African-American Classics

January 16, 2012
Twenty-three works from a rich source of late 19th- and early 20th-century American literature get the graphic novel treatment in this wide-ranging anthology. Authors like W.E.B. Du Bois, Zora Neale Hurston, and Langston Hughes are represented, along with lesser-known but important African-American writers. Among the adapters are some artistic newcomers along with well-known comics figures like Kyle Baker (Nat Turner), whose version of Du Bois’s “On Being Crazy” is rich, inky and witty, and Jeremy Love (Bayou), who illustrates James Weldon Johnson’s poem “The Ghost of Deacon Brown.” The brutality of racism is depicted in stories that deal with lynching, like the WWI-era story “Two Americans” by Florence Lewis Bentley, which extols forgiveness, and the dark science fiction story “Lex Talionis” by Robert W. Bagnall, which explores the depths of hate and revenge. The energy of Hurston’s dialogue, written in early 20th-century Southern black dialect, is well matched by the illustrations by Arie Monroe and Milton Knight. A few pieces feel like filler, but overall the art in the anthology casts light on some gems of American literature, matching their gleam with sparkle of their own.

Starred review from November 15, 2011

By turns elegant, tragic, and funny, these 23 full-color adaptations lay out a mosaic of stories and poems originally published between 1891 to 1931. The 17 featured African American writers include literary giants like Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston; four contemporary writers adapted the lengthier works, and 23 contemporary African American artists produced the images. The collection opens with Florence Lewis Bentley's tragic war story "Two Americans," rendered in beautifully evocative realism by Trevor Von Eeden, and ends with Frances E.W. Harper's rather formulaic parable "Shalmanezer," much enhanced with original and simply lovely art by Lance Tooks. The selections in between dip into horror, satire, social commentary, revenge, parody, and edgy slapstick (especially in the one-upmanship of "Filling Station"). VERDICT All the selections are compelling and evocative owing to the successful partnership between the art and the text. This collection should be enjoyed by readers familiar with the originals as well as students and their elders, teen through adult, who may be new to African American writing of this period. Strongly recommended.--M.C.

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