Comics are a powerful tool bringing together stories and images unlike any other medium out there. They also have a history of taking on social and political issues since their beginning, especially those contrary to the status-quo. With the militarization of the police, and excessive force used by the police, in the news, it’s natural for a group of comic creators to band together to add their voice to the growing protests across the country.

APB: Artists against Police Brutality is a new comic book anthology with one primary goal: show pictures and tell stories that get people talking. The anthology is looking for submissions to add their voice to it.

They are looking for artists across the disciplines to lend their talents and critical eye for this artistic examination of the US justice system and its treatment of communities of color. They are looking for personal stories, biographies, sociopolitical and historical analysis that shed a light on shared experiences across these communities, not just to act as an echo chamber, but to be used to change minds outside of these communities.

APB will be a black and white book that collects these stories. While primarily a comic book project, they will also consider following:

One- and two-row comic strips
Pin-ups and spot illustrations
Prose stories (whatever the genre; up to 1,500 words) and analytical essays (personal, sociopolitical, historical; up to 2,000 words)

The main goal is to encourage people to talk about the persistent problems facing this country in terms of race and the justice system in an accessible and powerful medium.

From their release:

We’ve all seen the pictures. A six-year-old Ruby Bridges being escorted by U.S. marshals on her first day at an all-white, New Orleans school in 1960. A police dog attacking a demonstrator in Birmingham. Fire hoses turned on protesters. Martin Luther King Jr. addressing a crowd on the National Mall. These pictures were printed in papers, flashed across television screens, and helped to change the laws of this Nation…but not all of the attitudes.

We’ve all seen the pictures. Michael Brown lying face down in a pool of his own blood for hours. Protesters with their hands up, facing down militarized policemen. We’ve also seen the videos. Eric Garner choked to death. John Crawford III shot down in Walmart for carrying a toy gun. Twelve-year-old Tamir Rice gunned down in broad daylight for the same reason.

This time, the pictures and videos aren’t doing much to change things; if anything, they are a repeated reminder of how worthless black and brown lives are to the justice system. So we need conversations to go along with the pictures, and we’re sending out an APB to artists and writers to help jump start those conversations.

APB: Artists against Police Brutality will be edited by Bill Campbell, John Jennings, and Jason Rodriguez and will be published by Rosarium Publishing. The proceeds for this project will be donated to the Innocence Project.

You can get more information here, or email artistsagainstpolicebrutality@gmail.com.