James C. Lewis “Icons Of The Bible”

The series, which will be fully released in October, features 70 models who identify as either Asian, Native American, Hispanic, African, Middle Eastern, Black American and West Indian.

“I think it is very important to see one’s self in the Scripture so that it may become real in their eyes,” Lewis told The Huffington Post. “The whitewashing of the Bible has always bothered me. However I’m happy to now have the opportunity to give a different point of view.”

“I wish to exhibit a splash of color onto the biblical pages of history with my creative embellishments. By doing so I hope to open the minds and eyes of the ignorant and create open conversations of how we can learn to see the world through colorful lenses. After all, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is intended for everyone.”

For those who’d like to see the entire collection, “Icons Of The Bible” will on display from November 2014 to February 2015 in Atlanta, GA.

I work in a comic book shop. Today a black woman I’d never seen before came in (neither the fact that she was black nor female are unusual for my store—it’s got an awesomely diverse customer base). She was looking for Afterlife With Archie, but stuck around to browse after I pointed it out.

Sometime later, she walked up with a small stack of issues, and while I was ringing her up, asked if I knew the name of a black superhero from way back. I suggested Black Panther. ”Yes! Does he have a comic?” I told her that although he was in a few titles, he didn’t have one of his own. But, I asked her, had she heard of Miles Morales?

She hadn’t. I grabbed the first issue I came to in the stack where his face was visible on the cover (#25, I think), and she positively lit up. ”The comic is all about him?”

“Yup!” I said, “and it’s great. One of my absolute favourites. If you want to start at the beginning, the first five issues are in a book.” I grabbed the first volume off the shelf, and she added it to her stack. After a moment’s hesitation, she looked back at the wall of issues.

"Can I get the first one you showed me, too?”

“#25? Sure, but…you might not really know what’s going on.”

“That doesn’t matter. I just want my brother to see it. He used to love comics, but he hasn’t read them since he was a kid. I want him to see this boy’s face.”

Representation matters. Diversity matters.

Watson and Holmes Digital Comics – Comics by comiXology

WATSON & HOLMES is a modern urban take on the tales of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Re-envisioning Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson as African Americans and taking place in New York City’s famous Harlem district

Alright. So I’ve been ranting about the problems with comics and culture on and off for a week. Time to point out something that is GOOD in comics. I discovered Watson and Holmes on Comixology when they offered the first issue for free. The summary caught me, Dr Watson is an ER doctor in Harlem and Sherlock is a PI. The first issue is pretty self-contained and re-casts the whole comic with POCs that all. make. sense.

Good stuff.