Comic-Con@home & [margins.] Notes

July through August tend to be known for some of the conferences and cons for writers and comic fans all over. This year, with COVID-19, we’ve been taking creative steps to get together virtually. There were two events that we virtually attended that we wanted to highlight, Comic-Con@Home and the first ever [margins.] conference.

If you’re not following us on Twitter, you might have missed some of the conversations we’ve been having about these events. No worries though, we brought some highlights for you to see here along with some of our notes.

[margins.] is a new conference that took place August 1-2 for writers and those in the creative publishing spaces who are in marginalized communities. The Word put this event together to talk about topics in BIPOC, LGBT+, and Disability communities relating to comics, but also poetry, screenwriting, novels, non-fiction work, children’s literature, and so much more. This event highlighted the awareness, activism, and authenticity in these spaces and highlighted how we all can work together to let our voices be heard. They, much like us soon, had a Kickstarter to fund this project and get it off the ground.

One of the greatest takeaways from the conference was how many of the authors who spoke worked to be the content they were looking for on the bookshelves. Many times I know I’ve wished there were more stories being representative of people like me and unfortunately we can’t wait for someone else to tell our story. We need to write what we are looking to see represented from our communities. And if you choose to represent someone else’s community, do the work to make sure your representing them right.

[margins.] had tons of live panels, but I know they are still in the process of getting the recordings downloaded so we can go back and watch. Keep an eye on their page for those videos to release. You can also keep an eye on their Twitter too:

Comic-Con@Home was a great event, mostly because of their response to COVID-19. During a normal year, Comic-Con is from Wednesday to Sunday in July (this year was July 22-26) in San Diego, California and the event usually draws a giant crowd. To social distance, this year theyopened up their panels to be free for the public and you can still go back and watch all of the content that happened. From Afro-Futurism to First Nation stories to Writing for Video Games to Finding an Agent, this event had so much for you to absorb and really get into.

One of the biggest takeaways from this event was how, even in the midst of this pandemic, we still need to keep pushing, keep writing, and keep telling stories. We may not have all the answers but you never know what might come out of this, so continue to create, collaborate, and coordinate efforts to make something you’ve never made before.

There were a ton of panels that were worth seeing, with many more we tweeted about but here are just a couple that you should take a look at:

 What’s next involves a few different things. Here’s a couple:

• The Shadow Agency Kickstarter Campaign

I know we’ve been in pre-launch for a bit, with good reason, but the goal is to launch some time next month. I know, crazy! We’re hoping with your support, we can get the project launched and get Book 1 out to you.

• New Projects

I’ve mentioned this in posts prior to this one, but we are also doing our part to continue to create. Can’t say anything right now, but more is in the works as well.

• Social Media

Outside of slightly falling off the face of the Earth in social media terms, we are posting more regularly-ish. We hope you check out our channels. Also we don’t share all the same content on each, so make sure you follow us on all.

As always, stay safe, be kind and stay tuned. We’ll have more updates as always.