In honor of Black Historical past Month, we have gathered suggestions of comics and graphic novels from our latest catalog, highlighting Black voices and creators, protagonists, and themes of illustration, empowerment, and training.
YouNeek Studios: Enter the YouNeek YouNiverse!
YouNeek Studios, based by Dwayne McDuffie nominee Roye Okupe, encompasses a YouNiverse of superheroes based mostly on African tales by African creators, influenced by African historical past, mythology, politics, and extra. Darkish Horse Comics is proud to associate with YouNeek Studios to assist convey the YouNeek YouNiverse to a world viewers. Extra particulars right here >>
YouNeek Studios founder Roye Okupe says:
“For me, Black Historical past as a Black creator within the publishing business all the time takes me again to certainly one of my most memorable moments as a author. That second was a dad or mum telling me her daughter wished to order a replica of my graphic novel, Malika: Warrior Queen, as a result of the character on the quilt ‘appears to be like like me,’ she stated. That’s really what issues in terms of our work.”
“Whether or not it is Malika: Warrior Queen, Iyanu: Youngster of Marvel, E.X.O.: The Legend of Wale Williams, WindMaker, or any of our different sequence, the objective stays the identical: telling extraordinary tales about extraordinary characters impressed by African historical past, tradition, and mythology. We do that with the last word objective of empowering African creatives and storytelling throughout the globe. For us, Black Historical past Month is each month.”
As of February 2022, a number of YouNeek titles at the moment are obtainable wherever comics and books are offered, with extra on the best way.
These embody:
Malika: Warrior Queen Quantity 1
Roye Okupe, Chima Kalu, Raphael Kazeem, Spoof Animation, Godwin Akpan
Iyanu: Youngster of Marvel Quantity 1
Roye Okupe, Godwin Akpan
E.X.O.: The Legend of Wale Williams Quantity 1
Roye Okupe, Sunkanmi Akinboye, Raphael Kazeem, Godwin Akpan
Malika: Warrior Queen Quantity 2
Roye Okupe, Sunkanmi Akinboye, Etubi Onucheyo, Toyin “Morby” Ajetunmobi, Spoof Animation
Coming quickly:
E.X.O.: The Legend of Wale Williams Quantity 2, arriving March 2, 2022
Roye Okupe, Sunkanmi Akinboye, Etubi Onucheyo, Tarella Pablo, Spoof Animation, Godwin Akpan
WindMaker Quantity 1, arriving April 20, 2022
Roye Okupe, Sunkanmi Akinboye, Toyin “Morby” Ajetunmobi, Godwin Akpan
All YouNeek books are advised for ages 12-14+.
LaGuardia
By Nnedi Okorafor, Tana Ford, Sal Cipriano
Hugo and Eisner Award-Winner
“LaGuardia is exclusive, playful, heartbreaking, empowering and filled with hope for the longer term. The knowledge Okorafor imparts in every panel pushes again towards the darkest urges of our human nature and creates an area that lets us all reside.”
—John Jennings (The Blacker the Ink, Octavia Butler’s Kindred graphic novel)
Written by Nnedi Okorafor, Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy Award winner (Who Fears Demise, Binti, Akata) and illustrated by Tana Ford (Silk, Duck!), with colours by Sal Cipriano, LaGuardia gained the 2020 Eisner Award for Greatest Graphic Album – Reprint, and the Hugo Award for Greatest Graphic Story or Comedian.
In 2022, Darkish Horse and Berger Books current a brand new Deluxe Version celebrating this award-winning comedian, full of extras together with a chapter of Dr. Okorafor’s script, a brand new cowl and never-before-seen artwork from Ford, an in depth course of artwork part, and extra. LaGuardia can also be obtainable in an ordinary paperback version.
Set in another world the place aliens have come to Earth and built-in with society, LaGuardia revolves round a pregnant Nigerian-American physician, Future Nwafor Chukwuebuka, who has simply returned to NYC below mysterious circumstances through LaGuardia Worldwide and Interstellar Airport.
There, she and her sentient, plant-based alien pal grow to be a part of a rising inhabitants of principally African and shape-shifting alien immigrants, battling towards interrogation, discrimination and journey bans, as they attempt to make it in a brand new land. Because the delivery of her little one nears, Future begins to alter. What secret is she hiding?
LaGuardia is usually recommended for ages 16+.
Incognegro: A Graphic Thriller
Incognegro: Renaissance
Mat Johnson, Warren Pleece
“A gifted author of each fiction and inventive non-fiction, Johnson’s publications have established him as an vital new voice within the African-American custom.” —Walter Mosley
A part of editor Karen Berger’s imprint at Darkish Horse, Berger Books, Darkish Horse presents a tenth anniversary version (2018) of Mat Johnson and Warren Pleece’s excellent authentic graphic novel Incognegro: A Graphic Thriller. That is adopted by an authentic prequel sequence, Incognegro: Renaissance.
Incognegro: A Graphic Thriller follows Zane Pinchback, a reporter despatched to analyze the arrest of his personal brother, charged with the brutal homicide of a white girl in Mississippi. With a lynch mob already swarming, Zane, whose pores and skin colour is gentle sufficient that he can cross for white, should keep “incognegro” lengthy sufficient to uncover the reality behind the homicide to avoid wasting his brother and himself.
Suspenseful, unsettling and related, Incognegro is a tense graphic novel of shifting identities, forbidden passions, and secrets and techniques that run far deeper than pores and skin colour. Prompt for ages 14+.
Within the prequel sequence, Incognegro: Renaissance, a Black author is discovered useless at a scandalous interracial get together in Twenties New York and Harlem’s cub reporter Zane Pinchback is the one one decided to resolve the homicide. Zane should go “incognegro” for the primary time–using his gentle look to cross as a white man–to discover the true killer.
A page-turning thriller of racial divide, Incognegro: Renaissance explores segregation, secrets and techniques, and self-image as our race-bending protagonist penetrates a world the place he feels stranger than ever earlier than.
Incognegro: Renaissance is usually recommended for ages 18+.
Muhammad Ali
Sibylle Titeux, Wonderful Ameziane
This authentic graphic novel celebrates the lifetime of the elite athlete who metamorphosed from Cassius Clay to grow to be a three-time heavyweight boxing legend, activist, and provocateur: Muhammad Ali. The story additionally focuses on key figures within the Civil Rights motion.Â
Not solely a titan on the earth of sports activities however on the earth itself, Ali dared to be totally different and to problem and defy by means of his refusal to be drafted to struggle in Vietnam, his rejection of his “slave” identify, and in the end his closing struggle together with his physique itself by means of a thirty-year battle with Parkinson’s illness. Witness what made Ali totally different, what made him cool, what made him the Best.
The critically acclaimed French graphic novel is now obtainable in English, and is usually recommended for ages 14+.
Adora and the Distance
Marc Bernardin, Ariela Kristantina, Bryan Valenza, Bernardo Brice
Adora and the Distance is a younger grownup fantasy graphic novel following the epic adventures of Adora, a courageous younger Black girl who lives in a fantastical world with underground pirates, ghosts, and a mysterious power known as “the Distance” which threatens to destroy it all–and solely Adora can cease it.
Written by Marc Bernardin, the award-winning tv author/producer on Star Trek: Picard, Important Position: The Legend of Vox Machina, Masters of the Universe: Revelations, Citadel Rock, and extra; illustrated by Ariela Kristantina (Mata Hari). Initially launched digitally on ComiXology Originals, now coming to print from Darkish Horse in March 2022.
The story is a tribute to Bernardin’s personal daughter and her journey with autism. He wished to jot down a narrative that anybody might take pleasure in, and likewise: “I did not wish to inform a narrative about these of us who love their autistic mates or relations. As an alternative, I wished to attempt to think about the story a type of youngsters may very well be telling about themselves, concerning the adventures they’re taking inside their very own thoughts.”
“It is a quest story, at first… it is simply that the terrain our characters are traversing has fairly a bit occurring below the floor.” –Bernardin
Out there for pre-order now wherever books and comics are offered, Adora and the Distance is really helpful for ages 14+.
Stranger Issues: Erica the Nice
Danny Lore, Greg Pak, Valeria Favoccia, Dan Jackson, Nate Piekos, Ron Chan
Having appeared in a number of of the Stranger Issues comics up to now, now the fan-favorite character Erica Sinclair will get a complete graphic novel of her personal!
On this story, Erica continues to attempt to play the sport she’s secretly fallen in love with, because of her “nerdy” brother and his mates: Dungeons and Dragons. Nevertheless, she has to cope with guidelines laid down by her mom, amongst different issues… like her frenemy shedding observe of her mom’s prized parakeet! The 2 must be taught to work collectively to return the chicken protected and sound, or cope with the implications. Alongside the best way, they be taught that even the hardest and smartest individuals want a bit assist typically.
Author Danny Lore joins returning Stranger Issues comedian author Greg Pak for this e-book, serving to to convey character to Erica, her mom, the neighbors, and different characters Erica meets (and sasses) alongside the best way.
Stranger Issues: Erica the Nice is the third Stranger Issues graphic novel geared towards a center grade/younger grownup viewers. Really useful for ages 10+. You’ll be able to see all Stranger Issues graphic novels and comics right here.
Crema
Johnnie Christmas, Dante Luiz, Ryan Ferrier, Atla Hrafney
“This e-book is a love letter to like swathed within the richest taste possible. And one which enchants and haunts you with the style of espresso throughout it.” –Comedian Watch
#1 New York Occasions bestselling cartoonist Johnnie Christmas and Prism Award-nominee Dante Luiz current a haunted story of affection, ghosts, and occasional beans. The ComiXology Authentic digital graphic novel Crema is now obtainable in print for the primary time, really helpful for ages 16+.
Esme, a barista, feels invisible, like a ghost. When Esme drinks an excessive amount of espresso, she truly sees ghosts. Yara, the elegant inheritor to a espresso plantation, is all the time seen, however solely has eyes for Esme. Their world is turned the other way up when the ghost of an old-world nobleman begs Esme to take his letter from New York Metropolis to a haunted espresso farm in Brazil, to reunite him together with his misplaced love of a century in the past, bringing sinister tidings of unrequited love.
The story touches on the advanced relationships between agriculture and business, American-Brazilian commerce, and impartial and company businesses–told by means of the connection of Esme, Yara, and occasional. As Christmas says, “The one method to a much less haunted future is to make peace with the ghosts of the previous.”
“I am buzzing with pleasure that Crema is coming to print on this fantastic new version,” says Christmas. “I am unable to wait to lastly maintain it in my hand, with an Americano within the different (ample crema in fact). Two darkish, candy treats to lift the spirit and heat the guts.”
Delver
MK Reed, C. Spike Trotman, Clive Hawken
From Iron Circus Comics founder C. Spike Trotman and Eisner-nominated author MK Reed, illustrated by Clive Hawken, Delver is an authentic action-adventure story. First offered digitally as a part of ComiXology Originals, now Delver is collected in paperback, obtainable wherever comics and books are offered. Really useful for ages 12+.
When the door to a dwelling dungeon surfaces within the tiny hamlet of Oddgoat, village lady Temerity Aster has two decisions: abandon the one residence she’s ever identified to carpet baggers and sellswords, or carve out a spot for herself and her household within the new and harmful world of delving.
Co-writer Trotman says, “[Delver is] a fantasy journey for folk who beloved Terry Pratchett’s self-described unimaginative’ strategy to world-building; an insistence on asking questions, wating to know why and the way issues labored the best way they did. In my case, Delver is my reply to ‘The place are all these deserted, treasure-laden dungeons coming from, anyway? And what occurs whenever you unload all that loot within the tiny hamlet down the highway?’ It is for followers of Important Position, Ursula Okay. LeGuin novels, and The Journey Zone.”
