Comic panel highlights Black excellence in the field

Mackenzie Meleski, Contributing Writer

VCUarts celebrated the “superheroes” behind the scenes of comics for a Black History Month panel.

Four writers joined together to discuss their careers and the importance of representation in the comic industry. 

VCUarts and the Office of Inclusion and Equity held the panel over Zoom on Feb. 24. Students studying communication arts and comic fans registered to attend. They were given the opportunity to ask their own questions during the panel.

Carmenita Higginbotham, the dean of VCUarts, introduced the panel. Holly Alford, the director of VCUarts Office of Inclusion and Equity, also spoke during the introduction of the panel. 

“These are, dare I say, giants in the field, and they have revolutionized representation of heroes in the comic industry,” Higgenbotham said during her opening remarks.

Ron Smith

Smith is a novelist, best known for writing three novels for Marvel about T’Challa, the Black Panther. In Smith’s novels, a young T’Challa is sent to school in Chicago, Illinois where he had to hide his identity as a superhero. Smith’s biggest challenge was bringing something new to a world that is “already fully realized,” he said.

“It’s all there, so what can I bring to it that’s going to help people get engaged? How will it be different?” Smith said during the panel.

Smith started as an advertising writer before transitioning to novels targeted for middle school grade children. He released his latest book, “Where the Black Flowers Bloom,” last year. It focuses on an alternate ancient African world, according to Smith. 

His own passion for superheroes started during his childhood, Smith said.

“I’ve been fascinated by stories since I was a kid, and I never lost the passion for it,” Smith said. “Fortunately, it’s my job now to create stories that people will enjoy.”  

David Walker

Walker is a comic writer, educator and filmmaker who is best known for his works with the Dynamite Comics character Shaft. He also has contributed to the stories of well-known Marvel characters such as Luke Cage and Iron Fist, he said.

Walker teaches African American cinema at Portland State University in addition to creating stories, according to Walker. Like his fellow panelists, Walker has contributed significantly to the development and legacy of Marvel’s Black Panther.

Will Eisner was Walker’s main influence during his early career. 

“What most historians, comic historians would agree, is that he was one of the founding fathers of the sequential arts,” Walker said.

Walker hoped to take visual art classes in college but humorously said he was too much of a “terrible student.” Instead of creating art, he moved into the journalism field. Eventually he had the opportunity to interview Eisner, which reignited his love for creating comics.

“The beautiful thing about this medium is that if you play your cards right, you’ll get to meet a lot of those people along the way, and the vast majority of them are really great,” Walker said.

Christopher Priest

Priest is a renowned comic book writer with a career spanning over 40 years, according to the VCUarts website. He was the first African American to write for a major comic book publisher and become an editor for Marvel and DC Comics. His achievements include reimagining the character of Black Panther and heavily contributing to the fictional world of Wakanda and all of its characters. 

Priest also has a love for comics that started in his childhood. He first began writing at 10 years-old when his mother bought him a typewriter, he said. 

He recalled being a fan of Dennis O’Neil, a comic writer best known for his Batman and Green Lantern comics, according to Priest.

“I was such a fan of his [Dennis O’Neils] work that I would literally camp out in front of the candy store, and the comic books would be delivered to the candy store on a Tuesday or a Wednesday, and I knew exactly when the truck would show up,” Priest said. “And I would sit there on the sidewalk in front of the candy store waiting for the truck to come because that’s how much I like Denny’s work.”

One of the highlights of Priest’s career was eventually working and training with O’Neil at Marvel, he said during the panel. 

“Skip ahead 15 years or 20 years or so, and then I’m working at Marvel and had the great privilege of working with Denny and having him train me,” Priest said.

Denys Cowan

Cowan is a comic writer, and illustrator who is best known for creating Milestone Media, according to VCUarts website. His most notable creation is Static, which later inspired a children’s cartoon series. The series, Static Shock, aired on Nickelodeon and earned an Emmy Award nomination, according to Cowan.

Among his inspirations and mentors were other Black comic writers, especially those who worked on Black Panther comics. He thinks about the type of stories he would want to read or that he thinks Black children would want to read when writing stories rather than trying to please the masses of comic fans, he said.

“What you can do is please yourself and do the kind of stories that you’d want to see and that you really want to tell, that’s what gets you excited,” Cowan said.