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Thomas Mauer · Erstellt: 07.03.08, 17:23 Betreff: INCOGNEGRO von Mat Johnson & Warren Pleece

Kleiner copy/paste von meinem Blog.

Mat Johnson and Warren Pleece's Vertigo OGN Incognegro which came out a while ago is a b/w noirish tale dealing with the exposition of lynchings in the 1930s/40s. The main character, Zane Pinchback is a black journalist who can pass for white and travels to the big lynchings all over the country to document white mobs' atrocities, taking down names, addresses, and getting a hold of the carnival-like memento lynching postcards with people posing with the victim. His articles are published in a black-run Harlem newspaper under the alias "Incognegro" and he's a thorn in the KKK's side.

It's the beginning of the Harlem Renaissance and Zane wants out to make a name for himself under his real name, but his publisher convinces him to go on one last mission - one that is personal and Zane can't pass it up. He goes South again to investigate an alleged murder of a white woman by a black man in an attempt to stop the lynching before it happens.

In this graphic novel, Johnson condenses the scholarship on lynching from the last 80 years into a riveting story that must be read in one sitting. Scholarship on lynching is vast by now yet still not all-encompassing, but Johnson manages to hit on all the major and many, many minor points associated with the practice and the times.

Pleece's art fits the story perfectly, and Hellboy/100 Bullets letterer Clem Robins' lettering is gorgeous.

This is not a pretty topic, but one that cannot and should not be ignored. Incognegro is an OGN that should be in everybody's library, so I'd encourage all of you who haven't checked it out yet to give it a shot.

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Lamond

Du hast Doch über diese Thematik deine Arbeit in den USA geschrieben oder? Klingt jedenfalls interessant, danke für den Tip

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Vao · **SUPERBANANE** Beiträge: 5647

Ich fand es auch nicht schlecht. Der Anfang war grandios, besonders die ersten Seiten, gegen Ende fand ich den Teil mit der White Trash familie etwas nervig und klischeehaft.

Seine Papa Midnite Mini war auch nicht schlecht.

Thomas Mauer

Zitat: Lamond

Du hast Doch über diese Thematik deine Arbeit in den USA geschrieben oder? Klingt jedenfalls interessant, danke für den Tip

Ja, ich hab darueber geschrieben, wie (weisse) Zeitungsbesitzer in North Carolina ueber Lynchings und Exekutionen berichtet haben, um so den Status Quo in ihren Staedten aufrecht zu erhalten.

Zitat: Vao

Ich fand es auch nicht schlecht. Der Anfang war grandios, besonders die ersten Seiten, gegen Ende fand ich den Teil mit der White Trash familie etwas nervig und klischeehaft.

Seine Papa Midnite Mini war auch nicht schlecht.

Das Klischee war keins zu der Zeit. Solche Hillbillies mit diesen Ideen hats wirklich gegeben und sie sind die Vorgaenger der Freischaerler und Militiamen in Wyoming und so. Hehe.

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Vao · **SUPERBANANE** Beiträge: 5647

Walter Francis White, on whom the main character in the graphic novel Incognegro is mainly based, went undercover as a white man in the early twentieth century to report on lynchings and race riots for the NAACP. He went on to become the group’s executive secretary and one of the foremost spokesmen for African-Americans (despite having blue eyes and blond hair) in the United States. He more or less single-handedly prevented the selection of a Supreme Court judge because of said judge’s opposition to black suffrage.

He sounds like a rather interesting guy. So does Stetson Kennedy, a white man who infiltrated the KKK, and helped bring it down (or at least severely crippled it) by broadcasting all of their secret handshakes, code words and other details on the popular Superman radio show.

Either of these people would have been the subject of a fascinating graphic novel. What we end up with in Incognegro, however, is a trite, rote tale that’s about as far away from fascinating or interesting as you can get.

Ironically, or, depending upon your point of view, fittingly for a book that’s all about racism, Incognegro is filled with stereotypes. Not racial stereotypes mind you, but storytelling ones. There’s the remarkably dull lead, Zane Pinchback, who either is intensely savvy or astoundingly dense about the ways of the South, depending upon the machinations of the plot. Never once, though does he seem to real journalist or human being for that matter. He’s just a cipher for the reader to identify with.
Then there’s the loudmouth best friend, who might as well be wearing a big, flashing neon sign over his head that says “I will be dead before the book is done” (Oh dear, was that a spoiler? Sorry.) Meanwhile, every single white Southerner is either cartoonishly evil or crazy or dumb. Or some mix of all three.

The other alarming thing about Incognegro is that for a book about race relations, it’s surprisingly devoid of color. I don’t mean full color mind you, but that there’s no skin tones at all in the book, which just seems sort of odd. It doesn’t help that Pleece’s characters are all bland, stiff and ill-defined, and often set against bare backgrounds that do little to help establish setting (or time period for that matter. I was never quite clear when this story was supposed to be taking place).
Even the book’s central plot comes straight out of central casting. Zane, you see, has decided he wants to give up being the famous but mysterious Incognegro reporter and furthering the fight against racism, not so much because of the inherent danger as much as he wants to be a famous author (I wonder what Walter White would have made of that attitude).

Anyway, Zane decides TO COVER ONE MORE STORY because … drumroll please … his dark-skinned brother is in jail and will likely be hanged for a murder he didn’t commit.

Honestly, why Johnson felt the need to tack an utterly unnecessary murder mystery story on a tale that’s perfectly compelling on its own — that of a young man who risks his life trying to bring to light the vile injustices being wrought in his country by disguising his identity and heritage — is beyond me.

Actually it’s not. Incognegro smacks of a move pitch. I say that because just about every single thing in the book resembles the sort of shallow, unrewarding material that studios traffic in these days. This isn’t a book about race relations or history, not in any substantive, thoughtful way at any rate. It’s all gimmick, right down to the big reveal of the murderer and final “ha-ha” swipe at the villain at the end. I’m sure Hollywood will snatch this thing up any day now.

http://blog.newsarama.com/2008/03/21/weekend-reviews-incognegro/#more-7509

Thomas Mauer

Ich find die Kommentare zu dem Review grossartig. Nummer 5 trifft den Nagel auf den Kopf. Der Reviewer hat sich da mMn ein bisschen verrannt.

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Thomas Mauer

Oh, und der "waaaah, das schreit nach Hollywood" Punkt ist sowas von idiotisch. In Comics ist kein Geld zu machen. Wenn man mit seinen Sachen auch ein bisschen was verdienen will, achtet man darauf, fuer den Comicmarkt zu schreiben und ausserdem fuer andere Medien interessant zu sein.

Creator owned comics, die sich nicht in anderen Medien lizensieren lassen bloss weil man irgendwelche Indie Comic Snopgedanken mit sich rumtraegt sind von Anfang an dem Untergang geweiht - es sei denn man heisst Alan Moore, und da ist es der Name, der den (finanziellen) Erfolg garantiert.

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Lamond

Zitat: Thomas Mauer

Creator owned comics, die sich nicht in anderen Medien lizensieren lassen bloss weil man irgendwelche Indie Comic Snopgedanken mit sich rumtraegt sind von Anfang an dem Untergang geweiht - es sei denn man heisst Alan Moore, und da ist es der Name, der den (finanziellen) Erfolg garantiert.

Ich habe den Comic nicht gelesen, also sind meine Kommentare lediglich allgemeiner Natur:

Ich halte diesen Indie Snobismus ebenfalls für idiotisch. Ich bin mir nicht sicher, aber ich vermute mal diese "Street Cred" Einstellung findet mal wohl mehr bei den Indie-Fans/Reviewern, die nicht vom Indie Comic ihren Unterhalt bestreiten müssen. Es wird wohl auch Indie-Creators, die diese Attitüde an den Tag legen, aber spätestens nachdem sie sich über Monate nur von Twinkies und Reiskeksen ernähren, sollte bei ihnen Zweifel daran aufkommen.

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sailorboy · Mighty Avenger Beiträge: 662 Ort: leipzig

ich habs schon seit dem erscheinen stehen und bin noch nicht dazu gekommen das zu lesen

freu mich aber schon drauf!!!

Thomas Mauer

Zitat: Lamond

Es wird wohl auch Indie-Creators, die diese Attitüde an den Tag legen, aber spätestens nachdem sie sich über Monate nur von Twinkies und Reiskeksen ernähren, sollte bei ihnen Zweifel daran aufkommen.

Ganz genau.

Es sei denn, diese Creators machen einen auf Chasing Amy mit dem schwulen Black Power creator.

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Vao · **SUPERBANANE** Beiträge: 5647

Zitat:

Incognegro weaves historical elements — lynchings, blacks passing for white, the Harlem Renaissance — into an entertaining, action-packed thriller that makes its points violently, so that they strike home.
Incognegro cover
Incognegro
Buy this book

Zane Pinchback is a reporter for a black newspaper in the early 30s. He’s light-skinned enough to pass for white, so he ventures down south to report on the murders of black men that the white papers don’t bother covering. He’s tired of it, though, afraid of continuing to risk his life and disappointed he has to write anonymously. His choice is that of helping his people or helping himself.

That all changes when he goes on one more trip, this time to rescue his darker-skinned brother, who’s accused of killing a white woman. Pinchback is clever. He’s able to help out negros in trouble with outrageous claims like being a Klansman, leaps so ridiculous that no one thinks to question them. His thinking goes out the window, though, when his family’s involved, even though his brother is running moonshine. Instead of proceeding with caution, he bulldogs through a pulpy blend of gender-swapping, inbred hillbillies, bootlegging, kidnapping, vengeance plots, and casual murder. Writer Mat Johnson has won awards for his fiction, and he clearly knows his era and feels strongly about his subject matter.

Artist Warren Pleece has a clean, journalistic style that presents images straightforwardly. He captures the feel of a different time, although one that has similarities with ours. Some have criticized the unshaded pages for not giving a better idea of skin tone. They want whites that look pink and especially blacks that look dark. But that misses the point. Pinchback is able to pass because of his light skin tone. If colored “black”, his foes would look like idiots for mistaking him, which would undermine how dangerous institutional racism can be. If colored “white”, readers would forget the danger he was in and his true self. Comic book coloring, for the most part, doesn’t have the subtlety needed for this kind of exploration of societal boundaries.

Incognegro is an involving melodrama with serious undertones, a wild ride to make a point about forgotten history. Johnson and Pleece have been interviewed about the book. Brendan Wright has also reviewed the book. (A complimentary copy for this review was provided by the publisher.)

http://comicsworthreading.com/2008/05/22/incognegro/