Dogged research and choice archival reprints make this volume an essential reference for pop culture history. Quattro grants African American newspapers special credit for publishing Black-created strips in support of the “Double V” campaign for wartime racial justice. The social and cultural environments that formed these extraordinary artists are deftly detailed by Quattro in this must-have book. Other standouts include Adolphe Barreaux, who passed as white and became a socialite and illustrator of sexy heroines, and Elmer Stoner and Robert Pious, who were noted painters among the Harlem Renaissance elite before becoming breakthrough pulp pencillers. Invisible Men: The Trailblazing Black Artists of Comic Books features Ken Quattros over 20 years of impeccable research and writing. Evans and an all-Black team of creators delivered greater progress with the authentic strips and bold heroes of All-Negro Comics in 1947. The social and cultural environments that formed these extraordinary artists are deftly detailed by Quattro in this must-have book Read more. Matt Baker, then a rising star, broke the mold by drawing tribal hero Voodah as a Black man, despite his pale appearance on the covers. Invisible Men: The Trailblazing Black Artists of Comic Books features Ken Quattro’s over 20 years of impeccable research and writing.

Black artists, he notes, entered the golden-age world of pulp magazines and comics as outsiders filling the talent void left by white artists drafted into the war, often anonymously producing white jungle heroes and buxom women. Quattro (who blogs at The Comics Detective) skillfully compiles comprehensive profiles of each creator with excerpts of their work in a variety of genres. It is hoped that their existence will help the Black comics and cartoon fields to expand even further.Eighteen African American comics creators receive overdue hero treatment in this collection that documents their essential roles in the rise of graphic pulp literature within the struggle for Black equality in postwar America. Fortunately, there have been a number of alternative and independent Black creators and publishers who have entered the Black comic book world. Evans was not able to produce a second volume because he could not obtain the newsprint paper, due to racism.Īlthough there are more Black comic book, cartoon, and comic strip creators working in the mainstream comic book world now, there is still room for improvement. His first published work was named All-Negro Comics, a 48-page comic book written and illustrated solely by Black writers and artists. Stoner, a descendant of one of George Washingtons slaves. Using primary source material from World War II-era Black newspapers and magazines, this compelling book profiles pioneers like E.C. After the closure of the Philadelphia Record in 1947, he went on to open his own publishing company called All-Negro Comics Inc. The life stories of each mans personal struggles and triumphs are represented as they broke through into a world formerly occupied only by white artists. 1947: Orrin Cromwell Evans was the first Black journalist to integrate the Philadelphia Record newspaper.

Invisible Men by Ken Quattro