Books for White Folks Part 6: The Comics

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Book cover to Captain America - TruthIf you read this blog, you can’t be surprised that I was going to tackle comics as well.  As an avid comics reader, that was inevitable.  Now, my list isn’t as substantial as other lists in the lot and that has some to do with the fact that I haven’t been as avid a reader of comics in the last 2-3 years beyond my usually series and because I haven’t had as much opportunity to expand my tastes (that that will be addressed in the future).  Still, there is a good assortment of titles here that I think anyone looking to see some of the best in comics that explore race, identity, and privilege, would certainly enjoy.  

 As for my first choice to recommend, well, that’s an obvious one for me.  Captain America:  Truth by Robert Morales and Kyle Baker.  The story revisits the origin of Captain America to discover that before scientists used the serum on Captain America, it was tested on African Americans.  What’s rich about this story is how it blends real history (illegal and inhumane testing on African Americans) into making Captain America’s story a bit more problematic.  That Steve Rogers (Captain America) is a blond-haired, blue-eyed boy who gains his super-powers by tests run upon African Americans just produces such a powerful commentary about American society.  

 The Recommendations

  • Aya (Aya #1) by Marguerite Abouet
  • African History for Beginners by Herb Boyd
  • Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet, Book 1 by Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • Incognegro by Mat Johnson
  • Still I Rise: A Cartoon History of African Americans by Jr., Roland Owen Laird
  • Black Mane by Michael Lariccia
  • March: Books 1-3 by John Robert Lewis
  • The Silence of Our Friends by Mark Long 
  • Captain America: Truth by Robert Morales
  • Malika - Warrior Queen Part One: An African Historical Fantasy Graphic Novel by Roye Okupe
  • Arab in America by Toufic El Rassi
  • Graphic Classics, Volume 22: African-American Classics by Lance Tooks
  • Lucifer's Garden of Verses: Volume Four - The Devil Miles Davis by Lance Tooks 
  • Bluesman: Books 1-3 by Rob Vollmar
  • American Born Chinese by Gene Yang
  • A People's History of American Empire by Howard Zinn
You can find the full list of books in the genre of race, identity, and privilege on Goodreads.  For all posts in this series, check out:
  1. The Introduction
  2. The Ambassadors
  3. The Fiction
  4. The Classics
  5. The Memoirs and Personal Accounts
  6. The Comics
  7. The Histories
  8. Education
  9. Identities and American Culture
  10. The Systematic Critiques
  11. The Peripherals
  12. Since I Started...

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