April 21, 2023
Jackson College’s Concatenation Convention is pleased to welcome graphic novelist, professor, author, curator, and all-around champion of Black culture John Jennings to Jackson for two days of free events May 5 & 6.
About John Jennings
As Professor of Media and Cultural Studies at the University of California at Riverside (UCR), Jennings examines the visual culture of race in various media forms including film, illustrated fiction, and comics and graphic novels. He is also the director of Abrams ComicArts imprint Megascope, which publishes graphic novels focused on the experiences of people of color. He received a 2021 Hugo Award for his graphic novel adaptation of Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower.
Jennings is co-editor of the 2016 Eisner Award-winning collection The Blacker the Ink: Constructions of Black Identity in Comics and Sequential Art (Rutgers) and co-founder/organizer of The Schomburg Center’s Black Comic Book Festival in Harlem. He is co-founder and organizer of the MLK NorCal’s Black Comix Arts Festival in San Francisco and SOL-CON: The Brown and Black Comix Expo at the Ohio State University.
Fans of Marvel comics will recognize Jennings’ latest work, Silver Surfer: Ghost Light, which he wrote with illustrator Valentine De Landro. They introduced a new Marvel superhero, 54 years in the making!
Schedule of Events
Friday, May 5
- 7 p.m. – Talk on Afrofuturism, book signing at Dr. Martin Luther King Center, 1107 Adrian St., Jackson; free & open to public.
Saturday, May 6
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- 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. Free Comic Book Day Appearance at Nostalgia, Ink, 139 S. Mechanic St., Jackson; free and open to public.
- 2-4 p.m. Talk, appearance and book signing at the Michigan Theatre, 124 N. Mechanic St., Jackson; free and open to public.
Don’t miss the creative mind behind the groundbreaking works!
About Con Con
The Concatenation Convention, or Con Con, brings together the world of science fiction and fact. Focusing on Afrofuturism this year, a way to change the way we think about the past, present and (most importantly) the future of people of African heritage throughout the world, a way to imagine positive and empowering narratives that all can champion and enjoy. Jackson College professors Steven Albee-Scott and Steven Tuckey, with community member Jon Hart, coordinate the events. Learn more at www.jxnconcon.org.
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