Exhibition Link

The Founder of the growing dynamic Black Age of Comics genre, movement & comic-cons will have an impressive historic exhibition in early 2024. In Chicago at the Logan Center For the Arts per the campus of the University of Chicago. 

Prof. Onli started this force of creativity, culture & commerce in the same Hyde Park community that is not only home to the University of Chicago but President Obama and much more. 

 

 One does not have to be Black to get one's Black Age on! It's like eating Mexican or Thai cuisine but not being of those cultures or nationalities. 

Black is not anti-anything. It is a flavor. 

One that has long since won the global cultural wars in the arts and much more. 

So why are most music collections still so much Blacker than most collections of Comic Books or Graphic Novels?

 

Truth be told ONLI STUDIOS produced the world's first indie Black Age of Comics Convention in 1993 without support from the mainstream or funders. 

30 years later we still have to set the record straight!

 It was launched at the historic South Side Community Art Center. Prof. Onli coined the term in 1992 and presented it to the world as a manifesto styled article published in the COMICS BUYERS GUIDE Feb. 1993, the same month as the first Black Age of Comics Convention.  

History and the raw fact show this. Others falsely claim to be the first. NOPE! They are not. The Black Age was always positive and open to all. Prof. Onli has always welcomed the growth of this genre provided by later event producers.  Their being more resourced and well connected does not give them the right to falsely claim to be the first.  They were not! 

But their astute efforts and positive impact prove that Prof. Onli was correct to boldly coin the term and intelligently share this growing force of culture, creativity & commerce in 1993 when so many were afraid to be Black or Indie!

Remember, you do not have to be Black to get your Black Age on! 

 "Indie today: Black Age Forever!"

 Exhibition Link  Per the University of Chicago. Jan. 2024

 Interview link about the Black Age of Comics! LINK

 It is ironic that in an era touting "BLACK LIVES MATTER" and the celebration of the trending of "Afrofuturism" that the growing Black Age of Comic is not getting the luv it deserves. 

 Launched in 1993, long before both hyper endorsed fads, the Black Age of Comic is home grown. It put the bold indie Black in not just comics but so much more.  Seems instead once a non-Black person coins a term it draws the luv and nets the cash.  

Folks who cannot get enuff of the mainstream's versions and interpretations of being Black or African routinely avoid, demean or boycott the amazing more authentic efforts and publications from the total array of indie Black owned and operated indie publishers & producers. Black History is full of these stories and trends.

The Black Age is persistent and resilient.  

It has endured worst and is still in a serious growth mode thanks to the Rhythmistic works of ONLI STUDIOS and so many more.

 

This amazing book dropped Oct. 3rd 2023.  Ytasha Womack intelligently put together exciting crucial creative, cultural and commercial aspects of MARVEL's Black Panther.

This book is great for fans, educators, students, researchers and haters all should be up on this book.

 Prof. Turtel Onli is quoted four times in the book and references are made to "Rhythmism" and "The Black Age of Comics. Both were coined, founded and established by him. Rhythmism since the 1970s as a Future-Primitif approach to the visual arts.  The Black Age of Comics as a genre & movement that is derived from the Black, African, Urban and Alternative experience, since 1993.

Prof. Onli & Ytasha sharing a lil' luv & faith at Pocket Con in Chicago. NOTE: Pocket Con was modeled after the decades long Black Age of Comics Convention produced in Chicago by ONLI STUDIOS since Feb. 1993.

 

 

Audio LINK to interview with Prof. Turtel Onli, M.A.A.T. , PhD. who coined Rhythmism in the early 1970s as a Future-Primitif approach to the visual arts and launched the innovative Black Age of Comics. in 1993.

  https://libguides.sdsu.edu/comicsbytopic/afrofuturism

The above is a link to the Afrofuturist Comics Collection at the San Diego State University Library.  A tremendous resource.

ONLI STUDIOS produced the world's first ever Black Age of Comics Convention in 1993! 

The genre & event that brought so many out of the closet of being Race-neutral!

Thanks to your powerful participation!

Smart folks know! Cool folks know!

 Dope folks know that the indie Black Age is killin 

when it comes to Graphic Novels & Comix!

You do not have to be Black to get yo' Black on!

All ages & stages luv participating in the Black Age. One book, one character, one purchase and one deep flow at a time!

Folks luv to buy Black by Blacks!

Once you go Black you may never go back!

30 Years of living in the Black Age!!! 

The most vital and innovative phase of this industry!

"How Black were comics, Animation, Games, and Graphic Novels before Prof. Onli dropped the bold Black Age of Comics bomb in 1993?"

We go beyond the mainstream! 

 

 Hello to the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Viet Nam, Singapore, The Netherlands & Indie!

Juneteeth 2023 and ONLI STUDIOS LLC equals creativity, culture, content & commerce

 in the positive!

Prof. Onli is the founder of ONLI STUDIOS , which produces an incredible line of Rhythmistic: Future-Primitif Graphic Novels, Comix & Activity Books and is known as the Father of the Black Age of COmics, genre & movement..

The DuSable Musuem in Chicago hosts the world's only dedicated rack of indie 

published Black Age Graphic Novels & Comics!

ONLI STUDIOS wants to seriously thank all the ever-cool positive folks at the Alley Cat Comic Book Store & the DuSable Museum of Black History, Chicago for hosting us for the 2023 Juneteenth Celebration. 

 Enthusiastic fans, intelligent strangers, awkward novice types, and dedicated Graphic Novel collectors were all blown away to learn about our growing line of Rhythmistic products.

 Plu,s it provided a great platform to introduce our current trending Nu illustrator, Johnathan Ford. 

 We gave each visitor a collection of our Nu limited edition over-sized highly valued Trading Cards as a token of our appreciation for their luv of Rhythmistic Indie Graphic Novels, Comix, & Activity Books. For follow-up they were kindly directed to our website: www.onistudios.com and its Graphic Novels Tab.