A fantastic compilation of graphics, media, and essays from various African American creators. The art was stunning, and the samples of comics seemed very well thought out. While I was hoping for a more in-depth collection of comic samples, I enjoyed every second of this all the same - and even found some new artist and comic book artist to check out in the future.
This would be a great gift to anyone who appreciates art and comics.
Bravo for putting this gorgeous collection together!

This is fantastic, enjoyable and great for anyone who wants to learn more or find new comic authors/artists to get into. This is great celebration and promotion for African American Independent Comic creators. It showcases work and gives information on the creators. A large variety of styles are inside this lovely book.

This book made me seek out the first Black Comix book and make me wish that I had been aware of the Kickstarter campaign for both of these books. It was so good to read about so many different creators and luminaries, whether they were writers, artists, literati, scholars and researchers. Seeing the work and words of artists and writers that I am familiar with was wonderful, and being introduced to new ones is even better. There are so many creators that are not as well known and this book does a wonderful job of highlighting and introducing them. All libraries should have a few copies of this book. This title would help collections be a bit more diverse in what they choose to highlight or purchase. There are so many wonderful creators out there.
John Jennings and Damian Duffy have created a wonderful book and highlighted many creators.

Good survey of black comic artists by the creators of Kindred.

Black Comix Returns contains a short biography and representative art from over 70 comic artists of color. Both established and emerging talents are showcased. Most of the artists have the plot of one of their comics or graphic novels summarized too. There are also short essays about being non-white and/or non-male in a white male controlled industry.

While this book would be a great gift for any comic/graphic novel fan, it is especially useful to young artists. Not only empowering to kids of color, the varying styles of art within this collection show the sheer volume of choices available to young artists. From manga to fine art to illustration to newspaper comics, the variety is impressive. Most readers will find several artists interesting enough to locate at their comic book store, local library or online.

Initially, I thought this was more of an anthology of short comics than the survey of black comic artists. I would have preferred more in depth coverage of each artist. However, I did find several artists to look into further. 4 stars.

Thanks to the publisher, Lion Forge, and NetGalley for an advanced copy.

I, like many other people it seems, originally thought this was going to be an anthology of short stories. It is actually an art book featuring very short profiles and samples of work from several black comic artists. I still enjoyed it and I actually put several of the featured comics on my to-read list, but I find it difficult to give anything without a cohesive 'story' more than 3 stars. I know a lot of people like art books but for me this is more just 'something you read to figure out what else you want to actually read'. It's still an interesting book though and features a wide variety of art styles from many different genres and even features some webcomics and several essays about the comics industry as well.

I had expected an anthology of short comics. My mistake, I guess. It is a collection of artwork and a few essays on various topics. If that is what you are looking for, as a broad representation of African-American comic art, this could be a fabulous resource for you.

Some of it is great artwork, some is not. I did discover some interesting artists. I guess I expected more story telling. For me personally, this was not what I was looking for.

I received this free e-copy from the publisher/author via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review, thank you!

I was surprised that I never came across the first edition of this book but I'm glad to have found the second edition. It gave me insight into some artists I was familiar with (seeing Eric Battle listed reminded me of his work at Milestone), and a lot that I had never heard of. Reading through it also helped me add some titles to our libraries collection. I'm definitely going to track down the first edition as well.

I really enjoyed flipping through this art book. It features a different black artist on every spread, and contains so many diverse art styles. I plan to request that both of my local libraries order copies for their collections.

When I first pulled this out to read, I thought it was going to be excerpts from different graphic novels. I was wrong but I'm still not disappointed. There are tiny glimpses into the different graphic novels and artists that are featured but this is more of a guide of where to find stories involving black characters or artists. There are a few series in here that I'm actually quite excited about and the misunderstanding at the start was entirely my own. Even so, this is an excellent guide and introduction to some amazing artistry. For those who follow my reviews for family-friendly advice, there is a bit of swearing and violence in here but only as descriptions to series. For the actual series'themselves, I can't comment without reading the individual series, as always. Either way, if you're looking for some diversity in a vastly white-washed graphic world, this is definitely a great start to your journey.

I would like to thank the publisher, authors, and Netgalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

While I did not know what to expect from this art book, I am thrilled with its magnificence, as it gives me hope that black people are carving out a space for themselves to represent their stories!

Warning! TBR piles will grow after reading this book.

Wow.

This is an art book.

It’s a <i>fantastic</i> art book.

The only reason I’m surprised is because I thought it was going to be a collection of comics - of stories, etc.

But it actually highlights several comics artists and their work.

And their work is wonderful.

The great thing about this is the diversity of the work. There are superheroes, and indie comix, humor, high art, all kinds of stuff.

These artists are amazingly talented.

The trouble is, many of these are really hard to find. Wait, I take that back. They aren’t too hard to find with a little bit of digging; I’m just probably not going to find them at my local library or on Amazon.

Except, I did read Joel Christian Gill’s Strange Fruit from my library about 2 years ago - check it out; it’s powerful, horrifying, <b>and</b> inspiring. Also retrieved from my library - Jeremy Love’s <i>Bayou</i> was riveting - and was beautiful.

I love Afua Richardson’s art! I put <i>World of Wakanda</i> (written by Ta-Nehisi Coates) on hold at my library - she did the cover. And I’m definitely going to check out <i>Genius</i>.

And I just bought Whit Taylor’s <i>Ghost Stories</i>! The first story in this book blew my mind!

And I did read <i>Black</i>, by Kwanza Osajyefo, and which Jamal Igle did the interior art for. (Both of whom are in this book.) I thought Igle’s black and white art was great - and the comic was an excellent commentary on our world.

I wish I could have gotten in on the kickstarter for <i>Is’Nana the Were-Spider</i>. Matthew Clarke’s work looks amazing - especially <i>Hardears</i>. I’d love to read <i>DayBlack</i> by Keef Cross. I can’t believe I just passed on volume 2 on NetGalley! (H)Afrocentric by Juliana “Jewels” Smith looks interesting. And I’ll be checking out C. Spike Trotman’s work!

I may have to get Dave Crosland’s <i>Ego Rehab</i>. I’m also going to have to check out Tony Puryear’s <i>Concrete Park</i>.

Stacey Robinson’s <i>Kid Code: Channel Zero</i> looks surreal. I’m going to have to pick that up for my girlfriend. Also, <i>Niobe: She is Life</i> by Ashley A. Woods.

The essays were wonderful, too. I loved Enrique Carrion’s essay <i>Comics as Hip-Hop</i>. And Brandon Thomas’s <i>You Have to Buy It</i> really hit home. I’m going to be purchasing some of these.

And at the end is a list of conventions and events “…dedicated to highlighting and celebrating the black and brown creators, characters, and content…”

<i>Thanks to NetGalley and Diamond Book Distributors for a copy in return for an honest review.</i>