Guest Entry - "Glyphs: The Language of the Black Comics Community"

Brian invited me over here to say a few words, so I thought I'd talk about my new blog.

One thing I think you should understand about it is that in a sense, it's not much different from what I've been doing for the past four and a half years. As a columnist for Comic World News, I've considered it my obligation to write about the books that not everyone knows about. Superheroes are great, and I love 'em as much as the next guy, but there's a whole other world of great comics that too few people are aware of, and if I can help rectify that, I will.

That's what I've done, and continue to do, in my column, and it's what I do in Glyphs Online, only the difference is that the focus is on a segment of the market that has long gone underserved and misrepresented - the black readership.

For most people outside the industry today, let's face it - when they think of black comics, they think of Boondocks and little else. Within the field, we can easily point to books like Black Panther and Firestorm, but what else is there?

How many casual comics fans, black and white, would also dig stuff like LeSean Thomas' Cannon Busters?

Or Gettosake Studios' Fierce?

Or Ho Che Anderson's King?

Or anything by Keith Knight?

That's what I'm doing with my blog - telling people about the books that have either black characters or black creators or both, and what they're like. And while that's my theme, I'm not interested in constantly playing the race card, so to speak. I bring up race if it's relevant, but otherwise the focus is on the books and creators themselves, and that means anyone and everyone is welcome.

So I hope you'll stop by and let me know what you think.

-Rich Watson - Glyphs Online