February 7, 2022 • By Christine Pasalo Norland
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UPDATE: The Hello Barkada YouTube channel links to 15-minute playbacks of each of our panels. To watch all of the playbacks in full, become a Virtuous Con Power Pass Patron today!
The second annual Virtuous Con: Black History Month took place virtually on Saturday and Sunday, February 12–13, 2022!
Founded in 2021 by award-winning science fiction author Cerece Rennie Murphy, Virtuous Con is a vehicle for independent science fiction, fantasy, and comics creators to grow an audience for their work. This year's Virtuous Con: Black History Month event once again featured a robust mix of online programming and an interactive virtual vendor floor. Programming ran from 11:00 AM–6:00 PM EST and the virtual vendor floor was open from 12:00 PM–7:00 PM EST.
There was no need to mask up or leave home! Those who registered for $10 via the Virtuous Con Eventbrite page were able to join all of the livestream programs, interact with the virtual vendors, and mingle with other comics and sci-fi fans.
Hello Barkada is proud to have collaborated with an esteemed group of creators and thinkers to contribute three panels to the weekend's event, each of which took place in the Dwayne McDuffie panel room! Scroll down to learn about our panels and who appeared on them.
WE NEED THE PUNK
Livestreamed on Saturday, February 12, 2022 • 5:00 PM EST • Dwayne McDuffie Room
WATCH A 15-MINUTE CLIP • Become a Virtuous Con Power Pass Patron to watch the full playback
Comics creators Bianca Xunise, Steenz, Lawrence Lindell, and Breena Nuñez join fellow creator Sharon Lee De La Cruz to talk about embracing punk as a look, a way of resistance, and a way of storytelling. They’ll each share what “punk” means to them, and how they incorporate it into their approaches to life, the art they consume, and the art they make. Inspired by De La Cruz's panel "Punk Feminism" for the 2021 Latinx Comics Arts Festival.
Bianca Xunise (she/her/they) is a cartoonist from Chicago who is part of the "Six Chix'' collaborative comic distributed by King Features Syndicate, and is regarded as the first nonbinary cartoonist to be syndicated in the mainstream press. In 2017, they won an Ignatz for their self-published zine Say Her Name. Their debut graphic novel memoir Punk Rock Karaoke comes out in Spring 2024 from Penguin Teen.
Steenz (they/them) is an award-winning St. Louis-based cartoonist who became the second nonbinary cartoonist to draw a syndicated comic strip when they took over the series "Heart of the City" in April 2020. They are also the co-creator of the Dwayne McDuffie Award-winning graphic novel Archival Quality. Their first “Heart of the City” anthology called Heart Takes the Stage is currently available, and the second anthology Lost & Found is set to release in April 2023 from Andrews McMeel Publishing. Their nonfiction graphic novel Side Quest: A Visual History of Role Playing Games comes out in 2023.
Lawrence Lindell (he/him/they) is an artist, musician, and educator from California who runs Laneha House, a small press co-founded with his wife Breena Nuñez. His comics works are self-published as zines, and have appeared in The New Yorker: Daily Shouts and in Hello Barkada Comics. Lindell's debut graphic memoir Blackward is set to release in September 2023 from Drawn & Quarterly.
Breena Nuñez (she/her/they) is a cartoonist and educator from the Bay Area in California. Her comics works are self-published as zines through Laneha House, as well as appear in publications such as The New Yorker: Daily Shouts and The Nib, the award-winning anthologies Draw Power and Be Gay, Do Comics!, and in the Hello Barkada Comics series and zine Isang Mahal.
Sharon Lee De La Cruz (she/her/they) is a storyteller, educator, and activist based in New York whose debut graphic memoir I’m a Wild Seed published in 2021 to critical acclaim. She is a recipient of a Fulbright fellowship, a TED residency, and is the 2021-22 Red Burns Teaching Fellow at ITP-NYU. Learn more about De La Cruz, her approach to work, and her self-published zine The Itchies in our January profile, "Practitioner of Play."
CALLING OUT COLONIZER CRITICISM
Sunday, February 13, 2022 • 1:00 PM EST • Dwayne McDuffie Room
WATCH A 15-MINUTE CLIP • Become a Virtuous Con Power Pass Patron to watch the full playback
Following the work of bell hooks and Toni Morrison on cultural criticism, Jonita Davis, Starr Rocque, and Jeandra Lebeauf discuss the ways that film critics impact the consumption of movies, frame the concept of “colonizer criticism” and how they’ve seen it at work, and speak to the role of independent reviewers in resetting and reclaiming conversations around film. Based on Davis’s Medium essay, “Why I Am Calling Out All Colonizer Criticism and What That Means for You.” Moderated by Christine Pasalo Norland.
Jonita Davis is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Black CAPE Magazine, Producer and Host of the podcast Creators on COVID, co-host of The Call Out with Christine Pasalo Norland, and a film critic, culture critic, and writer.
Starr Rocque is the author of the novel Bloggers Can’t Be Trusted, as well as a branded content writer and freelance journalist. Her writing credits include Fast Company, Complex, Essence, VIBE, BET, and EmblemHealth.
Jeandra Lebeauf is the creator, producer, and host of BadCulture TV. She is a self-taught journalist who regularly contributes to such outlets as RollingOut.com, BoxingInsider.com, and BlackGirlNerds.com.
Christine Pasalo Norland is the founder and president of Hello Barkada.
THE STORY OF "STILL..."
Sunday, February 13, 2022 • 2:00 PM EST • Dwayne McDuffie Room
WATCH A 15-MINUTE CLIP • Become a Virtuous Con Power Pass Patron to watch the full playback
In mid-February 2020, the exhibit "STILL… Racism in America: A Retrospective in Cartoons" opened at the Medialia Gallery in New York. It featured over 100 cartoons from the comic strips "Luther" (1968–1986) by the late Brumsic Brandon Jr. and "Where I'm Coming From" (1989–2005) by his daughter Barbara Brandon-Croft, the country's first/only father and daughter who were each syndicated in the mainstream press. In displaying their works together, which were originally published decades apart, the exhibit reflected on the ways the country has and hasn't progressed between and since their publication. Cartoonist Barbara Brandon-Croft and curator Tara Nakashima Donahue share the origin story of the exhibit, the influence of Brumsic Brandon Jr., photos of the exhibit, and archives from "Luther" and "Where I'm Coming From." Moderated by Christine Pasalo Norland.
Barbara Brandon-Croft became the nation's first Black woman to be internationally syndicated in the mainstream press with her comic strip "Where I'm Coming From" which ran from 1989 to 2005. An anthology of Brandon-Croft's works called Where I'm Coming From is now available from Drawn & Quarterly. For original cartoons by Brandon-Croft on current events, follow @barbarabrandoncroft on Instagram.
Tara Nakashima Donahue is a comics curator at the Medialia Gallery in New York, and curates and consults for the Brumsic Brandon Jr. Art Trust.
Christine Pasalo Norland is the founder and president of Hello Barkada.
LAST UPDATED ON FEBRUARY 6, 2023 TO INCLUDE AND UPDATE PROJECTS LISTED IN PANELIST BIOS.
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