Charlamagne Tha God Brings Black Creators To The Forefront In New Hip-Hop Comic Book Series at New York Comic Con
The music industry and the legend of the Black Illuminati are the focal point for the new comic book series ILLuminati presented by Charlamagne Tha God. Set in Los Angeles, a rising hip-hop star dies under mysterious circumstances and her psychic twin sister Lily goes around LA in search of answers. She soon finds herself caught up in a dark conspiracy of power, fame, and pop culture. Charlamagne Tha God, comic artist Denys Cowan, and AWA Creative Chief Officer Alex Alonso spoke at New York Comic Con about Black creators, hip-hop, and superhero culture.
Charlamagne took the audience back to the origins of where his love for comic books and superheroes started. “Man, you know, growing up in Moncks Corner of South Carolina and going to this gas station called The Scotchman and, when you’d walk in, the comic book stand would be right there to your left,” he said. “I was a big Marvel guy. I like some of DC, but I was really a big Marvel person. The thing that drew me towards Marvel, especially X-Men, was the diversity. You didn’t see a lot of Black and Brown superheros back then. It was always the Supermans and the Captain Americas. You know, you’d walk into a comic book store and be like, ‘Dang this is the first group of individuals and they all got these god-like superpowers,’ that’s what drew me to it. I also was the guy that would take the white superheroes and make them Brown. I just loved it from day one. I think it was the storytelling ‘cause I was always big on that. I think that’s why we all love hip-hop because of the stories told.”
Cowan and Alonso share their thoughts on the rise of Black comic characters and the mission of their story. “In terms of comic books themselves, I seen a whole resurgence of Black talent, from the artists to the writers. Excellent artists, excellent writers, people who just blow me away really easily,” Cowan said. “I won't tell them that, but they do. So I see a really upswell of people who see this industry as a space that they can be in too, which I think is great. I see a few creators creating more characters of color, but my thing to all the creators that I've met is like ‘Y’all get together and really do that thing.’ Create some characters and give yourself a legacy. […] Like I could be the best Superman artist, but there's other great Superman artists. […] What am I here for? I'm not here to be the best Superman artist. I'm here to do what we do for the culture.”
Alonso continued: “As a creator on a book with Black talent, Charlamagne was thinking it's very important for him to help promote and present Black artists who deserve to be seen to the world. So this is an amazing project, an amazing story by Black talent. [It’s] Black characters in a world [that is] very unique, underrepresented right now in comic books. The mission is to entertain you all. That’s it and also to intrigue you.”
The idea of the Illuminati in the music industry is a controversial topic that millions continue to talk and speculate about. Charlamagne talked about the project adding to the chaos of the conspiracy. “That’s why I keep saying it may or may not be based on a true story. We all go down the YouTube rabbit hole, we all look at the YouTube conspiracy theorists,” he said. “Even before I was even in the business, I would sit back and be like, ‘Man, all these people worship the devil,’ then you get into it and realize… aight, not all, 40 percent. This book is probably about the 40 percent and that's why I was so drawn to it when Axel showed it to me because I love chaos. I knew people would be reading this book and wondering, ‘Is this that person?’ or ‘I remember that story’ or ‘I saw this on YouTube.’
The comic book also has unique variant covers paying homage to the most influential hip-hop albums over the last 50 years that were all curated by Charlamagne. Its meaning and importance is crucial to the storytelling. “The covers actually match the story that’s being told in the issue,” Charlamagne said. “I wanted people to have the same feeling that I had when I saw the hip-hop variant covers for the first time. The one I love the most out of all the variant covers is the infamous Luke Cage and The Iron Fist. It's so simple, but so ill to watch them the way it was structured. I wanted people to have that same mindset. I also think it's dope to see your favorite hip-hop covers immortalized like that, and I think the more people start to get to know the character Lily, they'll understand these covers even more.”
Comic book fans can pre-order the exclusive novel enclosed in a special slipcase on their official Kickstarter page.
