Ariell Johnson

"Yes! Of course! I’m loyal, lol. Storm is my first love when it comes to comics. I love everything about her, she is such a robust character. She of course piqued my interest when I first encountered her because she was the first Black woman superhero that I’d ever come across…the first superhero that looked like me. She made me feel that I was no longer on the sidelines watching the action unfold, I was a part of it. She’s strong, powerful, smart, beautiful and a leader. What’s not to love?"

"Honestly, I didn’t think about it too much when I was younger. I think Black people in particular are used to NOT being seen in media. It’s been that way for so long, you don’t really think about it. I can’t pinpoint the exact moment when I realized just how important it was. Maybe it was a slow, natural progression, I don’t know. I just started getting tired of not seeing myself. I’m surrounded by Black women who put in real work and make things happen. Black women are my super heroes everyday, so why do I need to look so hard to find them in comics, TV, and movies? It doesn’t make sense to me, and it shouldn’t make sense to anyone in my opinion. Everyone has a right to be seen, the right to have their story told, the right to have the spotlight on them from time to time."

"It would have been cool to have a book like Lumberjanes when I was younger. A group of girls having supernatural adventures at scout camp? Yes please!"

"When the email went out about potential variants for stores, he was really excited and took it upon himself to work out the [details]. It was really his hard work I knew what it was supposed to look like, but having the actual art in front of you is so much different. It's really exciting.""

"To think I made it a decade-plus and I had never seen a black, woman superhero is crazy because little white boys have so many [with whom they identify]: 'I want to be Iron Man!' 'I want to be Batman!' 'I want to be Superman.' 'I want to be Han Solo!' When you are a person of color, you're scraping the bottom of the barrel to find someone you can identify with. I always felt like I was watching other people's adventures Being introduced to Storm was a pivotal moment for me because had I not come across her, I might have grown out of my love for [comics]."

"The goal is to be an inclusive geek space So it’s not just comics; it’s gaming, it’s sci-fi, it’s horror, whatever you geek about, we want to make room for you!""

"I had a girl tell me I had an excellent book selection and she was 7 or 8. I don’t know how welcome she might feel in some other spaces,Women exist in this space! We’ve always been reading comic books, we just may not have been as open about it. I definitely get very positive feedback from not just little girls, but grown women too."