Black Comics

Moving between image and text, comics render visible how we read. As such, the comic genre is a quintessential form to not only critique power and difference but also encourage readers to reconsider their ethical and political commitments. In recent years, the comics form has been taken up as a critical medium to reconsider the visual representation of Black life. In this course, we will examine how contemporary Black comic creators use the sequential order of comics to unmoor expectations of how we read the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality. We will examine the works of comics theorists, writers, and illustrators including Deborah Elizabeth Whaley, Rebecca Wanzo, Qiana Whitted, Ta’Nehisi Coates, Rob Guillory, Eve L. Ewing, John Jennings, N.K. Jemisin, among many others.