Black Comic Creators
Caitlyn Woodbury
Black Comic Creators
Happy Black History Month everyone! Just in case any American’s are reading this, yes, I know it is not YOUR Black History Month, but it is in the UK! And of course, this month should be used to take the time to think about the amazing contributions black people have made to our country, but obviously our comics as well.
Unfortunately, this was a bit more of a difficult blog to write, as black comic creators are definitely still the minority in the business. However, I am taking into consideration how many black creators had worked on comics or at least given ideas and not be given the credit they deserve. With no record of their work though, it is difficult to give examples.
But there are still many writers and artists both from the past and the present who deserve to be spoken about!
Eric Battle
Battle is an illustrator from the United States, who has created art on a multitude of iconic characters, such as Spider-Man, Batman, Wonder Woman and the Flash. He originally worked at Milestone Media, before freelancing at DC comics. Battle later joined Marvel Comics.
Larry Stroman
Stroman has been in the comic industry since 1985, working on World’s Finest at DC. In following years, he worked on comics such as Ghost Rider, multiple X-Men comics and Cloak and Dagger. In 1993, he and Todd Johnson created a comic series ‘Tribe’ which became the biggest selling African American created comic of all time. From the success, the duo created Axis Comics, but the company unfortunately closed after nine issues due to “production costs and creator apathy”. In the 2000s, Stroman returned to Marvel, creating art for more X-Men related runs, Black Panther and Thunderbolts.
Yona Harvey
As well as being a poet and assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh, Harvey is a comic book writer. Most published work from Harvey are poems, but in 2016, she joined Marvel Comics to write ‘World of Wakanda’ alongside Roxane Gay. This duo then became the first two black women to write for Marvel Comics (this was reached 10 years ago…). Another comic series was published, called ‘Black Panther & The Crew’ but was cancelled after 6 issues due to low sales.
Che Grayson
Grayson first entered the comic book world in 2016 when they published an independent comic ‘Rigamo’ about a girl who can resurrect the dead through her tears, which caused herself to age. In 2019, writing for DC had begun, with Grayson working on characters such as Wonder Woman and Batman. In June 2026, the first issue of Absolute Catwoman was released, written by both Grayson and Scott Snyder, with the series being a short-term spin off of Absolute Batman.
I wish I could have written more about these incredible talents, but I hope that this can act as an introduction to the behind the scenes, and that we will soon be hearing these names more frequently.
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