I have no idea who this brotha’s costume was supposed to resemble. It was all handmade, including the hat, which was assembled from a felt-type cloth that (sort-of) matched the blanket cape around his shoulders. The safety pin at the throat added a touch of class.
Ajuan Mance
Some day I’ll do a ‘zine about hairstyles and fashion among the Black men of Comic-Con. It’s certainly a topic worth covering, especially when you’ve got brothas like this one, dressed in big ’80s-style glasses and a Members Only jacket, and not even for the sake of cosplay.
Ajuan Mance
Another bearded brotha in a hoodie, this one in the Comic-Con exhibition hall.
Ajuan Mance
I created a special background pattern just for this year’s Comic-Con drawings. The background in this drawing is one of the variations.
I saw this brother in the audience at a very cool panel on the final day of Comic-Con. I don’t know the official topic or the title of the panel, but it featured Jeremy Love, the artist and writer of the graphic novel Bayou.
Ajuan Mance
I noticed this brother just after we got through the Comic-Con check-in line, at the San Diego Convention Center.
He got my attention because he and I were on the same mission. After Comic-Con check-in, attendees recieve a program, a souvenir book, a lanyard, and the cherished Comic-Con shoulder bag. The thing is, there are several different bag designs. They’re all the same shape and size, but each features one of several different television series or movie cast photos or a drawing of comic book hero.
If you’re a Comic-Con veteran, then you know to hover around the different bag stations until the volunteers start passing out a design you like. This brother got one of the coolest bags of the year, featuring an image from the original live action Batman series.
Alas, I had to settle for a Vampire Diaries bag. For the first time since I started attending the Con, The Big Bang Theory did not produce a souvenir bag. Four Big Bang Theory bags in a row will have to be enough. The irony is that I’ve never even watched Vampire Diaries. The bag will make a great gift for some one who does.
Ajuan Mance
Outside Farmer Joe’s Market, Oakland, CA.
***
There is something kind of amazing about a cool soul brother. Now, if you’ve spent any amount of time looking at the drawings on this website, you probably know that I also have much love for the not-so-cool brothers. In fact, to say that I have an affinity for Afro-geeks and Black nerds would be a understatement.
That said, the sight of a cool brother is affirming in it’s own distinct way. It’s a reminder of our power and resilience as Black people. The cool brother is the embodiment of one of our greatest survival skills, the ability to create our own sense of power and beauty out of and in opposition to the limited resources we have been given.
Consider these words from Black feminist scholar bell hooks:
Once upon a time black male “cool” was defined by the ways in which black men confronted hardships of life without allowing their spirits to be ravaged. They took the pain of it and used it alchemically to turn the pain into gold. That burning process required high heat. Black male cool was defined by the ability to withstand the heat and remain centered. It was defined by black male willingness to confront reality, to face the truth, and bear it not by adopting a false pose if cool while feeding on fantasy; not by black male denial or by assuming a “poor me” victim identity. It was defined by individual black males daring to self-define rather than be defined by others.
—bell hooks inWe Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity
Ajuan Mance
San Diego Comic-Con 2013
For the last of my Comic-Con 2013 portraits, I’m including this drawing of Allen Thomas. I can’t remember what panel we were in when I spotted him, but I loved his bunny hat so much that I had to draw him. Actually, I’m pretty sure this isn’t a bunny hat. It’s probably meant to resemble the ears of some well-recognized cartoon creature. Alas, I am so out of it when it comes to the cute animal/alien genre of comic media that I couldn’t begin to guess who that creature might be. At the end of the panel I showed Allen my drawing, and he was nice enough to give me his name and email address. Thanks Allen! You were a great model.
Ajuan Mance
I wish I’d taken the time to get this brother’s name. He was the videographer for the Hip-Hop and Comics panel discussion at SDCC 2013. Oddly (and, then again, not so oddly), people of African descent were dramatically underrepresented. For me, the highlight of the event was seeing Del tha Funkee Homosapien, the one rapper on the panel. Ironically, the guy who makes his money with his words and his wit had less to say than most of his fellow presenters. Perhaps he believes that his lyrics pretty much speak for themselves. Here’s one of my favorites, from his frequently quoted track, “At the Helm.” (I’ve done a minor “radio edit” to keep it PG-rated.):
Rap ain’t about bustin caps and [gettin’ chicks]
It’s about fluency with rhymin ingenuity
All of this is new to me, see I peep rhymes
with scrutiny, under a microscope I walk a tightrope
A thin line between insanity and sanity
mixed with a little vanity, boostin the morality
with Hiero hospitality, soon to strike it: rich
like calories, salaries, ahh sounds like a plan …–Del tha Funkee Homosapien, “At the Helm“
Ajuan Mance
Joe’s Crab Shack, Mission Valley, San Diego, CA.
***
As Tupac Shakur once famously said to me, “There is no place called careful.” On the one hand, Tupac was right: There is not much room for error in America if you are a Black male in a society ostensibly bent on profiling your every move, eager to capitalize on your falling into this or that trap, particularly keen to swoop down on your self-inflicted mishaps. But by the same token, Tupac was wrong: There can be a place called careful, once one becomes aware of the world one lives in, its potential, its limitations, and if one is willing to struggle to create a new model, some new and alternative space outside and away from the larger universe, where one can be free enough to comprehend that even if the world seems aligned against you, you do not have to give the world the rope to hang you with.”
—Kevin Powell in Who’s Gonna Take the Weight: Manhood, Race, and Power in America
Posted by Ajuan Mance
Here’s another entry from my Comic-Con 2013 sketchbook. I spotted this guy in the exhibition hall where he was staring intently at a small but impressively-detailed statue of Boba Fett. You may remember Boba Fett as the bounty hunter from the original Star Wars trilogy. Like a lot of Star Wars fans, my brother thinks Boba Fett is pretty awesome. Seeing the man in this drawing made me think of my brother who, when asked why he liked this character so much, replied, in his typical straightforward fashion, “He’s the bounty hunter. He’s cool.”
Ajuan Mance