The brainchild of a Philadelphia
journalist named Orrin C. Evans, it’s believed to be the first comic created entirely
by black artists and writers. A second issue was reportedly written and drawn,
but Evans was mysteriously unable to purchase the newsprint needed to produce
it and the project was abandoned.
A reprint copy is available through Amazon, and is very much
worth reading. It includes an assortment of stories, from a hard-boiled crime
tale to a variety of humor features, but the most startling character is Lion Man,
probably the first-ever African-American superhero.
He’s described thusly: “American-born,
college educated, Lion Man is a young scientist, sent by the United Nations to
watch over the fearsome ‘MAGIC
MOUNTAIN’ of the African
Gold Coast. Within its crater lies the world’s largest deposit of uranium—enough
to make an atom bomb that could destroy the world…Lion Man’s job is to report
on the doings of any treacherous nation that might seek to carry away any of
the lethal stuff for the purpose of war.”
So, he’s named after a big cat, and he keeps vigil over an
African mountain that conceals a mineral of great power. No chance that he
influenced the creation of Black Panther?
No comments:
Post a Comment