Events like New York Comic Con (hell, the comics industry at large) wouldn't be what and where they are without the dedicated fans of various kinds of popular culture in the mix as well as all of the artists - known, on the verge and unknown, working as independents or with large publishers/distributors like Marvel, DC, Image or Dark Horse - who work hard daily as creatives to make awesome visions of characters in their own style out to the masses as colorists, pencilers. writers, designers and more.

The Artist Alley section along with the main floor of Jacob Javits Center (especially with the insanely successful 1st Afrofuturefest event where due to public transportation issues via a non-functioning PATH train from NJ into the city, we weren't able to get our interviews in with folks and solo pictures - but, soon come...) is full of these artists promoting and selling their graphic novels, comic books, prints, t-shirts, history and more throughout the 4 days of NYCC.  

The FuseBox Radio Broadcast/BlackRadioIsBack.com family wanted to put a  bit of a photo spotlight on all of the Artists of Color that we could document as possible during moments of work, rest and more throughout our experience with this year's event.  

It's just been recently where these creatives are getting more props for their work on all levels in the comics industry, especially in the post-Dwayne McDuffie era and all of these folks need to get more credit for what they've done with the growth of the independent media sector of comics at least since the late 1980s to the present with quality output that is currently flourishing now in the Internet area, much less various folks' work with the majors.

Check them all out, Google these fine artists to support them financially (since making art ain't free) and hope y'all dig 'em!

** All pictures taken by Mary Nichols (DJ Fusion/FuseBox Radio Broadcast) under a "Creative Commons Attribution - No Derivatives" license. Please feel free to use & share them if you wish with attribution/credit to the photographer (besides these pictures, there are plenty more from New York Comic Con at large [over 100+] and others over at the official FuseBox Radio Broadcast's Flickr Page and Behance/Prosite Page) ... thank you! **

As a part of the FuseBox Radio Broadcast & BlackRadioIsBack.com crew's travels throughout Manhattan during New York Comic Con and New York Super Week, we made a stop over at Terminal 5 during a rainy evening to check out the Blade Rave party/concert/vampires everywhere event presented by BBQ Films.

Electronic music artists including Pictureplane, DJ Choyce Hacks, a place both wonderful and strange and headliners The Crystal Method rocked some heavy sets of tunes for the vampires, zombies, cosplay folks of all sorts, ravers (which are apparently still in hardcore form in New York City) and "normal" folks there throughout the night to dance to and enjoy while parts of the classic Marvel movie "Blade"* played in the background.

There were also other forms of entertainment on deck including makeup artists who would transform folks into their monster o' choice, plenty of photo opportunities, some live action "Blade" scenes brought to live by various actors, professional dance moves done via The Dance Cartel, live sword-fighting demonstrations by Sword Class NYC, a performance by the Poisonous Pinups and more to keep the night lively until the very end...where the literal Bloodbath scene from "Blade" was reenacted with blood (fake of course...we hope) falling from the sky onto the dancefloor during The Crystal Method's DJ set.

Overall, it was a really cool event that was a bit off the beaten path for us but really worth attending (even with having to wash off fake blood the next day from one's gear).  A portion of the money made from tickets for the event was donated to the Red Cross, which made things even more on point.

We have some pictures of the event to check out below...hope that folks enjoy them!

* Yes, classic - Wesley Snipes doesn't get enough credit at all for being the beginning of the actual good to GREAT comic book based movies based off of Marvel characters for at least 2 out of 3 movies of the trilogy...

** All pictures taken by Mary Nichols (DJ Fusion/FuseBox Radio Broadcast) under a "Creative Commons Attribution - No Derivatives" license. Please feel free to use & share them if you wish with attribution/credit to the photographer (besides these pictures, there are plenty more from this event [over 70+] and others over at the official FuseBox Radio Broadcast's Flickr Page and Behance/Prosite Page) ... thank you! **