Tag Archives: john lewis

Top Shelf celebrates 10 years of March with a stunning new poster

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Top Shelf Productions has announced the release of a commemorative poster to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the publication of March: Book One, the first volume in the award-winning graphic memoir trilogy by Congressman John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell about Lewis and his colleagues’ life on the front lines of the Civil Rights Movement.

These full-color posters feature brand-new artwork from Nate Powell, evocatively depicting the educational and inspirational power that the March trilogy activates within readers of all ages and walks of life.

Now considered one of the most important literary and comics works of the modern century, March broke new ground from its first conception, and swiftly became one of the most widely taught comics works in the United States. Winning the National Book Award in 2016, March became the first comics work to win one of the “major” literary awards in competition. The next year, March achieved an unprecedented sweep of the American Library Association’s Coretta Scott King Award, Printz Award, Sibert Medal, and YALSA Nonfiction Award, winning more ALA book awards than any other work in history. Among the series’ many other honors and accomplishments, March has made over 130 appearances on New York Times Best Seller lists, often at #1, and has been translated into nearly a dozen languages.

Because of its rigorously researched primary-source-based accounts and powerful imagery, teachers have embraced March as a thrilling and sophisticated resource for students in middle schools, high schools, and colleges, while countless libraries, many of the nation’s top universities, and even entire states have used March to engage in holistic dialogues through “One Book” community-wide reading programs over the past decade. Today, March is widely considered an essential work for understanding America’s past and shaping its future.

The new posters “Celebrating 10 Years of March” will be distributed free of charge to comic book shops, bookstores, and libraries. Retailers and libraries are encouraged to contact their representative at Penguin Random House to request copies (SKU: MKT1000061855). While supplies last, readers can also pick up a copy from the creators, Top Shelf Productions, and IDW Publishing, at upcoming conventions.

In addition, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell are currently scheduling their participation in reading programs for the 2024-2025 academic year. Please reach out if you are interested in organizing a community-wide reading program featuring visits from the creators.

For more details about March, including educational support resources, visit topshelfcomix.com/march.

Celebrating 10 Years of March

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty gets sworn in on a copy of March

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It looks like Congressman Robert Garcia isn’t the only person to be sworn in on a comic. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty took her oath on a copy of the graphic novel March.

Hennepin County, located in Minnesota, elected Moriarty as county attorney after she helped spotlight racial profiling in her community continuing the fight depicted in March. Early in her career she was a public defender and after 25 years was selected as the county’s chief public defender overseeing 45,000 cases per year. There, she and her team exposed inequities in the criminal legal system in the county. Moriarty won the County Attorney position with 36.36% of the vote in a seven way race.

March is the award-winning graphic novel co-written by Congressman John Lewis and Andrew Aydin with art by Nate Powell about Lewis’ experiences during the Civil Rights movement.

Review: Run Book One

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First, he marched. Then he ran. Run Book One picks up after the Selma March to continue the story about Civil Rights Leader John Lewis.

Story: John Lewis, Andrew Aydin
Art: L. Fury, Nate Powell

Get your copy now! To find a comic shop near you, visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com or call 1-888-comicbook or digitally and online with the links below.

Amazon
Kindle
Bookshop

This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and make a purchase, we’ll receive a percentage of the sale. Graphic Policy does purchase items from this site. Making purchases through these links helps support the site

Review: Run Book One

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First, he marched. Then he ran. Run Book One picks up after the Selma March to continue the story about Civil Rights Leader John Lewis.

Story: John Lewis, Andrew Aydin
Art: L. Fury, Nate Powell

Get your copy now! To find a comic shop near you, visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com or call 1-888-comicbook or digitally and online with the links below.

Amazon
Kindle
Bookshop

This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and make a purchase, we’ll receive a percentage of the sale. Graphic Policy does purchase items from this site. Making purchases through these links helps support the site

Congressman John Lewis’ Run: Book One Gets a Release Date

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After delays, the release date of Run: Book One will be released on August 3. The graphic novel is the follow-up to the best-selling and award-winning March trilogy and was completed before the civil rights icon’s death last July. Cong. John Lewis will once again collaborate with March co-author Andrew Aydin and March artist Nate Powell. L. Fury will make her graphic novel debut as the artist. Run was announced in 2018 and is being published by Abrams ComicArts.

The cover for Run: Book One is by Powell and Fury and reflects the events after “Bloody Sunday” in Selma and the passing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Some are shown running from and toward the violence while others get prepared to run for office.

And that’s where the graphic novel takes us. It picks up after March and shows how Lewis went from an activist and “radical” to a public servant. The graphic novel continues the Congressman’s journey to show his fight continued after the signing of the Voting Rights Act.

Run: Book One covers 1965 to 1066 as Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee founding member Julian Bond runs for office in Georgia and Lewis loses his SNCC chairmanship to Stokely Carmichael. At the same time, the violence continues.

Ben & Jerry’s Debuts The Long March, an Art Exhibit about Civil Rights Icon John Lewis

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Rep. John Lewis dedicated his life—repeatedly risking injury and arrest—to defending every American’s right to vote. The icon passed away on July 17 leaving a legacy of fighting for justice and inspiring so many to continue his battles. “The vote,” he often said, “is precious, almost sacred. It is the most powerful nonviolent tool or instrument we have in a democratic society and we must use it.”

Ben & Jerry’s is honoring his legacy with this livestream launch of The Long March, a new art installation dedicated to telling the congressman’s story and inspiring everyone to get out and vote! The exhibit is based on the best-selling award-winning graphic novel by Rep. Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell.

The virtual launch takes play on September 22 at 7pm EST.

John Lewis: Good Trouble comes to Theaters July 3

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John Lewis: Good Trouble, directed by acclaimed filmmaker Dawn Porter, chronicles the life and career of the legendary civil rights activist and Democratic Representative from Georgia. Using interviews and rare archival footage, John Lewis: Good Trouble chronicles John Robert Lewis’ 60-plus years of social activism and legislative action on civil rights, voting rights, gun control, health-care reform, and immigration. Using present-day interviews with Lewis, now 80 years old, Porter explores his childhood experiences, his inspiring family, and his fateful meeting with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1957. In addition to her interviews with Lewis and his family, Porter’s primarily cinéma verité film also includes interviews with political leaders, Congressional colleagues, and other people who figure prominently in his life.

Watch Cong. John Lewis and Andrew Aydin Discuss March

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On October 7, Congressman and civil rights activist John Lewis and co-author Andrew Aydin discussed their graphic novel March Book One as part of Vermont Humanities Council’s Vermont Reads choice for 2019.

The event is presented by the Vermont Humanities Council and sponsored by the University of Vermont and Middlebury College.

You can watch the presentation courtesy of Vermont PBS.

Congressman John Lewis Announces Run, His Next Graphic Novel, Picking Up Where March Left Off

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Congressman John Lewis is a Civil Rights legend, Congressman, and award-winning comic book writer. In a Time exclusive, the Congressman will again visit his past in a new graphic novel, Run. The graphic novel will pick where where March left off. Lewis is reuniting will co-writer Andrew Aydin and will be joined by artist Afua Richardson (who created the art in this article) as well as Nate Powell who handled the art for the original trilogy. Powell’s contribution will be a transition sequence that links to the two graphic novel series. Run will be published by Abrams ComicArts, March was published by Top Shelf.

March was a three volume series that explored Lewis’ early life and his time during the Civil Rights using the election of President Obama as framing. All were bestsellers and award winners. March: Book Three was the first graphic novel to win the Nation Book Award.

Run: Book One will tell how Lewis led the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) during the time period that followed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Time called the organization the “most militant of all U.S. civil rights organizations.” The first graphic novel will explore the group’s history as it struggled with lost support at being a nonviolent organization during the time period.

Run: Book One will be published on August 14, 2018.

Catch The Cooper Union’s “Drawing Lines: The Black American Experience” Lecture Series

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This May in New York City The Cooper Union is holding a lecture series called “Drawing Lines: The Black American Experience.”

The series features Juliana “Jewels” Smith, the creator and writer of (H)Afrocentric, artists and curators William Villalongo and Mark Thomas Gibson who curated the exhibition Black Pulp! and Congressman John Lewis.

Black Pulp! examines the evolving perspectives of Black identity in American culture and history from 1912 to 2016 through rare historical printed media shown — like the first black comic — in dialogue with contemporary works of art. The exhibition showcases the unique power of pulp and printed matter to contest dominant cultural narratives. It has been shown at Yale University and the International Print Center New York with upcoming dates at the University of South Florida and Wesleyan University.

The events are free and you can find more details here and here.

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