'Twenty Years After' for Black Cartoonists
Posted: 1/9/2008 | By: Dave Astor
French author Alexandre Dumas, whose ancestry was one-quarter black, wrote a sequel to "The Three Musketeers" called "Twenty Years After." Yesterday's announcement of a Feb. 10 action by black cartoonists comes 20 years after the scarcity of black cartoonists was a much-discussed topic in the newspaper business.
The Feb. 10 action -- reported in this E&P story -- will focus on the fact that many newspapers run no more than one or two comics created by the 15 or so cartoonists of color on major-syndicate rosters. Back in 1988, the issue was that an even tinier number of African-American cartoonists -- including Morrie Turner ("Wee Pals"), Brumsic Brandon Jr. ("Luther"), and Ted Shearer ("Quincy") -- were distributed by major syndicates.
The ball started rolling in early 1988, when the Detroit City Council's Youth Advisory Commission urged Detroit newspaper editors to do something about virtually all-white comics pages.
Detroit News and Detroit Free Press executives subsequently mailed letters to various syndicates and 181 cartoonists about the lack of diversity.
Cartoonists were sent the letters in the hopes they would introduce more characters of color in their mostly white casts. The Free Press in 1988 counted the number of characters in its comics pages in a given month, and came up with 5,250 whites and 31 blacks (.6%). Detroit at the time was 63% black.
Later that year, the Free Press held a local contest for minority cartoonists and the (now-defunct) Newspaper Features Council discussed the matter at length during its annual meeting.
Whether coincidentally or not, several talented African-American cartoonists were offered syndication contracts in 1988 and soon after. The first was Ray Billingsley, whose "Curtis" comic was launched in September 1988 and sold to nearly 100 newspapers by year's end.
Then, in 1989, came "Jump Start" by Robb Armstrong of United Media and "Herb and Jamaal" by Steve Bentley of Tribune Media Services (he's now with Creators Syndicate). In 1991, Universal Press Syndicate launched an even rarer feature -- a comic ("Where I'm Coming From") by an African-American woman (Barbara Brandon). She had started her comic/editorial cartoon hybrid for the Detroit Free Press in 1989.
Brandon, the daughter of no longer-syndicated "Luther" creator Brumsic Brandon Jr., ended her comic in 2005. Billingsley, Armstrong, and Bentley continue to produce their strips, as does "Wee Pals" cartoonist Morrie Turner of Creators. "Quincy" cartoonist Ted Shearer died in 1992.
Now, in 2008, there are more cartoonists of color and more diversity of characters on comics pages. But, as the Feb. 10 action indicates, "the funnies" are still not as representative of America as they could be.
The Feb. 10 action -- reported in this E&P story -- will focus on the fact that many newspapers run no more than one or two comics created by the 15 or so cartoonists of color on major-syndicate rosters. Back in 1988, the issue was that an even tinier number of African-American cartoonists -- including Morrie Turner ("Wee Pals"), Brumsic Brandon Jr. ("Luther"), and Ted Shearer ("Quincy") -- were distributed by major syndicates.
The ball started rolling in early 1988, when the Detroit City Council's Youth Advisory Commission urged Detroit newspaper editors to do something about virtually all-white comics pages.
Detroit News and Detroit Free Press executives subsequently mailed letters to various syndicates and 181 cartoonists about the lack of diversity.
Cartoonists were sent the letters in the hopes they would introduce more characters of color in their mostly white casts. The Free Press in 1988 counted the number of characters in its comics pages in a given month, and came up with 5,250 whites and 31 blacks (.6%). Detroit at the time was 63% black.
Later that year, the Free Press held a local contest for minority cartoonists and the (now-defunct) Newspaper Features Council discussed the matter at length during its annual meeting.
Whether coincidentally or not, several talented African-American cartoonists were offered syndication contracts in 1988 and soon after. The first was Ray Billingsley, whose "Curtis" comic was launched in September 1988 and sold to nearly 100 newspapers by year's end.
Then, in 1989, came "Jump Start" by Robb Armstrong of United Media and "Herb and Jamaal" by Steve Bentley of Tribune Media Services (he's now with Creators Syndicate). In 1991, Universal Press Syndicate launched an even rarer feature -- a comic ("Where I'm Coming From") by an African-American woman (Barbara Brandon). She had started her comic/editorial cartoon hybrid for the Detroit Free Press in 1989.
Brandon, the daughter of no longer-syndicated "Luther" creator Brumsic Brandon Jr., ended her comic in 2005. Billingsley, Armstrong, and Bentley continue to produce their strips, as does "Wee Pals" cartoonist Morrie Turner of Creators. "Quincy" cartoonist Ted Shearer died in 1992.
Now, in 2008, there are more cartoonists of color and more diversity of characters on comics pages. But, as the Feb. 10 action indicates, "the funnies" are still not as representative of America as they could be.