Incognegro

by Mat Johnson, Warren Pleece

book data

200 ratings, 3.81 average rating, 73 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		22%
4		43%
3		28%
2		5%
1		1%

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published

February 6th 2008 by Vertigo

binding

Hardcover, 136 pages

isbn

140121097X (isbn13: 9781401210977)

description

Writer Mat Johnson (HELLBLAZER: PAPA MIDNITE), winner of the prestigious Hurston-Wright Legacy Award for fiction, constructs a fearless graphic novel ...more

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Literary Fiction ...: recent, delightful books by african american authors	16	29	01/28/2009 04:58PM

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Great Graphic Novels for Teens? 2007-2008

63 books | 58 voters

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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 306)

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07/03/08

Oscar rated it:

bookshelves: graphic-novels

Read in July, 2008

Mat Johnson writes a fantastic murder mystery set in a small town, complete with the outsider trying to reach the truth despite the local powers-that-be. But add that our outsider is Zane Pinchback--a Southern Black journalist based in Harlem, light-skinned enough to pass for white, that infiltrates and reports back on lynchings--and the small town is pre-Civil Rights era Mississippi, and you have the makings of a serial that cuts to the heart of White and Black racism.

Warren Plee...more

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11/29/08

Betsy rated it:

Read in November, 2008

This slim noir novel packs a lot into its pages. The text and pictures work extremely well together to paint the portrait of a "high yellow" investigative reporter who goes undercover, i.e. "incognegro" to report first-hand on the brutalities of lynchings of black men in the South. Although he had vowed to stop taking any more of these assignments in favor of working from the newspaper's offices as an editor, he gets an assignment he just can't refuse. His latest assignment i...more

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05/24/09

Kelly rated it:

Read in May, 2009

recommends it for: people who like graphic novels

A book club I was going to join was reading this, so I gave it a try. It was very good. It's set during Prohibition and involves a black man who can pass for white going to lynchings in the South and documenting them, with the aim of exposing the participants in his newspaper. At the beginning, he is ready to give up the role, but when someone close to him is on trial for the murder of a white woman, he decides to go down to Mississippi to try to save him. A friend ends up going with him and sti...more

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01/26/09

Rishara rated it:

This was a really interesting and smart graphic novel tale of a black man "passing" as white in order to investigate (and prevent a particular) lynchings in the 30's south.

I read this and The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam back to back and it was really interesting to see the different ways that graphic novels are being taken. Both are very good, fairly sophisticated works, but so very different. It is kind of weird to think that they get thrown into the same category as...more

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03/09/09

Shalini rated it:

recommended to Shalini by: Sally

Incognegro was the book I read for my African American Experience project. This book is a graphic novel by Mat Johnson. It is about the lynching of African Americans during the Harlem Renaissance time period. Zane Pinchback is the main character who is an African American man with a very light complexion so people believe heis white. He wrights a column in the newspaper called Incognegro that talks about the lynching going on in the south. This was a very moving book that I really enjoyed. It wa...more

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04/17/09

Terry rated it:

This was a very interesting story about a light skinned man of African descent who went "undercover" as a white man into the South in the early part of the 20th century to report on the atrocities that were happening to some African Americans. There are a couple of twists that keep you on the edge of your seat, and I especially liked the ending. The illustrations are in black in white, which was fitting, as they sort of reminded me of old time cartoons. Due to the subject matter, th...more

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01/02/09

Jessica added it

Read in January, 2008

My favorite kind of book is one that both moves and challenges me, taking me on a thrill ride of story and character. Mat Johnson’s new graphic novel rides that dangerous edge between heavy issues and heavy-hitting action, with the story of a black man passing for white in the lynching-plagued 1930s South. It pulls it off in the way only a comic can (and a black and white comic at that), and manages to work gender politics, family dynamics, and some darned funny dialogue into a suspenseful mys...more

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10/05/08

Ryan Mishap rated it:

bookshelves: graphic-novel

The lynchings and spread of the Klan in the 1920's isn't covered as much as the aftermath of the civil war and the rise of Jim Crow, but this was all happening during the Harlem Renaissance, of which the main character in this book, Zach Pinchback, longs to be a part. He's a writer, but he can't let anyone know that. Passing for white, he travels the south reporting on the lynchings and making sure the details and the whites who did it are published. His pseudonym is the title of the book. ...more

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09/03/08

Steve rated it:

bookshelves: comics

With their new book Incognegro, writer Mat Johnson and artist Warren Pleece weave a tale that is at once thrilling in its plot twists and thought-provoking in its exploration of the racial divide in our country at the turn of the 20th century. It is an insightful look at the themes of identity and prejudice wrapped within a gripping story of murder and wrongful accusation, and it is easily one of the best graphic novels of 2008 to date.

Set in the 1920s and jumping between the very d...more With their new book Incognegro, writer Mat Johnson and artist Warren Pleece weave a tale that is at once thrilling in its plot twists and thought-provoking in its exploration of the racial divide in our country at the turn of the 20th century. It is an insightful look at the themes of identity and prejudice wrapped within a gripping story of murder and wrongful accusation, and it is easily one of the best graphic novels of 2008 to date.

Set in the 1920s and jumping between the very different worlds of Harlem and rural Mississippi, Incognegro adds depth to its mystery by placing the plot in a historical context based in truth. In his brief Author's Note, Johnson details the story's roots in fact: "I read about Walter White, the former head of the NAACP. White was an African-American even paler than I was. In the early 20th century, White went undercover, posing as a white man in the deep south to investigate lynchings."

Beyond that basic factual framework, Johnson takes the story into fictional territory. His journalist protagonist Zane Pinchback's new undercover assignment forces him to get involved for once rather than simply observe and report when he discovers his own brother has been accused of murdering a white woman. Instantly, the stakes are raised for him, making what would normally be just another story into something much more personal indeed.

Johnson does a truly fantastic job of keeping the tone of the piece even, jumping between the disparate elements of mystery and race relations easily. It is unfortunate that often a graphic novel with "something to say" can quickly drift away from its story and become little more than a sermon, but Johnson avoids proselytizing by pairing his deeper message with a suspenseful plot. He expertly juggles his serious subject matter with the light touch of humor as well, so that the book is, within the span of a few pages, exciting, funny, and tragic.

One way he manages this feat is by framing big, impersonal issues within very real human drama. The people within the story deal with the harsh realities of what it means to pose as something you are not, both the damage it does to that person's own sense of self and the terrible real-world consequences a pretender must face when discovered. The book's message is delivered through the characters' interactions rather than via heavy-handed narration, which makes it much more palatable to the average reader.

Similarly, Pleece's realistic art style handles the subject matter deftly. A caricaturist might have exaggerated the features of certain people in the book, so the audience would always be better informed and more aware of which characters were of which race than the characters themselves were. Not so with Pleece, however, who downplays any differences in facial attributes so that readers are as confused about where racial boundaries lie as the characters.

The decision to print the book in black and white also subtly illustrates what an artificial construct "race" is in the first place, for there are no colors, not even shading to let the readers know who is "negro" and who is "cracker." Incognegro is a book about race in which, to the reader, all the characters have the same skin tone and have similar facial features, only appearing to be different to those characters in the context of the story. Pleece thus takes the concept at the heart of this graphic novel, the fear of the "other," and turns it on its ear, so the audience cannot help but be struck by the undeniable sameness of all the people in the story.

Johnson and Pleece have created a truly riveting story that transcends its historical setting, for it poses questions about race which have resonance with audiences of today. Incognegro is a graphic novel that, at its core, is about confusion and mistaken identity, both in regards to plot and theme, and it succeeds at every level. Fascinating in its examination of the irrationality of prejudice and enthralling in the twists and turns the story takes, Incognegro is a must-read.
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07/04/08

Barbara rated it:

bookshelves: graphic-novel

Read in July, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I really liked this graphic novel. I think the black and white line art is effective, and this is very important, given that the whole basis for this story is whether or not characters can visually (and behaviorally) hoodwink others into believing they are what they are not.

You get to taking a good look at how they are drawn, their facial features, hairstyles, thinking about whether or not the characters successfully "pass" (light skinned African American for white, etc). ...more

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05/12/08

Brad rated it:

bookshelves: comics, historical-fiction, vertigo-comics

Read in May, 2008

Incognegro is the pen name of a reporter for syndicated black newspapers that documents otherwise overlooked lynchings in the American South in the early 1900s. He's got the name because his pale skin color belies his ethnicity (at least it does to white folk.) He wants to get out of an obviously risky job, but his editor, decked out in glasses and suspenders, gives him one last case down in Mississippi he can't help but investigate.
The story is a crisp caper (if you can call a story abo...more

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05/08/08

Roxane rated it:

bookshelves: comics

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in April, 2008

Early 20th century. Zane Pinchback, light skinned African American, is a reporter for the New York Herald. His secret alias "Incognegro" is famous for denouncing the lynchings taking place in the American South. Thanks to his skin color, Zane can easily "pass" and thus, investigate these lynchings, making sure the names of those responsible are made public.

Johnson does a spectacular work at demonstrating in what ways and to what extent race is a social construct t...more

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05/05/08

C. rated it:

Read in May, 2008

A graphic novel about a light-skinned black reporter from Harlem who travels the deep south, passing as a white man, reporting on the lynchings of black men. His pen name? Incognegro.

Incognegro is living during the Harlem Renaissance, and wants to reveal his real name, to get his share of the attention that is currently on his neighborhood. He goes on one last mission to the south, this one to free his twin brother, a moonshiner who has been wrongfully jailed for the murder of a whit...more

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05/01/08

Jeremy rated it:

bookshelves: bangor-public-library, comics-n-graphnovs

Somewhere between courage and tastelessness lies "Incognegro", a graphic novel I've tried and failed three times now (and here again, most likely, a fourth) to review. It's briskly paced, nicely illustrated, and for the most part well-written, but it's hard to feel that great about being entertained by a B-grade action movie set against a lynch-happy Southern backdrop. It made me rethink the phrase "guilty pleasure", a snobby little bitch of a term I've long despised, but he...more

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03/04/08

Frank Kovarik rated it:

Read in April, 2008

When I was checking this out from the library, I asked the librarian, a fan of comic books, if she'd heard of it. She flipped it over and noted the publisher, DC Comics/Vertigo. She said that she didn't read much from that publisher, that she thought they published comics for boys.

Having finished this one, I can see what she means. This graphic novel has the feeling of an episode of a suspenseful TV show--albeit one that's concerned with the New Negro and the history of lynching in A...more

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03/14/09

Josh rated it:

Read in March, 2009

I thought this was a great idea, but the execution left a lot to be desired.

The art was fine, but the plot relied on predictable storytelling, forced noir dialog, and superficial stock characters - the chivalrous protagonist, the tough-as-nails newspaper editor, the lovable scoundrel, the wily hill-woman with her dopey fall-guy lover, and the irredeemably evil villain with one dead eye.

I really wanted this to be good, but it seemed too preoccupied with fitting in to the n...more

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04/22/09

Jennifer rated it:

bookshelves: graphic, mystery

Read in April, 2009

This was not an easy book to read. Graphic novels push my abilities to deal with violence in books. Usually, violent books don't bother me as much as violent movies because I can imagine the violence however I want, but with graphic novels--there it is, drawn for you. Still, the book was an interesting and engaging read. Maybe I'm slow, but I didn't see the ending coming at all. The stark drawings really strengthen the story.

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07/18/08

Robert rated it:

bookshelves: africana, fiction

Read in July, 2008

Incognegro is the story of an African American journalist who risks his life writing exposés about the lynching of black men in the Jim Crow South. The protagonist's mission is enabled by his light skin, Madame CJ Walker's hot comb, and his ability to pass as white. Although the novel is generally compelling in its representation of this widespread system of racist vigilante justice and the joy many Southern whites derived as spectators, it leaves itself open to be criticized as didactic and si...more

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03/11/09

Mr. Williams rated it:

Read in January, 2008

Based on a true story, this graphic novel tells the incredible story of a light skinned African-American man who portrayed himself as a traveling white Klu Klux Klan member so he could access and photograph the atrocities happening in the south just prior to the Civil Rights Movement. He published his photographs and stories in a New York paper to educate Northerners about what was happening in the south.

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09/30/08

Steven rated it:

Read in March, 2008

Mat Johnson's graphic novel follows a black journalist who's able to pass for white as he travels through the Depression-era South, investigating lynchings and even gathering the names of the participants for exposes in his black-owned newspaper back in New York. Partly inspired by the story of Walter Francis White, an unfathomably brave investigator for the NAACP, Johnson cooks up a story that's half Raymond Chandler and half Chester Himes, with a generous seasoning of Flannery O'Connor -- or m...more

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