Online comic of Jack Johnson

Mitchell Kane · Dec 26, 2008

I saw this in the New York Times and thought it was interesting....not sure if this goes in the General Boxing section, or TAAA, but figured I'd post it here and it can be moved.

There are ten issues online, at www.comicmix.com.

You can start from the beginning here: http://www.comicmix.com/comic/comicmix/the-original-johnson/1/reader/#pCover

December 25, 2008
Comic Book Takes Unflinching Look at a Boxing Champion
By GEORGE GENE GUSTINES
The legend of Jack Johnson, who became the first black heavyweight champion 100 years ago Friday, keeps growing. His story was already inspiration for a stage play and a feature film. Now he has inspired an online comic-book biography, â€œThe Original Johnson.â€

The comic, which is being serialized in weekly installments at www.comicmix.com, is written and illustrated by Trevor Von Eeden, and is unflinching in its depiction of racism in America, the brutality of the boxing ring and the tragedies and triumphs of Johnsonâ€™s life, including his sexual conquests. New chapters are scheduled to be posted every Wednesday.

â€œTrevor has really put his heart and soul into this,â€ said Mike Gold, an editor at ComicMix who worked on the biography. â€œHeâ€™s been researching for years and years,â€ and he has filled his story with what he uncovered in news clippings and books.

Von Eeden declined to be interviewed for this article. His editor described him as â€œa very private person,â€ and â€œrather Ditko-esque,â€ referring to Steve Ditko, the artist who co-created Spider-Man with the writer Stan Lee, and who rarely grants interviews or makes public appearances.

The graphic novel opens with Johnson at his physical peak during his greatest victory: the title bout against Tommy Burns, in Sydney, Australia. He towers over the body of Burns and shouts, â€œGet on up outta here, Tommy-boy! Youâ€™re not even worth a sweat!â€ But the comic quickly shifts to flashbacks that dramatize gruesome scenes of the ill treatment of black people as well as the tough love amply supplied by Johnsonâ€™s mother to strengthen him from becoming the punching bag of the neighborhood children.

â€œNo son of mine is gonna grow up to be no coward,â€ she screams as she pummels him with her broom.

Johnsonâ€™s mother is depicted as larger than life, but well meaning. She wants to teach him to stand up for himself and end the abuse, even if she uses her own fists to deliver the message. Thus begins his journey into boxing, which the graphic novel interweaves with Johnsonâ€™s struggle for acceptance into white society. The pages abound with images of brutal fights, detailed cityscapes, the monstrosities of slavery and bombastic dream sequences.

Itâ€™s a fitting mix for Von Eeden, who has had a long and varied career in the comic-book industry. It began at 16, in 1976, when he worked on â€œBlack Lightning,â€ the first African-American superhero published by DC Comics to have his own title. In the 1980s, he worked on books like â€œThriller,â€ an action-adventure story that allowed him room to experiment.

â€œYouâ€™re dealing with a guy who wasnâ€™t necessarily interested in just the high visibility and high-money projects,â€ Gold said. Instead, Von Eeden was attracted to stories that stirred him emotionally. â€œIn any medium, youâ€™re going to get a much better story if you have heart. And the story of Jack Johnson is one of heart.â€

It is also a tale fraught with fights, naturally, and romances, both of which are depicted in all their fury and passion and adult language. â€œYou cannot reflect the times without the dialogue,â€ Gold said. â€œYou donâ€™t sugarcoat history. You reflect it and comment upon it.â€

The graphic novel offers a whoâ€™s who of boxing champions from the past. Von Eeden presents James Jackson Jeffries with a body and face reminiscent of early drawings of Superman, and Joseph Choynski as a lithe dancer. (Choynski gives Johnson one of his biggest battles and, after they share a prison cell in Texas for illegal prize fighting, graciously offers him pointers.)

Johnsonâ€™s dalliances with women are many, sometimes drawn leaving little to the imagination and narrated with language that is reminiscent of a romance novel.

â€œThe night exploded into a thousand sparks of white-hot shimmering lightâ€ is the caption on a page showing Johnsonâ€™s amorous encounter with a female artist. The words used to describe Etta Terry Duryea, the first of Johnsonâ€™s wives, are more subtle. Of her face, Von Eeden writes, her eyes were â€œsoft, darkâ€ and her smile â€œboth warm and a little sad.â€

After her death, Johnson meets Lucille Cameron, who is often described as a prostitute. Von Eeden disputes this in the graphic novel, but it is this relationship with Cameron, who eventually marries Johnson, that leads to his run-in with the law.

In 1913, Johnson was convicted of violating the Mann Act of 1910, which forbade the transportation of women across state lines for the purposes of prostitution. (This is the same act that came up in the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal this year.) Johnson was sentenced to a year in prison, but he fled the country and did not serve his time until 1920. In June, The Associated Press reported that the House of Representatives recommended that Johnson, who paved the way for black athletes to participate and succeed in integrated professional sports, receive a posthumous presidential pardon for the racially motivated conviction.

Johnson eventually divorced Cameron and married a third woman, Irene Pineau, who became his widow when he died in a car accident in 1946. The graphic novel ends with a quotation from his 1926 autobiography, â€œJack Johnson Is a Dandy.â€ It read, â€œAs I look upon the life I have lived and compare it with the lives of my contemporaries I feel that mine has been a full life and above all, a human life.â€
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Nobleart · Dec 26, 2008

Yeah,

I read everything they had online this morning. It's a bit over-dramatized, and mythologized but the artwork is great.

Hitman · Dec 26, 2008

i highly recommend the documentary "Unforgiveable Blackness" that came out a couple years ago for anyone interested in Jack Johnson.

One of the things I love about this place... when we say Jack Johnson, we're talking about the fighter, the REAL Jack Johnson

Nobleart · Dec 26, 2008

Hitman said: ↑

i highly recommend the documentary "Unforgiveable Blackness" that came out a couple years ago for anyone interested in Jack Johnson.

One of the things I love about this place... when we say Jack Johnson, we're talking about the fighter, the REAL Jack Johnson
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:bears:

It was very good with some great cleaned up footage I hadn't seen before. The Randy Roberts book "Papa Jack" is also a must read for an accurate history of Johnson.

Barristan · Dec 26, 2008

wow that was great

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Online comic of Jack Johnson

Mitchell Kane WBC Silver Diamond Emeritus Champ

Nobleart Narwhal King

Hitman Undisputed Champion

Nobleart Narwhal King

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Online comic of Jack Johnson

Mitchell Kane WBC Silver Diamond Emeritus Champ

Nobleart Narwhal King

Hitman Undisputed Champion

Nobleart Narwhal King

Barristan Undisputed Champion

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