King: A Comic Biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Ho Che Anderson

Anderson, Ho Che.
King: A Comics Biography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Seattle, WA:
Fantagraphics Books, 2005.


In Stanley Crouch’s introduction to this biography, he puts Anderson’s work into perspective. In this book, we are given “a mix of fact and fiction, an interpretation for the purposes of entertainment, and a jumbling of imagined conversations and relationships that puts it as much in the realm of fiction as biography.” It is important to remember this statement throughout reading this provocative graphic novel. Following King from meeting Coretta Scott during his graduate studies through the bus boycotts, the freedom rides, the march on Washington and many other events in between, Anderson’s biography is a startling work of artistry, history, and creative license in non-fiction. Piecing together possible moments of the man’s personal life and public moments of the “humble” reverend in marches and speeches, Anderson brings a certain humanity to a historical figure that has gone beyond legendary status. Like suddenly discovering the Gnostic Gospels when all there’s ever been is Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Anderson’s King is a man few would readily recognize, for the figure we often see today is stripped of his personality flaws and character blemishes.

The biography was created in a style reminiscent of film noir. With deep shadows and figures only half-seen, the entire work resonates with the harsh realities of segregation and the unevenly distributed rights of American citizens based on their race. Most of the biography is limited to black and white drawings, but Anderson applies color in the most dramatic moments and to represent the more significant symbols of the Civil Rights Movement. However, as stunning as the images may be, Anderson’s sometimes abstract style requires careful reading, for the flow of the story can be lost as the author jumps between settings and time periods. When presented as an alternative view to history textbooks, this work is ideal for the younger reader, bringing the reality of history closer and telling a whole story, as opposed to just the glorified moments of fame and melodrama. However, it is important to inform readers that much of this work is not based on identifiable facts, but one author’s interpretation of historical events. Neither complete fact nor wholly fiction, Anderson’s work brings new light and darkness to a man of great strength that moved many into a nonviolent revolution.

A Wreath for Emmett Till by Marilyn Nelson

Nelson, Marilyn.
Illustrated by Philippe Lardy.
A Wreath for Emmett Till.
Houghton Mifflin
Company: Boston, 2005.

Emmett Till was a 14-year-old African American boy from Chicago that was severely beaten and lynched while visiting family in the Mississippi Delta in the summer of 1955. Witness accounts state at least two white men brutally mutilated and beat the boy, eventually killing him and discarding the body in the Tallahatchie River. Mamie Till Mobley, Emmett’s mother, had an open casket funeral so everyone could see the violence committed against her son. When the two men indicted for the crime were acquitted by an all-white, male jury, it was one of the sparks that ignited the Civil Rights Movement. Months after the trial, one of the acquitted would admit murdering the child to the media. Marilyn Nelson’s work is a crown of sonnets for Emmett Till. A crown consists of fifteen Italian or Petrarchan sonnets with the last line of each sonnet becoming the first line of the next. The fifteenth sonnet consists of the first line of the previous fourteen. Nelson states in her prologue that this immensely structured form of poetry was her way of “protecting [herself] from the intense pain of the subject matter.”

However, the beauty of Nelson’s work does not protect the reader from the harsh realities of the event and the intense emotions it brings to all who hear about it. Accompanied by remarkably simple illustrations by Philippe Lardy, each poem strikes a chord of emotion. Though in picture book format, the material is not for younger readers. Nelson makes the poetry, both its form and meanings, accessible to the high school reader through a prologue discussing her reasons for writing and back matter that includes the story of Emmett Till and notes on each one of the sonnets. There is also a note by Lardy, detailing the artist's choices in the illustrations and some of their meanings.

This review was originally written as coursework for a class on Young Adult literature.