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Incognegro Graphic Novels #1
Incognegro
In the early 20th century, when lynchings were commonplace in the American South, a few brave reporters - light-skinned African-Americans - risked their lives to expose the truth. This undercover work was known as 'going incognegro'. Zane Pinchback's latest case hits close to home: his brother has been arrested for murder.
136 pages, Hardcover
First published February 6, 2008
63 people are currently reading
2712 people want to read
About the author
Mat Johnson
42 books443 followersMat Johnson is an American writer of literary fiction who works in both prose and the comics format. In 2007, he was named the first USA James Baldwin Fellow by United States Artists.
Johnson was born and raised in the Germantown and Mount Airy communities in Philadelphia.
His mother is African American and his father is Irish Catholic. He attended Greene Street Friends School, West Chester University, University of Wales, Swansea, and ultimately received his B.A. from Earlham College. In 1993 he was awarded a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. Johnson received his M.F.A. from Columbia University School of the Arts (1999).
Johnson has taught at Rutgers University, Columbia University, Bard College, and The Callaloo Journal Writers Retreat. He is now a permanent faculty member at the University of Houston Creative Writing Program. Johnson lives in Houston.
Johnson was born and raised in the Germantown and Mount Airy communities in Philadelphia.
His mother is African American and his father is Irish Catholic. He attended Greene Street Friends School, West Chester University, University of Wales, Swansea, and ultimately received his B.A. from Earlham College. In 1993 he was awarded a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. Johnson received his M.F.A. from Columbia University School of the Arts (1999).
Johnson has taught at Rutgers University, Columbia University, Bard College, and The Callaloo Journal Writers Retreat. He is now a permanent faculty member at the University of Houston Creative Writing Program. Johnson lives in Houston.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 516 reviews
August 12, 2016
Strange Fruit
Southern Trees bear a strange fruit.
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root.
Black body swinging in the southern breeze.
Strange fruit hanging from the Poplar trees.
Pastoral scene of the gallant South.
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth.
Scent of Magnolia sweet and fresh.
And the sudden smell of burning flesh!
Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck
For the rain to gather for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the tree to drop.
Here is a strange and bitter crop.
Abel Meeropol writing as Lewis Allan, 1937
Zane Pinchback is an African-American journalist who passes for White. He uses his physical appearance to go “undercover” in the South so that he can report on lynchings and their perpertrators. “Since White America refuses to see its past, they can't really see me either. Add to that a little of Madame C.J.s magic and watch me go invisible. Watch me step outside of history. Assimilation as revolution. That's one thing that most of us know that white folks don't. Race doesn't really exist. Culture? Ethnicity? Sure. Class too. But race is just a bunch of rules meant to keep us on the bottom. Race is a strategy. The rest is just people acting playing roles.”
Incognegro is in part based on the life of Walter Francis White, the Executive Secretary of the NAACP from 1931 until his death in 1955. During his tenure he worked to desegregate the armed forces after World War II, established the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund and infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan to expose those involved with lynchings and other human rights violations. Incognegro is more than just a period piece. It is a mystery-noir that delves into race relations, gender issues, family, love and friendship. 
October 12, 2020
This was an unexpected pleasure. My familiarity w/ Mat Johnson goes back to his novel Loving Day which was an interesting and positive minded satire revolving around the life of people who were from mixed cultures. The story of lifelong journeys between worlds. But before Loving Day, there was Incognegro. Still about the journey of navigation between worlds. This novel takes place in the Jim Crow South.
Rather than a novel about the confusion of being comprised of two very distinct cultures, this novel is about passing. Zane Pinchback is a reporter for a Black newspaper in Harlem. He reports on lynchings in the South and brings back coverage, names and pictures to the Black newspaper. It's dangerous work and he wants out; but he has one last assignment. There is obviously much more to the story, but you will need to read it to find out. I won't give it away. Suffice it to say that it is a bit of an expose about the Jim Crow South and paints a very ugly picture. While the illustrations are not too gory or graphic, the story does not pull any punches about what happens down there. I think Johnson does some excellent worldbuilding and makes the environment accessible. It's a good piece of historical fiction that illuminates some of the conditions during the mid 20th Century. I'm not generally a fan of graphic novels, but in this case I'm quite impressed.
4+ Stars
Read on kindle
Rather than a novel about the confusion of being comprised of two very distinct cultures, this novel is about passing. Zane Pinchback is a reporter for a Black newspaper in Harlem. He reports on lynchings in the South and brings back coverage, names and pictures to the Black newspaper. It's dangerous work and he wants out; but he has one last assignment. There is obviously much more to the story, but you will need to read it to find out. I won't give it away. Suffice it to say that it is a bit of an expose about the Jim Crow South and paints a very ugly picture. While the illustrations are not too gory or graphic, the story does not pull any punches about what happens down there. I think Johnson does some excellent worldbuilding and makes the environment accessible. It's a good piece of historical fiction that illuminates some of the conditions during the mid 20th Century. I'm not generally a fan of graphic novels, but in this case I'm quite impressed.
4+ Stars
Read on kindle
October 28, 2016
A panel from the graphic novel Incognegro, written by Mat Johnson and illustrated by Warren Pleece
Not long ago I happened to turn on NPR, and I caught an interview with the author Mat Johnson, talking about his novel Loving Day and...other stuff. I still haven't been able to read all of it straight through because it's so intense, so rich. With truth. Try it; you'll see what I mean.
On the basis of hearing the part of it that I heard, I thought I'd like to read his graphic novel first. How could I not, with a name like that!
It's rare, though--the one book in the world, it seems, that hasn't been reprinted on demand: $30 or $40 on Amazon. Hooray for inter-library loan! It wasn't in my library but they got it for me from the Athens-Clarke County library system, in the vicinity of UGA. I'm so lucky!
It is a very graphic graphic novel, not a comic for children or the squeamish. I won't be able to write much about the plot, but just the set-up, which is in the publisher's blurb anyway. It is the 1920s, during the height of Jim Crow and the lynchings below the Mason Dixon line. The protagonist is a biracial man who can pass for white. And he's a journalist who uses that gift to go undercover--incognegro--into enemy territory and witness and record the crimes. He has just about had enough--had an assignment he almost didn't escape--when his boss comes up with enough of a hook to send him back once more....
Come on, boss. You've been dangling that managing editor job in front of me for years. And I'm not talking about killing the column, just going local. I want some recognition for a change.
Oh, so you going local? Negro, I got local columnists. I got more lazy, non-investigating, pontificating blowhard columnists than I need.
But what I only have one of, and what nobody else has, is a white nigger columnist mad enough to go out and get the story from hell itself.
It is a very fast read, a comic--an un-comic. A few twists and turns in the plot, but if I didn't get lost, you won't.
Okay, so high literature it's not, but I like its point.
And I like the parts on passing.
I am Incognegro.
I don't wear a mask like Zorro or a cape like The Shadow, but I don a disguise nonetheless.
My camouflage is provided by my genes; the product of the southern tradition nobody likes to talk about. Slavery, rape, hypocrisy.
American Negroes are a mulatto people; I'm just an extreme example, a walking reminder.
Since white America refuses to see its past, they can't really see me, either.
There's a lot coming down these days--coming out of the campuses--about skin color as destiny; identity politics and all that. So it's good to hear a message that it's not what color your skin is, it's what you do with it.
Oh, and by the way, he gets it that passing isn't only a black-white thing.
Five stars, for the book and the interview together.
August 4, 2018
The story of a light-skinned black reporter who'd head South, going undercover to gather names and pictures of those that engaged in lynchings. He's ready to hang it up before his luck runs out when he gets news that his brother is in jail for killing a white woman. So he heads South one last time.
Not only does the book deal with the awfulness that mankind can inflict on one another for something as dumb as the color of one's skin, but the book is actually a pretty solid noir. Just one set in the deeply racist South of the 1930's.
Not only does the book deal with the awfulness that mankind can inflict on one another for something as dumb as the color of one's skin, but the book is actually a pretty solid noir. Just one set in the deeply racist South of the 1930's.
September 22, 2014
Despite its unsettling subject matter, Incognegro is an entertaining murder mystery graphic novel. It’s fitting that Walter Mosley is quoted on the cover, since Mosley’s influence is evident, from its fast-paced grittiness to its racial subject matter. In author Mat Johnson’s introductory autobiographical note, he explains how he based this story on a former head of the NAACP who “passed” (blacks who were seen and accepted as whites) to investigate the lynchings in the early 20th century.
The opening scene shows how common lynchings were in the late 1800s through the 1900s, so much so that mainstream newspapers stopped reporting them. Here, protagonist “Incognegro” Zane enters the scene; as a reporter for a Harlem newspaper he goes “undercover” by passing for a white man and observes and reports on the scenes of numerous lynchings in the southern U.S.
The artwork is clean and contrasts well with such an ugly part of American history. Thankfully, Johnson manages to inject some humor and levity in a few scenes, especially in the conversations between Incognegro Zane and his buddy Carl. The archetypes and stereotypes of murder mystery fiction are here: we’ve read plenty of virtuous-good-guy-with-the-hammy-sidekick-trying-to-bring-down-the-one-dimensional-bad-guy stories, but none set against the backdrop of such a shameful period of American history. Much like Mosley’s Easy Rawlings novels, Johnson’s Incognegro redefines and transcends the genre by exploring issues that no “typical” murder mystery graphic novel would ... or could.
The opening scene shows how common lynchings were in the late 1800s through the 1900s, so much so that mainstream newspapers stopped reporting them. Here, protagonist “Incognegro” Zane enters the scene; as a reporter for a Harlem newspaper he goes “undercover” by passing for a white man and observes and reports on the scenes of numerous lynchings in the southern U.S.
The artwork is clean and contrasts well with such an ugly part of American history. Thankfully, Johnson manages to inject some humor and levity in a few scenes, especially in the conversations between Incognegro Zane and his buddy Carl. The archetypes and stereotypes of murder mystery fiction are here: we’ve read plenty of virtuous-good-guy-with-the-hammy-sidekick-trying-to-bring-down-the-one-dimensional-bad-guy stories, but none set against the backdrop of such a shameful period of American history. Much like Mosley’s Easy Rawlings novels, Johnson’s Incognegro redefines and transcends the genre by exploring issues that no “typical” murder mystery graphic novel would ... or could.
March 7, 2018
“..normal people, they need somethin’ to hate, something to blame for why things ain’t perfect. Something to explain their fear.” Birth of a Nation flavored crap, i’m sorry, I meant shit.
One hundred years ago it looked a little different, sure, now it attempts a modicum of effort, a whisper of equity, but everyone knows the truth. Institutional racism is alive and well in the USA, thriving as loudly, up on their cracker boxes bleating their insipid theories, as ever.
But this book, this amazing book was about then, the 1920s or 1930s – who counted the lynchings? Who even knew they happened (except the terrified and heartbroken families who were too frozen with fright to do anything)? Who prosecuted the perpetrators? No one.
The perpetrators were the law. The end. And their empty, soulless, meaningless, debased lives needed something to tear down, so they, for one brutal sick moment felt superior to something besides the dog they kicked, or the wife they beat, that morning.
Two hundred years ago there was the unbelievably courageous Harriet Tubman making venture after voyage into the south to free slaves – even after the price on her head was more than an imaginable sum. So smart, so determined, she freed train after train of humans and lived til her 90s in upstate NY. Fast forward to Incognegro – Blacks so light skinned they could ‘pass’ for white, and so brave that they would make repeated trips into the deep south to report on lynchings which would otherwise never reach the light of day. They couldn’t save the innocent, tortured victims of these idiots, but at least their names, and their faces, were documented, much to the chagrin of the lynch mobs.
But has much changed? When a truck driven by a murderer in Nice on Bastille Day 2016 killed many, it garnered worldwide nearly exclusive headline news for weeks. When the same thing happens in Haiti this week (13 March 2017 *) did you even hear about it?
If 20 million white people were threatened with imminent starvation (like is the case now in Nigeria, Somalia and S. Sudan) and with 4 billion dollars it could be averted, do you think only 90 million would have been donated total, from the whole world?
These courageous reporters who brought the true level of terrorism and oppression that was the American south to the north, by risking their necks, risking becoming strange fruit themselves, for every story, should be better known. This is the very best graphic novel I have read – the story, the writing and the intensity of the art – by a long shot. Mat Johnson, though a novel, has highlighted a previously largely unknown but very important story of American history that should be mandatory curriculum in US high schools. Says me.
*https://www.democracynow.org/2017/3/1... (2nd from bottom)
topic: Haiti
One hundred years ago it looked a little different, sure, now it attempts a modicum of effort, a whisper of equity, but everyone knows the truth. Institutional racism is alive and well in the USA, thriving as loudly, up on their cracker boxes bleating their insipid theories, as ever.
But this book, this amazing book was about then, the 1920s or 1930s – who counted the lynchings? Who even knew they happened (except the terrified and heartbroken families who were too frozen with fright to do anything)? Who prosecuted the perpetrators? No one.
The perpetrators were the law. The end. And their empty, soulless, meaningless, debased lives needed something to tear down, so they, for one brutal sick moment felt superior to something besides the dog they kicked, or the wife they beat, that morning.
Two hundred years ago there was the unbelievably courageous Harriet Tubman making venture after voyage into the south to free slaves – even after the price on her head was more than an imaginable sum. So smart, so determined, she freed train after train of humans and lived til her 90s in upstate NY. Fast forward to Incognegro – Blacks so light skinned they could ‘pass’ for white, and so brave that they would make repeated trips into the deep south to report on lynchings which would otherwise never reach the light of day. They couldn’t save the innocent, tortured victims of these idiots, but at least their names, and their faces, were documented, much to the chagrin of the lynch mobs.
But has much changed? When a truck driven by a murderer in Nice on Bastille Day 2016 killed many, it garnered worldwide nearly exclusive headline news for weeks. When the same thing happens in Haiti this week (13 March 2017 *) did you even hear about it?
If 20 million white people were threatened with imminent starvation (like is the case now in Nigeria, Somalia and S. Sudan) and with 4 billion dollars it could be averted, do you think only 90 million would have been donated total, from the whole world?
These courageous reporters who brought the true level of terrorism and oppression that was the American south to the north, by risking their necks, risking becoming strange fruit themselves, for every story, should be better known. This is the very best graphic novel I have read – the story, the writing and the intensity of the art – by a long shot. Mat Johnson, though a novel, has highlighted a previously largely unknown but very important story of American history that should be mandatory curriculum in US high schools. Says me.
*https://www.democracynow.org/2017/3/1... (2nd from bottom)
topic: Haiti
September 30, 2023
I'm pretty sure this is the first graphic novel I've ever read. Great story, although too short for my taste, perhaps due to the nature of the format. Word count of even the densest graphic novel will be considerably less than a text-only book. I appreciate the existence and increased popularity of graphic novels largely because my daughter is a rather reluctant reader and the best way to get her to read sometimes is to give her a graphic novel. I've read a few Mat Johnson novels to date so was curious to give this book a shot. It's the story of a black man who can pass for white. He is a reporter from up north who travels down south to report on stories of race based cruelty such as lynchings. Undetected as a black man on account of his light complexion, he is able to get an up close view and speak with the participants, circumstances that wouldn't be allowed if they realized he was an African American reporter. Once back home he writes about these terrible events under a pseudonym. Keeping his true identity hidden to his readers as well as the awful people he writes about allows him to repeatedly go on undercover missions. But he is about done with the whole business, eager to write under his true name and identity rather than continuing to go incognegro, until convinced to go on one last journey into enemy territory. He is convinced to do so because the black man in prison for murder unless somehow rescued or proven innocent happens to be his brother. To avoid venturing into spoiler territory I'll end my synopsis here. I enjoyed this quick read and the accompanying illustrations. There are enough twists and turns in the plot that this could have been written as a thrilling text-only novel as well, and if expanded upon I could see it being adapted into a movie. But I'm here to review what the book is, not what it could have been or could be, and to that end I'll say I'm glad to have made this my inaugural graphic novel.
December 28, 2016
Wow, this was so good.
It's a mystery, period piece, about race relations, about passing, about gender, about friendship, about family, about journalism, about career, about making a difference, about regionalism, about doing what's right.
It's about both implicit and explicit racism, and is a damn good comic book to boot.
I might need to own this one.
It's a mystery, period piece, about race relations, about passing, about gender, about friendship, about family, about journalism, about career, about making a difference, about regionalism, about doing what's right.
It's about both implicit and explicit racism, and is a damn good comic book to boot.
I might need to own this one.
September 22, 2020
4/5stars
A really excellent graphic novel that is both entertaining but also very educational!
A really excellent graphic novel that is both entertaining but also very educational!
September 14, 2012
I'm not usually terribly interested in the author's personally story, but in this case the letter he included about his inspiration for this graphic novel really lit up the story for me.
Mat Johnson was an African American kid growing up in a black neighborhood. Only thing was that he looks white. Apparently his mother tried everything to make him seem blacker, even making him wear traditional African clothes at times, but that only made things worse. He hated feeling different, but he had a cousin that appeared white, too, and to make themselves feel better, they would play a game they called Incognegro, where they basically pretended to be superheroes with the secret, hidden power of blackness. When he was older, he heard a story about an president of the NAACP who supposedly traveled down south during the early 20th century, posing as a white man in order to uncover the truth behind some of the gruesome lynchings of that era. The story really resonated with him, and his own feeling of wearing two identities at times, and thus grew the seed of this story.
The book follows a reporter known only as "Incognegro" that lives in Harlem, but makes his living traveling undercover as a white man down South to write stories about lynchings. It's an incredibly dangerous job, and it has gotten him on the hit list of every KKK and white supremacist in the South. In this story, he is going on "one last job" when he discovers that the man to be lynched is actually his brother, and the events leading up to his brother's imprisonment are much more complicated than meets the eye.
One of the most poignant moments for me was when Incognegro is getting a ride out of town to investigate and interview a hillbilly family. The black man giving him a ride immediately identifies Incognegro as being black, as well, despite posing as white. When the man questions Incognegro about the disguise, Incognegro claims that he doesn't worry too much because the white folks "see what they want to see." The man replies by telling Incognegro that that's exactly where the danger lies.
You don't normally expect a graphic novel to delve into such heady racial issues and questions of how we build our personal identities versus the identities others' project onto us. But this one does it in an interesting and thought-provoking way.
Mat Johnson was an African American kid growing up in a black neighborhood. Only thing was that he looks white. Apparently his mother tried everything to make him seem blacker, even making him wear traditional African clothes at times, but that only made things worse. He hated feeling different, but he had a cousin that appeared white, too, and to make themselves feel better, they would play a game they called Incognegro, where they basically pretended to be superheroes with the secret, hidden power of blackness. When he was older, he heard a story about an president of the NAACP who supposedly traveled down south during the early 20th century, posing as a white man in order to uncover the truth behind some of the gruesome lynchings of that era. The story really resonated with him, and his own feeling of wearing two identities at times, and thus grew the seed of this story.
The book follows a reporter known only as "Incognegro" that lives in Harlem, but makes his living traveling undercover as a white man down South to write stories about lynchings. It's an incredibly dangerous job, and it has gotten him on the hit list of every KKK and white supremacist in the South. In this story, he is going on "one last job" when he discovers that the man to be lynched is actually his brother, and the events leading up to his brother's imprisonment are much more complicated than meets the eye.
One of the most poignant moments for me was when Incognegro is getting a ride out of town to investigate and interview a hillbilly family. The black man giving him a ride immediately identifies Incognegro as being black, as well, despite posing as white. When the man questions Incognegro about the disguise, Incognegro claims that he doesn't worry too much because the white folks "see what they want to see." The man replies by telling Incognegro that that's exactly where the danger lies.
You don't normally expect a graphic novel to delve into such heady racial issues and questions of how we build our personal identities versus the identities others' project onto us. But this one does it in an interesting and thought-provoking way.
November 25, 2018
You can find my review on my blog by clicking here.
The deep-rooted presence of racism within American soil is a tough-to-eradicate plague that has yet to leave the people in peace today. While white supremacists have greatly lowered in numbers over the past centuries, the role that racism plays in segregation continues to strive, even if it isn’t always explicit and tangible. In the early 20th century, lynching was a common practice throughout the American South. The act of hanging African-Americans and making a public show out of it was not frown upon by those assisting but rather served as a cathartic experience to alleviate all the racial tension garnered within certain White Folks. While many died from the experience, others were simply never found, leaving many to wonder how much terror actually took place in America during these darker times.
Incognegro is Mat Johnson’s and Warren Pleece’s almost-true-story based on Walter White, the former head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), who went undercover to investigate lynchings. Although he’s Afro-American, the fact that his skin was as pale as White Folks offered him the unique opportunity to “pass” as one of them and shed some light on the scandalous events that took place just about everywhere in the south.
In Incognegro, the story follows journalist Zane Pinchback, a pale Afro-American journalist who writes columns under the pseudonym of “Incognegro” for the New York-based New Holland Herald. With the ability to blend into the mass of White Folks thanks to his pale skin colour, Zane Pinchback is able to point fingers at all the individuals who participate in lynchings by writing stories for his journal. Following a disastrous mission where he escapes alive from a lynching, he is given a new lead that turns out to be much more personal, involving his own brother, but also derails into a whole mystery revolving around the murder of a white woman in Mississippi.
Although short, Mat Johnson has written a very revealing story on the state of white supremacy in America through a murder mystery fueled in themes of racism and identity. Sparingly using humour to alleviate the black and white tone of this story, the events that take place, as well as the assimilated culture of lynching that has become such an ordinary thing for many, reveal the rotten climate of an era that struggled to exit the grasp of racism and all of the stereotypes that come with it. While the story in itself is simple and easy to follow, it is the overall message and how it is delivered that truly establishes this graphic novel as a prime example of great story-telling. Unafraid to tackle these sensitive subjects, the story reminds us of the terror that permeated throughout America once upon a time, but also the remnants of that era that still exists today.
Warren Pleece’s artwork is also magnificent and conveys the right gravity to Mat Johnson’s story without ever faltering. Split in three chapters, the black and white artwork is consistent and is easy to follow without ever leaving its readers to second-guess what is going on. An issue that I however ran into is the difficulty to distinguish White Folks from Afro-Americans. While it was often easy to tell the difference, other times it was a pretty big challenge. This issue led me to wonder what Mat Johnson’s and Warren Pleece’s intentions were to neglecting the skin colour and made me filter it down to a desire to have readers determine the true skin colour of an individual uniquely based on their action and their words. This humble idea led me to realize how easy some people are able to fool others by their actions and words, making skin colours completely impertinent within society. However, today’s society leans more towards acknowledging the existence of the difference in skin colour in hopes of moving forward as a society. It sure does make you wonder what exactly would be the best path to take if we want a racism-free world.
Incognegro is a short, entertaining and thought-provoking story on the ideas of race and identity within America, with solid artwork to complement the story.
Yours truly,
Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: https://bookidote.com/
The deep-rooted presence of racism within American soil is a tough-to-eradicate plague that has yet to leave the people in peace today. While white supremacists have greatly lowered in numbers over the past centuries, the role that racism plays in segregation continues to strive, even if it isn’t always explicit and tangible. In the early 20th century, lynching was a common practice throughout the American South. The act of hanging African-Americans and making a public show out of it was not frown upon by those assisting but rather served as a cathartic experience to alleviate all the racial tension garnered within certain White Folks. While many died from the experience, others were simply never found, leaving many to wonder how much terror actually took place in America during these darker times.
Incognegro is Mat Johnson’s and Warren Pleece’s almost-true-story based on Walter White, the former head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), who went undercover to investigate lynchings. Although he’s Afro-American, the fact that his skin was as pale as White Folks offered him the unique opportunity to “pass” as one of them and shed some light on the scandalous events that took place just about everywhere in the south.
In Incognegro, the story follows journalist Zane Pinchback, a pale Afro-American journalist who writes columns under the pseudonym of “Incognegro” for the New York-based New Holland Herald. With the ability to blend into the mass of White Folks thanks to his pale skin colour, Zane Pinchback is able to point fingers at all the individuals who participate in lynchings by writing stories for his journal. Following a disastrous mission where he escapes alive from a lynching, he is given a new lead that turns out to be much more personal, involving his own brother, but also derails into a whole mystery revolving around the murder of a white woman in Mississippi.
Although short, Mat Johnson has written a very revealing story on the state of white supremacy in America through a murder mystery fueled in themes of racism and identity. Sparingly using humour to alleviate the black and white tone of this story, the events that take place, as well as the assimilated culture of lynching that has become such an ordinary thing for many, reveal the rotten climate of an era that struggled to exit the grasp of racism and all of the stereotypes that come with it. While the story in itself is simple and easy to follow, it is the overall message and how it is delivered that truly establishes this graphic novel as a prime example of great story-telling. Unafraid to tackle these sensitive subjects, the story reminds us of the terror that permeated throughout America once upon a time, but also the remnants of that era that still exists today.
Warren Pleece’s artwork is also magnificent and conveys the right gravity to Mat Johnson’s story without ever faltering. Split in three chapters, the black and white artwork is consistent and is easy to follow without ever leaving its readers to second-guess what is going on. An issue that I however ran into is the difficulty to distinguish White Folks from Afro-Americans. While it was often easy to tell the difference, other times it was a pretty big challenge. This issue led me to wonder what Mat Johnson’s and Warren Pleece’s intentions were to neglecting the skin colour and made me filter it down to a desire to have readers determine the true skin colour of an individual uniquely based on their action and their words. This humble idea led me to realize how easy some people are able to fool others by their actions and words, making skin colours completely impertinent within society. However, today’s society leans more towards acknowledging the existence of the difference in skin colour in hopes of moving forward as a society. It sure does make you wonder what exactly would be the best path to take if we want a racism-free world.
Incognegro is a short, entertaining and thought-provoking story on the ideas of race and identity within America, with solid artwork to complement the story.
Yours truly,
Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: https://bookidote.com/
May 9, 2016
Incognegro drew me back to comics after several years when nothing interested me. The story is intense beyond words. It's a mystery, a crime and detective story, and a reminder of the deep horror of how African-Americans have been treated throughout U.S. history. It's set in the 1930s. Zane Pinchback is an African-American reporter who has skin light enough to "pass" for white, working in New York. He travels to Mississippi when his brother is accused of murdering a white woman. Johnson was inspired by the real life stories of Walter White, executive secretary of the NAACP, who made similar trips to investigate lynchings.
For those interested in crime or mystery stories or American history, this is a must-read. It's violent, but not without purpose. Johnson is an award-winning writer and writing professor, and he handles this story beautifully. Pleece's art looks appropriate to the setting without appearing dated. They're both exceptionally talented, and I've enjoyed following their work on other projects after I read this.
For those interested in crime or mystery stories or American history, this is a must-read. It's violent, but not without purpose. Johnson is an award-winning writer and writing professor, and he handles this story beautifully. Pleece's art looks appropriate to the setting without appearing dated. They're both exceptionally talented, and I've enjoyed following their work on other projects after I read this.
January 24, 2014
Definitely a graphic novel worth reading. It's short, but it packs a real punch.
March 30, 2021
A must read!
I don't know why I waited so long to read this graphic novel. In the beginning of the book my face had a scowl that lasted Almost until the end. It is a punch to the gut from the first page. I think it is a book that should be required reading in schools.
I don't know why I waited so long to read this graphic novel. In the beginning of the book my face had a scowl that lasted Almost until the end. It is a punch to the gut from the first page. I think it is a book that should be required reading in schools.
March 16, 2014
This book is kind of, sort of based on a true story. There was a ahead of the NAACP that was a white passing African American man that would go undercover at lynchings to report on them in newspapers. The main character of Incognegro is a white passing African American living in harlem during the Harlem Renaissance that also goes under cover at lynchings in the south and reports on them at his newspaper in New York. I won't tell you much more because I don't want to spoil it, but this story functions as a look into black history and a fast paced mystery.
The writing is good and the author does a good job setting up the story and ramping up the pace as it goes along. My only complaint is that I would have liked to have more closure for certain events that take place in the text at the end. I would been interesting to see how the other characters back in Harlem dealt with those things.
This was one of the few graphic novels were I found myself really looking at how the artist and author utilized the medium of graphic novel. There is a seen where the main character is speaking about how his skin color is a bold reflection of America--An America with a history of slavery that resulted in the systematic rape of black women by white men among other things. While he is speaking about these things, a translucent American flag is superimposed over his body to represent that sentiment in the art work. It's nice to see the the medium really taken advantage of in a way that many other graphic novels don't.
My only issue with the art was that you cannot tell who is black or who is white. Many cite this as being on purpose as a way of saying that it shouldn't matter who is black or white or to make you think harder about what passing means. I'm not sure whether it was intentional or not but either way I don't like. It seems like a thinly veiled way of promoting color blindness. Color blindness means ignoring people's skin color, heritage, and culture when we should be acknowledging our differences, but not discriminating against each other because of them. Color is important in this story to acknowledge the prejudice and oppression black people faced at the hands of white folks. It is an important part of our history that should be expressed as such.
Over all, I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. I wish I could have written or made a video about this during black history month but fear not. Black literature doesn't poof and disappear after February. You can read about us all year long.
The writing is good and the author does a good job setting up the story and ramping up the pace as it goes along. My only complaint is that I would have liked to have more closure for certain events that take place in the text at the end. I would been interesting to see how the other characters back in Harlem dealt with those things.
This was one of the few graphic novels were I found myself really looking at how the artist and author utilized the medium of graphic novel. There is a seen where the main character is speaking about how his skin color is a bold reflection of America--An America with a history of slavery that resulted in the systematic rape of black women by white men among other things. While he is speaking about these things, a translucent American flag is superimposed over his body to represent that sentiment in the art work. It's nice to see the the medium really taken advantage of in a way that many other graphic novels don't.
My only issue with the art was that you cannot tell who is black or who is white. Many cite this as being on purpose as a way of saying that it shouldn't matter who is black or white or to make you think harder about what passing means. I'm not sure whether it was intentional or not but either way I don't like. It seems like a thinly veiled way of promoting color blindness. Color blindness means ignoring people's skin color, heritage, and culture when we should be acknowledging our differences, but not discriminating against each other because of them. Color is important in this story to acknowledge the prejudice and oppression black people faced at the hands of white folks. It is an important part of our history that should be expressed as such.
Over all, I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. I wish I could have written or made a video about this during black history month but fear not. Black literature doesn't poof and disappear after February. You can read about us all year long.
June 11, 2010
This has to be one of the most disappointing approaches to a painful subject in African-American history (the lynchings in the deep South) since Rosewood. Anyone who knows me will know that thoughts of that movie fill me with a potent rage.
"Incognegro" is about a light-skinned black reporter who "passes" for white to infiltrate lynch mobs. Apparently, it's based on an actual reporter from the 1920s who wrote for the Harlem papers. After dancing around this book and its execrable title, I caved in after I heard an interview with the author on "The Tavis Smiley Show."
It has an engaging storyline where the reporter tries to save his brother and friend from bloodthirsty bigots--and a different sort of "passing" that arose now and then (I won't reveal)--but for the most part, I felt as if I were watching a movie that is so infatuated with its importance that it doesn't bother with more nuance outside of trite coincidences and stereotypes. Though that title may be the worst thing about it, "Incognegro" manages to fall far short of its ambitions as a statement on a miserable aspect of our nation's past.
"Incognegro" is about a light-skinned black reporter who "passes" for white to infiltrate lynch mobs. Apparently, it's based on an actual reporter from the 1920s who wrote for the Harlem papers. After dancing around this book and its execrable title, I caved in after I heard an interview with the author on "The Tavis Smiley Show."
It has an engaging storyline where the reporter tries to save his brother and friend from bloodthirsty bigots--and a different sort of "passing" that arose now and then (I won't reveal)--but for the most part, I felt as if I were watching a movie that is so infatuated with its importance that it doesn't bother with more nuance outside of trite coincidences and stereotypes. Though that title may be the worst thing about it, "Incognegro" manages to fall far short of its ambitions as a statement on a miserable aspect of our nation's past.
April 11, 2018
Mat Johnson's Incognegro makes a valiant effort to link comic books, detective fiction, and stories of southern racism in the early twentieth century. It deserves loads of credit merely because its central premise is so inventive and thought provoking: a light-skinned black man (light skinned enough to pass as being white in most circles) travels south to report on lynchings that are otherwise going unnoticed by the country at large. This is a dangerous job as the protagonist's first assignment shows, and soon enough, it becomes even more dangerous as he gets mixed up in an unsolved murder that leads him down a path of lies and gritty truths about the ugliness of racism.
Aside from the main narrative, I especially liked the artwork. I'm not sure that it's anything all that amazing, but it seemed that the artist was purposely working in black and white and using shades of gray for the various characters' skin colors to reinforce the idea of racial confusion even more. There were many times I couldn't tell what race the characters were.
Having said all this, the story eventually falls apart. While Johnson finds a way to fuse the detective story with social commentary about race for a while, by the end, the pacing becomes so rushed that the reveal of the killer seems inconsequential. On top of this, there are some pretty contrived plot devices along the way, moments where the villains become so painfully slow or stupid that anyone could escape from their devious plans.
There is also some cross dressing involved here. And while I see what Johnson was trying to do—show that gender norms can almost be as limiting as racial ones—it ends up making the plot too convoluted for its own good. This is a shame because I feel there were many more questions of race this story could have raised had it slowed down and given these characters a chance to breathe.
Aside from the main narrative, I especially liked the artwork. I'm not sure that it's anything all that amazing, but it seemed that the artist was purposely working in black and white and using shades of gray for the various characters' skin colors to reinforce the idea of racial confusion even more. There were many times I couldn't tell what race the characters were.
Having said all this, the story eventually falls apart. While Johnson finds a way to fuse the detective story with social commentary about race for a while, by the end, the pacing becomes so rushed that the reveal of the killer seems inconsequential. On top of this, there are some pretty contrived plot devices along the way, moments where the villains become so painfully slow or stupid that anyone could escape from their devious plans.
There is also some cross dressing involved here. And while I see what Johnson was trying to do—show that gender norms can almost be as limiting as racial ones—it ends up making the plot too convoluted for its own good. This is a shame because I feel there were many more questions of race this story could have raised had it slowed down and given these characters a chance to breathe.
June 5, 2020
What to say about this novel? Besides the fact that everyone should read it?
Based on a true story (more than one), this novel relates the work of an African-American reporter who is able to pass as white, allowing him to go undercover at lynchings. Johnson deals deftly with the issue. What moves the story is the relationship between the various characters. Pleece's artwork is a good match to the story. The use of black and white illustration is far more effective and powerful than color.
Zane and Carl's relationship lies at the central of the novel as does the relationship (if that is the correct word) between the races in the South. Some critics have pointed out that one subplot of the book could have used more attention, and perhaps there is some truth to that, but I don't see how that could have been done in the space and structure of the story. Perhaps Carl's story is a bit predictable, but both his character and Zane act like real people (as does everyone in the comic).
The ending is both moving and great.
Based on a true story (more than one), this novel relates the work of an African-American reporter who is able to pass as white, allowing him to go undercover at lynchings. Johnson deals deftly with the issue. What moves the story is the relationship between the various characters. Pleece's artwork is a good match to the story. The use of black and white illustration is far more effective and powerful than color.
Zane and Carl's relationship lies at the central of the novel as does the relationship (if that is the correct word) between the races in the South. Some critics have pointed out that one subplot of the book could have used more attention, and perhaps there is some truth to that, but I don't see how that could have been done in the space and structure of the story. Perhaps Carl's story is a bit predictable, but both his character and Zane act like real people (as does everyone in the comic).
The ending is both moving and great.
March 4, 2022
Incognegro é a lenda do jornalista/informante negro que, por causa de suas feições e cor de pele mais clara se passa por branco e acaba descobrindo segredos de organizações racistas de ódio nos Estados Unidos. É um quadrinho em que a gente demora para pegar no tranco, todo o primeiro terço da trama é bastante enrolado e o leitor fica um tanto perdido em saber em quem a história está focando como protagonista. Depois que isso é estabelecido, o enredo fica mais interessante e mais impactante. Contudo, acredito que a mesma dupla se saiu melhor falando sobre a condição negra quando falaram da escravidão na minissérie do Papa Meia-Noite, para o selo Vertigo, dentro do Universo de Hellblazer.
November 17, 2018
The lynchings that occurred in the southern United States during the heyday of the Ku Klux Klan do not receive enough attention in American history books, and as an unfortunate result of that there are many Americans that don't know about the horrors of hate and racism in our history.
This graphic novel reveals these horrors through the eyes of a light-skinned African-American reporter that investigates lynchings by passing as white. The story reveals how artificial distinctions of race are by showing characters switching between racial identities, and how dangerous a society can become when it no longer relies on fact or truth. In the current political climate, these are messages that need to be heard.
This graphic novel reveals these horrors through the eyes of a light-skinned African-American reporter that investigates lynchings by passing as white. The story reveals how artificial distinctions of race are by showing characters switching between racial identities, and how dangerous a society can become when it no longer relies on fact or truth. In the current political climate, these are messages that need to be heard.
August 29, 2022
Great story, even better artwork!
Recommended.
Recommended.
August 29, 2022
Great story, even better artwork!
Sad, mysterious and unfortunately so damn real and tragic.
Recommended.
Sad, mysterious and unfortunately so damn real and tragic.
Recommended.
June 24, 2018
Terrific storytelling of a terrific story. This book addresses the complex notion of "passing" as a subplot in a tale of murder and lynchings in the South. It's certainly not perfect, but there is plenty to enjoy here and it rattles along with a sense of righteousness and maybe even optimism.
September 10, 2020
Not a bedtime story. Also, pretty basic if you know anything about lynching/ "passing"/ Harlem Renaissance.
May 4, 2024
Such an amazing graphic novel, I read it on one sitting.
A story about passing and racism monstrosities, lynchings.
A story about passing and racism monstrosities, lynchings.
July 4, 2008
I really liked this graphic novel. I think the black and white line art is effective, and this is very important, given that the whole basis for this story is whether or not characters can visually (and behaviorally) hoodwink others into believing they are what they are not.
You get to taking a good look at how they are drawn, their facial features, hairstyles, thinking about whether or not the characters successfully "pass" (light skinned African American for white, etc). I mean, as a reader (and viewer), do I believe that I see a white man or a black man?
I got to also thinking about old turn of the century cartoons, with savage, exaggerated depictions of black and brown folk - the stereotypically thick lips, darker than dark skin (and then of course the ridiculous grass skirt ooga booga costumes and all).
Anyway, something Oscar and I were talking about, my only question or criticism of Incognegro is this: the white women murdered, defaced as they both are. I feel that Mat Johnson's narrative really doesn't give us any room for us to respond emotionally to the deaths of these white women. To his credit, his narrative really does elicit sympathy for the main light-skinned African American male characters. But I think in eliciting that sympathy, we come to accept these white women as props or mere narrative devices, and hence, we come to accept the violence of their literal defacing, at the same time that we are horrified by the lynchings and emasculations of black males.
You get to taking a good look at how they are drawn, their facial features, hairstyles, thinking about whether or not the characters successfully "pass" (light skinned African American for white, etc). I mean, as a reader (and viewer), do I believe that I see a white man or a black man?
I got to also thinking about old turn of the century cartoons, with savage, exaggerated depictions of black and brown folk - the stereotypically thick lips, darker than dark skin (and then of course the ridiculous grass skirt ooga booga costumes and all).
Anyway, something Oscar and I were talking about, my only question or criticism of Incognegro is this: the white women murdered, defaced as they both are. I feel that Mat Johnson's narrative really doesn't give us any room for us to respond emotionally to the deaths of these white women. To his credit, his narrative really does elicit sympathy for the main light-skinned African American male characters. But I think in eliciting that sympathy, we come to accept these white women as props or mere narrative devices, and hence, we come to accept the violence of their literal defacing, at the same time that we are horrified by the lynchings and emasculations of black males.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 13, 2015
Well me like the rest of you I've been getting more and more addicted to my idiot phone and it's just grinding the livelihood right out of me and I can't fuxking take it. Been wanting to read this for ages now but it's out of print and a little pricier than I who will spend a nickel gladly but a quarter only under great consternation would prefer. Anyway on a lunchtime library browse I found a copy and read it last night and this morning, putting my phone on a timer in really embarrassingly tiny increments such that I will not paw and molest it constantly destroying my brains, my pickled idiot brains of mash.
And I'm real glad I did because it's even worse abusing graphic novels with your phone than it is regular ones, because it is real easy to get away with it.
My favorite graphic novel category is still memoirs by women but a good story well told cannot dampen anyone's day and this sure as shootin is a hell of a yarn. Grotesque in its conjury of the period, and with genuinely surprising plot twists. I recommend it for sure.
And I'm real glad I did because it's even worse abusing graphic novels with your phone than it is regular ones, because it is real easy to get away with it.
My favorite graphic novel category is still memoirs by women but a good story well told cannot dampen anyone's day and this sure as shootin is a hell of a yarn. Grotesque in its conjury of the period, and with genuinely surprising plot twists. I recommend it for sure.
August 4, 2018
A light-skinned black reporter poses as a white man in the Jim Crow South in order to solve a murder and prevent the gleeful mob lynching of an innocent black man.
I had steeled myself for something ponderous and gut-wrenching, but Incognegro turned out to be more of a page-turner. Except for the intermittent stomach-turning racial abuse and violence, this reads like a simple noir crime novel: outmatched but determined investigator goes into criminal underworld to solve a murder while an innocent man rots in jail; a femme fatale stirs things up; and a big reveal is had as the pieces of the puzzle finally fall into place.
The lightness of the plot sometimes clashes with the weightiness of the setting and context, but in the end it's a tight, high-stakes, engrossing read.
I had steeled myself for something ponderous and gut-wrenching, but Incognegro turned out to be more of a page-turner. Except for the intermittent stomach-turning racial abuse and violence, this reads like a simple noir crime novel: outmatched but determined investigator goes into criminal underworld to solve a murder while an innocent man rots in jail; a femme fatale stirs things up; and a big reveal is had as the pieces of the puzzle finally fall into place.
The lightness of the plot sometimes clashes with the weightiness of the setting and context, but in the end it's a tight, high-stakes, engrossing read.
March 21, 2009
I thought this was a great idea, but the execution left a lot to be desired.
The art was fine, but the plot relied on predictable storytelling, forced noir dialog, and superficial stock characters - the chivalrous protagonist, the tough-as-nails newspaper editor, the lovable scoundrel, the wily hill-woman with her dopey fall-guy lover, and the irredeemably evil villain with one dead eye.
I really wanted this to be good, but it seemed too preoccupied with fitting in to the noir genre to really explore the actual subject to any significant depth.
The art was fine, but the plot relied on predictable storytelling, forced noir dialog, and superficial stock characters - the chivalrous protagonist, the tough-as-nails newspaper editor, the lovable scoundrel, the wily hill-woman with her dopey fall-guy lover, and the irredeemably evil villain with one dead eye.
I really wanted this to be good, but it seemed too preoccupied with fitting in to the noir genre to really explore the actual subject to any significant depth.
May 4, 2019
Incognegro is about a light-skinned black man who goes undercover as a white man in order to document and expose the truth about the murder (that is, lynchings) of African-Americans in the south. Against this historical backdrop, Zane Pinchback has to solve the mystery in order to save his twin brother from being lynched. This was amazing! It can be hard to read at times - the pictures make it even more real. This was a mystery and a history lesson wrapped on in one.
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