Malcolm X: A Graphic Biography [Hardcover]

The age of multitasking needs better narrative history. It must be absolutely factual, immediately accessible, smart, and brilliantly fun. Enter Andrew Helfer, the award-winning graphic-novel editor behindRoadto PerditionandThe History of Violence, and welcome the launch of a unique line of graphic biographies.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, these graphic biographies qualify as tomes. But if you're among the millions who haven't time for another doorstop of a biography, these books are for you.

With the thoroughly researched and passionately drawnMalcolm X, Helfer and award-winning artist Randy DuBurke capture Malcolm Little's extraordinary transformation from a black youth beaten down by Jim Crow America into Malcolm X, the charismatic, controversial, and doomed national spokesman for the Nation of Islam.

Andrew Helfer, as group editor at DC Comics, launched its Paradox Press imprint and the award-winning Big Books series, and worked on everything fromBatmantoThe History of Violence.

Randy DuBurke's illustrations have appeared inThe New YorkTimes Book Review, Mad Magazine,DC and Marvel comics, graphic novels, and science-fiction magazines. He is the winner of the 2004 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award for illustration. He lives in New York.

Questions for Discussion

1. This work of graphic nonfiction, perhaps significantly, is presented entirely in black and white. Point out a few instances in the book where you think its black and white illustrations meaningfully reflector effectively representthe racial or thematic colors of black and white. (You might also consider the photographs at book's end when preparing your answer.)

2. One of the few full-page illustrations in this work is the first picture we see. Who is this man? Describe his pose, his facial expression, his appearance. What is he holding? What do we learn, at the ol)