Frank Johnson, Secret Pioneer of American Comics

This ongoing Fantagraphics series, launched in 2024, collects the long-lost work of Frank Johnson, an African American cartoonist who created a remarkable body of comic strips and illustrations in the early 20th century. Written and drawn entirely by Johnson himself, the series resurrects his lively, socially observant art from obscurity. It matters as a crucial rediscovery, restoring a previously overlooked Black voice to the history of American comics.