BAYOU

ANOTHER ONE OF THE BEST COMICS YOU PROBABLY NEVER READ

So what exactly do you get when you cross the Wizard of Oz with a back drop of the Color Purple? Well you get an epic adventure called Bayou. It's the tale of a little black girl named Lee who's on a quest with a Jazz playing Swamp Beast on a quest to save her father and her best friend and play mate (who happens to be white). Now for those of you reading this who are not familiar with the Color Purple, it was set during some extremely hostile racial times (at least for black folk). Of course you know the Wizard of Oz (which coincidentally was also set  in racially hostile times) gives us a whimsical tale in a wonderland with lots of lovable creatures. 

SPOILER ALERT:

Lee (the black girl pictured above) is the daughter of a sharecropper during the depression and she plays with her friend Lily (the white girl pictured above) and looses her necklace in the swamp. Now Lily's mom who is obviously abusive warned her not to lose the necklace. Out of fear Lily begs Lee to get the necklace but Lee refuses so when Lily goes home she says Lee stole it. Of course this gets the Sheriff and the whole town involved. Later Lily is eaten whole by a man who disappears into the swamp (which Lee witness's) and it starts off the accusation that Lee's father kidnapped her. Of course when Lee says what really happens no one believes her and the Lynching is set. Lee has only a day or 2 to find her friend and clear her dads name, so she sets off for an adventure into the world under the swamp and meets a Jazz playing monster named BAYOU. 

Written and Drawn by Jeremy Love who was responsible for the gettosake web comics like Chocolate Thunder and Venus Kincade more notably the comic Furious. His drawing style to me has always been second to non.he creates a really cool tale of mystery, suspense, and a supernatural fantasy-land that will make your head spin. Animals wearing clothes, monsters, and odd creatures help create a new mythology.

To find out more on this comic and the now defunct ZUDA comics publisher click here and do a search at [ZUDA COMICS]. It's available for digital download on Sony and Comixology. Enjoy the snippets of the comic here.

THEY REALLY MADE THAT INTO A COMIC: I Am Curious Black

WHAT THE @#*!$ MOMENTS IN COMICS

So the 60's and 70's come along and there are a lot of books that make social commentary, which is no big shocker because many comics, since they have been around, have made some sort of social commentary or another about something, whether it was war, poverty or whatever....it seemed the best was done through Marvel comics but then DC released in Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane #106 "I Am Curious Black". In it, Lois does a story on....get this...."Little Africa", in Metropolis and the black folks are so distrusting of white people ,that they won't even speak to her. She is also berated by a black man holding a "street meeting" for other black folks.

Then in an attempt to "connect" with black people, she uses her boyfriend Superman's "Plastimold" Machine to turn black for a day. She meets the black man who talked bad about her, befriends him and then helps him stop a drug deal where, he gets shot.....oddly enough, Superman (who had been following Lois to make sure she didn't get in trouble) shows up after the brother gets shot (how often does that happen) and stops the bad guys. Lois gives her blood to help him live and the revelation that their blood is the same is FINALLY realized.....I mean who knew....

Don't get my sarcastic tone twisted........the writers of this book didn't mean to come across as racist (and to me, it does come across as racist) but I think that they were making a serious attempt to talk about a sensitive topic. However sometimes people, when they don't know enough about a culture, will make an attempt to talk about it but make simple mistakes or use offensive terms (i.e. non black folks using the N word just to be trendy). Of course they had the best of intentions and some of the formula may have worked in the day it was written but by today's standards it comes off as condescending. Check out the Full comic below and let me know what you think ....what's your opinion on this one? PEACE.

I am Curious Black Full comic