Did You Know that Black Artist Matt Baker co-created the FIRST Graphic Novel???

Before Will Eisner created A Contract with God...
Before Gil Kane created BlackMark...

...there was It Rhymes with Lust!

Written by Arnold Drake and Leslie Waller (combined as "Drake Waller"), illustrated by penciler Matt Baker and inker Ray Osrin, the digest-sized 1950 one-shot from St John Publications is pulpish film noir at its' coolest!

Dark Horse Comics (which published a 2007 high-quality reprint available below) explained it thusly...

In 1950, writers Arnold Drake and Leslie Waller, both attending college on the G.I. Bill, envisioned a sophisticated, novel-length comic tailored to their peers. Collaborating with comics art master Matt Baker, known for singularly defining the genre of "good girl art" on titles such as Phantom Lady, they crafted a film-noir inspired masterwork of romance, intrigue, and moral relativity. When cynical newspaperman Hal Weber reunites with old flame Rust Masson, he finds the beguiling widow of a mining magnate willing to do anything to undermine the local political machine--her only opponent for total control of Copper City!

We presented the complete original 1950 edition in a summer 2017 blogathon that ran throughout several of our RetroBlogs.
Just follow the embedded links at the end of each chapter and enjoy the whole story!
Buckle up your seatbelts and begin the adventure at True Love Comics Tales...

Note: The thanks of a grateful nation go to Kracalactaka, who found the scans of the 1950 St John first edition in the wilds of the internet, cleaned them up, and made them available!

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It Rhymes with Lust

Deluxe Reprint Edition

The LOST 1970s Black SuperHeroine!

After 1971's The ButterFly...

...and 1975's Storm...

...there was...

SUPERBITCH!

The Black superheroine who's x-rated adventures were so hot we can't run them here!

But we can re-present her tale at our "brother" RetroBlog...

Not Safe for Work Comics!

Dare You Miss this "Lost" Piece of Black Americana?

Friday Fun ABBOTT & COSTELLO COMICS "Comics Convention!"

Like Roy Thomas, Jim Shooter, Marv Wolfman, and numerous others... 

...writer/artist Grass Green was part of the first generation of fanboys-turned-pros in the 1960s.
What few people knew was that Grass was one of the few Black fanboys!

While he occasionally worked in mainstream comics, as shown in this never-reprinted tale from Charlton's Abbott & Costello Comics #16 (1972), Green found his greatest professional success as the first Black underground comix writer/artist!

From the early 1970s to the late 1990s, Grass did quite a bit of work for Kitchen Sink, Renegade, Rip Off, and Fantagraphics' Eros imprint.

Sadly, Grass Green passed away from lung cancer in 2002.

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Black Comics

Politics of Race and Representation

Baker Reading Room STRANGE SUSPENSE STORIES "Inexplicable"

Can you guess which cover-featured tale from this book was pencilled by Matt Baker?

Considering Baker was one of the foremost "good girl" illustrators of the 1940s-50s, it should be obvious, even with the terrible inking by Vince Colletta!

That is one smart bear!

This never-reprinted story from Charlton's Strange Suspense Stories #44 (1959), penciled by Baker and inked by Vince Colletta, was one of the last tales published before his death earlier in 1959 of a heart attack at the age of 38.

Note that Matt was so prolific that the inventory of stories he worked on though Colletta's studio for both Charlton and Atlas (later Marvel) wasn't exhausted until a year after his passing!

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Matt Baker

Art of Glamour

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder NIOURK

Did you know the tale behind this cover...

...is about the most powerful African-American character in fiction?

True!

The novel, written by French author Stefan Wul (who also created/wrote Fantastic Planet) features...

...a Black teenager (named "Black Child" or "Dark Child" depending on the translation from the original French) wandering through the East Coast of post-apocalyptic America...

...until he reaches the ruins of New York City (the "Niourk" of the title), where he encounters both robots running the city and humans who avoided the apocalypse by traveling to Mars, whose tech evolves him into a superhuman calling himself "Alpha"!

There's a Twilight Zone-style ending that provides an ending that's both logical and emotionally-satisfying!

(Sorry, no spoilers!)

Though the prose novel has never been translated into English, there is a Dark Horse graphic novel adapted and illustrated in 2012 by noted French artist Olivier Vatine which has been Anglicized!

While the captions and dialogue, like most translations, are a tad stilted, the story is superb and the artwork is captivating!

Since it's currently in print, I'm only running excerpts.

But I recommend you pick it up, either through your local comic shop or on-line!

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Niourk

the Graphic Novel