{"id":6028,"date":"2018-02-21T07:25:38","date_gmt":"2018-02-21T12:25:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=6028"},"modified":"2018-02-21T07:25:38","modified_gmt":"2018-02-21T12:25:38","slug":"comics-diversity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2018\/02\/21\/comics-diversity\/","title":{"rendered":"You\u2019ve Seen \u2018Black Panther,\u2019 Now Check Out Our Guide To More Comics With Diverse Visions"},"content":{"rendered":"

The debut of director Ryan Coogler\u2019s \u201cBlack Panther\u201d movie last weekend and its vision of the utopian African nation of Wakanda has sparked black joy around the world.<\/p>\n

\"Poster<\/a>
Poster for director Ryan Coogler\u2019s \u201cBlack Panther\u201d movie. (Courtesy of Marvel Studios)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWhen I was growing up there was very little representation of people like me in movies,\u201d says Joel Christian Gill, who teaches at New Hampshire Institute of Art in Manchester and is the creator of \u201cStrange Fruit: Volume II,\u201d<\/a> his second collection of nonfiction comics recounting \u201cUndercelebrated Narratives from Black History.\u201d \u201cHaving people that look like you is really important for building self-esteem and saying you have value, you\u2019re important. \u2026 Black heroes matter because black kids need heroes too.”<\/p>\n

So after seeing \u201cBlack Panther,\u201d where else can we find thrilling diverse perspectives in comics? I asked Gill and Tony Davis, owner of The Million Year Picnic<\/a> comics shop in Cambridge\u2019s Harvard Square.<\/p>\n

Amidst the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s and \u201870s, mainstream comics publishers began adding African-American superheroes with titles like \u201cBlack Goliath,\u201d \u201cBlack Panther\u201d and \u201cBlack Lightning.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u201cLuke<\/a>
\u201cLuke Cage.\u201d (Marvel Comics)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cAlmost every black superhero had to be black something,\u201d Davis says. \u201cI remember when the first issue of \u2018Luke Cage\u2019 came out. He was written by white writers who didn\u2019t fully understand the experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last five years, there\u2019s been this explosion of more diversity in characters and we\u2019re starting to see more diversity in creators,\u201d Davis says. \u201cThe creator part is essential.\u201d The result is \u201cmore authentic voices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davis says, \u201cAs somebody who\u2019s been a reader of comics pushing 50 years now, and as somebody who\u2019s African-American and started growing up when there were very few characters of color in main stream media, the idea of seeing reflections of yourself, seeing faces that look like you, your parents, or the idea of seeing the world, not just a whitewashed version of it, it\u2019s important for me myself, it\u2019s important for me as a parent, it\u2019s important for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Below are comics that Gill and Davis recommended.<\/p>\n

\n

Help Wonderland keep producing our great coverage of local arts, cultures and activism by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\"\u201cStrange<\/a>
\u201cStrange Fruit: Volume II\u201d by Joel Christian Gill. (Fulcrum Books)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cStrange Fruit: Volume II\u201d by Joel Christian Gill. (Fulcrum Books)<\/strong>
\nA second volume of non-fiction African-American history comics, this time telling stories of a buffalo soldier, a fighter pilot and a pioneering mail carrier, was just released on Feb. 1. \u201cWe\u2019ve lost our empathy. We\u2019ve lost our ability to look at somebody else and feel like them,\u201d Gill says. \u201cThis is my way of sharing bits and pieces of black humanity so that people look at black people not as a monolithic whole but as individuals with something to contribute.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u201cMarch\u201d<\/a>
\u201cMarch\u201d by Congressman John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell. (Top Shelf)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMarch\u201d by Congressman John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell (Top Shelf)<\/strong>
\nA nonfiction graphic novel recounting the life of the celebrated civil rights activist and congressman John Lewis\u2014based on Lewis\u2019s own recollections.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a fantastic book,\u201d Gill says. \u201cThat book is just powerful on a number of fronts. Just visually. The story of a man who would have died to get people the right to vote. \u2026 He has a scar on his head from an Alabama state trooper.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an amazing historical story that should be in every school library. His personal story and seeing the beginnings and apex and follow through of the Civil Rights movement and continuing today,\u201d Davis says. \u201cLewis is a pretty extraordinary man and to have him telling his own story.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u201cMoon<\/a>
\u201cMoon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.\u201d (Marvel Comics)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMoon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.\u201d (Marvel Comics)<\/strong>
\n\u201cA young African-American girl who is billed as being the smartest person in the universe. They paired her up with Devil Dinosaur, this dinosaur Jack Kirby created in the 1970s,\u201d Davis says. \u201cSometimes they fight supervillains. Sometimes they deal with the cave man who followed [the dinosaur] to the present.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\u201cMs.<\/a>
\u201cMs. Marvel\u201d written by G. Willow Wilson. (Marvel Comics)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMs. Marvel\u201d written by G. Willow Wilson. (Marvel Comics)<\/strong>
\nThe main character is a \u201cMuslim Pakistani living in Jersey City,\u201d Davis says. As in \u201cSpider-Man\u201d and many classic Marvel comics, it\u2019s about \u201cwhat it\u2019s like to be a teenage superhero, and you\u2019re going through high school and relationships, but with the added texture of being Muslim, having family who would expect some traditional behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\u201cMonstress\u201d<\/a>
\u201cMonstress\u201d by Marjorie Liu and artist Sana Takeda. (Image Comics)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMonstress\u201d by Marjorie Liu and artist Sana Takeda. (Image Comics)<\/strong>
\n\u201cYoung Maika risks everything to control her psychic link with a monster of tremendous power, placing her in the center of a devastating war between human and otherworldly forces,\u201d according to the publisher.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a scifi fantasy comic set in a world with very few male characters,\u201d Davis says. \u201cI heard Marjorie say at a conference that there\u2019s never going to be an explanation. It\u2019s sort of like you walked into an action film and there\u2019s no women and it\u2019s not talked about.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\u201cPrinceLess\u201d<\/a>
\u201cPrinceLess\u201d written by Jeremy Whitley. (Action Lab Entertainment)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cPrinceLess\u201d written by Jeremy Whitley. (Action Lab Entertainment)<\/strong>
\n\u201cA great all-ages comic. My understanding is the writer has a daughter who is as they put it \u2018mixed,\u2019 multi-ethnic. He wanted to make a comic where she could see herself,\u201d Davis says. The character is imprisoned alone in a castle tower guarded by a dragon. \u201cOne day she says to the dragon perched outside her castle, \u2018This is no life. I don\u2019t want to wait for Prince Charming to rescue me. I don\u2019t want to wait for Prince Charming to kill you. Let\u2019s take off and have some adventures.\u201d So they do.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\u201cLuke<\/a>
\u201cLuke Cage.\u201d (Marvel Comics)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cLuke Cage.\u201d (Marvel Comics)<\/strong>
\nLong-running Marvel superhero comic. \u201cHe\u2019s a bullet-proof black man,\u201d Gill notes. \u201cHe was experimented on and came out bullet-proof. What a better metaphor for black people right now than a superhero whose super power is being bullet-proof?\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\u201cMetaphase\u201d<\/a>
\u201cMetaphase\u201d authored by Chip Reece. (AlternaComics)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMetaphase\u201d authored by Chip Reece. (AlternaComics)<\/strong>
\n\u201cIt\u2019s the first superhero with Down syndrome,\u201d Gill says. \u201cA very serious take on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Author Chip Reece began the story after his son was born with Down syndrome. \u201cI was looking for comics that had prominent characters with Down syndrome, and at the time there was zero, I couldn\u2019t find anything at all,\u201d he has told People magazine<\/a>. \u201cI wanted him to see a character with Down syndrome that didn\u2019t let that restrict him, that he could still be whatever he wanted to be despite what other people might think were his limitations.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\u201cWatson<\/a>
\u201cWatson and Holmes\u201d by Karl Bollers and illustrated by Rick Leonardi. (New Paradigm Studios)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWatson and Holmes\u201d by Karl Bollers and illustrated by Rick Leonardi. (New Paradigm Studios)<\/strong>
\n\u201cA contemporary take on Watson and Holmes,\u201d Davis says. \u201cIt\u2019s Sherlock Holmes set in contemporary New York, contemporary Harlem, black Holmes, black Watson.\u201d Watson is an Afghanistan war vet working in a city clinic. Holmes investigates \u201cgangs and drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\u201cNiobe:<\/a>
\u201cNiobe: She is Life\u201d by Sebastian Jones. (Stranger Comics)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cNiobe: She is Life\u201d by Sebastian Jones. (Stranger Comics)<\/strong>
\n\u201cNaobi is half human, half elf, half devil-child, half goddess,\u201d Davis says. \u201cA really striking fantasy by Sebastian Jones.\u201d<\/p>\n

The publisher describes it as a \u201ccoming of age tale of love, betrayal, and ultimate sacrifice. Niobe Ayutami is an orphaned wild elf teenager and also the would-be savior of the vast and volatile fantasy world of Asunda. She is running from a past where the Devil himself would see her damned.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\u201cThe<\/a>
\u201cThe Harlem Hellfighters\u201d written by Max Brooks and illustrated by Caanan White. (Penguin Random House)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe Harlem Hellfighters\u201d written by Max Brooks (author of \u201cWorld War Z\u201d and son of comedian Mel Brooks and actress Anne Bancroft) and illustrated by Caanan White. (Penguin Random House)<\/strong>
\n\u201cA graphic novel about an African-American squadron from World War I,\u201d Davis says \u201cThey were heroes in World War I. And they come back in 1919 to a world that\u2019s pretty much indifferent to them. And they face the racism that everyone else faces.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\u201cMatty\u2019s<\/a>
\u201cMatty\u2019s Rocket\u201d by Tim Fielder. (Dieselfunk Studios)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMatty\u2019s Rocket\u201d by Tim Fielder. (Dieselfunk Studios)<\/strong>
\nThis artist of color imagines \u201ca retro alternative universe in the 1930s and rocket technology is already out there,\u201d Davis says. \u201cMattie is a young African-American girl who dreams of growing up to be a rocket pilot and she does.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\u201cKindred:<\/a>
\u201cKindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation\u201d based on the 1979 novel by Octavia Butler, adapted by Damian Duffy and John Jennings. (Abrams ComicArts)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cKindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation\u201d based on the 1979 novel by Octavia Butler, adapted by Damian Duffy and John Jennings. (Abrams ComicArts)<\/strong>
\nJennings, a professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo, and Jennings, a lecturer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, authored the 2010 book \u201cBlack Comix: African American independent comics arts and culture\u201dand have just published a follow up, \u201cBlack Comix Returns.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here they adapted Octavia Butler\u2019s riveting 1979 novel about a woman mysteriously transported back in time to a pre-Civil War Maryland slave plantation. \u201cIt faces one of the challenges of using a different medium,\u201d Davis says. \u201cComics create something that\u2019s different from the initial work. In the original book, you don\u2019t know the main character is African-American. It gets revealed. It turns from a scifi book into a horror novel. This is essentially a horror novel right from the start.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\u201cNat<\/a>
\u201cNat Turner\u201d by Kyle Baker. (Abrams ComicArts)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cNat Turner\u201d by Kyle Baker. (Abrams ComicArts)<\/strong>
\n\u201cAn incredibly interesting, incredibly challenging character,\u201d told by an artist of color, Davis says. \u201cI think he does a pretty good job of capturing the emotions around him and bringing him to life. [Baker] was a masterful cartoonist and this is him in his prime.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\u201cI<\/a>
\u201cI am Rosa Parks\u201d written by Brad Meltzer. (Scholastic)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI am Rosa Parks\u201d written by Brad Meltzer. (Scholastic)<\/strong>
\nIllustrated biographies from Meltzer\u2019s \u201cOrdinary People Change the World\u201d series, which also includes \u201cI am Jackie Robinson\u201d and \u201cI am Harriet Tubman.\u201d Davis says they\u2019re \u201ca good way for young kids to get exposed to characters they wouldn\u2019t necessarily have been.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\u201cJosephine<\/a>
\u201cJosephine Baker\u201d by Jose-Luis Bocquet and Catel Muller. (SelfMadeHero)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cJosephine Baker\u201d by French creators Jose-Luis Bocquet and Catel Muller. (SelfMadeHero)<\/strong>
\nA nonfiction comics biography of the African-American dancer who went to Paris to become a star\u2014as well as a civil rights activist and supporter of the French Resistance during World War II. Davis says, \u201cA really well told story and she\u2019s such an interesting figure. The whole idea of how black culture couldn\u2019t be accepted in the U.S., so she has to go to Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\u201cBillie<\/a>
\u201cBillie Holiday\u201d by Jose Mu\u00f1oz and Carols Sampayo. (NBM Publishing)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cBillie Holiday\u201d by Argentine creators Jose Mu\u00f1oz and Carols Sampayo. (NBM Publishing)<\/strong>
\nThe life of the legendary jazz singer recounted in a nonfiction comics biography. \u201cIt\u2019s in the same style they did a lot of noir fiction,\u201d Davis says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\u201cGhost<\/a>
\u201cGhost Stories\u201d by Whit Taylor. (Rosarium Publishing)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cGhost Stories\u201d by Whit Taylor. (Rosarium Publishing)<\/strong>
\nA graphic novel telling three haunting semi-autobiographical tales. \u201cThere\u2019s one story about rape,\u201d Gill says. \u201cWhit\u2019s black so there\u2019s stories about being black in New Jersey in a predominantly white neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\u201cBlue<\/a>
\u201cBlue Hand Mojo\u201d by John Jennings. (Rosarium Publishing)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cBlue Hand Mojo\u201d by John Jennings. (Rosarium Publishing)<\/strong>
\nA magical detective in debt to the Devil works Chicago\u2019s Bronzeville in the 1930s. \u201cIt\u2019s a supernatural detective and horror,\u201d Gill says. \u201cA lot of the main characters are black.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\u201cY:<\/a>
\u201cY: The Last Man\u201d written by Brian K. Vaughan. (Vertigo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cY: The Last Man\u201d written by Brian K. Vaughan (Vertigo)<\/strong>
\nThe series ran from 2002 to 2008. \u201cIt\u2019s a book that starts with the premise that every male mammal on earth drops dead one day,\u201d Davis says, except for one man and his pet monkey. \u201cIt deals with the fallout in a society completely run by women because that\u2019s all that\u2019s left and dealing with enormous challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Help Wonderland keep producing our great coverage of local arts, cultures and activism by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The debut of director Ryan Coogler\u2019s \u201cBlack Panther\u201d movie last weekend and its vision of the utopian African nation of Wakanda has sparked black joy around the world. \u201cWhen I was growing up there was very little representation of people like me in movies,\u201d says Joel Christian Gill, who teaches at New Hampshire Institute of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6002,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100,107],"tags":[191],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6028"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6028"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6039,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6028\/revisions\/6039"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}