August 21, 2026

What if What if 08/21/2021
 

Was asked by someone online, the following is my answer
 
Its fine. I rarely hate any art. I never say any art is bad. No artists is trying to make bad work. So, an artist may fail to achieve what they wanted in terms of audience response or I may dislike a works aspects but it wasn't for lack of trying. .... I will specify a question. IF the question is, how does the what if series settle into the modern media of comic book story discussions? I think it settles into a pit. Modern media is for many the nonviolent warzone. How many black characters? how many female characters? how many white characters? how many christian characters? how many muslims characters? how many young characters? how many old characters? How many hetero characters? how many lgbtq+ characters? how many atheist characters? and then once people get past the quantity of representation. Now the condition of the characters. He is black, but do black people like him? she is fat, but do fat people like her? They are lgbtq+ but do the lgbtq+ like them? The couple are bdsmers but do the bdsmers like them? Number of characters and then how are the characters portrayed. What If is a pander to those questions. People sadly think, that when a character has their traits it means something. I have said this in the past and I will say it now and I will say it in the future. No artist is blockaded to creativity, in my view, but I look at the originators of characters as important to how I define their essense. Give me a black written /black drawn character and I will associate them to being black. I have always been a storm fan. Always will be. But, Storm wasn't designed by a black person. and, a black artists later manipulating what a white artist created. While in no need of validation as art, I do not see or will accept as a black character. What if captain america is a woman? What if Thor is transgender? What if Iron Man, a fiscally spoiled rich kid engineering genious, is Black? What if will have many lovers cause it gives visual form to a small set of infinite possibilities. What if is in my view, a video form of what comics originally were. We forget, before characters became so popular they had their own comics, and became rigid or cultural identifiers, most comics were what ifs? Most comic characters started out in what ifs. A writer has an idea and pitches it to the audience. If the audience like it you will see them in another edition.
 
Original Post
https://aalbc.com/tc/profile/6477-richardmurray/?status=1608&type=status

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FIYAH's SINNERS SAINTS HAINTS exclusive issue submission
 
Here at FIYAH, it’s no secret that we LOVE horror—and y’all are damn good at writing it! Inspired by the film SINNERS, we want to celebrate the Southern Gothic renaissance with a special issue.
From August 20th to August 31st, FIYAH is accepting submissions for SINNERS, SAINTS, AND HAINTS. This issue is exclusive to reprinted stories, i.e. stuff that has already appeared in other magazines. (If you have original fiction and poetry, please save it for a future issue!) Eden Royce and Shakeema Smalls will serve as guest editors for prose and poetry.
This banger’s gonna drop October 31st, just in time to close out Black Speculative Fiction Month. Please see our website’s Submissions page for more info.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
https://fiyahlitmag.com/submissions/

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Anime NYC
https://animenyc.com/

Anime NYC is the largest anime convention on the East Coast, in the biggest city in the US! Bringing together 150K fans from around the world for four days of excitement, it showcases the best of Japanese pop culture with unique exhibits, exclusive screenings and experiences, and appearances by top creators from Japan and beyond.
AUG. 20 – 23, 2026
THURSDAY: 1 PM – 8 PM
FRIDAY: 10 AM – 7 PM
SATURDAY: 10 AM – 7 PM
SUNDAY: 10 AM – 4 PM
Panels run until 10:00 PM Thursday, Friday, Saturday
JAVITS CONVENTION CENTER
445 11th Ave, New York, NY 10001

guest list
https://animenyc.com/guests/

Play NYC
https://play.nyc/

PLAY.nyc - The Next Gen
New York's premier gaming event. Created to give indies and small studios the opportunity to showcase their games. is New York's premier gaming event. Created to give indies and small studios the opportunity to showcase their games, both digital and tabletop, in an event full of other devs, gamers, and industry professionals. These events are often momentous in getting developers’ feedback, wishlists, sales, and introductions that help propel their success.
PLAY.nyc is a Playcrafting production; Playcrafting believes that indies and small studios are the next gen of the games industry. We've taken PLAY.nyc from a smaller event with 4,000 attendees across a 2-day weekend, to the Javits Center with 100,000 attendees across a 4-day weekend. Keeping our exhibitors very busy thanks to our partnership with Anime NYC!
Thank you to our game developer community and the city of NYC for making the event what it is. Special thank you to our premier partner, Anime NYC, for supporting game developers and events in NYC throughout the year.
August 20th–23rd, 2026
THURS:
4 PM – 10 PM
FRI:
10 AM – 10 PM
SAT:
10 AM – 10 PM
SUN:
10 AM – 4 PM

Javits Center
429 11th Ave
New York, NY, 10001

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