Comics & Graphic Novels

Hellraiser meets Black history as the Box of Bones exacts revenge throughout time and space.

When Black graduate student Lyndsey begins her dissertation work on a mysterious box that pops up during the most violent and troubled time in Africana history, she has no idea that her research will lead her on a phantasmagorical journey from West Philadelphia riots to Haitian slave uprisings. Wherever Lyndsey finds someone who has seen the Box, chaos ensues. Soon, even her own sanity falls into question. In the end, Lyndsey will have to decide if she really wants to see what's inside the Box of Bones. Described as "Tales from the Crypt Meets Black History," Box of Bones is a supernatural nightmare tour through some of the most violent and horrific episodes in the African Diaspora.

Ayize Jama-Everett and John Jennings have assembled a talented group of artists for this ten-issue project, including cover artist, Stacey Robinson (I Am Alfonso Jones), David Brame (MediSIN), Avy Jetter (APB: Artists against Police Brutality), and Tim Fielder (Matty's Rocket).

1931. Bronzeville. Chicago. The mage, Frank "Half Dead" Johnson, is a marked man. Literally. A drunken decision fueled by tragedy has left him with half a soul, sorcerous powers, and two centuries to work off his debt to Scratch (aka The Devil) himself. This graphic novel chronicles three adventures with this tragic conjure man. Watch as "Half Dead" attempts to save his own soul, pay his debt, and help as many people as he can along the way. It's a hard-hitting Hoodoo Noir highball with just a splash of Southern Gothic. Smack-dab in the dark heart of the Windy City. Hold on tight! It's going to be a bumpy ride down Hard Times Road.

Bill Campbell is the founder of Rosarium Publishing and the author the novels Koontown Killing Kaper, My Booty Novel, and Sunshine Patriots as well as the essay collection, Pop Culture: Politics, Puns, and “Poohbutt” from a Liberal Stay-at-Home Dad. He is the coeditor of the anthologies Mothership: Tales from Afrofuturism and Beyond and Stories for Chip: A Tribute to Samuel R. Delany. He lives in Washington, DC. 

Jason Rodriguez is an Eisner and Harvey Award–nominated writer and editor. He is the author of Postcards: True Stories That Never Happened and Try Looking Ahead, and his work has been published by Dark Horse Comics, Random House, and several small publishers. He lives in Arlington, Virginia. 

John Jennings is an associate professor of visual studies at the State University of New York–Buffalo. He is an award-winning graphic novelist and the author of Pitch Black Rainbow: The Art of John Jennings. 

Whit Taylor is a cartoonist, writer, editor, and public health educator from New Jersey. She has a BA in cultural anthropology from Brown University and received an MPH in Social and Behavioral Sciences from Boston University School of Public Health. Her comics have been published by The Nib, The New Yorker, Rosarium Publishing, BOOM!, Sparkplug Books, Kus, Ninth Art Press, Illustrated PEN, and others.

A gritty "voodoo" Western tale about what happens when fighting is all both sides know what to do.

1879. After decades of violence of fleeing, having gone everywhere from Florida to Mexico, a war-weary band of Seminole Blacks led by their sheriff, Desi Leans, and his wise-cracking deputy, Gay Day, have finally settled in the Oklahoma Territory. They have built their dream, Refuge, and they will do whatever it takes to make it work.

But they fear that it may all go up in smoke when a band of renegade buffalo soldiers, The Testimony Gang, and their firebrand leader, Prester John, come to town.

Will Refuge hold true to its promise or will it all be burned to the ground?

Based on the Persian children's classic by Samad Behrangi, this book is about a young fish's courage to question authority and strike out on her own.
 
An inquisitive little fish decided to question authority and leave the safety of her own home to venture out into the expansive sea. The creatures she meets along the way teach her important lessons and make her learn the most valuable treasure in life: freedom.

Bizhan Khodabandeh is a visual communicator who moves freely across the professional boundaries as designer, illustrator, artist, and activist. His works vary from small graphic art projects to major public campaigns. Khodabandeh is particularly fascinated by how art and design can catalyze social change. He has received numerous international and national awards for his work, including: a silver medal from the Society of Illustrators, a silver medal from the International Design Awards, a finalist in the Cross-Cultural Design Competition, and best in show through the American Institute of Graphic Arts. He has received numerous international and national awards for his work as both an illustration and designer through various institutions such as: The American Institute of Graphic Arts, Creativity International, Adbusters, and Creative Quarterly. Khodabandeh has had work featured in publications such as Print, Creativity International, Adbusters, and Comic Bastards among others. Currently Khodabandeh teaches full-time at VCU’s Robertson School of Media & Culture and freelances under the name, Mended Arrow.

Bill Campbell is the author of Sunshine Patriots, My Booty Novel, Pop Culture: Politics, Puns, "Poohbutt" from a Liberal Stay-at-Home Dad, and Koontown Killing Kaper. He co-edited the groundbreaking anthology, Mothership: Tales from Afrofuturism and Beyond in addition to Stories for Chip: A Tribute to Samuel R. Delany, APB: Artists against Police Brutality, and Future Fiction. He's also edited the two-volume international science fiction anthology, Sunspot Jungle. 

Damian Duffy is a cartoonist, scholar, writer, curator, lecturer, teacher, a Glyph Comics and Bram Stoker Award-winner, and a New York Times bestselling graphic novelist. He holds a MS and PhD in Library and Information Sciences from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he is on faculty. His many publications range from academic essays (in comics form) on new media and learning to art books about under-representation in comics culture, from editorial comics to a graphic novel adaptation of Kindred by Octavia E. Butler, which was awarded a 2017 Bram Stoker Award. 

David Brame makes comics, some of which can be seen on splitlip.com and henbracomics.com, in numerous anthologies, and in the Action Lab OGN The Trip.

When you’re the only Black kid in the honors program or (any program) at your mostly white high school, or one of a handful of Black graduate students in your PhD program, or one of two African American women on the faculty at your Pac-10 employer, it’s not your gender non-conformity that sets you apart from your peers. In those environments, your Blackness is the first thing people notice about you. Still, there are other ways of being different--and feeling different--that can’t be attributed to race, especially if you’re one of the people whose awareness of the unwritten rules of what it means to be a boy or a girl (or a man or a woman) is tempered by the fact that most of those rules don’t feel quite right.

In Gender Studies: True Confessions of an Accidental Outlaw, Ajuan Mance gives comic treatment to the challenges, complexities, and occasional absurdity of life at the crossroads of race, gender, and geekiness. This graphic memoir answers important questions like: How many preschoolers have to mistake you for your dad before you actually start to forget your own name; if a Black girl is awful at double-dutch jump rope is it a reflection on her gender identity, racial identity, or both; and is viola player a gender or just a sexual orientation? Ajuan Mance’s comic Gender Confessions take up each of these questions and more, as it invites to share in those moments that mark the path of a gender explorer.

Marguerite Dabaie is a freelance illustrator and has worked with such organizations as School Library Journal, Mizna, and Just World Books, among others. The Hookah Girl and Other True Stories is her first major comic, and it was awarded two grants. She lives in New York City with her husband, Chris.

An exquisitely unique retelling of the origin of jolly, old St. Nick.

Volume 1: The Muse

It’s the one story of magic and wonder everyone thinks they know—yet the most epic part of the tale remains shrouded in mystery. What actually happened 1,800 years ago to transform a starry-eyed young priest named Nicholas into a winter wizard destined to circle the world on a sleigh of hope? Now, the secret is revealed: She happened. This is the story of Amara, one of the legendary Muses of the House of Polyhymnia. Sent by the Muses to a small town in ancient Lycia, Amara sees something special in Nicholas’s kindness and generosity. As she prepares to defend humankind against the Kobaloi, creatures who feed on fear and chaos, she senses this young man may be the partner she needs to stand against their growing power. But binding her fate and her magic to Saint Nicholas will mean breaking the laws of the Muses—and risking their eternal wrath.

An aquatic reef held down by an oppressive regime of blood-thirsty herons struggles to rise up in this harrowing tale of self-discovery, heritage, and revolution. 

We follow The Little Red Fish as they journey deep into themselves and blossom into the leader they were meant to be. Guided by a magical orb and the will of the people, our hero strives to help a small reef in the Persian Gulf regain its freedom. The Little Red Fish is a creative retelling of the events of the Iranian Revolution from the perspective of those actually involved. A stunning mixture of political allegory and magical realism, The Little Red Fish collects the 6 part comic book series into one trade, including artist features and process notes.  The Little Red Fish vividly captures an often-overlooked part of history, channeling folk history, oral histories from first-hand accounts, and academic research. 

Co-creators Eileen Kaur Alden and Supreet Singh Manchanda, together with award-winning artist Amit Tayal (Steve Jobs: Genius by Design, The Jungle Book, Alibaba and Forty Thieves: Reloaded), launched Super Sikh® Comics with a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2015 and continue to bring the adventures of Secret Agent Deep Singh to fans all over the world.

Hellraiser meets Black History.

When Black graduate student Lyndsey begins her dissertation work on a mysterious box that pops up during the most violent and troubled time in Africana history, she has no idea that her research will lead her on a phantasmagorical journey from West Philadelphia riots to Haitian slave uprisings. Wherever Lyndsey finds someone who has seen the Box, chaos ensues. Soon, even her own sanity falls into question. In the end, Lyndsey will have to decide if she really wants to see what's inside the Box of Bones. Described as "Tales from the Crypt Meets Black History," Box of Bones is a supernatural nightmare tour through some of the most violent and horrific episodes in the African Diaspora. Ayize Jama-Everett and John Jennings have assembled a talented group of artists for this ten-issue project, including cover artist, Stacey Robinson (I Am Alfonso Jones), David Brame (MediSIN), Avy Jetter (APB: Artists against Police Brutality), and Tim Fielder (Matty's Rocket).

Keith A. Miller was born but not completely bred in Brooklyn, New York. When he’s not busy corralling thirteen-year-olds (he's a teacher), he writes independent comics. He likes to play around in the science-fiction and urban fantasy genres but is not above a good slice-of-life graphic novel. He is the co-creator of Triboro Tales and Insensitives. His latest graphic novella, Infest, will hit the convention floors in 2015. He is a graduate of CUNY Queens College, where he received a degree in Comparative Literature and Cultural Anthropology, and CUNY Law School. His interests lie in telling speculative fiction stories of people generally not represented in genre fiction so that the plucky character of color will not die first.

Ian Gabriel is an illustrator who graduated from SUNY Geneseo with a Bachelor’s in Studio Art. Manticore is his first foray into graphic novels, but won’t be his last. He lives in New York.