MAT JOHNSON ON INCONEGRO

[MattBrady]

by Michael C. Lorah

Mat Johnson is genuinely excited about his upcoming DC/Vertigo graphic novel Incognegro. The author of The Great Negro Plot, Drop, Hellblazer: Papa Midnite and Hunting in Harlem, as well as a college professor who teaches the Harlem Renaissance, Johnson’s graphic novel promises to be one of the industry’s most challenging books of the new year.

I talked to him about the book, why the perfect time for such a comic book is now, and just who that dashing fellow on the cover really is.

NRAMA: Mat, let’s start with the big picture. What’s the gist of Incognegro?

Mat Johnson: It’s the story of a mixed person of African-American descent who passed for white in the 1930s to investigate lynchings in the South. He goes down to Mississippi on a specific mission that ends up getting tangled really quickly, and it turns into a noir thriller.

NRAMA: What can you tell us about the protagonist Zane Pinchback and where he is when the book opens?

MJ: He’s a reporter in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance, and he’s kind of a minor celebrity, but he’s only famous on paper. Nobody can know what he looks like because of what he does. So he’s somewhat frustrated by that, being famous but not being famous. He’s dealing with his past, and part of what happens in the story is he’s pulled back into his personal past, his own story.

NRAMA: In addition to dealing with his own issues, he also has to go “incognegro” and go to the South to save his brother. So there’s a whole external drive going for him, in addition to his own internal awakening, right?

MJ: He has a twin brother who looks much like himself but is dark-skinned. His brother has had none of the breaks that Zane had, largely because of his difference in appearance, even though they’re of the same mother and father. When he goes back, Zane has to confront this other life that he was able to escape, but that his brother instead had to dive deeper into. And that’s really the emotional heart of the book, the two of them and their lives, the convergence of them coming together.

NRAMA: The story is at least partially inspired by Walter Francis White and the 1919 Elaine Race Riots?

MJ: Yeah. Well, Walter White is the primary idea for the piece, when he was investigating these lynchings, but there’ve been other points in history – I’m African-American, but I look fairly white or European, so I’ve always been very fascinated by these points in history, when people like myself interacted, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse. I was fascinated with the idea of taking something that is part of my life and part of past lives, and seeing if I could make that into not just a curiosity, but into something that actually could mean the difference in lives.

NRAMA: Beyond the racial and social content, this is also a period piece. Was there much research involved to make the culture of Harlem and the South in the early 20th century authentic?

MJ: I’m a college professor, and I’ve been teaching the Harlem Renaissance for years. I’ve been teaching the works and history of African-Americans in the South, as well, so I really didn’t have to do the research. I’d already done it! I know it really well, so the exciting part came from taking stuff I knew and turning it into something more.

Warren Pleece, who did the art, is amazing. He did an amazing job. It turns out that his wife is an American studies professor where they live in Brighton in England, and he just really captured it. He captured the clothes, the hair, even the way people walk. He just did a lovely job. I think it’s his best work ever, and he’s already a really impressive artist.

NRAMA: Yeah, Warren’s terrific.

MJ: He is. Looking at this, it seems like he’s elevated this thing. I think it’s his best work, and I’m so honored to be part of it.

NRAMA: Social issues are something comics don’t have a particularly long or successful history of dealing with. What make this story suited to comics and why’d you decide that this was the most effective way to tell the story?

MJ: I’m primarily a prose writer.

NRAMA: Right.

MJ: I thought that the scope of the story fit really well into the graphic form. A lot of times a graphic novel is the equivalent of a prose short story, whereas a full novel would be several graphic novels. So, timing and space-wise, Incognegro seemed like it worked well in this form. I also think, in part, that a story like this has to be visual. You have to be able to see it to understand it.

The idea is you can have a black person who looks white. It’s interesting as an idea, but it’s hard for some people to visualize. Which I think is why they have my face on the cover. (laughs) We were saying, what are we going to shoot for this? And I was on the only person on the list, so that’s what ended up happening.

You kind of have to see the characters. It’s all about nuance, which is one of the things that really blew me away in Warren’s art. He really captured that nuance. It’s basically something as simple as Superman taking on and off his glasses, but it’s something that actually happened in real life. Because of the “one drop” rule of African ancestry, where you have one drop of African blood therefore you are black and you’re in a lower caste, there were people who did hide their ancestry. There’s a book recently about Antoine Broyard, who was a book critic who passed for his entire life, called One Drop, by his daughter Bliss Broyard. That’s the kind of thing you really want to see, how these people were moving in the world, and I’m so glad that I did this as a graphic novel. Looking at it, this was the right medium, and I just can’t see the project being nearly as strong as prose.

It’s also relatively new ground in graphic fiction. We’re at a really interesting stage in graphic storytelling where the audience in the last twenty years has shifted, going from children to adults, and the level of sophistication – and it didn’t have to get more sophisticated, but everything seems to have gotten so much more sophisticated. It’s an exciting thing to writing in this period when the rules aren’t set. You can do anything.

I’ve seen other graphic writers do things recently. People like Grant Morrison, people like Reginald Hudlin have done things that I just haven’t seen done in comics. When I was reading Reginald Hudlin’s Black Panther, I realized Wow! I’ve never a Black Panther written by a black person before.

NRAMA: You didn’t read the Christopher Priest run?

MJ: No, I hadn’t. But I remember this issue, it was a crossover with Civil War when Goliath had died, and the characters talked like black people. The rhythm of the talk, and the conspiracy theories, it sounded like black Americans having a conversation. And I love the old, original Black Panther, and I actually have all the original issues framed!

NRAMA: Wow!

MJ: Yeah, I bought them on eBay. With the Incognegro money. (laughs)

It was just a different type of writing, and it continues to be. So, really, why wouldn’t you want to write graphic novels?

NRAMA: What lessons from your past work have you been able to apply to this book? Some of your novels have dealt with racial issues, and your one previous comic work, the Hellblazer miniseries Papa Midnite, how did that inform the book and help you prepare to write Incognegro?

MJ: Papa Midnite really helped me because that was the first graphic novel I wrote. It came out okay, but I learned a lot of things. I made enough mistakes that I learned how to deal with writing for comics. Structurally, that really prepared me.

Prose-wise—actually, I started out writing not so much about race. I just wrote about black people, but they weren’t really talking about race issues. There were other issues. I started writing about race when I did a historical nonfiction novella called The Great Negro Plot, which is about slaves in Manhattan in the 18th century. When I finished writing that, I was at Vertigo pitching ideas, trying to make a jump over to do graphic work, and I was talking to Karen Berger about what I was doing with nonfiction work. She got all excited about the idea. The Hellblazer movie was in the works, and she said, well, how about if you do a piece like that with this Papa Midnite character, and it kind of exploded from there.

So it’s kind of happened organically. Incognegro is, oddly enough, the story everybody’s been telling me I should write since I started writing. I never wanted to write it. Other people who meet me know that ethnically I’m black, but I look very white, so there’s a novelty to it. They ask me a lot of questions about it, but to me, it’s the most boring thing in the world. But this was actually a chance to explore that in a way that’s fun, and that seemed fresh.

Really, everything has prepared me to write this book. And the reaction so far has been fantastic. They sent out for early quotes, and it did well. So now they’re trying for bigger names for the pull quotes on the cover. So I really wish I would’ve written it ten years ago! It’s good to finally get it out.

Inconegro is due out from Vertigo in February.

[skip]

As the author mentions this story is very visual and the art is excellent. But if there was confusion (which is seemingly intentional) about the race of the characters the dialog some what clears that up. I am sure that will be part of the fun writing and reading the story in figuring out that line about how far you take race. You don't want to, but perhaps you do want to, play the game of which race is this new character?? I find that whole dynamic really interesting! Is asking that question really even valid or perhaps that is exactly what you should get out of it. ???

The fact this is a graphic novel, say over film, gives this another level of ambiguity.

The choice of artist and this books representation must be a very conscious decision seemingly pulled off wonderfully. The book is literally printed in black and white.

Looks great!!

[Sims]

I can't wait for this book!

[FROWN]

It is funny that this subject is still so interesting to white America by and large. It is an issue Black people have recognized and accepted and in many cases look pass because we understood why someone would "pass for white" in American society. It is now the
21st century and the issue of race is still very prevelant in our minds, which was a major issue at the turn of the 20th century as discussed by W.E.B. DuBois in his 1903 book The Souls of Black Folks. Least we forget the whole system black concubinism between the French and African that gave birth to the Creole in Louisiana from which Thomas Jefferson produced several children with Sally Hemmings. The irony in this whole issue can been seen in the life of Dr. Charles Drew, who invented the process of seperation of blood for transfusion, he died because he would not be admitted to a hospital after and accident because he was a Black Man.

I wish you (Mat Johnson) the best with this it will be quite interesting to see how the public response to it. And I will have to pick up previous works to familiar myself with his skills. I hope it sparks some powerful dialogue and a .... movie!

[NeoGundamX]

I will definitely be picking that up. The whole black passing for white was an interesting paradigm in the early 20th century. I would love to see his take on that.

[AuburnTiger]

I too will be buying this. Looks very, very interesting.

[nickmarino]

papa midnite was awesome. i'll be checking this out, for sure.

[vbartilucci]

Originally Posted by FROWN

The irony in this whole issue can been seen in the life of Dr. Charles Drew, who invented the process of seperation of blood for transfusion, he died because he would not be admitted to a hospital after and accident because he was a Black Man.

You'll be pleased to know that's an urban legend. While it doesn't have a page of its own, it's mentioned here on Snopes.

Also, here from Wiki

Charles R. Drew died at the age of 45 from injuries suffered in a car accident in Green Level North Carolina. According to some reports, the nearest hospital refused to admit Dr. Drew because of his race, and vital time was lost in taking him further away to a black hospital.

However, Dr. John Ford, another black physician who was traveling with Dr. Drew at the time, says that was not true: "We all received the very best of care. The doctors started treating us immediately. ... I can truthfully say that no efforts were spared in the treatment of Dr. Drew, and, contrary to popular myth, the fact that he was a Negro did not in any way limit the care that was given to him." The nature of Dr. Drew's injuries excluded a blood transfusion; it would have killed a man in his condition faster. A similar urban legend circulates regarding jazz legend Bessie Smith.

[ziza9]

Count me among those who will be picking this up. From what my father's great uncles have told me about my great great grandparents' siblings, a few of them were able to pass and moved west from North Carolina to live new lives. I'm very excited to read this story. And as stated above, this title/term has always been a favorite of mine.

[weaselwelch]

This looks like a great book. I will have to pick it up. I love any graphic format be it graphic novels or monthly issues that explore not only the past but issues like this.

[FROWN]

Originally Posted by vbartilucci

You'll be pleased to know that's an urban legend. While it doesn't have a page of its own, it's mentioned here on Snopes.

Also, here from Wiki

It is good to know that this is only and urban legend but the crust of the issue of race still remains. I a know of similar stories for people who are not famous which still speaks the sickness of race in this country

[Makievelio]

This looks great! I've been wanting to read something, comic wise, on this very subject. Does anyone know if there are any other books like this? Oh and when does this come out?

[Michael C Lorah]

Originally Posted by Makievelio

This looks great! I've been wanting to read something, comic wise, on this very subject. Does anyone know if there are any other books like this? Oh and when does this come out?

February. It's noted at the last line of the article.

[BryanRocks]

Very much looking forward to this. Heard nice things about Mr. Johnson, and this article makes me very interested in picking this up.

Love to see the continued expansion of comic/graphic novel beyond superheroics and into historical fiction.

[hisaysmark]

Just bought my copy today. Gotta make time to read it.