The Ronke family came to Washington’s D.C. Awesome Con, held March 8-10 at the Walter E. Washington National Convention Center to pay homage to a comic based on Black history.
On the final day of the conference, the Ronkes — mom Elionz, dad Kolas, and son and daughter Kayode and Damilola — were dressed as characters from the comic “Tuskegee Heirs: Flames of Destiny.” Mom Elionz Ronke made the matching family outfits, honoring the series created by Greg Burnham (author, writer, editor and publisher) and Marcus Williams (illustrator, writer).
“Tuskegee Heirs: Flames of Destiny” is a futuristic sci-fi action-adventure comic book series set 80 years in the future. The comic follows five, young aviators, who are “forced to become Earth’s last line of defense against a menacing race of artificially intelligent villains bent on destroying civilization,” according to the Tuskegee Heirs website. The teens use strategies inspired by the Red Tails, also known as the Tuskegee Airmen, to save civilization.
When I met the Ronke family, I immediately considered having met Burnhman in 2021 and New York’s ComicCon.
A regular to the comic conference circuit, I soon ran into Burnham’s booth at D.C.’s Awesome Con and asked him if he had seen the family dressed as “Tuskegee Heirs” characters.
Soon after, a fellow attendee confirmed the Ronkes’ presence and was able to bring them to the Tuskegee Heirs table.
He thanked me for the warning, saying he thinks he “would have fainted” with excitement had I not shown him a picture of the Ronkes before meeting them in person.
It was a joyous reunion.