Skip to Content

Visually Represented: Redefining "Hero" in 21st Century Comics

$10

Admission and $10 off at our bookstore

Out of stock

Wednesday, 7:00 pm EDT February 19, 2020

The Center for Fiction

In an exciting panel moderated by seasoned editor Joseph Illidge, comic book creators, Vita Ayala (Livewire), Robin Ha (Almost American Girl), and Khary Randolph (Excellence, Black) discuss using the language and format of the graphic novel to tell diverse stories related to culture, sexuality, and race, and also feature protagonists who transform our idea of the traditional comic book hero.

They will also expand on how the amazing growth across media has created more opportunities for recognition and representation of diverse storytellers, and why comic books are at the center of this evolution.

black-cover

Featuring

  • Vita Ayala - Carla Cain-Walther

    Vita Ayala

    Vita Ayala

    Vita Ayala is a queer Afro-Latinx writer out of New York City, where they live with their wife and cat sons. Their work includes The Wilds (Black Mask Studios), Supergirl (DC), Xena: Warrior Princess (Dynamite), Magic the Gathering: Chandra (IDW), Morbius the Living Vampire (Marvel), Livewire (Valiant), and Submerged (Vault), among others. They’re non-stop, like Hamilton!

  • Robin Ha - Carla Cain-Walther

    Robin Ha

    Robin Ha

    Robin Ha (she/her) is the author and the illustrator for Cook Korean!: A Comic Book With Recipes, a New York Times bestseller cookbook graphic novel. She was born in South Korea and moved to the United States when she was fourteen. After graduating from RISD, she has been working as a freelance cartoonist and an illustrator in NY and Washington DC. Her memoir graphic novel, Almost American Girl which is about her immigration experience from Seoul, Korea to Huntsville, Alabama is scheduled to come out on January 28th, 2020, published by Balzer + Bray, an imprint of Harper Collins.

  • Khary Randolph - Carla Cain-Walther

    Khary Randolph

    Khary Randolph

    Boston born and Brooklyn based, Khary Randolph graduated from the School of Visual Arts in 2000 with a BFA in Cartooning and Illustration. Randolph, a veteran of the comic book and animation industries has applied his unique vision to a number of high profile projects for some of the biggest media companies in the world, such as DC Comics, Marvel Comics, 20th Century FOX, ESPN, Upper Deck, Coca Cola, and SONY. He has worked on properties such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Voltron, X-Men, Spider-Man, Boondocks, and Teen Titans, to name a few. He is currently the co-creator and artist of EXCELLENCE from Image Comics and the main cover artist for BLACK from Black Mask Studios.

  • Joseph Illidge - Carla Cain-Walther

    Joseph Illidge

    Joseph Illidge

    Joseph Illidge is the Editorial Director for A Wave Blue World, working with writers and artists from around the globe to develop books celebrating inclusion and heroism. A worldbuilder with experience in high-profile characters and universe development, Joseph was featured in the 2017 History Channel documentary series, “Superheroes Decoded”, discussing popular heroes from Batman to Luke Cage. In his career, Joseph served as the Executive Editor for the Valiant Entertainment Universe and line of monthly comic books, Senior Editor for Lion Forge Comics where he spearheaded “Catalyst Prime”, the multicultural superhero comic book imprint, and as the first Editor of color on the “Batman” line of comic books for DC Entertainment. Joseph’s first job in the comic book industry was at Milestone Media, Inc., the groundbreaking comic book publisher of inclusive superhero stories and creators of the award-winning animated series “Static Shock” from Warner Bros.