Graphic Novel Review: We Are Pan

reviewed by Cord Scott, UMGC-Okinawa

Andre Frattino (w), Yasmin Flores-Montanez (a), and Fabi Marques (colors).  We are Pan.  Sherman Oaks, CA: Top Shelf Press, 2026.  $19.99/26.99 CAN. ISBN978-60309-592-1.  https://idwpublishing.com/products/we-are-pan

History often makes for exciting stories in any media, be it film, books, or comics.  Unusual or underreported history is even more engaging - if done properly.  To this end, Top Shelf (an imprint of IDW) presents the story of Operation Pedro Pan, a large joint Catholic / US government mission to rescue children from the newly formed socialist country of Cuba in 1959.  This graphic novel gives a voice to those children who went through an airlift from Havana to Miami, then were dispersed to other areas of the United States. 

As Alex Segura noted in his foreword, the reasons for any sort of historic event such as a mass evacuation often misses the “why” – in this case, the human element which drives people to take desperate measures to get their children to a safe location.  Segura also mentioned that as he was writing, elements of the US government were “push{ing} the boundaries of democracy – as citizens, legal residents, and children, are taken off the streets by masked agents, and as the checks and balances that supported our freedoms wither away.” (p. 4).

The story follows the lives of several children growing up in Cuba from Christmas of 1958, when the country was run by Fulgencio Batista, through his overthrow by Fidel Castro (January 1, 1959), then past the Bay of Pigs in April 1961.  The main characters are from a variety of socio-economic stations, while many are simply young children just being kids. They expound on their goals in life, and politics seem far away. However, the threats of the socialists coming to power changes the simplicity of their lives, and the children must focus on serious threats. 

Following the laughably failed attempted overthrow of Castro, the need to get children out of the country became more pressing for their parents.  Further complicating matters, the government forced many teens to join the Conrado Benitez Brigade, a Communist youth group set up to indoctrinate teens into its new ideology.  Some female members were sent to the country to teach literacy skills to the farmers, only to be taken advantage of by those same farmers.  For Antonia’s parents, who constituted the upper class of Cuban society, this fear of her being sent away drove them to get her out under any circumstances.  This theme plays out throughout the story.  The fear of indoctrination even drove one musician, Sebastian, to join the Cuban revolutionary guard in the hopes of being able to get his son Wilfredo out.  His father’s dreams for him take on a fearful tone, as young Willie turns into a miniature Fidel Castro. 

Other teens must deal with different problems.  Eugenio, another youth from a middle- or upper-class family, is offered a scholarship to study in Prague.  Not only is this dream destroyed, but his own sexuality must be stifled in this new society.  One simple line of dialogue recalls a real case of the era. Eugenio and his brother are discussing art, and Eugenio notes that he does not want to go to America because all the good artists draw comic books.  This seemingly insignificant line recalls the real-life scenario of Antonio Prohías, a Cuban cartoonist who was threatened with arrest for cartoons critical of the Castro regime.  He defected to the US and eventually presented his work to editors at MAD Magazine.  His most famous series for the magazine was the wordless “Spy versus Spy” satire of the Cold War.

When the children can get to America, via an audacious plan brought to life by Father Bryan Walsh, a young Catholic priest in Miami, they must adapt to a new life, often without the support of their families.  This plot device may seem contrived, but it is part of the essential story line.  As Father Walsh noted, these children must deal with not only the trials of youth, but they now live in a new country with unfamiliar surroundings.  The story also goes into issues of loss and violence.  Rosa sees a friend executed in the street while in Cuba, and when she and her boyfriend Cesar try to escape through Havana Airport, he fights with the guards so she can escape.  Later she hears that Cesar was executed for his actions.  Some of the children are reunited with family, such as Eugenio and Juaquin, and Willie, but Antonia’s mother suffered greatly before arriving in the US. 

The story is one of immigrant’s resilience, loss, and adaptation to a new environment.  The graphic novel also hits upon issues that are of discussion and concern in the US even to this day.  In the afterward, it was noted that one of the Pedro Pan interviewees had a negative attitude towards those coming to America in 2026 by “illegal” means.  This comment is indicative of the differing views held by immigrants to the US.  To that end, the graphic novel has succeeded in bringing to light a lesser-known aspect of history and its relation to the current day.

“David Kunzle Page” on Töpfferiana Website for Early Comics

 Michel Kempeneers 

Fig. 1. Screenshot of the “David Kunzle Page” on the Töpfferiana website. 

 

Introduction 

In order to pay tribute to comics history pioneer, David Kunzle (1936-2024), the “Töpfferiana” website takes a unique initiative and shares most of Kunzle’s writings on early comics on a dedicated “Kunzle Page,” thus making them available to scholars and researchers.

Though, in 2025, comics are widely spread and the subject of significant academic interest, “early comics” remain a field apart, and a highly specialized one.

Since Kunzle started his academic career in the 1960s, he has always remained an important voice in this field, maybe even the only one reaching a broader, not necessarily, academic audience. More importantly, Kunzle probably was the only high-profile author trying to get books on the subject published.

This has never been easy, though, not even for a researcher of Kunzle’s reputation. In his early years, because Kunzle demanded his “Early Comics” volumes be published in a huge format, (to do justice to the reproductions of broadsides), even though most of them still required a reduced format to fit them on the “early comics” pages. But even in the new millennium, Kunzle complained, among insiders, of a lack of interest by his publisher, who kept postponing the publication of, for example:  his Cham book, without ever providing a satisfactory explanation for yet another delay. Surprisingly, Kunzle was always worried that his publisher would no longer be interested in his next book, which also shows how keen he was on sharing his findings with an interested audience, even long after he had officially retired as an academic.  

David Kunzle (Tribute) Page 

The organizers of the yearly, “Platinum Meeting,” which is organized in the margin of the Angoulême “Festival de la BD,” end of January, found it appropriate to start their gathering of Platinum Age[i] scholars with a tribute to Kunzle. Participants shared testimonies and anecdotes, and one researcher wondered if anyone in the audience was aware of the status of Kunzle’s two landmark books on early comics. “Kunzle 1” (1973) and “Kunzle 2” (1990), as these are commonly tagged, had been out-of-print for ages, and nothing seemed to indicate that the University of California Press was ever going to reprint them. The answer was negative, and the meeting’s organizers promised to reach out to Mrs. Marjorie Kunzle and inquire.

They quickly found out that Mrs. Kunzle holds the rights to all of David’s articles, and, it later turned out, that the same goes for both “early comics” volumes. Mrs. Kunzle was completely in agreement with the suggestion that both volumes be spread as pdf files among the early comics community, though she would not actively participate in any concrete project to make that happen.

During these exchanges, the idea grew to grab the occasion and to really pay tribute to Kunzle’s legacy of half a century of research on early comics. And, why limit the effort to Kunzle’s first two major works, when it seemed possible to stretch it to all of Kunzle’s writings on the subject and share these on one platform? This way, scholars would have a single point of access, and, thus, be able to more easily advance with their own research projects.

As we were convinced that Kunzle himself would have loved that idea, and with Mrs. Kunzle backing it, the “David Kunzle(tribute) Page” (DKP) was born. “Töpfferiana.fr” seemed the logical place to host it, for the site shares a focus on early comics, and since, for a couple of years, it also organizes the Angoulême “Platinum Meeting.”

So, we set out to compile Kunzle’s comics bibliography. It seemed easiest to kick off with articles and book chapters, as we were already sure that there would not be any rights issues with these. Moreover, we discovered that, in February 2024, independent scholar, Hillel Schwartz, published a draft of Kunzle’s complete bibliography, all subjects included,[ii] i.e., not only comics, but also posters, arts, and even corsets(!). Schwartz imposed only one important limitation on this cv; it would not include the many reviews written by Kunzle.[iii]

From Schwartz’s overview, we retrieved all comics-related articles and book chapters, and ordered chronologically in an Excel table. Such an underlying table will allow researchers to also easily search the set for specific data, or extend their own copy with extras for personal use. That may sound trivial for a corpus consisting solely of early comics articles, as it will probably consist of little more than some 40 entries. But, if ever the list is extended to other areas in which Kunzle’s expertise led to publications, that may quickly change, so it seemed better to foresee such potential extensions in the specifics of the current table. Besides, it is not impossible that, at some point in the future, the current project scope is extended to include reviews, both by and of Kunzle.

All in all, it took less than a week to gather about 15 articles, which presumably already contained most of the essential ones. At the DKP Go Live on March 2, the counter stood at 26 articles/chapters out of 38 pieces identified, and early June (deadline for this article), these figures are 37 out of 45, i.e., almost 82 percent, with a couple more files to come. But, the real gems are the pdf versions of “Kunzle 1” and “Kunzle 2,”[iv] which were added on April 6 and, as such, can be regarded as a first highlight of the DKP.  

Structure 

All shared articles are in pdf format. We harmonized their presentation, as well as the way the corresponding files are named. Moreover, we made it a point to only share searchable files, for this characteristic is one of the prime reasons for researchers to be keen on e-versions of reference materials. We also made sure to document all such specifics in the detailed Excel table. That file is only aimed at visitors needing more details; the overview on the DKP of all articles and book chapters identified (and their download links) will be more than sufficient for most people.

On top of that, we explicitly marked every article which we have not been able to locate; this way, scholars and researchers who consult the DKP, or its Excel table, and discover that they have a pdf copy available of one of the Kunzle writings still missing in our offer, can reach out and share, so that we can add it to the DKP at the next update. In fact, this already happened almost immediately after we publicized the initiative on the Platinum discussion list. 

Fig. 2. Excerpt of the article bibliography on Töpfferiana’s “David Kunzle Page.” 

It is also worth pointing out that the overview makes no distinction between languages (English, French, Spanish, ...), and does not try either to establish a logic between articles with the same subject. Indeed, as is the case for most academics, no subjects were ever really “completed” for Kunzle. He kept reworking them, leaving out parts, updating others, and adding new finds and insights, possibly reacting to fellow researchers. Kunzle made no distinction between languages while doing so:  any journal wanting to publish his--then current--insights, was entitled to a state-of-the-art article, regardless of language. (Kunzle was fluent in four or five languages.) 

Future

 An inherent danger of any tribute initiative is that it outgrows its purpose; tribute has been paid, check. People have no obvious reason to return; they have visited the site, secured all the extras they wanted, or found the information they were looking for. Full stop.

Töpfferiana is very much aware of this pitfall and wants to avoid it by approaching the DKP as work-in-progress. In practice, the DKP team will try to add novelties on a regular basis, and will notify its core community of any such updates. In a sense, this boils down to giving the DKP some of the characteristics of a periodical. The aim is to share something bound to interest the early comics community every three months or so.

So far, the DKP has not only shared Kunzle articles; it celebrated its first update by also adding some Kunzle tributes spontaneously offered to the DKP by researchers who had known Kunzle for a long time. More tributes will be added in due time.

Furthermore, Philippe Kaenel of Lausanne University (Switzerland), a long-time friend and colleague of Kunzle, recently suggested to Töpfferiana to open up the DKP to other historic research on Töpffer, other reference articles on Töpffer which have become very difficult to find unless one has easy access to a good research library.

Rodolphe Töpffer (1799-1846) was already on the radar of Kunzle’s mentor, Ernst Gombrich (1909-2001), the influential art and culture historian, and he is probably the artist whom Kunzle studied for the longest time. And, logically, Töpfferiana itself would find it difficult to hide or deny its sympathy for this Swiss comics pioneer. Kaenel shared several of his own articles on Töpffer with the DKP team, who probably have added them already. On the other hand, chances are that the DKP will be able to share the articles of the Töpffer coffee table book, published in 1996 by (then) Swiss publisher, Skira. That book accompanied the celebrations for the 150^th anniversary of Töpffer’s death, and has been out-of-print for decades.[v]

Obviously, it would be beneficial if the missing Kunzle articles were to be added. As they are not readily available on the academic e-platforms, that may turn out to be complicated, but we are confident that researchers will contribute, because Kunzle has left a strong impression with generations of them, especially the ones who were lucky to meet him. We also hope that we will be able to add Kunzle publications in less obvious languages, e.g., German, as we have also identified some of these. That would be helpful, especially because Kunzle always had a keen interest in seeing his writings spread as widely as possible. For him, that wasn’t a matter of ego, but he was very much aware how little has been written about early comics, and how important it is to make Töpffer & Co. available to audiences who don’t know French.

The DKP team decided to also add an atypical, unusual contribution of the “early” Kunzle, which we believe tells a lot about his drive then, and, which is definitely worth pointing out.

In 1972, before “Kunzle 1,” Kunzle translated an article by the French author, Francis Lacassin (1931-2008), for the Fall issue of Film Quarterly.[vi] In this article, Lacassin argued that the “language” of the comic strip shows many similarities, and even some historical priorities, over the language of film. Curiously, it turns out that there is no genuine source article by Lacassin:  in fact, Kunzle combined a recent article and a huge chapter from a new book, both by Lacassin, directly into an English summary. In the process,  he added a couple of small footnotes, and, more importantly, extended his Lacassin summary with four more pages of comments, even adding illustrations, as he wanted to update some of Lacassin’s findings by his own, not yet published, ones. Obviously, he did so with the consent of the journal, which even publicized this unusual translation in the article’s introduction.

If similar unexpected finds pop up, we will make sure to add them to the DKP, as they definitely have historical importance. 

Opportunity 

It may not be obvious at first, but the DKP also offers a test case for “collaborative improvement” or “enrichment” of these source materials. Indeed, it seems that this specific format for a tribute page, with shared materials, has never been deployed before. The DKP offers opportunities to probe how such a project might evolve, when it appeals to its reader community, not only for them to fill holes in the current offer, but also to investigate which added value a community can offer to factually improve key works, such as “Kunzle 1” or “Kunzle 2,” and how their findings can best be shared with the early comics community. A first attempt to do so is on the DKP already, for interested researchers to discover.[vii] Similarly, it can help to offer added value to users by providing bookmarks, e.g., of the publication’s structure, or to add pagination when missing, so that these users do not have to re-invent the wheel. The point here is to see if the community feels like participating to the effort, and if it does so spontaneously, or, on the contrary, it must be stimulated and encouraged to do so.

 The DKP can be consulted here:

http://www.topfferiana.fr/2025/03/david-kunzles-bibliography.

The “Platinum Age Comics” discussion group is hosted by Google Groups:

https://groups.google.com/g/platinum-age-comics.

---

[i] Roughly anything pre-World War II, but, especially, because European comics focus is mostly on 19^th Century production.

[ii] See, https://www.academia.edu/114691723/David_Kunzle_A_Bibliography (accessed Jan. 15, 2025).

[iii] One notable exception is Kunzle’s review of Thierry Groensteen’s “M. Töpffer invente la bande dessinée” (Les Impressions Nouvelles, 2014) for European Comic Art, 7-2 (Autumn 2014). This review also contains a personal biographical account of the origins of his own interest in Töpffer. Hence, it seemed worth adding to the list.

Similarly, Kunzle’s “Review Essays” for the International Journal of Comic Art (IJOCA) have been withheld. For, indeed, as the name indicates, this particular IJOCA format is more than merely a review, and is like a lengthy article triggered by a new publication, as reviews get considerably less space in the IJOCA.

[iv] Contrary to popular belief, Kunzle’s final book, Rebirth of the English Comic Strip:  A Kaleidoscope, 1847-1870 (University Press of Mississippi, 2021), is not the last volume of his History of the Comic Strip series, which had been announced as a trilogy. Rebirth... does not contain any such reference, and the description of the would-be content of this volume in Ian Gordon’s Kunzle tribute on the IJOCA blog makes clear that this third volume, unfortunately, never materialized (see, https://ijoca.blogspot.com/2024/01/ian-gordon-remembers-david-kunzle.html, accessed on March 16, 2025).

[v] Even though, in 1996, Kunzle had already been an established international Töpffer authority for several years, he did not contribute to the Skira book. For administrative reasons, it was not possible to include an article by him.

[vi] “The Comic Strip and Film Language,” Film Quarterly. 26 (1, Fall 1972): 11-23. As hinted by Michael Connerty on the Platinum discussion list March 5, 2025.

[vii] For example, in his “Kunzle 2” (Note 19, p.109), Kunzle (notoriously) states that he did not find a copy of Gustave Doré’s Holy Russia at the French National Library (BnF), which, he found surprising. In the Internet era, it is easy to establish that Kunzle was wrong, but not really so, as it turns out that the BnF does have a copy, be it not in book format, but as loose sheets (prints). Hence, the BnF’s Holy Russia set is kept in the Prints Department.

 ________________________

Michel Kempeneers is an independent Belgian comics scholar. After several decades of comics journalism in the national press, he has turned his focus to proto-comics and 19^th-Century illustrated press, the latter especially through e-versions shared online by major reference libraries. A version of this article will appear in IJOCA 27-1.

Graphic Novel Review: Champion by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Reviewed by Brian Flota, Humanities Librarian (Professor), James Madison University

Champion, written by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Raymond Obstfeld and illustrated by Ed LaRoche. Ten Speed Graphic, 2025. ISBN 9780593835746. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/747045/champion-by-kareem-abdul-jabbar-and-raymond-obstfeld-illustrated-by-ed-laroche/ 

    Five days prior to writing the first draft of this review, I turned 50 years old. For most of that half-century, I’ve been a fan of the Los Angeles Lakers. This means I’ve long been familiar with the life and career of Hall of Fame center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was a key part of five championship teams during his tenure with the Lakers from 1975 to 1989. As a fellow record collector, I’ve always been touched by this anecdote. When his house burned down in 1983, one of the things he lost was a massive collection of treasured jazz music. In the aftermath of the fire, fans presented him with many of the records the jazz aficionado lost. This is but one testament to how beloved a public figure he is.

    This is but one relatively minor anecdote in a lifetime filled with serious political, cultural, and religious commitment off the basketball court. When he rose to fame as a basketball player at Power Memorial Academy in Manhattan as a high schooler, he was known as Lew Alcindor. During his three years as a starter at UCLA (1966-1969), during the reign of the legendary coach John Wooden, he led the team to three national championships and a record of 88-2. If one watches the first part of Ezra Edelman’s fantastic documentary O.J.: Made in America (2016), a stark contrast is marked between the UCLA center and his peer O.J. Simpson, then the star running back at crosstown rival USC. Simpson, also a young Black man, was a people-pleaser who sought fame and adulation while avoiding controversy (until 1994, that is). There is no way on Earth he would have attended the Cleveland Summit (as Edelman’s documentary makes clear). The event was organized by former NFL football player Jim Brown in June 1967. Eleven prominent Black athletes, including the 20-year-old Abdul-Jabbar, then still a college athlete, gathered to discuss the decision by heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali to declare himself a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War, costing him his championship belt and income. The next year, Abdul-Jabbar took a big political stand himself, boycotting the 1968 Summer Olympics in protest of the long-standing racism against Blacks in the United States. These decisions could have affected his professional prospects. It was a risk he was willing to take, but he ultimately withstood any controversy these decisions generated. Three years later, after converting to Islam, he publicly changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. As a young man, he demonstrated he was unafraid to take controversial stances that he was committed to, and sincerely believed in.

    Champion, written by Abdul-Jabbar with his long-time collaborator Raymond Obstfeld, might come as a surprise to those that only know him as a basketball player. In fact, Abdul-Jabbar has authored or co-authored over a dozen books, ranging from autobiography and memoir to history. Over the last decade, he has branched out into fiction, writing a series of books focusing on Sherlock Holmes’ brother, Mycroft. This resulted in the publication of his first graphic novel, Mycroft Holmes and the Apocalypse Handbook (2017). Champion focuses on an elite high school basketball player named Monk who gets caught vandalizing a rival school’s mural with original art of his own. This act could have a deleterious effect on his NBA prospects. As a result of his actions, he is tasked with giving a presentation on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s life off the basketball court, a presentation he must ace to escape punishment.

    Abdul-Jabbar, Obstfeld, and Laroche have put together a page-turner with a simple, but effective message: be a complete person with a variety of interests. While his imaginary case study of Monk focuses specifically on student-athletes, few of whom make it to the pros, and, when they do, aren’t pros for very long, the book’s core message of having multiple interests and skills is something any reader can benefit from. This isn’t just about “career prospects.” Throughout the narrative, Monk repeatedly states that he has only one goal: to become a professional basketball player. However, his instinctual knack for art, a talent he takes for granted, could provide a realistic alternative to his dream career. His teammates, coaches, and family work to convince him to take his art seriously, which he refuses to do for much of the narrative.

    Throughout the graphic novel, his peers and mentors have interests beyond sports, as shown by  “trading card” profiles of the characters. These cards provide information about their lives, their athletic accomplishments (when relevant), and life outside of sports. The first of these trading card profiles focuses on Anthony B. Bagwell, whose “position” is listed as “Security Guard” in a curved triangle on the card’s upper left-hand corner. This is the security guard who catches Monk in the act of vandalizing the team mascot’s mural at a rival high school. His card lists the following facts about him:

●             Ranks 3rd in security guards at Mountain Range Security.

●             Is on his 4th attempt at being a vegan (his record is 6 days).

●             Defeated in combat 3 times by wife, Ida, in Elden Ring.

●             Calls his 3-year-old son “Donut.” (2)

Another card gives us information about Monk’s “High School Basketball Coach” Jefferson V. Blaine:

●             Played center on Culver High School state championship team.

●             Played point guard on UCLA national championship team.

●             Has 4 “Best Dad in the World” mugs and 2 Teacher of the Year Awards. (9)

 

    As we can see in both examples, Laroche’s trading card profiles sidestep the traditional statistics and career highlight fare that make up the bulk of the text on the back of sports trading cards, giving equal importance to the personal aspects of their lives. Coach Blaine’s card reveals him to be flexible and adaptable. He went from center to point guard when he transitioned from high school to college basketball. After college, he became a father and a teacher, identities he is proud of. As the narrative progresses, we get other testimonials from Monk’s mother, Wanda, who was a point guard on UCLA’s women’s basketball team, and who is currently an ICU physician’s assistant, and his aunt Sissy, who once sang backup for Stevie Wonder and the Four Tops, recorded her own solo album in 1980, and is currently a record store owner where Monk works part-time (19). Throughout the story, Monk denies or tries to suppress his interest in things outside of basketball, including art, history, music, and social justice. Abdul-Jabbar and Obstfeld do a good job of keeping Monk’s internal tensuion unresolved for much of the book’s duration, which serves to make his story more engaging. 

     Abdul-Jabbar's graphic novel is a pedagogical tool to express some of the reasons he wants a character like Monk to know his story as well as the story of Black America. Kareem appears as a figment of Monk’s imagination as he’s working on his assigned project about the man. He points out the 135th Street YMCA in Harlem, where Kareem grew up. At first, during his youth, he saw it as a “crappy old building.” Then he learned “that Malcolm X, Claude McKay, George Washington Carver, Jackie Robinson, and Paul Robeson had all stayed or performed here” (32). On the next page, we get trading card profiles of each of these historical figures. He also highlights that inside the building is the famous Aaron Douglas mural “Evolution of Negro Dance.” Kareem says:

Looking at that mural back then, I instantly felt connected to the evolution it portrayed. Like them, I had started in the dark about who I was, being the person everyone expected me to be without really knowing who I wanted to be. Then, through the physical discipline of basketball and the mental discipline of reading, I had stepped out of the shadows into the bright sunlight of finding myself. (34)

       Through his research, Monk learns about the Harlem Riot of 1964, which began when an off-duty police officer shot a fifteen-year-old Black child, James Powell (59). Lastly, Monk learns about Kareem’s participation in the Cleveland Summit. These are three important parts of an aspect  of American history that have either been erased or relegated to margins in most mainstream, conventional, whitewashed histories of the twentieth century. Abdul-Jabbar, with his graphic novel specifically directed at a young adult audience, successfully fills in some of these gaps by effectively blending them with a relatable story.

    The weird thing about Champion is that the sections delving into the life of Abdul-Jabbar reads as self-hagiography (even if it may be a well-deserved self-hagiography). When Monk complains to his girlfriend Lark about having to write a report about Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, she replies, “You mean the Kareem who …,” and then rattles off two entire pages of Abdul-Jabbar’s accomplishments on and off the basketball court (including his small but memorable role in the 1980 comedy Airplane!) (15). Throughout the narrative, even more Kareem facts are presented.

    Not surprisingly, Abdul-Jabbar and Obstfeld give us a graphic novel with a happy ending. Monk’s various interpersonal conflicts with Lark as well as his teachers, teammates, and family are resolved, and he gains a greater understanding of what it means to be a well-rounded young man. The narrative culminates with Monk and his community getting together to create a dazzling mural on the side of Aunt Sissy’s record shop titled “Evolution of a Champion,” which highlights eleven of Abdul-Jabbar’s accomplishments off the court. In this reviewer’s opinion, even if it does come off a bit strange and heavy-handed, as though Abdul-Jabbar is just patting himself on the back, there just aren’t too many people in this world who deserve that pat as much or as hard as he does!

     You do not have to know much about Abdul-Jabbar to like Champion. He, along with his collaborators, have put together a very accessible story. It has history, dramatic tension, life lessons, good advice, a bit of mystery, and even a little romance. To be commended is the artistry of Ed Laroche, whose illustrations are precise and stylistically varied. He brings Monk’s graffiti art to life in a style different from the one that dominates the rest of the narrative. This is not always an easy thing to pull off, but Laroche navigates between these styles seamlessly. Even if we do get plenty of “Kareem facts” in Champion, his story is clearly one worth telling, and he also wants you to know about his culture, his people, and all those who helped him become the man he is. Its breezy mixture of history, biography, and fiction makes recommending Champion a slam dunk.