King (Fantagraphics)

    (Fantagraphics, 2005)
™ and © 2005 Ho Che Anderson

Dr. Martin Luther King was undoubtedly the most influential black leader of the 20th century. His intelligence and strength of character made him a man who could not be dismissed or ignored by the complacent establishment. Other leaders who fought for civil rights took a more confrontational tact and were portrayed as unreasonable. Tragically, his non–violent approach did not save him from the same fate as men like Malcolm X, who, for a time, proposed militant black separatism.

This impressive biography chronicles with agonizing and embarrassing detail the hatred that was openly displayed in the mid–20th century. King organized the bus boycott in Montgomery Alabama after Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man as the segregation laws demanded. That incident gave the fledgling Civil Rights movement the impetus that made it preeminent the issue of the time. Writer/artist Ho Che Anderson portrays Dr. King as a real man, not the idealized legend that time and sentiment has bestowed on him. Consequently, some of the more unsavory aspects of his life are included. He and others of that time, like Ralph Abernathy and John Kennedy, are portrayed as pragmatic men who did not always listen to what Lincoln called, “the better angels of our nature.” but, whatever faults he may have had, Martin Luther King’s legacy is one of triumph.

In the world of comics, King’s story also resonates with the continuing story line that views anti–mutant hysteria as an allegory for the fight for Civil Rights often casts Professor Xavier as a Martin Luther King type and Magneto as his Malcolm X counterpart.

— George Haberberger
Jump to issue:
  NotesWriterArtist
#1

August, 1993
Cover Price: $8.95
1 copy available for $14.99 		Ho Che AndersonHo Che Anderson
#3


Cover Price: $12.95
2 copies available from $1.00 		Ho Che AndersonHo Che Anderson
Book #1

February, 2005
Cover Price: $22.95
1 copy available for $10.50 		Ho Che AndersonHo Che Anderson