|
|
| Black Images in the Comics | $9.85 |
Observing black imagery through a century of comics.
This wide-ranging little book spotlights over 100 comics strips, comic books, and graphic novels to feature black characters from all over the world over the last century, and the result is a fascinating journey to, if not enlightenment, then at least away from the horrendous caricatures of yore.
The book begins with the habitually appalling images of blacks as ignorant coons in the earliest syndicated strips (Happy Hooligan, Moon Mullins, andThe Katzenjammer Kids); continues with the almost-quaint colonialist images of the suppressed Tintin albumTintin in the Congo and such ambiguous figures as Mandrake the Magician's noble savage assistant Lothar in the'30s (not to mention Torchy Brown, the first syndicated black character), moving on to such oddities as the offensive Ebony character in Will Eisner's otherwise classic The Spirit from the'40s and'50s. We then continue into the often earnest attempts at'60s integration in such strips asPeanuts (and comic books such as theFantastic Four), as well as the first wave of black strips likeWee Pals, juxtaposed with the shocking satire of underground comics such as R. Crumb's incendiary Angefood McSpade. Also investigated is the increased use of blacks in super-hero comic books such asUncanny X-Men andLuke Cage, Hero for Hire, as well as syndicated strips likeFriday Foster andQuincy in the'70s (to say nothing ofBeetle Bailey's controversial Lt. Flap).From Cartoon Coons to the Boondocks wraps up from the'80s to now, with the increased visibility of blacks, often in works actually produced by blacks, all the way to the South African stripMadam& Eve, Aaron McGruder's pointed dailyThe Boondocks, and Ho Che Anderson's Martin Luther King biographyKing.
Each strip, comic, or graphic novel is spotlighted via a compact but instructive 200... Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.
Autor: |  |
| Fantagraphics Books | Buy Now |
|
|
