Renowned Comic Book Author and Artist John Jennings to Headline ReggieCon Live! 2024
Renowned comic book author and artist John Jennings is using his superpower of storytelling to amplify the voices of marginalized people in the ongoing fight for social justice. With a career spanning over 30 years, Jennings has authored, illustrated, or edited nearly 20 pieces, including the Eisner Award-winning collection “The Blacker the Ink: Constructions of the Black Identity in Comics and Sequential Art.”
Most notably, Jennings has collaborated with Damian Duffy on graphic novel adaptations of Octavia Butler’s works, including “Kindred” and “Parable of the Sower,” earning him a 2018 Eisner Award for his work on “Kindred.” Building on this success, Jennings launched MEGASCOPE, a line of curated graphic novels dedicated to showcasing speculative and nonfiction works by and about people of color.
Representing Black voices in speculative fiction is crucial to Jennings, who believes these narratives not only recenter history but also envision a future where Black people have agency and dreams. As a professor of media and cultural studies at the University of California at Riverside, Jennings emphasizes the importance of representation in shaping the future of Black folks in speculative genres.
Jennings will be a featured presenter at ReggieCon Live! 2024, a conference hosted on Illinois State University’s campus from April 27-30. Themed “Ruins, Reflections, Creations, and Dreams,” the event aims to provide a forum for diverse, creative interactions addressing ambiguous, challenging spaces. Jennings will deliver a talk on “Becoming the Data Thief: Notes on a Black Speculative Mythopoetic” and host a workshop on storytelling as a liberation practice.
Through his work and advocacy, Jennings continues to inspire and empower others to use storytelling as a tool for social change and representation. His dedication to amplifying marginalized voices in the world of comics and graphic novels serves as a beacon of hope and empowerment for future generations.