Religion In The Comics - 019

[Cartoonist]

Lots of images this time, but I think you'll agree it is worth it.
Back in 1947, All Negro Comics was published. Sadly, there was only one issue printed. It contained a wide variety of features, all written and drawn by Black creators. Thanks to the efforts of comics historians, it can be viewed in its entirety online.
http://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=37543

Religion In The Comics is pleased to feature one of the stories with some restoration. I'm still working on the whole issue. I have completed the first five pages of this story, and have begun restoration of the last five. I present it now because it is a painstaking effort that will take some time, and I have a special story for Easter upcoming.

I feel that this story is appropriate for RITC due to it's mythical nature. As we all know, religion is just myth and fairy tales. Whether by intention or accident, the story contains religious imagery and themes. The wings on the main character suggest an angel, while the tale itself is comparable to the story of Adam & Eve.

[onager]

1. Thanks. Completely new to me and interesting.

At least that was done by Black Americans, working out of their own myths.

When white Hollywood tackled the same subject of Black religion, the result was...well, an embarassing mess.

e.g., here's Al Jolson in "Goin' To Heaven On A Mule" from 1934. Supported by a cast of mostly white folks in blackface.

With dancing watermelons. Plus proof that your pet dog sprouts wings and follows you to Heaven! And in a wonderful stroke of inclusivity, ensuring no minority was left uninsulted, everybody can suddenly read Yiddish newspapers in Heaven. See, religion really DOES make you smarter!

https://m.

[Cartoonist]

2. The Black Perspective

I like how you can tell this was drawn by a person of color. Comics and cartoons always drew black people in horrible stereotypes.

[onager]

8. I can think of one good exception.

Stan Lee's character of Gabriel Jones - the Black character added to Sgt. Fury's Howling Commandos in 1963.

The bitter irony of that, of course, is that the US Army was racially segregated in WWII - even while it was fighting the world's worst racist.

[Warren Stupidity]

3. These get odder by the week.

[Curmudgeoness]

4. An angel, a devil, and a mermaid?

This is most bizarre. It certainly is not the typical comic from that time featuring blacks.

Do you know why there was only one issue printed? Did it just not sell? No market for black comics?

[Cartoonist]

5. Very little is known

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-Negro_Comics
The comic's press run and distribution are unknown, and as one cultural historian notes of the era, "While there were a few heroic images of blacks created by blacks, such as the Jive Gray comic strip and All-Negro Comics, these images did not circulate outside of pre-civil rights segregated black communities."

http://www.tomchristopher.com/?op=home/Comic%20History/Orrin%20C.%20Evans%20and%20The%20Story%20of%20All%20Negro%20Comics
A second issue was planned and the art completed, but when Orrin was ready to publish he found that his source for newsprint would no longer sell to him, nor would any of the other vendors he contacted.

[LiberalAndProud]

6. For lack of newsprint.

Let us restore "religious freedom" now. /sarcasm

[Curmudgeoness]

7. Ah, that makes it clear, and predictable.

I don't blame the blacks for wanting comics for themselves, with portrayals of other blacks who are not just stereotypes that are colored very black (in case you aren't sure they are Negro).

It is a sorry state of affairs when they can't even buy newsprint to use. Reminds me what is going on in Indiana right now, where they want discrimination in business dealings to be legal again.