A Definitive Statement / Perspective: The Pan-African Contribution as an Integral Part of the Heroic Epic Continuum!

Revised November 2013

Akin to the classic epics of Heru: The Avenger (gypto-Kemetic ca. 7500 B.C.), Gilgamesh (Sumer-Chaldean ca. 2000 B.C.), Iliad / Odyssey (Greek ca. 800 B.C.), Beowulf (English ca. A.D. 800) and Sundiata (Malian ca. A.D. 1200) is the contemporary medium of comic books. The hero is the focus of the ancient epics as the superhero is the focus of the more contemporary medium of comic books. The term hero in English is derived from the Greek term heros, which in turn is derived from the gypto-Kemetic title Heru. Heru represents the archetypical protagonist and savior. Heru is the most ancient, documented mytho-historical protagonist. These global myths and legends, and others like them, are the prototypes and basis of the 20th century creation of the comic book. Comic books serve a threefold purpose: first, they are a source of entertainment and a profitable collectible hobby; second, they are a lucrative business / profession; and third, they serve as a modern form of myth-making and storytelling. The comic industry continues to expand with graphic novels, trade paper backs, prestige format comics, reprints, hard covers, limited editions and independent comics, and with the addition of Internet forays, webcomics and comic-book-based films, this is a multi-billion dollar industry with a global impact. Examples of the phantasmagorical are not new in African American culture. Foundationally, African American myths, legends, folklore and story-telling have been part and parcel of the American (US) landscape since the arrival of the first Africans in Jamestown, VA in 1619.

The modern foundation of the Black influence in the comic book continuum was laid over many decades by men and women who made innovative, dynamic and lasting literary and artistic contributions to the culture of the U.S. and the world. A few of these African cultural influences include the tales of Anansi, Brer

Rabbit, John Henry and Stagger Lee. These, and many others, were kept alive and re-created, re-envisioned, synchretized, synthesized and synergized in the U.S., particularly in the South (and during the Great Migrations North), by people of African descent. They were often used to empower the disenfranchised through imaginative tales of derring-do, heroics and revenge for wrong-doing. Since 1938 superhero comic book characters have been instrumental in projecting the image of the superior and extraordinary man. Women who were called heroines were often merely the girlfriends of the heroes. This hero was always strong, attractive, admired by both men and women, capable of executing almost any feat, and always of European descent; even if the hero was an alien being, he was aesthetically / phenotypically Europoid. Comic books have a history in the U.S dating back to the early 1900s . The earliest comic books consisted of reprinted comic strips in a book / magazine format. In 1933 this new format was marketed and well-received.

Detective Comics, aka DC Comics, is the oldest existing comic book publishing house in the U.S. The first actual superhero comic book format was created in 1938 when DC released Action Comics #1. DCs first and greatest superhero was Superman of Krypton. In 1939 Marvel Comics, known then as Timely Comics, the second oldest existing comic book company created Marvel Comics #1, which introduced the original Human Torch and Sub-Mariner. This same year the Batman (DC) was created, and joined in 1940 by the first teenage sidekick: Robin, the Boy Wonder. Fawcett Comics debuted Captain Marvel (Shazam!) in 1940 as well. Soon to follow in 1941 were DC and Marvel superheroes like Wonder Woman and Captain America, respectively. These characters then became the prototype of the American (USA) superhero. Even though they had distinct origins and were based sometimes on distinct or fictitious scientific, mythological, metaphysical, extraterrestrial or extradimensional concepts their ethos and aesthetic were decidedly Europoid. By the end of 1954 the US Comics Code Authority was created to standardize the comic industry. Detective Comics (DC) dominated in the industry until 1961 when Marvel Comics introduced the Fantastic Four. The Amazing-Spiderman, the Hulk, the Avengers, and the X-Men were soon to follow. The comics code, no doubt, impacted the type and kind of characters comic book companies would sanction, including the creation of characters that would not be considered offensive to the general public (read: White). Among those were Black characters that did not break the stereotypical mold of subservience or tertiary status set in the previous years (ca. 1897 1965).

Since that time DC and Marvel Comics have created literally thousands of superhero characters that have appeared in thousands of issues of comic books. There were intermittent Black characters that were side-kicks, soldiers and the like, but the next time we see a bona fide Black superhero is in 1966 in Marvel Comics Fantastic Four: Black Panther! Ironically, or perhaps not so ironically, out of the thousands of superhero characters created by these two comic conglomerates from 1938 - 1990 less than twenty were Black or Africoid. And of these, on average, only 5 per company were critical to the respective comic universes. That is to say that if they were to disappear, their absence would mean nothing! Of those few, those who had their own titles had them only briefly.

Contemporarily, the first independently published and documented Black comic books were created in 1947 and 1966, by Orrin Evans and Bertram Fitzgerald, respectively. The former, All-Negro Comics #1, contained several stories, among them: Lion Man - story by George J. Evans, Jr. / art by Orrin C. Evans tells of an American-born, college educated, young scientist sent by the United Nations to watch over the fearsome Magic Mountain of the African Gold Coast. Within its crater lies the worlds largest deposit of uranium --- enough to make an atom bomb that could destroy the world; the latter, Golden Legacy story / art by various writers / artists - is a 16-isssue series of Pan-African history comics. They were published and released under the ennobling title of the Golden Legacy Illustrated History Magazine Series (1966 1972). And, on that note, Prof. William Fosters perpetual exhibit entitled, The Changing Image of African Americans in Comics: 1890s-1990s, takes us from the nameless Black child in the Yellow Kid (1897), the first acknowledged cartoon strip, to Spawn, the popular 1990s cartoon and movie character. According to Foster, It wasnt until the 1970s that serious images appeared [in Marvel and DC Comics].

The earliest attempt at producing a Black Age comic book (NOG: Protector of the Pyramids) was made in 1981 by Mr. Turtel Onli: The Father of the Black Age! From 1990 - 1997 there was an attempt on the part of independent African American comic companies to create more Black superhero characters.

The Black Age comic book titles published in 1990, and the plethora of superhero characters in this genre published shortly thereafter, ran the gamut of representation from ancient African mythology, to extraterrestrial mythology, to neo-African urban mythology. Among them: Brotherman / created by 3 real life brothers, Jason, David (Dawud Anyabwile), and Guy Sims of Big City Comics, Inc. (1990); Captain Africa / created by Dwayne Ferguson of African Prince Productions (1990); Heru: Son of Asar / created by Roger Barnes and produced by Timothy Chadwick for ACME Comics (1990); Black Thunder / created by Ernest Gibbs, Jr. and Breeze Comics (1990); Numidian Force / created by Kamal Shariff of Kamite Comics (1990); and Original Man / created by Alonso Washington of Omega 7 Comics (1992).

In 1993, Milestone Media, a subsidiary of DC Comics, founded by the Late Dwayne McDuffie (pictured), Denys Cowan, Michael Davis and Derek Dingle, launched its first batch of titles set in the Dakota Universe: Hardware, Icon, Static, Blood Syndicate and Shadow Cabinet. This marked a new era in the mainstream comic book industry. Milestone Media ended abruptly in 1997. However, in 2008 the DC Universe and the Milestone Universe were merged. Thereafter, in 2010 DC released a limited series titled Milestone Forever, which took place in the original Dakota Universe. It detailed the final fate of several of Milestone Media's heroes and revealed the events that led to their merger into the DC Universe. The 21st century ushered in a new era of creativity in the comic book industry, in both independent and mainstream genres. Just take a look at the website of the Museum of Black Superheroes (www.blacksuperhero.com). There is no shortage of ideas! What is often lacking are an operational marketing strategy and professional support and expertise.

As it relates to the comic book and sci-fi industry, there is an untapped market in the African American community and in many other ethnic American communities, but the struggle here is more for the minds of those who have been overexposed to Euro-stream / Eurocentric images paraded as mainstream. This one-dimensional saturation prohibits, retards and often precludes the cultivation of other images. Enter: The East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention (ECBACC, Inc.). ECBACC, which was created initially as an educational resource using comic books to address illiteracy in the US by networking with comic book creators, has successfully cultivated images of Black superheroes and has served as a nexus, conduit and catalyst for Black comic book creators, their colleagues and fans since 2002! Black superheroes are in abundance. The question is never anything as trite and clich as: Is it time for a Black superhero? or Where are the Black superheroes? The fact is that Black superheroes date as far back as 10000 B.C.! Superheroes are not created in a vacuum. The contemporary comic book reader (the world) has simply been marginalized and sequestered from the actual continuum to which we have all contributed! For those interested in acquiring more information, here are a few of the professionals, educators and researchers who have been at the core of the matter:

Mr. Turtel Onli is a Chicago artist and the Father of the Black Age movement (1981). Mr. Onli started the first Black Age Convention in 1993; Mr. Yumy Odom, Brooklyn-

born educator, etymologist, mythologist, archivist of the Africentric comic book tradition and Founder of First World Komix (1986), is also the Founder and President of the East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention, Inc. (ECBACC, Inc) (2002); Mr. William Foster III (aka Prof. Bill Foster), Philadelphia-born comic book historian, is a founding member of the ECBACC Convention and a long-time comic book collector and researcher; Mr. Omar Bilal, of Baltimore, MD, is the Founder of the first cyberspace museum: The Museum of Black Superheroes (1998); and Mr. Akineye Brown, Philadelphia-born illustrator, whose publishing company Sokoya Comics (2006) produces culturally-relevant and Africentric titles that intelligently and powerfully blend fantasy, realism and African culture.
Learn more! BE a part of a great continuum! Join us for the 13th Annual ECBACC!

website: www.ecbacc.com

e-mail: yumy.odom@ecbacc.com

Credo: "What we can imagine we can often create. What we can imagine ourselves as we can often become." Yumy Odom, ECBACC Founder

The 13th Annual East Coast Black Age of Comic Convention - May 2014

ECBACC Founder & President: Mr. Yumy Odom, an award-winning educator, author, curriculum developer, administrator, community ambassador and BlogTalkRadio show host with over 35 years of experience and an amazing body of work accomplished in his lifetime, has unabashedly created an artistic, creative and nourishing community that links and unites professional and amateur comic book artists and creators and industry aficionados from across the nation via The East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention (ECBACC, Inc.). This seminal initiative has created a wave of creativity and has unleashed previously untapped resources that are only now being utilized in the forms of exhibitions, seminars, curricula, panel discussions, etc. One of Mr. Odoms latest works is a 250-page web document (2010) entitled A Public Resource Guide to the Epic Myth Continuum that outlines and contextualizes 10,000 years of ancient, modern and neo-mythology.

The sci-fi / fantasy writer is the modern-day soothsayer and visionary, keeping alive a tradition that is over 10,000 years old, foreseeing, predicting and envisioning, sometimes with frightening accuracy, humankind's destiny. Y. Odom