#rayfelix

Women in Comics Conventions kicked off today from 11:00-7:00pm up here in The Bronx,held at the Bronx Library Center on Kingsbridge Road.

The first panel of the morning was on reconstructing femininity and how comic books as well as movies played a role,in their definition of what womanliness or feminine qualities were all about. One of the panelist spoke on getting over the fear of not speaking up on topics that affected her and that maybe people did want to hear a woman’s opinion on different and difficult subjects and having to get over suppressing those thoughts and being more outspoken.

A chuckle came over the older people in the crowd, when another one of the panelist brought up James Cameron’s Aliens movie and the massive crush she had on the two female characters,Ripley and Vasquez. Two of the baddest women in science fiction cinema and have yet to be replaced by any other female characters in film,but that's my opinion and superheroes don’t count. This panel was followed by The Comic Book Spectrum: Comics and Longevity, there were workshops to participate in, if you are not one to sit around and listen to people talk all day.

Women in Comics Collective, is an artistic and informative initiative that started back in May of 2012.Their goal is to educate communities about the role of women working in the comic book industry. They were first welcomed in by The Bronx Heroes which is one of the main sponsors,along with Lockett Down Productions which made today’s event possible.

Ray Felix is the Executive Director and Founder of Bronx Heroes, a community based organization which promotes literacy and education through the practice of reading and creating comics. The Bronx Heroes Comic Con started from an art exhibit back in 2006,”Dream Sequence” which was curated by Ray Felix himself. Their goal is to have local Bronx residents to meet and shake hands with comic book professionals who they might not have the opportunity to meet at larger comic book conventions.

Bronx Heroes of Comic Con is a free event.