Black Images in the Comics

by Fredrik Stromberg, Fredrik Stromberg

Endlessly browsable illustrated journey through comics' history of radical portrayals both good and bad, now in softcover. This book spotlights over 100 comic strips, comic books, and graphic novels to feature black characters from all over the world over the last century, and the result is a fascinating journey to, if not enlightenment, then at least away from the horrendous caricatures of yore. The book begins with the habitually appalling images of blacks as ignorant “coons” in the earliest syndicated strips ( Happy Hooligan , Moon Mullins , and The Katzenjammer Kids ); continues with the almost-quaint colonialist images of the often-suppressed Tintin album Tintin in the Congo and such ambiguous figures as Mandrake the Magician’s “noble savage” assistant Lothar in the ’30s (not to mention Torchy Brown, the first syndicated black character), moving on to such oddities as the offensive Ebony character in Will Eisner’s otherwise classic The Spirit from the ’40s and ’50s. We then continue into the often earnest attempts at ’60s integration in such strips as Peanuts (and comic books such as the Fantastic Four ), as well as the first wave of “black strips” like Wee Pals , juxtaposed with the shocking satire of underground comics such as R. Crumb’s incendiary Angefood McSpade. Also investigated is the increased use of blacks in super-hero comic books as well as syndicated strips. Black Images in the Comics wraps up from the ’80s to now, with the increased visibility of blacks, often in works actually produced by blacks, all the way to the South African strip Madam & Eve , Aaron McGruder’s pointed daily The Boondocks , and more ― including over a dozen new entries added to the out-of-print hardcover edition. Each strip, comic, or graphic novel is spotlighted via a compact but instructive 200-word essay and a representative illustration. The book is augmented by a context-setting introduction, an extensive source list and bibliography, and a foreword by Charles R. Johnson, the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation fellowship and winner of the National Book Award for his 1990 novel Middle Passage . Black & white throughout

Genres: Comics, History, Graphic Novels, Nonfiction, African American, Race, Criticism

296 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[David Crumm · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Unsettling Look at How "We" Consumed Racism for Our Amusement

I chose this headline for this review, because that's the ultimate impact of this volume: Coming to terms with the prevalence of racism across "our" popular culture, both in the U.S. and in Europe—as reflected in comic strips and comic books. That racism was insidious, seeping into family living rooms over more than a century.

Fredrik Strömberg now is known around the world as a historian documenting those cultural messages. He was born in 1968 in Sweden and has been involved for many years in publications that explore the culture, history and sociological impact of comics. If you are a fan of comic cons, then you might have heard Strömberg speak. In fact, this book began as a series of academic lectures he gave in Sweden, then he was invited to bring an illustrated lecture to a comic con in California some years ago.

And just to be clear: I'm reviewing the 2012 softcover edition of his book, which contains some revisions since the original version appeared in 2003. So, if you have a copy of that earlier book, you should know that it's not exactly the same as this version.

The first important thing to know about this book is: Strömberg's European perspective adds a fascinating global context to this study of racism aimed at people of African heritage as depicted in the world's comics. As it turns out, Europeans were at least as bad as Americans about this, a matter that I discussed in an earlier Goodreads review of Agatha Christie's racism in her best-selling mystery, "Ten Little ..." ("And Then There Were None" in the U.S.) Editions of Christie's book with her original, racially offensive title were still selling in England in the 1960s, even though American publishers were horrified in 1940 and immediately changed the title for U.S. editions.

But claiming that Europeans or the British were "worse" is certainly not a claim I want to defend. "We" all were morally wrong for a very long time—even cartoonists who should have known better.

George Herriman, whose Krazy Kat is arguably the greatest comic creation of the 20th century, concealed his mixed-race origins throughout his life. He made a decision to "pass" to gain greater access for his work. Nevertheless, he strayed into some of the worst racist stereotypes in his own career. He got away with it throughout his career—but the tragedy of the secrets beneath Herriman's success now are well known. In fact, his Wikipedia page currently includes a panel of his infamous Musical Mose comic strip. One's heart breaks at the inner conflicts Herriman must have wrestled with all his life.

And, that's a second reason to read this book. This racial tension—particularly when it comes to trafficking in stereotypes—should not be a surprise to any readers in 2024. After all, this is year that the 2023 satirical comedy American Fiction won the Oscar for best adapted screenplay for its exploration of this same issue.

But, for me, this journey through the racist history of comics is particularly heartbreaking because it shows how many of my personal heroes—creative lights like Will Eisner—could not resist the allure of racist caricatures. I'm such an admirer of Eisner's work that I own hardcover editions of everything he created that wound up in book form. I've got a couple of shelves in my library devoted just to Eisner's works. And chief among them is a multi-volume hardcover set of his The Spirit comics. Why oh why did Eisner have to create "Ebony White" as The Spirit's "sidekick"? To this day, at least in my mind, Ebony White is a stain on Eisner's stellar career and his prophetic voice for justice in so many of his later works.

So, that's just one example of the "coming to terms" I found myself struggling with as I read this book.

I do need to emphasize: This book is not entirely a troubling indictment. There is what we might call a "happy ending" to this book. Strömberg does celebrate Black writers and artists—like Charles Johnson himself—who have helped to bring authentic perspectives on Black experience into the realm of pulp fiction, comics and comic books.

In fact, I especially appreciate that Johnson wrote a lengthy Foreword to this book. Johnson is perhaps best known as the National Book Award winner for Middle Passage, but he also has had a long career as a cartoonist. In fact, in my library, I also have a copy of Johnson's 2022 collection, All Your Racial Problems Will Soon End. Johnson's Foreword provides important perspective as we start into Strömberg's book—including chiding Strömberg for not paying more attention to early Black cartoonists who found their way into alternative newsletters and publications that were not widely circulated (and presumably that Strömberg did not come across in the archives he was exploring from Sweden).

I highly recommend getting a copy of this book and savoring it—as uncomfortable as the experience will be for most of us—as a way to fully understand the weight of hateful bias that "we" as a people have been immersed in from the most casual of our daily encounters with our culture.

[Ruel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This small volume presents an overview of black images in the comics, with the focus primarily on U.S.-based work. Not surprisingly, the images are often disconcerting, disturbing, and offensive.

I appreciated the foreword by Charles Johnson, who offers counterpoints to the book's commentary. For example, while there is no doubt about R. Crumb's talent, his portrayal of black people is racist, plain and simple. I liked that Johnson called out author Fredrik Stromberg and other critics for swooning over Crumb.

As for the book, it's an uneven affair. The task is Herculean, no doubt; to try to distill a few hundred years of racist imagery into a small book is a no-win situation. Any time an image was noteworthy (for example, an early comic of Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse travelling to a land of “savages”), the next page featured a new image and text. There are a lot of works referenced that warrant further exploration, but, due to the scope of this book, they fail to receive the attention they deserve.

This is a good start, however incomplete, for a discussion of black images in comics. I believe that fewer images and more in-depth commentary on the history and contemporary setting for each image would have been more effective as well as more thought-provoking. As it is, Black Images in the Comics: A Visual History is a decent overview of a topic that demands a closer look.

[Natlyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is what it claims to be and nothing more. A collection of single panels from comics/sequential art around the world that depict black people. It does not pretend to develop a thesis or forward an agenda. However, it does show that no matter the country almost all depictions of blacks began as extreme caricatures, sometimes completely at odds with the style of how white characters were drawn within the same comics. Also of interest is when black images began being drawn by black creators. Although I found it enjoyable and sometimes enlightening, it is a small, lightweight book in more than its physicality. But that's all it claims to be.

On a totally personal note, I remember as a child having to be told that what I perceived as large areas of 5 o'clock shadow on the black characters was supposed to be their lips. I recalled being quite annoyed and put out that apparently lips were all whites could see about how black people look. Honestly, I still don't understand how that particular drawing cliché at all conveys lips.

[Gasmask Dandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strong scholarly resource.

[Michael P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a lot of substance in this book by authorial choice, but it is a good platform for future investigation.

[Sally Sugarman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book. It was written by a Swedish man and he looks at comic books over two centuries and quite a few countries, although not surprisingly, the greater number of comics are from the United States. He did not want to use cartoons, but images that were from comics. He has one panel on a page and one page of text to go with each image. He does not repeat the comics so when a comic such as The Phantom makes changes over time that reflect the changing times he only writes about that, but does not show any images. France and Belgium have a number. Japan has fewer since they have little experience with blacks other than from American comic books. There are a few comics from Africa, particularly South Africa. He has some Muslim comics. He says some forms of the Muslim religion allow images. There are some from Sweden and Great Britain. He says the European countries currently have problems with their guilt about their colonialism. He talks about the types of characters in American comics, such as the native, the tom, the mammy, the pickaninny, the coon, the tragic mulatto, and the buck. He talked about the superheroes and how much Marvel had done in this regard that other comic books had not. He pointed out that Mickey Mouse was originally black until he became less so. George Herriman of Krazy Kat was black. Many of the artists early on hid their blackness. He shows the evolution and the impact of the civil rights movement although many of the comic books with black heroes, did not last long. He talked about those who were teaching black history through comic books. There is a great deal of useful information that can be put into one page. What is important is the cumulative picture that emerges. He always works to connect the image with the context both in terms of the particular historical period and the specific country

[Kelvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Daaaaaaammmmmmn! The history of African and African American images extant in graphic narrative history is....a tad under-repsentational and biased, no? OR: It's nice to see that every dark face in a comic book doesn't belong to an unjustly persecuted ex-convict with a heart of gold and a severely underrated intellect possessing awesome powers that they struggle to control in judicious application and exercise while they fight DA MAN to a political and existential standstill. Just most of the American ones. deep sigh

[Evan Cass · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 1/2 stars. A visual tour of Black representation in comix from the mid 1800s to 2010, w examples from nearly every year. Stromberg's micro-essays efficiently provide context, educate, and suggest avenues for further research. For an updated edition by a celebrated publisher, though, the handful of typos is inexcusable.

[Kellie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was fascinating. I couldn't stop turning the pages.

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting. I always noticed the prejudice in comics but I guess I never considered that it had gone back so far. Still a good read.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an easily readable study of these images across various publications.