Graphic Novel: March by John Lewis

“We wanted to change America. Make it something different, something better.”

The genre of the graphic novel is not usually associated with historical non-fiction. Most people are familiar with comic strips in the newspaper and comic book periodicals. The graphic novel delivers a stand-alone longer narrative in a form similar to the comic strip with art and words. The genre has gained popularity and reaches a younger audience than the traditional novel. Today, this genre now escapes the world of comic book superheroes to take on serious fiction as well as non-fiction topics. I have been captivated with the genre since a friend loaned me their signed copy of March by John Lewis.

In his graphic novel, John Lewis tells his story with the help of Andrew Aydin and cartoonist Nate Powell. The story takes us into a first-person account of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s in the United States. John Lewis (1940 – 2020) was a Civil Rights Activist that later served in the U.S. House of Representatives for the state of Georgia. The story of his role as a leader in the movement and his interactions with Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X weave an intense story–facing the violence and challenges of that time that echo into the world today.

Compare these two images of the Selma to Montgomery March in 1965.

The art chosen by Nate Powell to bring the words to life are masterful.

Many years ago, John Lewis and other student activists drew inspiration from the 1958 comic book “Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story.” Now, his own comics bring those days to life for a new audience, testifying to a movement whose echoes will be heard for generations. (Amazon.com)

Read the three-part graphic novel, “March”

References

Article by NPR: https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/08/31/216884526/graphic-novel-depicts-john-lewis-march-toward-justice

MLK Comicbook: https://www.cbr.com/martin-luther-king-comic-greensboro-four/