Shawn Martinbrough has been a professional comic book artist for quite some time. I actually first heard of his work when checking out Batman: Detective Comics (DC). Along with writer Greg Rucka, Martinbrough created several characters for that series including detective Crispus Allen, (portrayed by actor Andrew Stewart-Jones on FOX’s Gotham). Next, I found his Luke Cage Noir series, which really is a must-read. I’m still surprised by how many people still don’t know about Shawn. In this interview, I get a chance to ask him about some of the favorite things he’s worked on, his long-running project with Skybound, Thief of Thieves and how diversity in comics ain’t new.

Comic book writer, artist and animator Nilah Magruder, and winner of the 2015 Dwayne McDuffie Award for Diversity just dropped a new comic through Marvel called A Year Of Marvels: September Infinite Comic #1. It’s main characters are Tippy Toe and Rocket Raccoon and the comic is drawn by Siya Oum , cover art by Jamal Campbell (The Immortal Nadia Greene). Magruder has been quietly garnering a following for some time and her webcomics We Don’t Go There At Night and MFK (which garnered her the McDuffie Award) are pretty well known. (She was also on my list of Black female writers that should be working in comics). According to Heidi MacDonald of the Beat, (who broke the story), what makes this particular cuddly comic so groundbreaking is the fact that Magruder is an African-American woman and the comic dropped on September 7th.

Which makes Nilah Magruder is the first African-American woman of record to write for Marvel comics.

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I’ve been a fan of Tess Fowler’s work for awhile, I really liked her run on Rat Queens, and I’m looking forward to seeing her work on Wonder Woman ’77 but I didn’t realize until a recent conversation twitter,  just how outspoken she was about the issues of diversity and inclusion within the comic book industry. (She goes in, y’all!) As a pan/queer female comic artist who is now working pretty regularly in the industry, hers is a perspective that I was really interested in. If you are a female artist or writer trying to make your mark in comics, I think much of what Tess is talking about will resonate with you. Enjoy!

The second volume of E.X.O. The Legend of Wale Willams dropped on August 24, 2016. This issue should be called E.X.O. “Revelations” because ALL of the questions from Volume 1 and even how the suit works are all answered in this book. Instead of releasing a series of 22 page comics, Okupe once again gives us a 152 page volume (paid for from his second successful Kickstarter) covering Chapters 8-15. Wale’s character grows in this book with the help of Fury, the mysterious woman who appeared at the end of Volume 1. (And she kicks some serious ass in this book guys seriously). We also find out what actually happened to Wale’s father and what the E.X.O. suit was originally intended for.

As many of you know, I’m going to be covering DragonCon this year from September 2-6 in Atlanta, Georgia.  For those of you unfamiliar, DragonCon is actually one of the largest fan-based comic book conventions in the country, and it is a mecca for cosplayers. The con’s Annual parade is so epic that this year, the CW will be covering the parade live.  Read on for all of the latest info from DragonCon headquarters in Atlanta. 

Spirit’s Destiny is the origin story of a young, Haitian-American girl who suddenly gets superpowers after an accident. This first issue, set in Miami, 2014, and funded through a Kickstarter in 2015. is really Destiny’s origin story. An original work by first-time comic book creator Dorphise Jean, (who I also listed in my post about black women comic writers) she says that she wanted to create a Haitian-American superhero that was not associated with negative Haitian stereotypes.

I realized Marvel had made an attempt creating Haitian superheroes. Characters such as Papa Jambo (Charles LeJeune), ( Doctor Voodoo, (Jericho Drumm),  Daniel Drumm and Papa Legba were all highly skilled sorcerers. But there is more to Haitian culture than just voodoo. – Dorphise Jean

I was lucky enough to be invited by Phoenix da Nerdette to the Heroes and Comics Podcast a few weeks ago along with Regine Sawyer of LockettDown Productions and founder of Women In Comics Collective NYC International and we were joined from England by the incredibly talented Gemma Moody  the artist behind Gamer Girl and Vixen. The interview was the start of a series called “The FabGurlz on Comics Panel” The interview was moderated by both Steph I Will and Phoenix.  We talked about diversity (both gender and race) in the comic book world and how to market as an indie comic book creator. Listen to the whole podcast below!

Warner Bros Dropped a New Suicide Squad Trailer at #SDCC exclusively for Hall H but it’s out now on the WB Youtube Channel. Check it out below.