BLACK AF: AMERICA'S SWEETHEART - Graphic Novel Review
By Ariel Baska — Continuing in the universe of BLACK, Volume 1, by the same authors, this story picks up further into a future where Black people with superpowers are taking on the media and the government agencies that see them as a threat to be neutralized or experimented on. Where BLACK was centered on a male protagonist named Kareem aka X, and his discovery of his superpowers and their political implications, BLACK AF: America’s Sweetheart takes a different approach.
Where BLACK was drawn in black and white (except for the evocative red, black and white covers by Khary Randolph), BLACK AF: America’s Sweetheart is drawn and inked by Jennifer Johnson in a gorgeously poppy and pastel style that reminded me of Kyle Baker’s original work, with a little less goofiness and a more rounded, feminine style, that plays well to the wide-eyed optimism and sincerity of the character of Eli Franklin, the heroine of this story.
By discussing the experience of a young black teenage girl in Montana, Osajyefo and Smith III explicitly place this story in the same universe as the earlier works in this universe but with a radically different geographic setting and mode to illustrate how anger, oppression, and violence against Black people persists even in seemingly innocuous and idyllic settings, far from the cityscape settings in which these stories often take place.
Eli is a teenager who has grown up as an adopted child with white parents, with a father who works for the White House, and therefore she has an optimism about her country and her government that contrasts strongly with characters featured in BLACK. Her family has always embraced her superpowers, even as they’ve encouraged her to keep them hidden, and like your traditional superhero, she dons a mask and cape to hide her identity as she tries to save others around the country, becoming known as Good Girl, America’s Sweetheart.
By making the central character female, they are able to highlight the intersectionality of gender and race, exploring the unique brand of sexism that African-American women face, even as her character is naive to this trend. The writers and artist also highlight other racial tensions at work between matters of identity as an adopted child of white parents, and the tension of reconciling matters of self-perception and media representation. The quest to discover what space she owns or actually belongs in is one that many readers will identify with, no matter their race, and the incredible artwork makes her journey powerful and relatable.
In this particular moment in America’s history, I find this work a remarkably important read, as so many are in need of great works by Black creators that help us to understand a different point of view on the subtext of racism and oppression. This book delivers a unique perspective in a thoroughly entertaining superhero story, with a powerful climax that left me desperately wanting more.
Overall: The story in this spin-off series is entertaining, stunningly drawn and inked, and important as all hell. If you want to know more about the America you live in, but would prefer it be colorful and planted in the fantastic, this is a comic for you. 9.0/10
Black [AF]: America’s Sweetheart Review
Black [AF]: America’s Sweetheart
Writer: Kwanza Osajyefo
Artist: Jennifer Johnson
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Designer: Tim Smith iii
Publisher: Black Mask Studios
Price: $9.99
Can a black woman be America's first superhero? Eli Franklin is a 15-year-old girl living in rural Montana -- and she just happens to be the most powerful person on the planet. In the aftermath of the world learning that only black people have superpowers, Eli makes her debut as the superhero Good Girl, on a mission to help people and quell the fear of empowered blacks. When a super-terrorist threatens to take away everything Eli has worked toward, will donning a patriotic costume be enough for her to find acceptance? America's Sweetheart expands BLACK into a universe of heroes.
Release Date: January 31, 2018
Buy It Digitally: Via comiXology
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Ariel Baska pretends to know many things. And yeah, she has a pop culture podcast, Ride the Omnibus. Which may or may not be exactly as pretentious as you think.