"It's definitely its own avenue of meeting creators and people in the business that you admire."
Greg Anderson Elysée
Comic Book Writer
How many ECBACCs: 1
Favorite Indie: Green Wake, Excellence, Storm Dogs, Strange Embrace The Bounce
Day Black Bitter Root Malice In Overland Beware of Toddler John Jennings Works
Favorite Mainstream: Doctor Voodoo, Black Panther, John Constatine, Two-Face
Favorite Character: Anansi the Spider
But wait, there's more: Is'Nana the Were-Spider
Do you remember how you heard about ECBACC and attending?
When I was jumping more into indie books in high school, I started discovering more Black comic creators. When I was learning more about them, I found out about the Glyph Awards. I remember thinking that it was amazing and wished I would get one. That's when I found out about ECBACC. It was a con I always wanted to go to, and I was happy that one year I was finally able to attend. It was maybe 3 or 4 years ago.
What's a cherished memory from ECBACC?
Winning! I won a couple of Glyph Awards. I was nominated for the Fan Award. This was for Is'Nana Chapter 1 Volume 2 as well as Rising Star and Best Male Character. I think there were maybe 2 others and I won 3 of them. I remember being shocked. I remember getting the Fan Award and being cool if I didn't get anything else. When they called out Rising Star, I remember thinking there was no way I was going to get it judging by the people I was up against. My brother was sitting next to me, and he was recording. He caught my reaction when they said my name and I literally said, "What the f---?!" I don't even remember what happened to that video but I remember he was cracking up.
I was nominated the next year for Story of the Year and I wasn't able to go. I got all these notifications of congratulations and I was like, what are y'all talking about? But then I saw I won and I was really hyped.
Has ECBACC provided ways for you to grow as an artist and/or entrepreneur?
In terms of connecting with other people, for sure. It's definitely its own avenue of meeting creators and people in the business that you admire. Before I was making my own comics, there were so many creators I looked up to, and I feel like conventions like ECBACC allow me to connect with them, not only as a creator but as a fanboy at heart. It's definitely something I am truly grateful for.
You go to a lot of events. Is there anything that's uniquely ECBACC that you can think of?
They honor a lot of Black creators. One thing about Black cons is they all have their own identity. They are not monolithic events just because they're Black. I feel like that's such a specific ECBACC thing. I haven't seen anyone try to emulate it or do their own thing because, yo, ECBACC has it.