Title

Diversity Comic Con: DC Presents "Represent!: It's A Bird"

Contributor Names

Cooper, Christian

Martinez, Alitha E.

Polson, Michael Briar

Date

2020-10-17

Description

Christian Cooper and Alitha E. Martinez's story "It's a Bird", the first chapter in DC's Represent! anthology series of comics, turns a pair of binoculars in the hands of a teenage boy into an examination of racial profiling and police brutality. Through the magic and power of graphic storytelling, "It's a Bird" is both a conversation starter and a thoughtful response to the events that have played out in the public eye over the last few decades. Christian Cooper and Alitha E. Martinez are joined by Alitha's son Michael Briar Polson to moderate the audience Q & A.

As part of its Civility Week, FIT hosted the Diversity Comic Con for a third year, and in 2020 it was completely online. The comic con features panel discussions, speed networking, drawing contest, cosplay challenge, a comic anthology an a virtual marketplace/exhibition.

While the medium of comic books has been around for almost a century, the presence of minorities—as both subjects and creators—has been sorely lacking. But times are changing, and the participation and visibility of multicultural art and stories are more crucial than ever.

More and more, the lines between print and screen media are blurring and merging as stories that were once the domain of comic books become the movies and television shows of today. Comic books are the beginning of visual storytelling.

Diversity Comic Con gives students an opportunity to be exposed to careers that are truly multidisciplinary while providing a venue to showcase their work to publishers, professionals, and the general public. This event gives them an invaluable experience and will widen their horizons.

This event is fully sponsored by a grant from the President's Diversity Council.

Type

Moving Image

Subject

Comic books, strips, etc.

Cooper, Christian

Martinez, Alitha E.

DC Comics, Inc.

Cartoonists

Illustrators

Authors

African American authors

African American illustrators

African American cartoonists

Graphic novels

Racial profiling in law enforcement

Police brutality

Racism

Rights

In Copyright

This video was produced by the Fashion Institute of Technology ("FIT") and is the property of FIT. FIT expressly prohibits the copying, displaying, or uploading to a website of any portion of this video, except for the purposes of fair use as defined in the copyright laws, without express written permission from FIT. This video has been made available online by the Fashion Institute of Technology Gladys Marcus Library strictly for research and educational purposes. If you are the copyright holder for content in this video and have any objections to this work being made available online, please notify us immediately at [email protected].

Identifier

FIT Repository ID: aod_000193