Ever wondered what fuels the creative spirit of a polymath? Join us as we share a steaming cup of inspiration with Imani Latif, a genuine renaissance man whose canvas spans artistry, entrepreneurship, teaching, and curating digital comics. In our latest episode, you'll walk the bridges between Imani's childhood as a pastor's son turned artist, to the present day, where he serves as a graphic designer, production manager, and a beacon of mentorship within the juvenile court system. His narrative is a tapestry of encounters with art museums, local artists, and the nurturing environment that encouraged both Imani and his brother to fully embrace the world of creativity.
With a sip of our caffeinated dialogue, we uncover the profound effect of lifting up black comic book creators and the decade-long transformation within the community. As Imani recounts his journey, he highlights the deep-seated desire to serve that drives his passion for art. Filled with warmth and wisdom, our conversation traverses the complexities of teaching art across different age groups, the significance of morning routines for sparking creativity, and the pursuit of grand aspirations. We hope that Imani's story resonates with you, as it did with us, providing a blend of hope, connection, and the reaffirmation of the worth that every creator holds.
Follow Allen C. Jackson - @2cupschronicles
Ever wondered what fuels the creative spirit of a polymath? Join us as we share a steaming cup of inspiration with Imani Latif, a genuine renaissance man whose canvas spans artistry, entrepreneurship, teaching, and curating digital comics. In our latest episode, you'll walk the bridges between Imani's childhood as a pastor's son turned artist, to the present day, where he serves as a graphic designer, production manager, and a beacon of mentorship within the juvenile court system. His narrative is a tapestry of encounters with art museums, local artists, and the nurturing environment that encouraged both Imani and his brother to fully embrace the world of creativity.
With a sip of our caffeinated dialogue, we uncover the profound effect of lifting up black comic book creators and the decade-long transformation within the community. As Imani recounts his journey, he highlights the deep-seated desire to serve that drives his passion for art. Filled with warmth and wisdom, our conversation traverses the complexities of teaching art across different age groups, the significance of morning routines for sparking creativity, and the pursuit of grand aspirations. We hope that Imani's story resonates with you, as it did with us, providing a blend of hope, connection, and the reaffirmation of the worth that every creator holds.
Follow Allen C. Jackson - @2cupschronicles
I'm so grateful for another day to help stimulate the mental Time to strategize. Put a lot of wishes in code. I can feel the moment radiating through the convo. Talk is cheap. Turn your faith into work. I drink my second cup and put my hands in the dirt. Two cups drinking straight drip from the earth. Capinated conversation. You heard him here first. What the fuck the wake up? What the fuck the wake up you. You fuck the word. Capinated conversations you heard him here first.
Speaker 1:Welcome back to Two Cups Cafe. I am your host, alan C Jackson, aka Two Cups, and who I have joined in me for a high quality Capinated conversation. Today is a poet, artist, entrepreneur, teacher and curator of digital comics, my main man, imani Latif. How you doing, brother? What's up, man? I'm doing good, you doing good, man. I'm so delighted that you decided to join me, man, on this podcast today. Man, I've been knowing you for some years now and I just want to tell you I always admire your work, ethic man, and your creativity, and I know a lot of times that don't go together.
Speaker 1:But you can just give us a little background on yourself, man, how you got into you know just a little bit about yourself. I know, like I mentioned, you were artist and just how you came up through the ranks.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's interesting. I'm lucky to have a career in art as a graphic designer now.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:I work for the Toledo City Paper as a graphic designer and production manager there. So that's about nine to five. But ever since I was a kid, me and my brother were both artists. I've always been artist. He's been more of fine art.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And I've been more in design and illustration.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So yeah, ever since we were little, we were always drawing.
Speaker 1:So how did that start? Y'all just started drawing on the wall and your parents were like hey.
Speaker 2:You know it was really funny. So my father, he's a retired Methodist pastor. Okay, Tons of books he has. You know, every pastor got to study tons of books. So the older books, if you look through his older books You'll see like the first page or two of his books they're scribbles, and that's me, yes, you, Drawing in his books when I was like this is like one or two. So ever since then, taking it, taking it up from there.
Speaker 1:So did your dad, your parents, see something in both of you? Because both of you have like crazy gift, and how do you nurture that coming up?
Speaker 2:It's been interesting because I posted recently that I'm teaching art classes at the Museum of Art and when I was meeting with them I shared with them that Ironically, not just me but other instructors there Got their start by taking classes in our museums. So I didn't take any here in Toledo, not the Toledo Art Museum but I took several in Columbus when we moved from there to here in Toledo. But yeah, actually that's how they nurtured it a lot and I have a lot of stories like that, you know, taking classes and museums and things like that. Classes and places like Ys, ymca's and stuff Even have a story of.
Speaker 2:I met a cartoonist at the library that was close to my home in Columbus and when I would go and visit there would be a guy he would just be setting up at the table Drawing comics and cartoons and I remember vividly seeing him do this work and, crazy enough, I can't think of his name. I don't know if he published anything. I've actually been trying to track this guy down, but all those things I have a ton of memories like that, you know, just being not just encouraged to create art but put me in the right place to make things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's amazing, man. I know I always enjoy art. I call myself sort of like an art director, but I can't do art per se, but I know what's pleasing to my eye. I remember I was the kid at school, man, my handwriting was horrible. My color and the lines were good. The only time the teacher used to put my Me and my homeboy Robbie, the only time our papers got on the wall Was just for parent-teacher conference. They stick every kid's art up there and as soon as parent-teacher conference, always coming straight down, my stuff was Maybe it was abstract before it's time, right, right, hey, man, that's how it usually is.
Speaker 2:We usually start before we're ready.
Speaker 1:So I know you said you got more in the graphic design, but I mean you also like Not only can you produce visual art, but you also have you a word smith sort of speak. So where'd that come from.
Speaker 2:Now, that's interesting because so what's interesting is that my dad sometimes, when my parents Wondered where the artistic element came from, because he wasn't necessarily an artist, or neither were my parents, but my dad did consider himself to be a poet, okay, right, and so he still has little pieces of Pieces that he wrote to my mom or things he used to write Like revolutionary actually, poems, poetry, okay, and so I think actually I got a lot of that Inspiration from him. But as far as timing goes, you know how it is, I think a few cats just all got the bug Around the same time when what was that? Love Jones came out, okay, okay, I remember that After watching that he said man, I can do that.
Speaker 2:You know what I'm saying that about the rights of stuff. I got some lines. I can spit out a couple people. No, I think it was around that time, but I think there was some moments too, just like with the arts. I think there were some moments in my classes. I took others English courses. And then reading some classic poems in my classes Inspired me to write too, but definitely I wish I had to admit that the main spark was Love Jones, all that stuff.
Speaker 1:Because at one point then you had a group, like a collective of poets.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, the new mutants, that's what it was called. Yeah, man, it was around that height where Slam poetry was hot. You remember that movie Slam. So we were competing, we were traveling Not just around the Midwest Actually got to meet some really talented folks that are still, you know, still out here in the game. But it was interesting that you know, early 2000s, that was a really interesting time for poetry and stuff For sure.
Speaker 1:So when you were and you, like I say, you were an entrepreneur too and around you know those times eventually you even opened up your own, your own like spot and venue where you showcase, like all different types of talent whether it had been like singing or rapping, or poetry in your coffee shop, man, I remember I used to really enjoy that. So what was the spark of that? Was it more so the business, or was it the expression?
Speaker 2:The. I learned so much out of that space. It started off with the expression Because before we had a space, me and members of the group, we were actually putting together a business plan. We wanted to open the space. Okay, and because we just saw this opportunity to have a space where people could come and, you know, hear music and poetry and all that kind of stuff, we wanted to create a classic coffee house experience.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Yeah for sure, our business plan didn't. We didn't. We know we solidified the plan but we never launched it. Okay. But then a friend of mine, jesse Lipman. He came back to Ohio from Hawaii, actually, okay, and he happened to be a slam poet out there.
Speaker 1:Oh well, I didn't know that about him.
Speaker 2:And so when he came back in town, he wanted to open up a spot. Okay. So I was like, well, we already got a plan, they just came together and that's how that pretty much came to be, yeah.
Speaker 1:So you say you learned a bunch about what just business about?
Speaker 2:yeah, Like we love poetry, we don't necessarily love coffee, like that. I mean, it was so wild Like I just assumed like oh yeah, we get the coffee. Everybody we're gonna coffee is gonna be, you know, running out the door with coffee Like no, this ain't sweet enough.
Speaker 1:They like to hear it go.
Speaker 2:We had like the espresso machine. We were trained on it, man, I was a barista you know, certified barista.
Speaker 2:Man it was just like every time I made a latte it was like, oh no, we gotta add more sugar. Oh man, it was sweet enough so they didn't appreciate the straight drip of the bean. No, and then, like your hindsight, said, man, I should have been like a juice bar or something. Juice bar yeah, if I had to do it over again, that's probably what I would do. Okay, the business side of it, right, the poetry side. When you came you saw it like the entertainment side. Oh yeah, we would be packed out the door, right. We would always like, whenever we did an event poetry slams, we did open mics, we did Christian open mics Right, we did all kinds of stuff out of there and like, whenever we did that stuff, oh, it's out the door, oh, it's out the door. But the business side of what to sell and other kind of stuff, that was the hard part.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure. I mean, I found in my endeavors man, I have like a passion or idea about something and. I'm the type of guy I just used to just jump off the ledge, but I've learned so much over the years how to approach business and at least be able to at least be able to pay the bills, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:That's the big part. But, man, I mean so you have such a wealth of knowledge, man. I mean, when I met you like years ago, one thing that impressed me about you is like you had this presence. I mean you was conscious a little bit before everybody started using that word. You know what I'm saying, and when I would talk to you, man, you used to be so like you were slow to like answer questions, and I'm like this is just take his time and just let me think about that for a minute and then like, where did that come from?
Speaker 1:Like, was it the hip hop that influenced? Was it just a sign of the times, Like you said? Was it your dad?
Speaker 2:That's a good question. Like around the time we met, I was had to come out of college, for sure, and I think college is where I learned to have good conversations or really enjoy good conversations, enjoy listening to conversations and learning stuff from folks. You know, I think that's where a lot of that came from, Because that's where a lot that's one of the few spaces where you actually have to humble yourself and learn up under someone, whether it's a professor or someone you idolized. You usually sit, you know that age that you wanted to soak some information in.
Speaker 1:You wanted to learn, yeah.
Speaker 2:And then just that wanting to learn is continue. So whenever I get the opportunity to learn, I always like take advantage of that opportunity.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure, man. I mean, we started kind of like conversation back in the day and what was unique at that time, before all this technology came, you know, you were kind of the one that was formatting and knew how to make books and things like that, and so I know, like now a lot of people may not be aware, but it's a space that you kind of expert in, and digital comics, and so is Junebug. Is that your creation or yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So how did that Q-Rating comics come about? Because I know you have your own artistic expression, but now it seems like when I watch you or I follow you, it's like you kind of promote others as well and even have a space to where people could kind of learn more about that genre.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know if you remember there was a book there was an author that came out 365, I think what was it called 365 Days Black.
Speaker 2:Okay, and basically what the woman did was it was this book and she decided that she was going to buy black for a year, okay, 365 days, and that means she was going to buy her food from black folks, her groceries from black folks, gas, whatever. She tried to create an environment so that every dollar she spent she was spending with a black business owner, okay, right, and she did all these creative things. Where she was, she would buy gift cards from McDonald's, from the black McDonald's, that she could spend at any McDonald's, but she had made a conscious purchase through Grab from there With the black one. Okay, this is out of Chicago, okay. And then she would try to find a black grocery store chain or ordered stuff like detergent on line from black business owners. And that idea inspired me because I was wondering like, what can I do like that? Okay, and what's interesting about comics is that people that collect or read comic books we do that weekly.
Speaker 1:Right, okay.
Speaker 2:We show up every week, every Wednesday, to buy our comics, and I was thinking like it'd be cool if so that's when the comic book drops on Wednesday.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Wednesday is new comic book day, okay, and so I was like, what if I consciously buy a black comic every Wednesday for the 52 weeks out of here or whatever? And that's where it started, because it was so hard to get my hands on a black comic. So I thought, well, if I could bring it on in one place, then every week I could support a black comic book creator every week. So that's how it grew. So I was looking for at least 50-some books, and then we had like 100-some and more and more publishers. So that's how that ball started rolling.
Speaker 1:So did you start like fostering relationship with other creators?
Speaker 2:Okay, A lot of independent publishers. It's been like a 10-year window, so a lot of the people that I started with you'd be amazed at what they're doing now. They're really taking off. So that's how it About 10 years.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then you also I saw like not only do you create, but then you have the ability to teach. So tell me a little bit about I know you say you got started at art museums and stuff. So tell me where that passion comes to show others how to do what you're doing.
Speaker 2:You know it was interesting I wanted to talk about. We did a book club a while ago and what was interesting? We read Sinex, find your why, and so we went out, we read the book and we went through that process of each of us finding our why. That's a popular term. I'm not sure if anybody realizes it comes from a book, but what I learned is like, as a, I am an artist but that's not why I do it.
Speaker 2:So I realized, once I learned that from the book that the reason why I enjoy art is because I like to serve or be of service to folks. And once I realized that it became clear what I needed, how I should handle business. It's sort of like oh, if I'm so, the art is a means to an end, so I want to be a service that children in. I think that is somewhat of a calling and art is a way that I provide that. And once I realized that's the core of everything that I do, it's been really interesting making those connections with different institutions that have been extremely easy compared to other businesses I've been in. It's sort of like. Once I realized it's like well, I'm here to serve, then I'm teaching classes at the Art Museum of Art. I've taught classes at the library. I've taught classes at Art Supply Depot. I've taught classes to lead the public schools. It's like it became.
Speaker 1:And I know we were talking earlier how you taught or teach class at even like juvenile detention.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's an organization, youth Arts Alliance, out of Michigan. Me and my brother we teach art classes at workshops out of a detention center up in Monroe, but they have programs throughout Southeast Michigan.
Speaker 1:So you say, like making those connections and finding these different organizations. You feel like once you identified your, why it seemed like it was easy to.
Speaker 2:It seemed like that just came to me all of a sudden. It was like it became an extremely easy fit. It's like I knew I'm here to help serve these kids Great. So you guys were working with you guys with artatums on yes, like I do, I've been doing that practically every summer, but it was such an easy marriage once I realized why I was doing all these things. I wasn't just drawing or creating art, just to be creating art.
Speaker 1:I had the purpose. So was there a frustration before? Was it like a tension between Because, I know, being a creator or a creative, sometimes you say you'd like to serve, but sometimes people just want you to produce. You know what I mean. And then a lot of times they don't value the process. So if I say, hey, I want a logo, or your brother, hey, paint me this or design me that, and it's like, was it difficult to put hard value on your expertise? Or you kind of found what the rate is or how you navigate that.
Speaker 2:I think once I found my reason why I was doing what I was doing, it made it just as easy to find my value. Okay, because we've all been thank everybody in this room. We've been working in design field for a while, right, or working freelance work, and the biggest obstacle is our personal value. Right, having to go head to head with folks like this is the price. No, I can't give you a discount. No, this is the price. I've been doing this for yada yada. You know what I mean. You got to fight constantly. This is before you even do the work, and then the work is uphill battle, even you know after that. But it was something about once I figured out why I was doing it. Yeah, it was like then I was like then I learned after I did my first class. I took that as that's my base. Okay, this is the number.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And then every time I walked in the door and said hello, I do X, y and Z, I teach comic book classes, workshops, and this is the number. Okay, great, you know, there's a paperwork and it was like nothing.
Speaker 2:But, it was something about. I don't know if it was something about the fact that I don't understand it. I understand why I was doing it Okay, provided a level of confidence that I might not have before, even though my resume I mean my resume was solid before, right. But that whole, maybe it was just being in the room with different folks, you know. Now it's sort of like I think knowing my purpose helped me to gravitate towards folks that are about the same thing More service driven Right and then sort of like. So it's not a much of a haggle because we all want working towards the same goal.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So so it's probably business wise. I love this space compared to all that other stuff. I'm trying to steer clear of all that.
Speaker 1:For sure. Can you share me any any like big aha moments you've got from teaching? Teaching the younger, young teenagers, children or whatever like there. I know you see like raw talent, or you might see somebody that may not be obviously talented but through you know the teaching process, maybe they able to. You know what I mean. Uncover some and get to that. Oh wow, this is really coming together.
Speaker 2:I learned pretty quickly because one of the main things I do is teach. It's like I'm teaching storytelling when, I teach comic books.
Speaker 2:So, like sequential art is art of you know telling the story visually, and so many of the kids that I meet have their own stories already. They've been telling these stories for, you know, years, before they even meet me. So I realized that I wasn't there to teach them how to draw anything in particular, like how to draw hands or feet and all that kind of stuff. So, like I've been teaching them how to finish Okay, like to tell a story from you know start, middle end, you know creating, you know maybe small projects, but at least they finish and they go home with something Right With their original character or whatever it is they, you know, been dreaming up for years.
Speaker 1:So you teach more than the art process. You teach the storytelling and the. Do you do character development too? Yeah, Okay.
Speaker 2:Giving them the opportunity to share. Yeah, and what I found is like most of the time, they enjoy the sharing part more than anything because for the first time for a lot of these kids like this is the first time they were around other creative kids. Okay, so like 50% of the time is actually them socializing.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:More than actually creating art, you know, because it's like no, now it's one of them. The things I enjoy the most is like when they meet each other it's almost like they've met family for the first time. Like it's just like oh my God, they don't, but you get me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yep, for sure, yep. So have you ever had any? So in this process, like I know, like I deal with, like youth that have had trauma, and obviously you know you teach at, at the attention center, but sometimes it don't. It doesn't have to be in those environments, but have you ever encountered like in the storytelling and in the character, some things that kind of like had to go into a more therapeutic approach, or you had to get somebody else involved or make somebody aware of anything like that.
Speaker 2:You know it's interesting when you you don't realize how much you take for granted, until you go into a space like that. One of the first projects I did was I told all the kids okay, guys, tell me a story about home. And immediately one of the kids was like well, I don't have a home. Oh, wow, okay, or like I don't have a good home. Right, right On my situation. You know what I mean and it just occurred to me. It's like I had just taken for granted that like they didn't want to be there and I was looking for some type of happy story and my first assumption is that home is a safe place. It's a safe place. And for some of those kids the home wasn't a safe space and so I had to flip it like, well, imagine what a good home would be like. Okay, you know what I mean, don't tell me about the home that you have. Tell me about the home that you possibly dream of, right? Or you know not the worst case scenario, tell me about the best case scenario. Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2:But then it sort of made me more mindful of things like that not to be so quick to assume that you know, or like the fact that, like we were talking about earlier, it was like when I first started, I felt sad that those kids were there, right. So you go in, you know, with not necessarily a negative attitude, but With this attitude like it's like oh, they got them in the system, yeah, yeah, you start pitying them and it's like oh, don't, don't. Oh, they got all these rules and discipline. And then, after I've seen, after doing these workshops for several years, I was starting to see kids two or three times and then it occurred to me like, oh, no, like this is the best place for them, like it's better for them to be here. Then there's a situation at home, right. So, as much as I would, to the degree, hate to see them there, right. Then I got to the point where it's like well, no, I'm happy to see you.
Speaker 1:Right, happy to see that you're alive, you're safe, you're warm, you've stayed.
Speaker 2:You know All that stuff and it was like, yeah, so like you had a second time around in certain cases. It's like it felt bad, but then at the same time it's like, well, no, at least they have some place you know to go. For sure you would hate that it had to be through a court system and all this kind of stuff. But it was just, I became more, I just became happier to just to see them in a safe place.
Speaker 2:Yeah for sure, and not just me but the staff there, like to the point where they were familiar with the staff, and the staff have had relationships with some of these kids for years, right, and so I've been learning to value those relationships and those connections more, rather than like, oh no, this is the some type of, this is a CO, right, mm-hmm, and no, it's like this relationship actually probably like deeper than that.
Speaker 1:Right, like you said, it gets to the point where it's more like that familiarity, that family feel even though it's not the best circumstance, no right. But those people that really care about you, know their job and care about their children they may have a big impact on their lives.
Speaker 1:I mean, I'm in and out of juvenile court, you know, weekly, and you know I get stories from some of the young men that I interact with and they always talk about oh they go, that's officer's son, so maybe a former PO might come up to them and ask them some questions. You can just see they face light up, like almost like seeing you know an honor uncle or something like that. So I definitely, I definitely get where you're coming from with that man. So you know, this is two cups cafe man. You know I call it one foot awake, one foot of work.
Speaker 2:The wake is.
Speaker 1:You know, when I get up in the morning I had that first cup. I just kind of meditate and that's my wake, like meditation, big dreaming, what big ideas. What gets me up in the morning. You know we always talk about what keeps people up at night, but no, I was getting you up in the morning, what you're looking forward to, not necessarily the job you have to do, but what's inspiring you. And then the other one is for the work, that's the. What steps am I taking to get closer to that identified inspiration that I have? So I just want to ask you you know you got any big things that's waking you up in the morning, like what gets, what's getting your juices going.
Speaker 2:Okay. So, like I was saying, I'm about to teach our classes at the museum and so I've been taking like a ton of notes of how I want to like approach the classes. Okay, I'm teaching, like in the end of January teaching the kids, and then in around February I'm teaching adults.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So I'm trying to figure out all these different projects, like I've done this before at the museum and I wanted to like if they were going to change stuff up, make it more interactive. So that's been what I've been trying to. That's one of the things that I've been using this time between now and January to sort of piece together my lesson plan and all that kind of stuff?
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure. Yeah, that's awesome. So do you still do? Do you still write Like? Do you like, are you writing curriculum or are you like it's more so for just your teaching notes for those particular classes?
Speaker 2:Like I do several things, Like I actually have a workbook that I made Okay, so like I use projects out of my workbook and then also there's several different hands-on projects that I introduce to the kids, but there's some newer ones that I want to be able to definitely show to adults.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, it's like I have like a base workbook that I work out of and then I like build from there.
Speaker 1:So what's easier to do, like teach adults or to teach children?
Speaker 2:It depends on the age range with the kids. Okay, it's weird like it's harder to teach the teenage area and it's harder to teach the like 10 and under.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So I learned like the sweet spot is the like 11, 12 to 13, 14.
Speaker 1:Okay, before they know it all, I guess, yeah, it's just something about it.
Speaker 2:It's like they just cause. The thing about comics in particular is that there's no way around the work in the time you got to be able to sit there and pay attention and do the work, Okay, and when they're younger, everything has to be fast, so they got to keep moving you know what. I mean so, and when the teenagers are sort of like they're just really super impatient, okay, so it's like that middle area that's usually a pretty good sweet spot, wow, where they don't mind sitting, you know, and they enjoy the process.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:And then actually adults, who typically take the class. They enjoy the process too. They don't mind the slow pace. Okay, so you can actually take more time and actually work through different parts of the process a lot better. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:Okay, so do you have any aspirations to start your own art studio space again, or is this more so you enjoy the teaching like at the different organizations?
Speaker 2:I just recently got a grant from the county Okay and what I wanted to use a part of that those funds was towards like publishing a magazine. Okay, I've always had a dream of like publishing, like you know, those kids magazines, like highlights yeah, I remember highlights. I wanted to do like a comic book version of that with Junebug. That was the whole idea.
Speaker 1:Like.
Speaker 2:I not just put comics in it, but like games and stories and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:That's the you being able to use that tool to not go into schools and stuff like that, but also in the libraries and other institutions. So, june Buck, is a.
Speaker 1:He's a digital comic, but you also have the paper back ones.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna publish a. I have published a comic and I want to publish another one, but it's something like recently I'm a part. I started publishing a web comic every week that comes out on Sunday, okay, and then I do another one that comes out every couple of days. It's just like three or four panel comic strip and then I do that online.
Speaker 1:So comics, do they have a specific, like historically, a specific template of you got the hero, you got the conflict, you got the resolution, like do they all kind of fall into that or they can take various twists and turns.
Speaker 2:They can take all kind of turns and not just about superheroes. I've been actually doing a lot of research about comic books historically Okay and so what's interesting about African Americans in comics is that we have been a part of every aspect of comic books from the very first comic book.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay.
Speaker 2:So the very first comic book started Black man, yeah, okay. And then some of the first comic book illustrators, like Matt Baker, were Black, okay, and then so it's just so every era of comic books has had us in it.
Speaker 1:Okay, right.
Speaker 2:So you know, those little stories vary from actually superhero comics.
Speaker 1:It's very, it's very, it's newer, it's a newer part of the tradition, then, because did comics start with like detective stories, or was it that was even further back than that? It was a lot of.
Speaker 2:So a lot of comics historically have been very popular in the military. So there's a lot of military stories. Okay. A lot of the early illustrators were also illustrators and writers Okay. So a lot of romance oh, were there romance comics. A lot of romance comics. Okay, some of the most valuable comics are those romance comics and they used to do a lot of like you ever see, like jungle action or stuff that happened, like Tarzan, okay. Yeah, there's a ton of that's where, like, the early stories are like stories like that.
Speaker 2:And a lot of those illustrators happen to be Black. That's interesting man. I never.
Speaker 1:Like I got my first introduction to comics, like you know, dc Superman then you know the early X-Men. The X-Men, yeah, like when Beast was just, he was like a dude with big feet.
Speaker 2:Right, right, right, before he got blue. Before he got blue yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know. So that was my introduction to comics back then, man, I used to read them. You know the 7-Elevens and stuff like that. So grab a comic and grab me a Word Up magazine. Oh yeah, yeah. So it's kind of like my little one too. I was introduced to like hip hop and comic books around the same time but obviously, like throughout, you know, I didn't have the history or the or the why of those stories. But man, just talking to you about that is really interesting.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, like that's another thing I've been doing. I also have another website called Black Comics Universe Okay, where, like I pick different comic book keys or black keys and share the history of that book. Yeah, so I was like, so I picked comics from every era and I shared, like, the history behind it. Wow, some of the value of some of those books. I consider myself a collector of historically black comics. Okay, so some of those books that are important to me are necessarily important to every collector, but they have value for me historically.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, I like that man.
Speaker 1:I mean, it seems like you're doing your due diligence on that, man, and I just want to commend you for that, because I think a lot of times people look past like what they're passionate about and just try to find out where they can make some money, how they can monetize everything Right. But what I admire about you is it's like it doesn't seem as if the monetization is first. You more want to get out the information and the joy of the genre, of whatever it is, whether it was writing, whether it's the comics. I mean, I know your wife, she's a wonderful writer. I know your wife she's a wonderful musician and a voice and just seeing you kind of producing and helping with that type of stuff, man. So I just want to say I commend you for that.
Speaker 2:I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:The monetization before the art. I know a lot In this damn time we live in. It's like if you're not making money at it. It's like people say, why are you doing it? But they don't understand that the process and the love over time, that's what's going to bring you the real value in the end.
Speaker 2:Right yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man. So anything you want to plug before we get out of here?
Speaker 2:Nope, you can find where I'm teaching classes and information at JuneBugsWorldcom. That's J-O-O-N bugsworldcom. You can see all my web comics and get information about where I'll be. That's dope man.
Speaker 1:Once again, I want to thank you for joining me on Two Cups Cafe. Man, I'm just telling everybody that you know, man, to like subscribe. Even you guys out there like subscribe. We're just having high quality caffeinated conversations. We talk about a myriad of topics and just glean from life experience of those that have done the work. They done the work and now they're doing the work. Until next time, man. Just I just want to just say thank you for always just tuning in with us. Until next time. Help, jason, two Cups, we got to fix that. Yeah, until next time, man, two Cups.