All-Negro Comics

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All-Negro Comics
All-Negro Comics #1 (June 1947). Cover artist unknown. Clockwise from top left: Lion Man, Snake Oil, Sugarfoot, Bubba, Ace Harlem. Center: The Little Dew Dillies
Publication information
PublisherAll-Negro Comics, Inc.
FormatAnthology
Publication date1947
No. of issues1
Main character(s)Ace Harlem
Lion Man
Creative team
Artist(s)John Terrell
George J. Evans Jr.

All-Negro Comics, published in 1947, was a single-issue, small-press

African-American
writers and artists.

Publication history

Philadelphia Record.[1] Evans was a member of the NAACP and a strong proponent of racial equality. After the Record closed in 1947, Evans thought he could use the comic-book medium to further highlight "the splendid history of Negro journalism".[2][3] Evans partnered with former Record editor Harry T. Saylor, Record sports editor Bill Driscoll, and two others[4] to found the Philadelphia publishing company All-Negro Comics, Inc., with himself as president.[1] In mid-1947, the company published one issue of All-Negro Comics, a 48-page,[4] standard-sized comic book with a typical glossy color cover and newsprint interior.[5] It was copyrighted July 15, 1947, with a June 1947 issue date,[6] and its press run and distribution are unknown.[1] Unlike other comic books of the time, it sold for 15 cents rather than 10 cents.[5]

As writer Tom Christopher described, Evans

...co-created the features in the comic along with the artists, who included his brother, George J. Evans Jr.; two other Philadelphia cartoonists, one of whom was John Terrell,[7] the other named Cooper; and a Baltimore artist who signed his work Cravat. The cartoonists probably wrote their own scripts, and there was further editorial input by Bill Driscoll.[1]

As one cultural historian notes of the era, "[W]hile there were a few heroic images of blacks created by blacks, such as the Jive Gray

civil rights segregated black communities."[8]

Evans attempted to publish a second issue but was unable to purchase the newsprint required. One writer believes Evans was blocked from doing so by prejudiced distributors, as well as from competing, white-owned publishers (such as Parents Magazine Press and Fawcett Comics) which began producing their own black-themed titles.[3]

The Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, a standard reference, considers the single issue "rare" and notes, "Seldom found in fine or mint condition; many copies have brown pages."[9]

Contents

police detective; the characters in the "Lion Man and Bubba" feature were meant to inspire black people's pride in their African heritage.[1]

Stories

"Lion Man" page from All-Negro Comics #1. Art by George J. Evans Jr.
  • One-page introductory editorial, "All-Negro Comics: Presenting Another First in Negro History"
  • "Ace Harlem", a detective feature drawn by John Terrell
  • "The Little Dew Dillies", a children's feature starring cherub-like creatures only babies can see and talk to, drawn by Cooper
  • "Ezekiel's Manhunt", a two-page boy's-adventure text story
  • "Lion Man and Bubba", starring a college-educated African American sent by the United Nations on a mission to a uranium deposit on Africa's Gold Coast, where he adopted the mischievous orphan Bubba. Drawn by George J. Evans, Jr. (no relation to Caucasian comic-book and comic-strip artist George Evans). One modern-day writer said Lion Man "wore the obligatory leotard costume of the comic hero",[10] though the comic's cover and interior pages depict him in loin cloth.
  • "Hep Chicks on Parade", spot-illustration gags with highly stylized women wearing exaggerated fashions, signed "Len"
  • "Lil' Eggie", by Terrell, about henpecked husband Egbert and his wife
  • "Sugarfoot", a humor feature, drawn by Cravat, starring traveling musicians Sugarfoot and Snake Oil, who try to woo a farmer's daughter. Evans' editorial said the feature's creators hoped "to recapture the almost lost humor of the loveable wandering Negro minstrel of the past."
  • "Remember — Crime Doesn't Pay, Kids!", a one-page public service announcement and next-issue promo, with Ace Harlem[1][11]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Christopher, Tom (2002). "Orrin C. Evans and the story of All-Negro Comics". TomChristopher.com. Archived from the original on March 7, 2009. Retrieved July 1, 2011. Reprinted from Comics Buyer's Guide February 28, 1997, pp. 32, 34, 37-38. Article includes reprinted editorial page "All-Negro Comics: Presenting Another First in Negro History" from All-Negro Comics #1
  2. ^ Evans, Orrin C. (June 1947). "Foreword". 'All-Negro Comics': Presenting Another FIRST in Negro History. No. 1. Reprinted at Christopher, Tom. "Orrin C. Evans and the Story of All-Negro Comics". TomChristopher.com. Archived from the original on June 15, 2016. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
  3. ^ a b "Orrin C. Evans: The First Black Comic Book Publisher". FirstComicsNews.com. February 11, 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-03-06. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  4. ^ a b c "The Press: Ace Harlem to the Rescue". Time. July 14, 1947. Archived from the original on April 24, 2010. Retrieved July 1, 2011.
  5. ^ a b All-Negro Comics #1 at the Grand Comics Database
  6. ^ Catalog of Copyright Entries. Third Series: 1947, Library of Congress, Copyright Office, p. 10
  7. ^ Christopher spells the artist's surname "Terrell" throughout, except for one instance in which he spells it "Terrill"
  8. ISBN 978-1-4208-2760-6
  9. ISBN 978-0-375-72108-3
    .
  10. ISBN 978-0-19-507669-1
  11. ^ "1st African-American Published Comic - All Negro #1- (1947) Comes to Auction". Metropolis Collectibles Inc. / ComicConnect Corp. press release via BlackRadioNetwork.com. February 2009. Archived from the original on July 2, 2011. Retrieved July 1, 2011.

External links

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