All-negro Comics: America's First Black Comic Book

BLACK CAUCUS OF ALA & SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL 2026 CHILDREN & YOUTH LITERARY AWARD WINNER
WINNER OF THE EISNER AWARD FOR BEST ARCHIVAL COLLECTION 2024

The first comic ever created by African Americans, for African Americans.

Three quarters of a century ago, Orrin C. Evans lead a team of cartoonists to create the first comic book anthology of original Black characters created by Black talent, with the expressed purpose of entertaining while rejecting harmful stereotypes and pushing boundaries in the industry. This was only 8 years after Action Comics #1, 6 years after Captain America #1 and a whole 19 years before Black Panther hit the pages of Fantastic Four.

All-Negro Comics #1 should be among those revered moments in comic book history, but the original print run was quickly removed from newsstands and faded into obscurity, remaining largely unknown for 75 years. . . until now.

All-Negro Comics 75th Anniversary Edition (an Eisner Award-winning collection) preserves that history for generations to come, containing All-Negro Comics #1, in full and digitally remastered for clarity, several essays for historical context and contemporary reflection, as well as new stories by Black writers and artists of today, featuring the original characters.

This award-winning volume includes:

• The complete single issue from 1947, digitally remastered! Consistent colors, crisp text, and no damage!
• Contemporary comics and prose stories, featuring the All-Negro Comics characters, written by notable Black creators of today
• Essays that provide historical and cultural context to deepen your reading experience
• A discussion guide and resource list

Chris Robinson is the writer of Vince Staples’s Limbo Beach, the Werewolf Frankenstein series, as well as the editor of the Eisner Award-winning All-Negro Comics 75th Anniversary Edition. Formerly, he edited Black Panther, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Ghost Rider, and much more for Marvel Comics. Learn more at CROB.info.

Orrin Cromwell Evans (1902–1971) was a pioneering African-American journalist and comic book publisher.