Research Prompts from IJOCA 26:1 - #3 What about black superhero cartoonists before Milestone and after?

  Some Ideas for Articles, written by Mike Rhode, and excerpted from the print edition.

There are significant black/African-American cartoonists, besides those

who have been part of the Milestone company.

One normally does not think of Thor or the Fantastic Four’s Thing as something you would find in a black comics history article, but both of them were drawn for a long time by black cartoonists. Keith Pollard and Ron Wilson had long runs with Marvel Comics, as did writer Jim Owsley/ Christopher Priest. While some university libraries are collecting African-American comics, they are probably not collecting Thor or the Thing. Brian Stelfreeze had a major Batman run, as did Shawn Martinbrough. Mark D.

“Doc” Bright passed away recently and while he was part of Milestone Comics, he had a long career on either side of it. He drew runs of Iron Man and Green Lantern before Milestone, and co-created Quantum and Woody after Milestone. His death perhaps means that we should look at other black superhero cartoonists while they are still alive. 1960s-1970s cartoonists Grass Green, Billy Graham, and Wayne Howard are already gone.

A similar historical amnesia applies to the black comic strip artists of the 1960s and 1970s. While Charles Schulz is getting a lot of renewed attention this year for introducing one black character, Franklin, and Barbara Brandon-Croft’s strip is having a renaissance, still Brumsic Brandon’s “Luther,” Ted Shearer’s “Quincy,” and Morrie Turner’s “Wee Pals” could use more attention. E. Simms Campbell’s magazine cartooning career is only known to specialists as well. Significantly-recognized cartoonists include: Oliver Harrington, Matt Baker, and Jackie Ormes. It is also important to keep in mind that George Herriman publicly identified as Greek, and not black, so he is not a pioneering black cartoonist, in spite of claims made for him.

Research Prompts from IJOCA 26:1 - #2 Who have been the richest cartoonists?

 Some Ideas for Articles, written by Mike Rhode, and excerpted from the print edition.

Who are the wealthiest? Who are the best paid? Who inherited enough money to be a cartoonist? In America? Franco-Belgian? Europe? In Japan? In the world?

This would need to be adjusted for inflation, but some American names might be George McManus, Chic Young, Hank Ketchum, Charles Schulz, Herblock, Matt Groening, Walt Disney, Todd McFarlane, Stan Lee, Bob Kane, Cathy Guisewite, Barbara Dale, Ranan Lurie, Al Hirschfeld, Peter Arno?

Research Prompts from IJOCA 26:1 - #1 What comics never leave home?

 Some Ideas for Articles, written by Mike Rhode, and excerpted from the print edition.

What comics never leave home?

How many comics in a mass medium, such as comic books, comic strips, editorial cartoons, animation, or webcomics, only appear in their native language and never in any other language? Or in their native country and never anywhere else? Or are not held by any libraries beyond their native country? Or aren’t even held in their native libraries?

As Gene Kannenberg noted in an interview earlier this year, speaking about the content in newspapers held by the Herskovits Library of African Studies at Northwestern University, “...[There is] indigenous stuff that’s never been collected. If I could, I could spend all my time just putting together collections. We had one editorial cartoonist... who came to our library just to get photos of all his cartoons. Because he had no way to get photos of his published cartoons in his country.”(1) This would be a multidisciplinary, multinational, multiyear project to figure out, but it would be pretty darn interesting.

(1) Geoff Grogan. 2024. “Gene Kannenberg Jr. & comics at Northwestern University.” Blockhead: Cartoonists talk Comics (March 25). <https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gene-kannenberg-jr-comics-at-northwesternuniversity/id1440223132?i=1000650431997 -- around minute 25:00>.

International Journal of Comic Art Vol. 26, No. 1 Spring/Summer 2024 TOC

[the print edition has been mailed to subscribers; the electronic edition will be available tomorrow]

 

International Journal of Comic Art Vol. 26, No. 1 Spring/Summer 2024

Editor's Notes
John A. Lent
1
The Things They Buried: Marvel Comics and the Vietnam War, 1963-2019
Stephen Connor
3
The Supermachos Strike Again! Rius and the Defense of Marijuana in Mexican Comics
Héctor Fernández L'Hoeste
29
"The Flow of Flipping Through the Pages": An Interview with David Marchetti
Alessio Aletta
Manuela Di Franco
57
Falling Silently Like Snow: Interpretations of Sound as a Lived Experience in A Sign of Affection
Kay K. Clopton
73
Punk Rocker to Award-Winning Comics Artist: An Interview with Nate Powell
CT Lim
96
A Graphic Report
The Editorial Cartoon and Political Change in Kenya
Msanii Kimani wa Wanjiru
106
The Shakchunni Project: From Childhood Fear to Internet Icon
Ipsa Samaddar
138
Reading Beyond Martin: March, Souls of Black Folk, and the Struggle for Civil Rights in the BLM Era
James F. Wurtz
Mandy Reid
160
Leveraging Comic Art in the Fight Against Disinformation: A Philippine Case Study
Rachel E. Khan
Kara C. David
181
Aquí Tenemos Todo: A Love & Rockets Snapshot
José Alaniz
199
Spectator Sport: The Cartoons of "Sham's Saturday Smile"
Justin Zhuang
206
Sham's Smiles
CT Lim

212

Women's Manga: A Symposium

Moderated by Fusami Ogi

Toward an Expanded Field Crossing Boundaries
Fusami Ogi, project leader of WMRP
217
Shōjo Manga: A Challenging Label in the Global Age
Fusami Ogi
219
Sharing My Shōjo Manga Influence at Angoulême
Abby Denson
225
Kyoto, Popular Culture, Campus Life and the Pandemic
Jessica Bauwens-Sugimoto
231
Are There Any Texts in BL Studies? Rethinking Narrativity of BL Ethnicity in Japan and Southeast Asia
Kazumi Nagaike
240
Prunella and the Cursed Skull Ring
Matthew Loux
246
Twisted Vines and Tangled Roots: A Reflection and Analysis of Swamp Thing
Jason D. DeHart
252
Mediating Socio-Political Issues through Digital Cartoons: A Study of Caste-Based Cartoons on Instagram in India
Krishna Sankar Kusuma
Saroj Kumar
262
The First Tarzan Manga, Boken Tarzan
Kosei Ono
283
A Comics and Nonfiction Graphic Memoir Course at The Graduate Center:
A Trial Run at Teaching the Methods and Making of Nonfiction Visual Narrative as Part of Postgraduate Study and Its Resulting Work
Sandy Jimenez
288
Do Comics Affect Pop Culture? The Case of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Maria-Theodora Folina
Chrysa Agapitou
Dimitris Folinas
303
Remembrance
One of a Kind, Trina Robbins, 1938-2024
John A. Lent
323
Remembrance
Farewell to the Mother of Women's Comic Book History
Trina Robbins (August 17, 1938 - April 10, 2024)
William H. Foster III
329
Remembrance
Bob Beerbohm: 1952-2024
John A. Lent
331
Research Prompts
Michael Rhode
333
News Briefs

336

Book Reviews
Laurent Baridon and Marie Laureillard. Caricatures en Extrême-Orient. Origines, Rencontres, Métissages, by Valentina Denzel,

p. 340.

Jonathan Najarian, ed. Comics and Modernism: History, Form, andCulture, by John A. Lent, p. 345.

Phil Witte and Rex Hesner. Funny Stuff: How Great Cartoonists Make Great Cartoons, by Sam Cowling, p. 347.

Haruki Murakami. Adapted by Jean-Christophe Deveney and illustrated by PMGL. Haruki Murakami: Manga Stories, by Jon Holt, p. 349.

Laura Cristina Fernández, Amadeo Gandolfo, and Pablo Turnes, eds. Burning Down the House: Latin American Comics in the 21st Century, by Maite Urcaregui, p. 355.

Jan Baetens, Hugo Frey, and Fabrice Leroy. Eds. The Cambridge Companion to the American Graphic Novel, by Kirsten Møllegaard, p. 358.

Kaori Okura and Makiko Itoh (trans). Sōseki Natsume's Botchan: The Manga Edition.

mkdeville and Philippe Nicloux (ills). Akutagawa's Rashômon and Other Stories, by Liz Brown, p. 361.

Laura Moretti and Satō Yukiko, eds. Graphic Narratives from Early Modern Japan. The World of Kusazōshi, by John A. Lent, p. 364.

Matt Reingold. The Comics of Asaf Hanuka: Telling Particular and Universal Stories, by Cord A. Scott, p. 366.

Kent Worcester. A Cultural History of The Punisher, by CT Lim, p. 368.

Brian R. Solomon. Superheroes! The History of a Pop-Culture Phenomenon from Ant-Man to Zorro, by Dominick Grace, p. 370.

Benjamin Fraser. Ben Katchor, by Matt Reingold, p. 373.

Joseph R. Givens and Darius A. Spieth, eds. Robert Williams: Conversations, by John A. Lent, p. 373.

Josh Tuininga. We Are Not Strangers: Based on a True Story, by Shanna Hollich, p. 375.

Rachel Khan. I Run to Make My Heart Beat, by Lori Spradley, p. 377.

Marc Sumerak, Elena P. Craig, and Ted Thomas. Marvel Comics: Cooking with Deadpool, by Lizzy Walker, p. 379.

Ken Forkish and Sarah Becan. Let's Make Bread! A Comic Book Cookbook, by Christina Pasqua, p. 382.

Christina De Witte and Mallika Kauppinen. Noodles, Rice, and Everything Spice: A Thai Comic Book Cookbook, by Cord A. Scott, p. 387.

Justin Gardiner. Small Altars, by Liz Brown, p. 389.

Rich Johnson. The Incredible Hulk: Worldbreaker, Hero, Icon, by José Alaniz, p. 391.

Exhibition Reviews

Asian Comics: Evolution of an Art Form, by Charles Hatfield, p. 395.

Comments on the Huge Cartoon Exhibition At the Pompidou Center in Paris, by Harri Römpötti, p. 407.

Portfolios
Chubasco (Victor Emmanuel Vélez Becerra), p. 411.
Oleg Dergachov, p. 420.
Jugoslav Vlahovic, p. 428.