Black Comics: Drawn From the Heart

The Black Panther Party: A Graphic Novel History by David Walker is the Black Power history textbook of your dreams. It tells the nuanced and real story of the Black Panther party with engaging, clean-lined full-color art by Kwame Anderson that feels like photos, and propels this vibrant history through both well-known and lesser-known events. Notable in this graphic nonfiction are the artist's and author's finely-honed ability to balance image and text on the page; there's a lot of information in this book, but it never feels crowded or rushed. The Black Panther Party is both an excellent history and a great graphic novel. With three starred reviews, Library Journal recommended this title "for all adult and teen collections." 

March books one through three are a modern classic of graphic nonfiction with starred reviews from every major reviewer. Written by Civil Rights icon and US Representative, the late John Lewis, these books use the powerful format of image-based storytelling to tell the story of Lewis's Civil Rights work. 

March books one through three are a modern classic of graphic nonfiction with starred reviews from every major reviewer. Written by Civil Rights icon and US Representative, the late John Lewis, these books use the powerful format of image-based storytelling to tell the story of Lewis's Civil Rights work. 

The follow-up to Civil Rights titan and United States Congressman John Lewis's award-winning, now-classic autobiographical nonfiction graphic novel series March, Run: Book One picks up after the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. John Lewis and his allies in SNCC are weary from their hard work, and schisms in the movement that seemed small in March have grown larger. Run offers an up-close view of a Civil Rights movement that had made great strides but still faced an uphill battle against white supremacy.  Lewis completed the script for Run before he died in 2020, and it's poignant to read March and Run knowing that though Civil Rights was the great work of his immensely consequential life, that work remains unfinished. Just as Congressman Lewis was inspired as a young man by a comic book about the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the Montgomery Bus Boycott, we hope future leaders will be inspired by Congressman Lewis's powerful quartet of graphic nonfiction titles.

A love story for the ages, Bingo Love tells the story of two Black girls, Hazel and Mari who meet at church bingo in 1963 but are torn apart by their families. The two girls go on to marry men, have children, and build families of their own. They're reunited by church bingo decades later as senior citizens, and their love rekindles, this time ending happily in a beautiful and romantic wedding! We love the well-drawn characters and the swoon-worthy LGBTQ romance.

In 1942, the cartoonist at the Chicago Defender, Jay Jackson, turned a comedic comic strip about a bungler named Bungleton Green into a wartime science fiction epic starring America's first Black superhero. The titular Bungleton Green and the Mystic Commandoes (a group of teenaged adventurers) travel through space and time, they battle Nazis, slavers, and segregationists all while learning about important figures in Black history. This reprinted compilation of black-and-white comic strips that originally ran in the Chicago Defender during the 1940s is historic and fun to read, with wild adventures and drama on every page.

The pressures of Black teen Charisma's responsibilities to her family mean she misses out on opportunities to follow her passions at school. Stress causes emotional outbursts, but a Black school counselor sees Charisma as a leader and helps her get involved in a project that inspires her. Charisma's responsibilities, hobbies, and interests come together when she leads a community project to combat environmental racism. Beautiful color illustrations tell this story of a teen finding her voice.

The prolific and talented Joel Christian Gill continues to illuminate lesser-known tales from Black history in these two volumes with excellent bibliographies for further reading. 

The prolific and talented Joel Christian Gill continues to illuminate lesser-known tales from Black history in these two volumes with excellent bibliographies for further reading. 

The prolific and talented Joel Christian Gill explores lesser-known American history with these three full-color works of graphic nonfiction covering the lives of Black history heroes Bass Reeves, Robert Smalls, and Bessie Stringfield. 

The prolific and talented Joel Christian Gill explores lesser-known American history with these three full-color works of graphic nonfiction covering the lives of Black history heroes Bass Reeves, Robert Smalls, and Bessie Stringfield. 

The prolific and talented Joel Christian Gill explores lesser-known American history with these three full-color works of graphic nonfiction covering the lives of Black history heroes Bass Reeves, Robert Smalls, and Bessie Stringfield. 

The prolific and talented Joel Christian Gill, whose nonfiction graphic novel series Strange Fruit and Tales of the Talented Tenth feature prominently on this list, turns his attention to his own story. As a child who endured abuse and neglect at home and bullying at school, he grew to use violence to express his turbulent emotions. Friends, the library, and art helped him make a big, life-changing decision. Gill's story is a difficult read at times, but ultimately a tale of hope. Taken in context with the author's other books, Fights is a poignant testament to all that Gill was able to accomplish as a result of the choices he made.

Superstar fiction author Nnedi Okorafor, best known for her breakout YA novel, Akata Witch and its sequels, takes the helm with classic comics style art by Leonardo Romero in this story of Shuri, princess of Wakanda and sister to T'Challa, the Black Panther. When T'Challa goes missing, Shuri uses her smarts and skills--and an assist from some other Marvel characters—to find him.

Dana, a black woman living in 1970s Los Angeles, travels back in time to a pre-Civil War era plantation, where she saves a young white boy’s life. She learns that the boy is destined to become one of her ancestors, and as she’s pulled back and forth between her own time and the Antebellum South, she becomes dangerously entangled in the lives of slaves and slaveholders.

The epic tale of an African king cursed with endless life. His story extends from the ancient past to the endless future, from ruling in Africa to enslavement in the New World to the interstellar discovery of literal new worlds. This Afrofuturist page-turner is supported by dramatic color illustrations. 

When fifteen-year-old Chelsea gets caught at a party with her school's popular crowd, her punishment is helping her dad during the summer in the family business--ghost hunting. When Chelsea's dad is hired to exorcize an old plantation house, Chelsea discovers something even more embarassing than being the daughter of a ghost hunter who advertises on TV, actually seeing and talking with spirits! This engaging coming-of-age graphic novel by sisters Shawnelle and Shawnee Gibbs features an engaging young Black female protagonist, a perfect setting in New Orleans, and beautiful full-color art by Emily Cannon.

Hey Milenials, do you remember watching the Saturday morning superhero cartoon, Static Shock about Black teen Virgil Hawkins, and his amazing electromagnetic powers? Well, Static Shock is back as Static, rebooted and reimagined as by author Lamar Giles and DC Comics with full-color art by Paris Alleyne. Check this title out and introduce it to your Gen Z kids—We promise, they won't be disappointed.

Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts by Rebecca Hall is a powerful debut work of graphic nonfiction based on Dr. Hall's dissertation. With starred reviews from five major journals, Wake has been listed as a Best Book of 2021 by NPR and The Washington Post, Forbes, and Ms. Magazine. An article in Essence Magazine declares that Wake "Challenges what we know about Black women's fight against slavery." Wake is a nonfiction work not to be missed. The story blends past and present; Rebecca Hall is a black woman Ph.D. candidate doing painful and powerful research as she travels the globe unearthing stories the white world wants to forget. Hugo Martinez's art is equally potent, black-and-white illustrations where history bleeds into the modern world. Skyscrapers rise from cities built on black bodies, and the oceans still ring with the final shouts of women warriors who chose to fight and die rather than live in "saltwater slavery." Bookpage said, "Wake is as poetic as it is powerful." This story will stay with you long after you read the final page.

This debut fantasy offering from Black-owned independent comics publisher Stranger Comics written by creator Sebastian A. Jones and actress Amandla Stenberg, Niobe: She is Life collects the first 4 volumes of the series. Half human and half elf, Niobe is destined to be a queen, but she's been on the run her whole life. While she finds no welcome with the elves, she does befriend a half-orc boy. The story contains murder, mystery, and a Beauty-and-the-Beast style love story. The full color art is elegant and distinctive as it supports the characters and plot. If you've been craving a High Fantasy tale that breaks the genre's Eurocentric mold, try Niobe: She is Life.

Give this book to the budding artist in your life. Liz Montague didn't always want to be an artist. Although she gained fame at a relatively young age, getting her cartoon work published in the New Yorker at 22, as a kid she had a lot of ideas about what she wanted to do when she grew up. This book recounts her search, her struggles with dyslexia, and eventually giving herself space to find her true passions in life. Black-and-white, cartoon-style illustrations create a light tone and an engaging pace. This title is perfect for middle-grade and older readers. Two starred reviews.

D.C. revived cringe 1970s character Nubia, once billed as "Wonder Woman's Black sister," by giving the character to Black woman author, L.L. McKinney, and Black woman artist, Robyn Smith (see more of her beautiful art in Wash Day Diaries, also on this list), who turned this title into the rare superhero story that acknowledges the societal forces arrayed against young Black women exercising their power. Nubia Real One has amazing, full-color art, a propulsive plot, and relatable, well-rounded characters (including LGBTQ characters) while acknowledging the realities of implicit racism and misogynoir through the lens of a superhero plot. 3 starred reviews.   

Oblivion Rouge, by Senegal-based artist Pap Souleye Fall, is one of many multicultural manga offerings from publisher Saturday AM. We love Oblivion Rouge for its action-packed plot and black-and-white illustrations with dramatic pops of color featuring a Black protagonist and Black supporting characters set in a futuristic Africa. A must-read for fans who crave stories about Black characters represented in manga style and format.

Oblivion Rouge, by Senegal-based artist Pap Souleye Fall, is one of many multicultural manga offerings from publisher Saturday AM. We love Oblivion Rouge for its action-packed plot and black-and-white illustrations with dramatic pops of color featuring a Black protagonist and Black supporting characters set in a futuristic Africa. A must-read for fans who crave stories about Black characters represented in manga style and format.

Afro-Latina Dominican American tween Marlene is sick of her family hating on her curly hair. They compare her to her fairer and "more presentable" cousin, her mother makes her go to the salon every week to get her hair straightened, and Marlene can't run and play at school for fear of losing her straight hairstyle. Thank goodness for Tia Ruby, Marlene's proudly curly auntie who points out that her family's attitudes about Marlene's hair are rooted in antiblackness, and who teaches Marlene how to care for and style her curly hair as an act of empowerment and self-love. This middle-grade friendly full-color graphic novel is entertaining and heartwarming with beautiful art by Rose Bousamra. Four starred reviews.

Wash Day Diaries by Jamila Rowser, with art by Robyn Smith (see more of her amazing art in Nubia: Real One, also on this list) is a loving and powerful ode to Black female friendship, as seen through four twenty-something friends and their self-care practices. From romance to career, to mental health and a touching reconciliation with a formerly homophobic abuela, Davene's, Nisha's, Kim's, and Cookie's stories are each represented by a different shade in the beautiful, full-color art. All four stories and colors come together for the fifth chapter, where friends support and stand up for friends; these women are ride or die in all the best ways. We love the diversity of Black stories in this book, including Afro-Latina, Caribbean, and LGBTQ characters. The dedication reads, "To the Black girls around the world, you are seen, and you are beautiful." Wash Day Diaries is a heartwarming expression of that statement. We look forward to more print offerings from Rowser's Black Josei Press.

Like most popular modern music genres, punk rock has Black roots. In 2003, James Spooner made a documentary called Afro-Punk that explored the subject. Now he returns to punk rock with his graphic memoir, which starts in the 1990s with his first exposure to punk as a teen in California's High Dessert. Expressive art and Spooner's black text boxes offer narration and context to his previous experiences, revealing the intersectional, revolutionary history of punk music as he becomes immersed in the scene. Bookpage writes, "The High Desert reclaims punk on behalf of Blackness and does so with electric style." 3 starred reviews.

This graphic nonfiction adaptation of Black playwright C.L.R. James's 1934 play (which starred Paul Robeson when it opened in London in 1936) about the Haitian Revolution tells the story everyone should know about the first and only successful revolution of enslaved people. Toussaint Louverture led the Black people of Haiti through a decade-long fight to win their freedom from French and Spanish colonialists. Black-and-white art with expressive recognizable characters allows the dialog to take center stage.

It's never easy being the new kid in school, but when 12-year-old Jordan Banks transfers to a mostly white prep school instead of the art school he wanted to attend, he encounters a whole host of problems he never experienced in his neighborhood of Washington Heights. New Kid won the John Newberry Medal for children's literature and a Coretta Scott King Award, too, but it has appeal to all ages. Jordan is an engaging, observant, and artistic protagonist. The series is punctuated with gentle humor from his drawings and cartoons. Teens and grown-ups, if you were ever "the only" or one of a few Black kids in your school, I promise, you will feel seen and heard. Jordan Banks is all of us.