BY CHARLI BATTERSBY | The comic book, sci-fi, and fantasy convention Cosmic Con has been around for a few years, having taken place in Queens. This year it moved to Chelsea at West 18th Street’s Metropolitan Pavilion for a two-day event (Feb. 15-16) that gave attendees a smaller but more intimate version of the bigger Cons.

A Catholic organization was holding an event on the ground floor of the pavilion the same weekend, and the staff was vigorously waving superhero cosplayers towards the elevators leading to the fourth floor, where Cosmic Con was being held. Our reporter’s “Steampunk” Supergirl drew a few curious looks on the way in, but the costumed fans were welcomed once they hit the show floor.

Cosmic Con is now in its fourth year, and each year the content is based around a different theme. Previously these were comics history themes, like the 50th Anniversary of Wolverine’s first appearance, or Stan Lee’s 100th birthday. But this time it was serious and timely: “Battling Hate.”

This is a very suitable topic for the superhero genre. During the Keynote Panel, a team of venerable comics creators assembled to discuss how this has been at the core of comics right from the beginning. Longtime Marvel Comics employees like Ann Nocenti and Danny Fingeroth discussed how Captain America punched out Hitler in 1941, before Pearl Harbor happened—and how Captain America’s co-creator, Jack Kirby, was a “Scrappy Jewish kid” who was willing to challenge antisemitic critics to fistfights.

The historians on the panel also noted that the writers and artists behind those early comics weren’t doing it to get rich: Comics creators were paid for their efforts, but the multi-million media franchises wouldn’t come until long after the first issues of Action Comics and Captain America.

During the panel, writer Nocenti mentioned how she added a transgender character to a Marvel Presents story in 1994. Not just a trans background character, but a mutant with real X-Men-style powers—which was a first for Marvel, and it happened at about the same time that DC Comics added trans superhero Coagula to the Doom Patrol. Marvel didn’t have another trans character for decades afterwards, and DC quietly swept Coagula under the rug in the mid 90s.

After the panel, our reporter asked Nocenti about the history-making character. “I had a lot of trans friends,” she recalled. “I lived in a building in the East Village, where the sex workers used the lobby of the building to get out of the rain and the snow. It was normal and natural for me to put one of my friends in a comic. Honestly, back then, it was just like no problem. Now it’s like a big deal to have an alternate person in a comic. Which is ridiculous.”

Indeed, while it might seem like the entertainment industry is hip-deep in trans characters, transgender superheroes tend to pop up for a brief appearance during the Pride Month Special, then disappear before a moral backlash can arrive.

In the Keynote Panel, artist Rags Morales described his childhood realization of being an outsider in a mostly white community. After the panel, he told us that battling hate doesn’t have any easy answers, noting, “If you’re looking for a fell swoop, it’s not gonna happen.”

He and several other panelists held the news media accountable along with social media “Doomscrolling.” Morales was especially concerned about the demise of the FCC’s Fairness Doctrine back in 1987.

Artist Keith Williams had some similar stories. “I went to an all-white school,” he told us, in an interview after the Keynote. He laughed wistfully while describing being chased through his neighborhood. “But there was also good, too. The projects I grew up in were almost like a fairy tale. It was a mixed nationality of people. And it was wonderful, so I had both sides… I always wished that people could live together and not have to be afraid and angry,” Williams recalled, adding, “Sometimes I just don’t understand it. Even with all the stuff I went through as a kid.”

“You have to always have empathy up front,” said Nocenti. “It’s a matter of having empathy. And, small steps. Look around your community. There used to be a phrase ‘Think globally, act locally’—so that you don’t get overwhelmed by what you’re doing.”

More lighthearted content was held during the weekend too, including cosplay tutorials and costume contests for kids and adults. But the real focus was giving fans a chance to speak with industry personnel about serious issues in a quieter setting than the big noisy conventions.

Cosmic Con also printed its own comic book which addressed the theme of “Battling Hate.” In the introduction, Albert Fuzailof, the showrunner of Cosmic Con, pointed out that superheroes are different from mythological heroes, and even earlier pulp heroes of the 20th Century.

“Most heroes in literature, radio, and film were too busy to help the little guy,” writes Fuzailof. “Instead of enriching himself, or pursuing epic battles, [Superman] turned his attention to social ills.”

The Cosmic Con exclusive comic also includes a rare Neal Adams comic about Holocaust survivor Dina Babbit, entitled Paintings for the Angel of Death—a real-life example of the comic book community trying to help a real person recover artwork created inside a concentration camp.

And on a more whimsical note, the Cosmic Con comic had a two-fisted tale from Bomber Comics #1. This obscure gem featured the first Muslim superhero. And yes, he punched Hitler in the face in his very first story, just like Captain America. If there’s any lesson to be taken from Cosmic Con, it’s that punching Nazis never goes out of fashion.

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