OKC’s IndigiPopX celebrates ‘Rez Dogs,’ Marvel, cosplay and more
As the name implies, most comic conventions focus on comic books, graphic novels, anime and related film and television projects.
Also as the name implies, IndigiPopX is different. The three-day event, also known as the Indigenous Pop Expo, not only centers on Indigenous creatives, but also covers a wide range of popular culture.
“We have really well-known writers right now: We have Shane Hawk from ‘Never Whistle at Night.’ We have the NDN Girls Book Club. ... We have plenty of comic-book artists as well: We have Roy Boney Jr., and he makes covers for Marvel,” said IndigipopX Director Kristin Gentry.
“We also have actors, singers, musicians, writers that do other kinds of writing, improv. ... You’ll get to see every type of art, even fun pop culture beadwork. I’ve seen some beaded Furbies. We have robotics and people that make little Indigenous robots — Danielle Boyer is one of those — and we want to showcase anything you can think of that’s pop culture, anything that people are interested in and what Native people are doing.”
When and where is this year’s IndigiPopX?
IndigiPopX, which can be further abbreviated IPX, touts itself as “the planet’s premier Indigenerd gathering,” and for the second straight year, the event is gathering in Oklahoma City. This year’s IndigiPopX is set for April 12-14 with most activities inside and on the grounds of the First Americans Museum.
The mostly family-friendly event is open to Native and non-Native attendees, said Gentry, who is Choctaw.
Billed as “the original Indigenous Comic Con,” the event started in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 2016. Gentry said the comic con also was organized in Denver and Australia before the OKC museum hosted last year the first inperson edition of IndigiPopX since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“With our state-of-the-art facilities and versatile rental space, FAM showcases the interconnectedness of Indigenous pop culture. IPX and FAM both promote living and evolving cultures. This is the second year that IPX and First Americans Museum have collaborated and partnered together for this one-of-a-kind event,” said Blake Wade, interim director of First Americans Museum.
Here’s a look at some of the panels, workshops, celebrities and more to be featured at IndigiPopX:
IndigiPopX to celebrate Oklahoma-made series ‘Reservation Dogs’
Although the trailblazing FX show ended in September with its Season 3 finale, the Oklahoma-made series “Reservation Dogs” continues to earn acclaim, including a “Reservation Dogs” Day celebration Saturday, April 13 at IndigiPopX.
The centerpiece of the “Rez Dogs” celebration will be a panel at 2 p.m. Saturday, followed by meet-and-greet opportunities with cast members. Actors from the show expected to make appearances Saturday include Lane Factor, Jon Proudstar, Kaniehtiio Horn, Nathalie Standingcloud, Sten Joddi, Mike Bone and Richard Ray Whitman.
“Reservation Dogs” mastermind Sterlin Harjo was originally announced as a guest for the event, but Gentry said the Oklahoma filmmaker and showrunner now will miss this year’s expo as he readies to start filming in Tulsa on his FX pilot “The Sensitive Kind,” starring Ethan Hawke, Keith David, Kyle MacLachlan and Tulsa natives Tim Blake Nelson, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Tracy Letts.
“It’s a good problem. It’s good for them, and, of course, we want everybody to be successful in their careers, so that we can keep having this convention. It’s just hard because their fans want to meet them. For Indigenous people to have Lily (Gladstone) and Cara (Jade Myers), to actually have us, on film, and Sterlin, specifically, creating those things ... it’s amazing,” Gentry said.
Event explores intersection of traditional Indigenous culture and pop culture
One of the goals of IndigiPopX is to showcase Native American creatives and communities “in a way that dispels the mythologies that Natives are a people of the past.”
Many of the activities at the expo explore the intersection of traditional Indigenous culture and pop culture, including workshops on Indigenous cooking, storytelling, metalsmithing and even sessions like “Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse.”
Plus, a youth cosplay stickball game and the event’s inaugural hand drum contest are scheduled for Friday, April 12.
“We have very different tribes and Natives are always combating things like, for my tribe, we didn’t have tipis. We’re just showing that difference in people,” Gentry said. “We have an Indigenous-owned company that’s facepainting, and our food trucks are Indigenous. People can try traditional foods that way. There’s (what they) call the Rez Dog, and it’s a hot dog with fry bread.”
IndigiPopX Grand Celebration to honor the late Nex Benedict
The event’s Grand Celebration at 1 p.m. Saturday will feature the Cherokee Youth Choir, Miss Indian Oklahoma 2023-24 Faithlyn Seawright, IndigiPopX theme artist Tom Farris and more.
The Grand Celebration also will honor the late Owasso teen Nex Benedict, a descendant of the Choctaw Nation with a gender expansive identity who used the pronouns he, him, they and them. The 16-year-old was pronounced dead Feb. 8, one day after being injured in an altercation inside an Owasso High