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Spurred by the popular social media hashtag #DrawingWhileBlack, upstart publisher FairSquare Comics is organizing an anthology celebrating the Black noir genre.
“What happens when you use a different lens to explore ignored shades of nuance in the Black experience?" says writer Melody Cooper. "You get the beautiful dark and blinding light that lets us examine the past, confront the present, and re-imagine the future through the Black gaze of a new noir."
Scheduled to go on sale in February 2021, Noir is the New Black celebrates black noir - a subgenre of crime noir fiction focusing on Black characters. FairSquare is raising funds for the anthology now on Kickstarter.
The creators involved in this project are:
- Brandon Thomas
- Greg Burnham
- Sanford Greene
- Koi Turnbull
- Brandon Easton
- Melody Cooper
- Christian Cooper
- Marcus Williams
- MD Marie
- Don Walker
- Hannibal Tabu
- Frank Yeiger
- Greg A. Elysee
- Regine Sawyer
- N.Steven Harris
- Sylvain Despretz
- Ray-Anthony Height
- Afua Richardson
- Dorphise Jean
- Vlad Alexis
- David Brame
- Mel Milton
- Teena Stone
- Karen S. Darboe
- Guile
"While many comics and graphic novels have featured black noir stories through the years, never have these kinds of stories been gathered in one place in such a powerful way," reads FairSquare's description of the anthology. "For the first time, some of the best creators in modern comics agreed to band together to produce the finest Black Noir stories ever: a collection of 13 short stories from the past, present and future. Noir is the New Black will be a nexus, where reality and fiction collide."
FairSquare Comics is a new publishing company launched by Fabrice Sapolsky in 2019 with the intent to "publish, promote and give more space to immigrant and under-represented creators of the world."
“Representation is one of the most powerful tools to promote the change many have been demanding, and I am blessed to be among those who'll bring this volume to the world," says TC Harris, a co-editor of the anthology. "I cannot express how excited I am at the prospect of getting this anthology into your hands. Why am I passionate about Black Noir? Namely, because I'm living it!”
