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Black Dynamite: Slave Island follows everyone’s favorite blaxploitation sensation as he brings his bad-ass brand of kung-fu to the sequential page! Based on the eponymous film starring Michael Jai White, Black Dynamite uses his fists of fury to shut down a mysterious island of slavers!
Black Dynamite: Slave Island |
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On the first day of summer vacation, teenaged sisters M’Rose, Elle, and Celina step out into the tropical heat of their island home and continue their headlong tumble toward adulthood. Boys, schoolyard fights, petty thievery, and even illicit alcohol make for a heady mix, as The Zabime Sisters indulge in a little summertime freedom. The dramatic backdrop of a Caribbean island provides a study of contrasts — a world that is both lush and wild, yet strangely small and intimate — which echoes the contrasts of the sisters themselves, who are at once worldly and wonderfully naive.
Master storyteller Aristophane’s The Zabime Sisters takes a keen look at some of the universal experiences of children on the cusp of growing up, in the fascinating setting of Guadeloupe. Aristophane‘s bold, graphic brushwork weaves a wild texture through this gentle, clear-eyed tale. First Second |
The winners of the Glyph Comics Awards, designed to “recognize the best in comics made by, for, and about people of color from the preceding calendar year,” were named during a ceremony held May 15 in Philadelphia as part of that weekend’s East Coast Black Age of Comics Con (ECBACC).
The judges for the 2010 competition were David Brothers, Carol Burrell, Brian Cronin and Katie & Dan Merritt. A ballot for the Fan Award for Best Comic is now open here.
Story of the Year
* Luke Cage Noir; Mike Benson & Adam Glass, writers; Shawn Martinbrough, artist
* The Original Johnson; Trevor von Eeden, writer and artist
* Unknown Soldier #13-14; Joshua Dysart, writer, Pat Masioni, artist
* War Machine: Iron Heart; Greg Pak, writer, Leonardo Manco, artist
* World of Hurt, Jay Potts, writer and artist
Best Writer
* Joshua Dysart, Unknown Soldier
* Jeremy Love, Bayou
* Greg Pak, War Machine
* Jay Potts, World of Hurt
* Alex Simmons, Archie & Friends
Best Artist
* Chriscross, Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance
* Jeremy Love, Bayou
* Shawn Martinbrough, Luke Cage Noir
* Jay Potts, World of Hurt
* Trevor von Eeden, The Original Johnson
Best Male Character
* Black Lightning, Black Lightning Year One; Jen van Meter, writer, Cully Hamner, artist; created by Tony Isabella & Trevor von Eeden
* Isaiah “Pastor” Hurt, World of Hurt; created by Jay Potts, writer and artist
* Jack Johnson; The Original Johnson; Trevor von Eeden, writer and artist; inspired by the life of Jack Johnson
* Luke Cage, Luke Cage Noir; Mike Benson & Adam Glass, writers, Shawn Martinbrough, artist; created by Archie Goodwin & John Romita Sr.
* Moses Lwanga, Unknown Soldier #13-14; Joshua Dysart, writer, Pat Masioni, artist; inspired by the character created by Robert Kanigher & Joe Kubert
Best Female Character
* Aya, Aya: The Secrets Come Out; created by Marguerite Abouet, writer, Clement Oubrerie, artist
* Lee Wagstaff, Bayou; created by Jeremy Love, writer and artist
* Michonne, The Walking Dead; created by Robert Kirkman, writer, Charlie Adlard & Cliff Rathburn, artists
* Misty Knight, Immortal Iron Fist; Duane Swierczynski, writer, Travel Foreman & Tom Palmer, artists; created by Tony Isabella & Arvell Jones
* Nola Thomas, NOLA; created by Chris Gorak & Pierluigi Cothran, writers, Damian Couceiro, artist
Rising Star Award
* Jiba Molei Anderson, The Horsemen
* John Aston, Rachel Rage
* Kerry & Tawanda Johnson, Harambee Hills
* Julian Lytle, Ants
* Jay Potts, World of Hurt
Best Reprint Collection
* Aya: The Secrets Come Out; Drawn & Quarterly
* Bayou Vol. 1; DC/Zuda
* Icon: A Hero’s Welcome; DC/Milestone
* The Life and Times of Martha Washington in the 21st Century; Dark Horse
* Static Shock: Rebirth of the Cool; DC/Milestone
Best Cover
* Final Crisis Aftermath: Ink #1; Brian Stelfreeze, illustrator
* Luke Cage Noir #1; Tim Bradstreet, illustrator
* The Original Johnson; Trevor von Eeden, illustrator
* Unknown Soldier #8; Dave Johnson, illustrator
* Unknown Soldier #10; Dave Johnson, illustrator
Best Comic Strip
* Bayou; Jeremy Love, writer and artist
* Jump Start; Robb Armstrong, writer and artist
* The K Chronicles; Keith Knight, writer and artist
* The Knight Life; Keith Knight, writer and artist
* World of Hurt; Jay Potts, writer and artist
Fan Award for Best Comic
* Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel; Kevin Grevioux, writer, Mat Broome, Sean Parson & Alvaro Lopez, artists
* Black Lightning Year One; Jen Van Meter, writer, Cully Hamner, artist
* Final Crisis Aftermath: Ink; Eric Wallace, writer, Fabrizio Fiorentino, artist
* Luke Cage Noir; Mike Benson & Adam Glass, writers, Shawn Martinbrough, artist
* War Machine: Iron Heart; Greg Pak, writer, Leonardo Manco, artist
Fantagraphics Books
Available 02/28/10 in Hardcover
A special expanded edition of a Fantagraphics classic.
Ho Che Anderson has spent over 10 years researching, writing, and drawing King, a monumental graphic biography that liberates Martin Luther King Jr. from the saintly, one-dimensional, hagiographic image so prevalent in pop culture. Here is King — father, husband, politician, deal broker, idealist, pragmatist, inspiration to millions — brought to vivid, flesh-and-blood life.
Out of print since 2006, King is Fantagraphics’ most-requested reprint. In recognition of the advances made in American social equality that has made it possible to elect America’s first black President, Fantagraphics Books is publishing King: The Special Edition, a newly designed volume that includes the original 240-page graphic biography, as well as nearly a hundred additional pages of “extras,” including:
Black Dogs” is a 14-page prelude to King, a dialogue between a young black couple expecting a child, living in LA in the aftermath of the Rodney King upheaval, a raw and inflected conversation between husband and wife and their racial attitudes in a post-King world;
Excerpts from the diary and notebook the author kept when researching and writing King, with interstitial notes written specifically for this volume commenting on the method he used to conceived and execute the book;
Preparatory sketches, discarded images and pages, an interview conducted at the time of the third volume’s publication, and excerpts from the draft of the script;
An epilogue titled “Assassin,” written and drawn for this new edition, in which Anderson explores the question of whether James Earl Ray actually shot King. Caroline Longstreet, one of the observers who comments on King’s life throughout the book, is obsessed with the assassination, won’t let it rest, and pursues her own private investigation and ultimately confronts the reasons why it’s held her in its grip so long.
Anderson’s biography traces King’s life from his childhood in Atlanta and his education at Booker T. Washington High School, and his subsequent centrality to the civil rights movement when, in 1955, he organized the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott; his founding of the Southern Christian leadership Conference in 1957; his Nobel Prize in 1964; his help in organizing the 1966 March on Washington and his “I Have a Dream” speech; and the tragic moment on April 4, 1968 when he was shot dead on the balcony of the Loraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee.
Anderson’s expressionistic visual style is wrought with dramatic energy; panels evoke a painterly attention to detail but whose juxtapositions propel King’s story with cinematic momentum. Anderson’s successful use of the comics form to tell a major work of nonfiction has drawn favorable comparisons to Art Spiegelman’s Maus: A Survivor’s Tale and Joe Sacco’s Safe Area Gorazde: The War In Eastern Bosnia 1992-1995. King won a 1995 Parents’ Choice Award. Full-color throughout.
By Martha Cornog, Philadelphia — Library Journal, 2/12/2009 1:12:00 PM
African American history turned a corner in January when Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States. From Washington, DC, Obamamania swept through the recent New York Comic-Con, where exhibitors sold Alex Ross’s striking Superman Obama print as well as T-shirts proclaiming “Obama is my homeboy.” Obama comics are also jumping out of stores, and several more are in production.
Because our new president is a poster honcho for literacy as well as a comics-friendly icon, I hope we will soon see more graphic novels for children and tweens featuring black people as major characters. Luckily, there are many existing works that offer distinctive and often powerful portrayals of African Americans famous and unknown, real and fictional. Limited to teen through adult readers, the titles below are recommended for public and school libraries, and many would be welcome in academic collections. Display away, librarians!
Still I Rise: A Graphic History of African Americans
by by Roland Laird (Author), Taneshia Nash Laird (Author), Charles Johnson (Foreword), Elihu “Adofo” Bey (Illustrator)
Available 02/03/09
Still I Rise is a critically acclaimed work with an impressive scope: the entire history of Black America, told in an accessible graphic-novel form. Updated from its original version – which ended with the Million Man March – it now extends from the early days of colonial slavery right through to Barack Obama’s groundbreaking presidential campaign. Compared by many to Art Spiegelman’s Maus, Still I Rise is a breathtaking achievement that celebrates the collective African-American memory, imagination, and spirit.
Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow
Author: James Sturm
Illustrator: Rich Tommaso
Baseball Hall-of-Famer Leroy “Satchel” Paige (1905?–1982) changed the face of the game in a career that spanned five decades. Much has been written about this larger-than-life pitcher, but when it comes to Paige, fact does not easily separate from fiction. He made a point of writing his own history . . . and then rewriting it. A tall, lanky fireballer, he was arguably the Negro Leagues’ hardest thrower, most entertaining storyteller, and greatest gate attraction. Now the Center for Cartoon Studies turns a graphic novelist’s eye to Paige’s story. Told from the point of view of a sharecropper, this compelling narrative follows Paige from game to game as he travels throughout the segregated South.
In stark prose and powerful graphics, author and artist share the story of a sports hero, role model, consummate showman, and era-defining American.