Showing posts with label Don Hillsman II. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Don Hillsman II. Show all posts

Monday, February 28, 2011

Leroy Douresseaux on THE ORIGINAL JOHNSON Book Two



THE ORIGINAL JOHNSON BOOK TWO
IDW
 
CARTOONIST: Trevor Von Eeden
ADDITIONAL INKS: Don Hillsman II
COLORS: George Freeman, Glenn Hauman
LETTERS: Marc Alan Fishman
AFTERWORD/EDITOR: Mike Gold
ISBN: 978-1-60010-664-4; paperback
136pp, Color, $19.99 US

The Original Johnson was first published as a webcomic at the site Comicmix.com. Written and drawn by Trevor Von Eeden, a comics veteran of over three decades, The Original Johnson is a comic book biography about John Arthur “Jack” Johnson (1878-1946). An American boxer, Jack Johnson was the first Black man to win the “World Heavyweight” boxing championship, a title he won in 1908 and held until 1915.

IDW recently published the second of two trade editions collecting Von Eeden’s 240-page graphic novel. The Original Johnson Book Two can be described as the education, maturation, triumph, and fall of a great boxer and of a greater man. Early in Book Two, Jack reaches the turning point in his career that takes him to the next level as a true professional boxer. He faces his first opponent who, rather than rely on brute force, has developed a science and system to boxing, Joe Choynski. Book Two also details Jack’s complicated relationship with women and his reasons for preferring white women as his mates. The story recounts his triumph as world champion and also makes a case for why he chose to lose the world title in 1915.

I found that The Original Johnson Book One presented Jack Johnson’s life (from the age of 13 to 22) as being like a coming-of-age story about a young superhero – a kind of Black Superboy/Superman. Book Two is more a straight biography, but it is also an essay and treatise on racism, both national and internationally, against Black people.

With his pencil art, Von Eeden captures the physicality and musculature of Jack Johnson. With his inking, he depicts power and dynamism that marries Burne Hogarth’s love of anatomy and the intensity of Michelangelo’s David. At times, Von Eeden turns Jack Johnson’s figure into a blunt instrument to batter his bigoted opponents and the virulently racist spectators at boxing matches. At other times, Von Eeden transforms Johnson and his perfect physique into a precision machine, undulating waves of ecstasy into the white women he frequently beds (Mandingo!).

Much of Book Two is both philosophical and even informative about the racism African-Americans and Black people faced in the United States and abroad in Johnson’s time. The reason for the hate was because many people who did not have black skin refused to see Black people as anything other than less than white people. Black people were subservient half-citizens who were often beasts of burdens. Not only does Von Eeden present the story of Jack Johnson the boxer, but he also uses Jack Johnson as a fictional paladin through which Von Eeden boxes against racism.

The over-arching theme of The Original Johnson is that of taking freedom no matter what others may say or do. That permeates Trevor Von Eeden’s comic book. This is the work of a free man unafraid to speak his mind and to present his work as he sees it. The graphical style, the design, the formats, the compositional qualities, the storytelling feel as if these are all Von Eeden’s choices, made free of other’s prejudices and expectations.

The Original Johnson doesn’t read as if it followed the rules for comic book writing that fans and critics think Alan Moore established in Watchmen. Nor does the art slavishly ape Jim Lee or some photorealist. Jack Johnson was a man, and Trevor Von Eeden is man enough to tell his story the way he wants. Johnson and Von Eeden did it their way, and the result of each man’s effort is greatness.

A+

http://www.trevorvoneeden.com/
http://www.comicmix.com/


Thursday, February 24, 2011

Leroy Douresseaux on THE ORIGINAL JOHNSON Book One



THE ORIGINAL JOHNSON BOOK ONE
IDW
 
CARTOONIST: Trevor Von Eeden
ADDITIONAL INKS: Don Hillsman II
COLORS: George Freeman
LETTERS: John Workman, Marc Fishman, Glenn Hauman, and Carrie Wright
EDITOR/INTRODUCTION: Mike Gold
ISBN: 978-1600106385; paperback
128pp, Color, $19.99 US

Boxing aficionados know the name John Arthur “Jack” Johnson (1878-1946). Jack Johnson was an American boxer, and he was the first Black man to be the “World Heavyweight” champion, a title he won in 1908 and held until 1915.

Others may be familiar with Jack Johnson through Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, which was Ken Burns’ Emmy-winning, 2005 PBS documentary about Johnson. The documentary was based upon the 2004 book by Geoffrey C. Ward of the same title. Some readers may have even seen the 1970 film, The Great White Hope, starring James Earl Jones, which was a fictional account of Johnson’s life.

The Original Johnson is a webcomic originally published by the website, Comicmix. Written and drawn by longtime comics veteran, Trevor Von Eeden, The Original Johnson is a biographical graphic novel about the life of Jack Johnson.

IDW has published Von Eeden’s 240-page graphic novel, The Original Johnson, in two paperback volumes. The Original Johnson Book One depicts Johnson’s life, mostly from the age of 13 to 22. Von Eeden portrays Johnson’s early encounters with physical violence, his teenage wanderlust, his introduction to boxing, and the virulent racism he saw and experienced during his travels, particularly in and around his hometown of Galveston, Texas during the late 19th century.

Von Eeden’s narrative, at least the first half, is not just about Johnson’s life. The Original Johnson, Book One juxtaposes the young Jack Johnson’s struggle to define himself as a man of accomplishment with the desire of white racists to destroy any sense of accomplishment on the part of black people. Von Eeden presents Johnson’s youth as metaphor for a black awakening to the possibilities of what being strong and independent could bring black folk.

Von Eeden makes The Original Johnson more than just a straight biography or historical document about racism. A veteran of superhero comics, Von Eeden presents Johnson’s journey and the setting in which that journey takes place as a heroic epic, so he uses the visual language and graphic cues of superhero comic books. He combines the compositional raw power and majestic figure drawing of Jack Kirby with the enthusiastic page design of Neal Adams. In that way, Von Eeden can emphasize passion, emotion, and symbolism. In this way, he can also draw the reader into the narrative by presenting the elements he wants to emphasize in visual appealing ways.

That is the one thing that I can say for certain at this halfway point in The Original Johnson: for all the ways that Von Eeden tells this story, he presents this in a comic book language that is familiar to readers. This is a good and interesting way to introduce a historical figure, especially someone like Jack Johnson, a transformative figure in American history. This is a superhero story about a man who, in hindsight, was a hero to many.

A-

http://www.trevorvoneeden.com/
http://www.comicmix.com/