little bit.’ It’s not going to change that much, but the look of it is just a little different. I redesigned a new logo, and I went through and I relettered both editions because I have the skills now. I’m a lot better than I was 10 years ago,” she said.
“Volume 3 has been on my computer forever. ... But I’ve gotten past getting the ‘Contenders’ artwork done and finishing up the Tulsa Artist Fellowship. I also did a PBS show last December for the second series of ‘Native America,’ where I did a live music set at The Church Studio in Tulsa, and that’s supposed to air this year sometime. So, a lot of things are happening.”
What’s special about the timing of this year’s Indigenous POPX?
Starr noted that Indigenous POPX is coming to OKC as more Indigenous storytelling by Indigenous creatives is coming to mainstream popular culture, from TV series and movies to books and comics.
“Even saying that, I know we have so much of a further way to go. Sadly, our representation could be more and it could be better. ... There’s a lot of stories to tell,” Starr said.
“I think all of us working together in our different disciplines, we’re really pulling towards, ‘Hey, we’re still here. And this is the thing: we’ve always been.’ ... We didn’t all die on the Trail of Tears, we weren’t all killed off by the boarding schools, we survived. And not only survived, we thrived.
“I think that showing that there were two (Indigenous) Major League Baseball players in 1911 is going to be exciting for a lot of people that didn’t know the story, but also, for kids who say, ‘Well, I could never do that.’ It’s like, ‘No, you can, it’s possible. It’s been done, so do it again.’”