Contemporary Arts

This weekend is the end of the COMIX OK exhibit at the Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center and they are celebrating with their very own comic convention.  ContempCon features the artists behind the comic book work that his been on display at the studio for the last two weeks.

Artist Johnnie Diacon speaking with a fan

I was able to attend yesterday to meet some of the artist, shoot some video and get some interviews for an upcoming project. Both the exhibit and the con highlighted the diverse types of art and artists that call the Sooner State home and featured how the comic book medium can include many different types of content.

 Interviewing Tulsa artist Melanie Gillman

The event included panels, demos, workshops, vendors, a cosplay fashion show and just about anything you could want from a comic convention but with a local focus.  Oklahoma has had (and continues to have) a large amount of comic book creators and cartoonists and it's about time they get their due.

Green Lantern from Tulsa's DC Marvel League cosplay group

The exhibit and the con are over this weekend but there will be plenty of chances to check out Oklahoma comic creators throughout the year.  I'm going to try to hit as many of those types of events as I can so stay tuned...

Crime Busting Collection

One of the more unique museums in Oklahoma can be found in Pauls Valley.  The Toy & Action Figure Museum houses every kind of super hero, villain, monster and cartoon character that has ever been immortalized in plastic.

It's also home to the Oklahoma Cartoonist Collection which honors the surprising number of cartoonists and comic book artists that were from (or lived in) Oklahoma.  One of the most famous honorees is Chester Gould, creator of comic strip character Dick Tracy.  At my last visit they had a small exhibit dedicated to Dick Tracy memorabilia:

The character has been around since the early 1930's and has appeared in numerous different types of media ranging from newspaper strips to film serials to animation.  The character's biggest hit was probably the 1990 Warren Beatty movie.  A lot of this collection was released in conjunction with that film but there are some other older pieces as well:

    

 

Dick Tracy has been around long enough to be one of those characters that has staying power.  And with the constant rebooting and rehashing of franchises, it's only a matter of time before this hero with Oklahoma origins returns to a screen near you.