Tales from the ISOverse

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ISOverse Newsletter #1

Intro

What’s poppin’ family?! This first newsletter serves as an introduction to the ISOverse! Below, I’ll share thoughts on afrofuturism, provide updates and sneak peeks for the upcoming comic All Heroes Go to Hell, and give folks insights into my afrofuturist praxis. I’m writing to keep folks informed, try and do some good, and enjoy myself in the process. I hope you can vibe with that. Let’s jump right in…

ISOverse Comics: All Heroes Go to Hell

None of this would be possible without the incredibly talented Therro (Therrothekid on IG. Peep his website here). He breathes life into each page, and here’s a glimpse! Therro is cooking! He draws like a master chef. Gordon Ramsay himself would shutter at the skill (I’m only referencing him because he sticks to the theme…also check out my collab album Hell’s Kitchen and yes it is thematically relevant to AHGH). Issue 2 resumes the epic showdown between Switch and Black Ice. We learn more about their relationship. More importantly, we get a glimpse at how C.H.A.G. (the Central Hub for Alpha Gifted) weaponizes meritocracy. Also, more hands will be thrown. We’re about ⅔ the way through issue 2. Progress is steady and smooth.

Writing a comic script is no easy feat because there is no standard like there is for a play, movie, or television script. Before I even connected with Therro, I spent a few years playing with script formats before solidifying my own template in undergrad. I was a true DC fan, so I imitated the DC style of script writing. The DC style pretty much imitates movie scripts as much as it can, getting into the minute details of character actions on a panel-to-panel basis. The Marvel style, pioneered by Stan Lee, has more room for artist interpretation. He would write the issue as prose, give it to Kirby, then write the dialogue with whatever art he got back. Therro is drawing a mural for my current employer, so we get to chop it up every now and then. I deviated from the DC scripting for issue 2, doing my best to be a lil less anal. I asked him which format he preferred. The word “freedom” was in his reply for the current formatting. Marvel really is winning.

Musings from an Afro-future

What is agency, and how does it situate human experience? What does the understanding of agency mean for a fractal praxis? What the fuck is a fractal praxis? These are real nigga questions, and real nigga questions are essential to understanding the sociotechnological paradigm we currently exist in and what it can tell us about our potential futures. Let me break some things down:

(Black) agency entails the freedom for Black Americans, and all peoples of the African Diaspora, to have the space, time, and freedom to exercise our imaginations for the purpose of shaping our lives.
A fractal praxis accepts 1 as the basic unit of change. As long as each tactic simulates 1 part of our ideal world, we know we’re stepping in the right direction. It’s like taking a fraction of the desired future and concretizing it in the now.
Sociotechnological is looking at the interaction of society and tech, particularly the areas of people (culture, language, history/context), governance, and toolage (Phaedra Boinodiris).

Through the Embodying Freedom Conference in Memphis last year, we know that technology is an experiential tool designed to facilitate community agency. If this is true, then sociopolitical initiatives - derived intracommunally - should serve as the context from which Afrofuturist and technologist inquiries are launched. Such a method of inquiry is fractal-based. It has to be. If we aren’t questioning what future(s) our tech is helping create, then communities are blindly marching along to the rhythm of what H.R. Ekbia calls “technological determinism.” Imagine if Thor had no control over Mjolnir; instead, the hammer flung him around as a result of the ignorance of his own agency. Questions rightly framed provide answers that create a world unafraid to dance - omnijó.

UPDATE: So, I’m actually learning how to code. By the end of May ‘27, I’ll know how to train an AI model and integrate it into web applications. I’m super excited about it! Our future AI instructor came to our coding class. Right now, we’re in Module 2 of 4, learning the basics of JavaScript. I found it odd that she wanted to talk to us now. She opened the floor to questions. AI ethics, whether or not we like AI, what we’ll specifically be doing, and the inseparable relationship between AI and politics were some of the question topics. I listened. One question she asked us made me really think: “Who in here thinks AI is a complicated issue?” I raised my hand with a smile. Earlier, she had asked us who likes and dislikes AI. I raised my hand for the latter (knowing I fundamentally disagree with dichotomous questions on complex topics). Her question about AI as a “complicated issue” helped me unearth the root cause of my suspicions with the technology. AI is too powerful of a tool to be a complicated issue. It’s like allowing half-assedly researched thoughts and emotional dispositions to guide your discourse on whether or not the Death Star should be constructed. Like, no, dude, we gotta have some hard-lined ethics as the basis of all our conversations and subsequent use cases. AI and politics are inseparable, and politics is about power and people. Currently, AI serves the culture of convenience and the further accrual of capital. The veneer of the former might trick some into thinking AI assuages my humanist stance – but, no! Don’t fall for the toxic smoke and black mirrors!

Whatcha Reaaaddddiinng? (Isabella type beat)

What’re y’all reading these days? Below are some books I’ve finished or am working through right now. Definitely check em out!

Power Fantasy by Kieron Gillen with art by Caspar Wijngaard
No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai
Letter 44 by Charles Soule with art by Alberto Albuquerque
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees: Rites of Spring written and illustrated by Patrick Horvath
Bad Thoughts written by Ande Parks and illustrated by Dave Wachter

Step Into My Worldview

Here are some sources to help understand my perspective:

ISOverse Shop

Making comics ain’t cheap! Support the work by copping some merch from the ISOverse Shop! All proceeds go to the creation of All Heroes Go to Hell. As a good friend says: “SUPPORT REAL ART FAWK AI!”

Final Question(s)

In this short section, I’ll just leave a question or questions for us to ponder together. Let’s discuss!

What character arcs (from any story) illuminated a past experience for you? What character arcs inspired you to take action towards an imagined future? How close are you to that future?

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