IT'S LIFE AS I SEE IT - Serio Comics 5
IT'S LIFE AS I SEE IT: Black Cartoonists in Chicago, 1940 - 1980 compiled & edited by Dan Nadel, published by New York Review Comics & Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, drawn & written by...
I definitely missed a week
And I might miss some more
Because
I am working on a new, fifth Haggadah!
To follow up The Trump Passover Haggadah, The Yada Yada Haggadah, The Biden-Harris Haggadah, and The Curb Your Haggadah (perhaps)
Which can all be found & bought here
Fortunately, I already targeted this collection, IT’S LIFE AS I SEE IT: Black Cartoonists in Chicago, 1940 - 1980, for Black History Month, which I bought on a recommendation by the Skylight Books staff member, Alex
When I found and then enthused about Charles Johnson’s ALL YOUR RACIAL PROBLEMS WILL SOON END in week 1 of Seriocomics back on MLK day
Because the new, fifth Haggadah has benefited tremendously from this week’s study of the work of:
Tom Floyd, Grass Green, Seitu Hayden, Jay Jackson, Charles Johnson, Yaoundé Olu, Turtel Onli, Jackie Ormes, and Marrie Turner
Compiled and edited by Dan Nadel
For publishers New York Review Comics and Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
With essays by Charles Johnson and Ronald Wimberly
The collection as Dan Nadel explains in his introduction shows that the understanding of the tradition of Chicago comics, and comics in general, is strong, but it’s never been the full story, as Chicago had a vibrant yet utterly separate Black publishing industry that encompassed multiple comic strip genres, particularly in the years before, during, and after The Civil Rights Movement, i.e. 1940 - 1980
This also happened to encompass the time, place, & culture that was formative of the parents & the birth & early childhood of the parodic subject of the new, fifth Haggadah
No, not Donald Trump, not Jerry Seinfeld and his crew, not Joe Biden & Kamala Harris, not Larry David and his own crew
But, yes, you may have already guessed it
It always helps me to publically declare a work in progress
Because it makes me deliver it then
So I am now announcing to the subscribers of the Seriocomics & Shuffle Synchronicities Substacks that sometime before the first night of this year’s Passover, April 5th, 2023
We should expect to see the self-publication of:
THE MESHUGAH KANYE HAGGADAH
Meshugah, if you’re not Jewish, means:
Like the others, it’ll be written in script form, and it gives readers the experience to perform the story of ye attending a Passover Seder
This one is hosted by Jewish music mystic elders Bob Dylan & Rick Rubin
Along with guests like Lil Dicky, Doja Cat, HAIM, Ezra Koenig, Billy Joel, Lenny Kravitz, Barbara Streisand, & Drake ;)
Who all hope to teach him more about Judaism
But may or may not be surprised to find that
Kanye
When he finds inspiration
That isn’t limited to a Christian nor a Jewish nor any sectarian G-d
Can still channel plenty of teachings, too
It will also be a collaboration with musician, author, Leo Nala, & fave ex-day-job-co-worker who brought a Kanye for President sign in 2016 to our shared desk lol, & who is the designer of the Seriocomics logo & a previous Shuffle Synchronicties guest poster
Leryl Joseph!
When we made the plan, Leryl & I joked how when we saw Jonah Hill & Kenya Barris’ Netflix film, You People, we both thought it was quite funny & helpful, but that in an alternative universe, we would’ve written it together & added some, um, more depth…
LOL, Shuffle Synchronicities moment, no joke/no lie, as I texted Leryl for consent to include the above, this song came on:
OK, so back to the seriocomic IT’S LIFE AS I SEE IT
Editor and compiler Dan Nadel starts the collection with an essay that is an honest yet humble appraisal of his privilege yet responsibility to bring these obscure works to wider public attention
This is followed by a coming-of-age essay by Charles Johnson about the difficulty of his path
He mentions the support provided by a Jewish cartoonist, Lawrence Lariar, and advice from the white cartoonist, Charles Barsotti, from the bleakly gatekept The New Yorker…
The most striking moment to me though was the inspiration from Amiri Baraka, who was one of the leaders of the Black Power movement, to bring talent back to the Black community, and how Johnson was able to both honor that idea but to also discern that for himself he didn’t want to exclude non-Blacks from his career and talent
We’ve already seen a number of Charles Johnson’s cartoons in post 1
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