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The Summary Report:
King, Volume 1 by writer/illustrator Ho Che Anderson is the first installment of a three-volume comics biopic of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life. Volume 1 covers his life spanning from 1934 to 1963. It touches briefly upon his childhood, but greater attention is given to his courtship of his wife-to-be Coretta Scott and to King’s first major leadership role as a civil rights activist in the boycott of public buses in Montgomery, Alabama, following the historic refusal of Rosa Parks’ to acquiesce to segregated bus seating.

The Demographic Report:
This graphic novel should be read by mature readers. Given the historical subject matter, readers should expect some depictions of violence, adult language (including historically contextualized ethnic slurs), and adult situations. This work is not for anyone seeking a comprehensive biographical account of Martin Luther King’s life but rather for those who would be interested in a dramatized interpretation.

The Minority Report:
Mr. Anderson endeavors to resist mythologizing the historical figure of Martin Luther King, arguably the most prominent figure of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, in favor of depicting King’s gifts as a leader and no less his fallibility as a man living through an extraordinary period of upheaval of black-white relations in U.S. history.

The Review:
In his introduction to King, Volume 1, Ho Che Anderson asserted that his goal was to portray Martin Luther King through “some of the flaws and some of the triumphs,” in order to avoid creating an idealized icon. He also provided the caveat that his work was meant to be an interpretation of the life of Martin Luther King and not a definitive biography. They are candid self-assessments.

The author further admits to taking some dramatic license. Such is the case in the event of King’s stabbing by Izola Ware Curry, which was an actual historical event that had occurred during King’s book signing of Stride Toward Freedom in a Harlem department store in 1958. Mr. Anderson decided to transplant that incident to dramatic effect into King’s arrest in 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama that occurred during a protest of segregation practices by public eating establishments.

Speaking to the interests of both drama and accuracy, reading through the book offers the impression of watching a feverishly kinetic documentary, where the film editor has chosen to depict King’s life through a pastiche of fly-on-the-wall outtakes. It works to create a tone of stark immediacy and authenticity, as if the scenes he had chosen came from actual footage from some heretofore unknown film archive of King’s life (some panels are in fact based on actual historical photographs and film footage). Unfortunately, what Mr. Anderson gains in tone he often loses in narrative clarity.

Does an artistic interpretation of a man’s life require narrative clarity? If there is an expectation to function in a biographical capacity, I would have to say yes. Much of the confusion comes from Mr. Anderson’s technical choices.

His “characters,” for the most part, have a heavily etched appearance, maximizing contrast while foregoing almost all intermediate shading. While this technique is very good for underscoring distinctive features and more intense emotions (as well as possibly playing out the theme of black-white relations with the predominantly black and white color scheme), it also ends up making it difficult to distinguish different characters, sometimes even including between characters who are black and white.

Such confusion is further compounded by the fact that Mr. Anderson’s panel progressions often utilize what Scott McCloud in Understanding Comics would refer to as “aspect-to-aspect,” where eclectic establishing shots are used to create an impression of a whole scene. While this is certainly a viable artistic choice, in Mr. Anderson’s execution, the eye too often becomes unsure of what to focus on in terms of character action and plot development.

As a result of all the aforementioned difficulties, I would have to recommend, strangely enough, that one should familiarize oneself with another Martin Luther biography (or autobiography) beforehand in order to gain a better appreciation of King. If in King we don’t have the biography of choice to become familiar with the start of Martin Luther King’s legacy, we at least have what feels to be a still raw and truthful rendition of the man behind the legacy.

Perhaps a more accurate analogy than the documentary film I mentioned earlier, one might look at Mr. Anderson’s endeavor as one might at a jazz musician’s performance, where the player can avoid paying royalties by improvising on established chord progressions. The resulting tune may not resemble the old standard-bearer much, but the resulting innovation could offer an entirely new artistic experience. And like any bold move from old to new, one can love it, hate it, or acquire a lasting taste for it.

Product Details:

• Title: King, Volume 1
• Author: Ho Che Anderson (writer/illustrator)
• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: Fantagraphics Books (June 1993)
• ISBN-10: 1560971126
• ISBN-13: 978-1560971122
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 7.4 x 0.2 inches

The Summary Report
Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics is a well thought out treatise whose subject matter also happens to be its own vehicle of conveyance, i.e., in order to discuss comics he writes and draws in comics format.

The Demographic Report
This book is for anyone who is interested in understanding some of the craft and artistic aesthetics behind the genre of comics. It would also be quite useful for those whose profession relies on conveying information through a visual medium such as graphic design or filmmaking.

The Minority Report
Although this is primarily an overview of comics as they have developed in the US, on certain levels, his work is about giving voice to the underdog. The primary underdog in this case is the medium of comics itself as an under-appreciated art form. And under this underdog there are more underdogs in the way of underrepresented creators and their content which don’t embody the market dominant tendencies towards the superhero genre occupied primarily with white adolescent male power fantasies.

The Review
If one could write a thesis dissertation on comics in the selfsame medium it discussed, one might end up with an impressive work like Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics. His work is an essential guidebook to illuminate the field of comics for both newcomers and veterans alike.

To finish his book results in a heightened state of awareness akin to a student having completed a first film class. Where before said student had probably watched “movies” as a passive recipient, now the same elucidated student approaches “films” with a critically informed eye, taking into account such stylistic choices as camera angles, mise-en-scene, and editing, in addition to the historical context that may inform the work. That same kind of transformation is what McCloud offers to the reader when looking at comics, a visual language sharing some kinship with film, yet with properties wholly unique unto itself.

He begins by doing what any good treatise should do, get a basic definition of his subject matter and then begin to build an argument based on a premise about said subject. In the way of that basic definition of comics, we get: “Juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or an aesthetic response in the viewer.” Or to save both memory and lung capacity, more simply put: “Sequential art.”

And in his premise, Mr. McCloud smartly realizes he is not necessarily preaching to the converted, so his premise essentially states that comics is an under-appreciated art form (if even acknowledged as art in the first place) that certainly deserves its own standing against established art forms such as music, film, and literature. In order to argue the point throughout, the author gives us nine well organized chapters of outstanding background information and analyses. Sensibly, after the definition and premise are set, he offers a historical overview of comics, which helps build the crucial momentum of credibility.

And he doesn’t stop there. After setting up some of the basics in the psychology of perception, we’re off to a very fun illustrated breakdown of the stylistic and structural conventions of comics, everything from the strategic use of speech balloons to an artist’s brush strokes or ink lines to established artists to the all-important breakdown of how panels (a structure unique to the medium) work in comics.

The one ostensible weakness that the book has (which ultimately may be forgivable given the scope of the overall work) is the short shrift given to the discussion of differences in Europe’s and Japan’s comics. He does highlight some qualitative difference in their respective visual and narrative sensibilities, but not enough for a reader to get a sense of comics history and aesthetics on a global (versus merely North American) scale.

Furthermore, although the book ages quite well (it was first published in 1994), it might behoove Mr. McCloud to write a second edition update that reflects the growing popularity of manga (Japanese comics) within the US.

Still, taken in its entirety, Mr. McCloud’s book is an impressively thorough contemplation on the genre of comics. It is an ideal primer for people who are unfamiliar with comics, and even for those who have greater familiarity with comics will find it to be an invaluable primary resource. For reader and creator alike, this is a must have book for your library.

Product Details:

• Title: Understanding Art: The Invisible Art
• Author: Scott McCloud (writer/illustrator)
• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks (April 27, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006097625X
• ISBN-13: 978-0060976255
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 6.7 x 0.6 inches