The Blacker the Inkis the first collection to explore not only the diverse range of black characters in comics, but also the multitude of ways that black artists, writers, and publishers have made a mark on the industry. The book's fifteen original essays take us on a journey that includes familiar milestones likeLuke CageandThe Boondocks, while spanning everything from African American newspaper comics of the 1930s to Francophone graphic novels of the 2000s.

Publisher Marketing: AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: The Sweeter the Christmas Panel I: Black Is a Dangerous Color 1 "No Sweat!: " EC Comics, Cold War Censorship, and the Troublesome Colors of "Judgment Day!" 2 Sex in Yop City: Ivorian Femininity and Masculinity in Abouet and Oubrerie's Aya 3 A Postcolony in Pieces: Black Faces, White Masks and Queer Potentials in Unknown Soldier Panel II: Black in Black and White and Color 4 Fashion in the Funny Papers: Cartoonist Jackie Ormes's American Look 5 Graphic Remix: The Lateral Appropriation of Black Nationalism in Aaron McGruder's The Boondocks Panel III: Black Tights 6 American Truths: Blackness and the American Superhero 7 Drawn into Dialogue: Comic Book Culture and the Scene of Controversy in Milestone Media's Icon 8 Critical Afrofuturism: A Case Study in Visual Rhetoric, Sequential Art, and Post-Apocalyptic Black Identity 9 Bare Chests, Silver Tiaras and Removable Afros: The Visual Design of Black Comic Book Superheroes Panel IV: Graphic Blackness 10 Daddy Cool: Donald Goines's "Visual Novel" 11 The Blues Tragicomic: Constructing the Black Folk Subject in Stagger Lee 12 Provocation Through Polyphony: Kyle Baker's Nat Turner 13 Performance Geography: Making Space in Jeremy Love's Bayou, Volume 1 14 A Secret History of Miscegenation: Jimmy Corrigan and the Columbian Exposition of 1893 15 It's a Hero?: Black Comics and Satirizing Subjection Notes on ContributorsIndex Marc Notes : Includes bibliographical references and index.;When many think of comic books the first thing that comes to mind are caped crusaders and super-heroes. Inevitably, these images are of white men. It was not until the 1970s that African American superheroes emerged. But as this new collection reveals, these superhero comics are only one small component in a wealth of representations of black characters within comic books and graphic novels over the past century. Biographical Note : FRANCES GATEWARD is an associate professor in the department of cinema and television arts at California State University-Northridge. She is the editor of Seoul Searching: Cultural Identity and Cinema in South Korea . JOHN JENNINGS is a professor of media and cultural studies, University of California Riverside where he is Nasir Jones Hiphop Fellow. He is the author of Black Comix: African American Independent Comics , the award-winning graphic novel The Hole: Consumer Culture, a nd the national bestseller, Kindred, a graphic adaption of Octavia Butler's classic novel. Review Quotes : "Like the comics selected for analysis, this collection of essays works to expand our understanding of the mediums of Blackness and comics. Through observant and meticulous close readings of comic books, newspaper comic strips, digital comics, and graphic novels, alongside the respective sociohistorical and cultural contexts of their production, dissemination, and consumption, the contributors shed light on overlooked and perhaps unknown cartoonists and stories from the past, provide new insight on well-known comics and histories, and challenge our understanding of what constitutes black comics."-- "Cinema Journal" Review Quotes : "This volume provides what has been lacking in some previous work--variety of content, precision of approach and execution, and depth of analyses ... The Blacker the Ink advances the study of black comics significantly by offering new insights and a wealth of information free of gobbledygook ... Highly recommended."-- "Choice" Review Quotes : "A fascinating look at the growing complexity and diversity in representations of Blackness in comics, graphic novels and sequential art."--Bambi Haggins "author of Laughing Mad: The Black Comic Persona in Post-Soul America" (9/11/2014 12:00:00 AM) Review Quotes : "An essential guide for anyone interested in the intersections between race and comics, this volume is full of startling and original insights about the creators, comics, and graphic novels that represent people of African descent from the 1930s to the present."--Jonathan W. Gray "author of Civil Rights in the White Literary Imagination" (3/18/2015 12:00:00 AM) Publisher Marketing : Winner of the 2016 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award for Best Academic/Scholarly Work Winner of the 2016 Ray and Pat Browne Award for Best Edited Collection in Popular Culture and American Culture by the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Winner of the 2016 PEN Oakland-Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature

Format: Paperback | Pages: 356 | Publication Date: 2015-07-16