Black Comic Book Creators At Marvel You Should Know

Why is there only one month for Black history when there are twelve months in a year? Never makes much sense to me. Who cares if it is not February anymore? Black authors should be celebrated all of the time. In this article, I want to focus on those black creators who have recently worked on Marvel materials. Most comic book fans are familiar with writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, and artists Sanford Greene and Brian Stelfreeze, who have all worked on Black Panther. Hopefully, the following list will expose you to someone new. 

Afua Richardson

Afua Richardson is an African-Native American self-trained artist. She was a member of the now-defunct Ormes Society, which promoted African-American women in the comics industry. Afua illustrated the covers of five issues of Marvel's World of Wakanda and did the artwork for a short story backup in its first issue. Her other works also included covers/variant covers for Captain Marvel #4, X-Men '92 #1, Totally Awesome Hulk #2, Shuri, and Captain America and the Mighty Avengers #14. When she entered the industry, she was one of a small group of African American women artists employed by Marvel and its distinguished competition.

RELATED: Image Comics By Black Creators To Read For Black History Month

Richardson was raised in New York City and studied classical flute from age nine, eventually performing with ensembles at Carnegie Hall and on Soul Train. She also performed with Sheila E. and Parliament-Funkadelic. Later on, Afua became a backup singer, a beatboxer, and a background dancer on MTV Jams, and appeared in an off-Broadway show with Melvin Van Peebles. In addition, she is part of Future Soul Society's musical collective and has recorded with Alexa Edmonds Lima as part of the duo Afua & Alexa.

Cody Ziglar

Cody Ziglar is a Los Angeles-based writer, director, and podcast producer. He has produced podcasts for Earwolf, HowStuffWorks, iHeartRadio, and UCB Comedy, and directed videos featured on Funny or Die, Cracked, WhoHaha.

Ziglar is the current writer of the Amazing Spider-Man series and will also be writing for the upcoming Spider-Punk, which comes out this April. Ziglar’s writing can also be found in this year’s issue of Marvel’s Voices: Legacy where he wrote six of its ten stories. He has also been tapped to write episodes for Marvel Studios: She-Hulk Disney+ series. 

Nnedi Okorafor 

Nnedi Okorafor is a Nigerian-American writer who wrote a short comic in Marvel’s Venom-verse War Stories #1: Blessing Disguise in November 2017, inspired by the 2014 Boko Haram kidnapping of more than 200 Nigerian girls. Then, in December 2017, Okorafor began writing three issues for Marvel’s Black Panther, picking up where author Ta-Nehisi Coates left off. Her first issue was Black Panther: Long Live the King. Then, in March 2018, Okorafor returned to write stories derived from the Black Panther in Wakanda Forever, where the Dora Milaje team-up with Spider-Man, X-Men, and the Avengers. Lastly, in July 2018, Okorafor began writing a solo title focusing on Shuri. 

Tochi Onyebuchi 

Tochi Onyebuchi is a Nigerian-American science fiction, fantasy writer, and former civil rights lawyer. After publishing three books targeted at young adults, he released his first book, the Hugo Award, Nebula Award, and Nommo Award-nominated Riot Baby in 2020. Onyebuchi was an avid reader as a child and was strongly influenced by X-Men comics. Onyabuchi is currently writing for Black Panther Legends with artist Setor Fiadzigbey. Beginning in April, Onyebuchi will co-write for Captain America with Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing.

Danny Lore

Danny Lore (they/them) is a queer black writer/editor raised in Harlem and currently lives in the Bronx. Lore has worked in comics and gaming shops as a young adult. Most of their writing is contemporary speculative fiction, with the occasional toe-dipping into science fiction. Lore wrote issues 1 and 2 of Ironheart in 2020, co-wrote three issues of Black Panther with Ta-Nehisi Coates, and issues 5 to 10 of Champions. In addition to their impressive bibliography, Lore also wrote King in Black: Captain America, Iron Man: Revolution 2020, and Death of Doctor Strange: Blade. 

I hope this list has opened your eyes to some new creators to enjoy, and there are loads more who do phenomenal work. Happy reading!

Thank you for reading our article today. If you want to keep up to date with our latest stories, please consider becoming a pledge or, alternatively, please consider leaving a tip. This will help us continue to keep bringing new and interesting content. You can also check out our video content on the following YouTube channels, where you can subscribe to keep up to date: Star Wars Culture, Eye On Canon, The Star Wars Underworld, Chatter Squadron, The Roll Out, Meg in the Morning.

READ NEXT: Sony Drops Final 'Morbius' Trailer

Written By Eric Onkenhout

Source(s): Marvel [1], [2], Wikipedia [1], [2], [3]

Syndicated From Culture Slate

Join The Team