The Hole: Consumer Culture, John Jennings (Artist) and Damien Duffy (Author). ‎University of Chicago Press. 2008.

Find out more about The Hole: Consumer Culture here.

The Hole: Consumer Culture is a science-fiction horror story that satirises American consumerism and the role of African diasporic culture in pop culture as it is both worshipped and degraded. At the centre of the novel is voodoo and the struggle of a multinational corporation to transform (and exploit) the spiritual, religious tradition into a consumer product.

Incognegro, Mat Johnson (Author) and Warren Pleece (Artist).‎ Berger Books. 2008.

Ages: 16+ years

Read Incognegro here.

Written by Mat Johnson and with art by Warren Pleece, Incognegro is a black-and-white graphic novel set in 1930s New York. It follows Zane Pinchback, a Black reporter who has built his career investigating lynchings and racial violence while undercover as a white person (because he is light-skinned and can pass as white). Now, Zane faces his final investigation: proving his own brother innocent before he is lynched for the murder of a white woman. A prequel series Incognegro: Renaissance was published in 2018.

Bayou (series), Jeremy Love. Zuda. 2009.

Ages: 14-17 years

Buy Bayou here.

Created by Glyph Award nominee Jeremy Love, Bayou takes place in a fictional world south of the Mason-Dixon Line filled with gods and monsters. It follows Lee Wagstaff, daughter of a Mississippi Black sharecropper, as she searches for her white friend, Lily Westmoreland, who has been taken by an evil creature known as Bog. Lee’s father is blamed for the missing child. On her journey, she meets a swamp monster called Bayou, who joins her on her quest to find Lee’s friend and save her father from being lynched.

March (trilogy), John Lewis (Author), Andrew Aydin (Author) and Nate Powell (Illustrator). Top Shelf Productions. 2013-2016.

Ages: 13-16 years

Find out more about March here.

The March trilogy is a series of autobiographical graphic novels that tells the story of civil rights activist John Lewis and his perspective and experience of the social movement. Written by Lewis and Andrew Aydin, and with art from Nate Powell, the series explores the impact of the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Supreme court case, “Bloody Sunday” and the 1965 Civil Rights march from Selma to Montgomery in Alabama, the Birmingham Church Bombing in 1963, and the inauguration of Barack Obama in 2009. March: Book One became the first graphic novel to win a Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, receiving a "Special Recognition" bust in 2014, and in 2016 March: Book Two was awarded the Eisner Award for Best Reality-Based Work. The final book in the series, March: Book Three, also won several awards including the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, the Eisner Award for Best Reality-Based Work and the Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award.

In 2018, Lewis and Aydin collaborated again to create a sequel titled Run, illustrated by L. Fury. This graphic novel focuses on Lewis’s life after the Civil Rights movement and was released in 2021, a year after his death.

The Harlem Hellfighters, Max Brooks (Author) and Caanan White (Illustrator). Broadway Books. 2014.

Ages: 8-12 years

Buy The Harlem Hellfighters here.

Written by Max Brooks and with art from Caanan White, The Harlem Hellfighters is a graphic novel that explores a fictionalised account of the 369th Infantry Regiment. This was a largely African American regiment who fought in the First World War and were nicknamed the "Hell-fighters" by German soldiers. The story begins with recruitment for the regiment in Harlem, New York, and follows the experiences of Black soldiers from a wide range of different social classes and cultures as they are met with internal racial segregation in the American army as well as the realities of war.

Tales of the Talented Tenth series (Volume One: Bass Reeves [2014]; Volume Two: Bessie Stringfield [2016]; Volume Three: Robert Smalls [2021]), Joel Christian Gill. Chicago Review Press. 2014-2021.

Ages: 12-17 years

Buy Volume One: Bass Reeves here; Volume Two: Bessie Stringfield here; or Volume Three: Robert Smalls here.

Created by Joel Christian Gill, the Tales of the Talented Tenth is a series of historical graphic comics that explores notable figures in African American history. The first volume focuses on Bass Reeves, who was one of the first Black Deputy U.S. Marshals and follows Reeves’s life from his childhood growing up enslaved to his adulthood serving in the American armed forces. Bessie Stringfield, also known as The Motorcycle Queen of Miami, is the subject of the second volume. Stringfield was the first Black woman to be inducted into the American Motorcyclist Association Hall of Fame and the Harley Davidson Hall of Fame, and this volume follows her pioneering life as she journeys across Jim Crow America in the 1930s and 1940s on her motorcycle. The third volume tells the story of Robert Smalls, a former enslaved man who escaped to freedom while sailing aboard the C.S.S. Planter and eventually became a Black politician.

APB: Artists against Police Brutality: A Comic Book Anthology, Bill Cambell (Editor), Jason Rodriguez (Editor) and John Jennings (Editor). Rosarium Publishing. 2015.

Ages: 12+ years

Find out more about APB: Artists against Police Brutality: A Comic Book Anthology here.

APB: Artists Against Police Brutality is a benefit comic book anthology that features a range of comic shorts, pin-ups, poems, short essays and flash fiction exploring police brutality, the justice system, and civil rights. It begins with a portrait of 11 individuals killed by law enforcement: Tanisha Anderson, Cary Ball Jr., Rekia Boyd, Michael Brown, Miriam Carey, John Crawford, Amadou Diallo, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Yvette Smith, and Aiyana Stanley-Jones. The proceeds of the comic anthology will go to the Innocence Project.

Monster: A Graphic Novel, Walter Dean Myers (Author), Guy A. Sims (Author) and Dawud Anyabwile (Artist). Harper Collins. 2015.

Ages: 13+ years

Buy Monster: A Graphic Novel here.

Monster: A Graphic Novel is an adaptation of Walter Dean Myers’s 1999 YA novel, Monster, which won both the Michael L. Printz Award and a Coretta Scott King Award Honor in 2000. Adapted by Guy Sims and with art from Dawud Anyabwile, this graphic novel is a coming-of-age story that follows teenager Steve Harmon as he awaits trial for murder and robbery and adjusts to life in juvenile detention.

I am Alfonso Jones, Tony Medina (Author) and Stacey Robinson (Illustrator) and John Jennings (Illustrator).Tu Books. 2017.

Ages: 13-17 years

Find out more about I am Alfonso Jones here.

I am Alfonso Jones tells the haunting story of police violence and its traumatic impact. The graphic novel focuses on Black teenager Alfonso, who is accidentally shot by a police officer while he is preparing to play Hamlet in his school play. Alfonso returns as a ghost, and finds himself on a ghost train filled with other victims of police shootings, while his friends and family struggle with grief as they seek justice for his death.

Kindred: a Graphic Novel Adaptation, Octavia Butler (Author), John Jennings (Artist) and Damian Duffy (Adapter). Abrams Books. 2017.

Ages: 13+ years

Buy Kindred: a Graphic Novel Adaptation here.

Adapted by Damian Duffy and with artwork from John Jennings, Kindred: a Graphic Novel Adaptation reworks Octavia Butler’s best-selling science fiction novel, Kindred, to a new visual medium. The story follows Dana, a young Black woman, who experiences a series of inexplicable time travel events that transport her back and forth between her 1970s California home to the pre-Civil War South where she witnesses and experiences slavery first-hand.

Victor LaValle’s Destroyer, Victor LaValle (Author) and Dietrich Smith (Artist). BOOM! Studios. 2017.

Ages: 16+ years

Buy Victor LaValle's Destroyer here.

Victor LaValle’s Destroyer is a modern day reworking of Frankenstein. Told over a six-issue comic book limited series, and with artwork by Dietrich Smith, this science-fiction/horror graphic novel follows Mary’s Shelley’s Frankensteinian monster in 2017. The monster has become the Destroyer and now desires the eradication of all of humanity. In 2018 the series won the Bram Stoker Award for Best Graphic Novel.

Bitter Root, Chuck Brown (Author), David F. Walker (Author) and Sanford Greene (Artist). Image Comics, 2018.

Ages: 16+ years

Read the first issue of Bitter Root online here.

Set during the Harlem Renaissance, Bitter Root is a comic series created by Chuck Brown, David F. Walker and Sanford Greene. It follows the Sangerye family who are legendary monster hunters, but rather than killing monsters they attempt to cure them first. The series explores historical conflict and institutionalised racism, and combines early 20th century African American culture, aspects of voodoo and also film noir. In 2020, Bitter Root won Best Series at the Ringo Awards, and later in 2020 and 2022 it won the Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series.

The Be-Bop Barbarians, Gary Phillips (Author) and Dale Berry (Artist). Pegasus Books. 2019.

Buy The Be-Bop Barbarians here.

The Be-Bop Barbarians follows the struggles of three African American friends and comic artists. Taking place in the Civil Rights Movement of 1950s Manhattan, and set against the backdrop of the Red Scare and the blossoming jazz scene, the story explores racism, police violence and escalating cultural tensions in America.

Killadelphia, Rodney Barnes (Author), Jason Shawn Alexander (Artist) and Luis NCT (Artist). ‎Image Comics, ‎2020.

Ages: 16+ years

Read the first issue of Killadelphia online here.

Killadelphia–which references the slang name for Philadelphia and the city’s high crime rates–is a horror comic series created by Rodney Barnes, Jason Shawn Alexander, and Luis NCT that offers an imaginative interpretation of vampire mythology. Here, the once prosperous city of Philadelphia has fallen prey to corruption, poverty, violence and vampires. The story focuses on Jim Sangster, Jr. as he investigates his fathers death. Both men are police officers, and the narrative is presented as an inter-generational mystery that explores memory, family and identity. At the same time, a vampire movement emerges that offers the potential creation of a liberation movement for Black vampires amidst a new, undead American revolution.

Watch a conversation with Rodney Barnes about Killadelphia here.

Across the Tracks: Remembering Greenwood, Black Wall Street, and the Tulsa Race Massacre, Alverne Ball (Author), Stacey Robinson (Illustrator), and Renaldo Anderson (Contributor). Abrams ComicArts. 2021.

Ages: 12+ years

Buy Across the Tracks here.

One hundred years after the Tulsa Race Massacre, Across the Tracks charts the rise, the violent fall and then the rebirth of Black Wall Street. This graphic novel, which also includes a preface, a timeline of Black Wall Street in Greenwood, Oklahoma, and a historical essay, sets out to both remember the tragedy but also celebrate the importance of this community.

Black: the Graphic Novel, Tobias Taitt (Author) and Anthony Smith (Artist). Soaring Penguin Press. 2021.

Buy Black: the Graphic Novel here.

Collaborating with artist Anthony Smith, Tobias Taitt created Black: the Graphic Novel. This autobiographical work tells the story of Tobias, a child raised in care in the 1970s and 1980s who then falls into a life of crime, exploring themes of race and class in Britain.

The Black Panther Party: A Graphic Novel History, David F. Walker (author) and Marcus Kwame Anderson (Artist). Penguin Random House / Ten Speed Press. 2021.

Buy The Black Panther Party: A Graphic Novel History here.

The Black Panther Party: A Graphic Novel History explores the history and legacy of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, which was established in 1966 concurrent to but distinct from the Civil Rights Movement. It explores the Black Panther’s dedication to direct action through citizen patrols, designed to protect their community from police violence, as well as their social and educational programs.

Monumental: Oscar Dunn and His Radical Fight in Reconstruction Louisiana, Brian K. Mitchell (Author), and Barrington S. Edwards (Illustrator). University of Virginia Press / Historic New Orleans. 2021.

Ages: 12+ years

Buy Monumental: Oscar Dunn and His Radical Fight in Reconstruction Louisiana here.

Monumental is a graphic novel that tells the story of Oscar Dunn, a Black man born into slavery in Louisiana who went on to become America's first Black lieutenant governor and acting governor. After the Civil War, and in the early years of Reconstruction in Louisiana, Dunn fought for universal suffrage, civil rights, and integrated public schools. The book also includes contextual essays, a map and a timeline that help to flesh out Oscar Dunn’s life and his legacy.

Wake: The Hidden History of Women-led Slave Revolts, Rebecca Hall (Author) and Hugo Martinez (Artist). Penguin Books Ltd. 2021.

Ages: 16+ years

Buy Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts here.

Written by historian Rebecca Hall, and illustrated by Hugo Martinez, Wake explores the often unknown or hidden history of slave revolts led by women. This graphic novel documents female resistance to enslavement and their role in instigating rebellion and revolts. The story is also part autobiography, and charts Hall’s archival research into the Atlantic slave trade along with her own family history and the legacy of her formerly enslaved ancestors.

Toussaint Louverture: The Story of the Only Successful Slave Revolt In History, CLR James (Author), Nic Watts (Illustrator) and Sakina Karimjee (Illustrator). Verso. 2023.

Ages: 16+ years

Buy Toussaint Louverture:The Story of the Only Successful Slave Revolt in History here.

Toussaint Louverture: The Story of the Only Successful Slave Revolt In History is an adaptation of a 1936 play C. L. R. James, and tells the story of the only successful revolt by enslaved people. Led by Toussaint Louverture, and against the backdrop of the French revolution, this revolt led to the creation of Haiti, the first independent Black republic outside of Africa. The book won the American Book Award and the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award.