It's Life As I See It: Black Cartoonists in Chicago, 1940–1980

by Dan Nadel (Editor), Tom Floyd (Contributor), Grass Green (Contributor)

Between the 1940s and 1980s, Chicago’s Black press—from The Chicago Defender to the Negro Digest to self-published pamphlets—was home to some of the best cartoonists in America. Kept out of the pages of white-owned newspapers, Black cartoonists found space to address the joys, the horrors, and the everyday realities of Black life in America. From anti-racist time travel adventure, to Klan-skewering gag cartoons, to radical racially mixed daily strips, to underground Afrofuturist comics, this is work that has for far too long been excluded and overlooked. This anthology is a companion to the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago’s exhibition Chicago Comics: 1960 to Now, and is an essential addition to the history of American comics.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, History, Art, Nonfiction, Race

200 pages, Paperback

Published June 1, 2021

About the author

Dan Nadel is the author of Crumb: A Cartoonist's Life (Scribner, April 2025). His previous books include, It’s Life as a I See It: Black Cartoonists in Chicago, 1940–1980; Peter Saul: Professional Artist Correspondence, 1945–1976; and Art Out of Time: Unknown Comic Visionaries, 1900–1969. Nadel has curated exhibitions for galleries and museums internationally including the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, UC Davis, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. He is the founder of PictureBox, a publishing and packaging company that produced over one hundred books, objects, and zines from 2000 to 2014, including the Grammy Award–winning design for Wilco’s 2004 album A Ghost Is Born. Dan is the curator-at-large for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his family.

Reviews

[Douglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is so much Blackness that is ignored. Like the network of Black newspapers that existed during Jim Crow and like other newspapers they had comic strips. This book features nine cartoonists that people probably don't know about - with the exception of Jackie Ormes.
Some of the works are political (Yaoundé Olu) and some are science fiction (Turtel Onli) and others are about daily life (Seitu Hayden).
My favorite was Jay Jackson's "Bungleton Green and the Mystic Commandos of the 21st Century" which is about a brother and his posse that fight all manner of villains like Thanos - just kidding - segregationists, Nazis, slave traders in a serial format.

[Victor · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Great, wide-ranging anthology of high quality black and white reprints of gag panels, adventure strips, underground work, and other assorted oddities from the 20th century heyday of the black press in America. Probably the most interesting work to me is the long selection from an ongoing adventure strip about a black man from the forties visiting the middle of the 21st century, where green skinned aliens apply Jim Crow laws towards the white skinned. Beside being an entertaining parable, the mid-century modern styling to the "future world" of 2040 was quite impressive. As usual, Dan Nadel as editor both provides and gathers high quality text accompaniment to the book. Highly recommended.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I spent a lot of my time in high school hiding a multitude of comics under the bed (my mom hated me reading them), and I read anything, anything that had some semblance of panels, thick lines, speech bubbles. I was reading Zits, Foxtrot, JLA, Sandman, Asterios Polyp, The Boys-- whatever the library had.

This collection of comics, which was released as a companion to the MOCA Chicago's exhibition Chicago Comics: 1960 to Now, made me realize the whiteness of what I had been consuming as a youth. This anthology has a wide variety of comics: some are explicitly political, others fantastical, and others slice of life. A sampling: a smoker rattling off about "smoke power" until he is told to shut up by his wife; Bungleton Green, which features a white man struggling through a racist green society; and even some science communication, as Yaoundé Olu drew "Calci and Oxy Adams in Hot to Trot".

There is an inherent power to making comics: they give breath to exactly what the writer-artist is feeling: everything, from the lettering to the way the lines are drawn are from the hand of the maker. Compare this to photography, where in the 1940s, Kodak began calibrating the colors of their popular cameras to a white employee. As Shutterstock notes, how she looked, from the whiteness of her skin, to her hair, determined how other colors came out. It was problematic for Black subjects in photographs: because these Kodak cameras had been calibrated to white skin, their skin had no nuance, reducing their appearance to a few floating body parts. The self-determination that comes from being able to completely control the creative direction and the artistic style of these comics seems, to me, to be incredibly important.

This was a slow read for me: I read through the multiple cartoons over a series of several months. I needed some time in between them to really absorb the comics. I appreciated in particular, the fantastical, blockbuster stylings of Turtel Onli's "NOG, Protector of the Pyramids", which play with all that comics are capable of.

[Troy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoy the look into an art form that remains current, but people making light of their situation and the Chicago environment in a time unknown to me. What was going on then? What were the issues, the serious and the unserious? The styles vary, but the draftsmanship is evident from names lost to history and resurrected in this collection.

[Michael Kitchen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every cartoonist in this collection was awesome, and Bungleton Green and the Mystic Commandos by Jay Jackson was my favorite section. Loved this book.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s Life as I See It: Black Cartoonists in Chicago, 1940-1980 is an anthology of strips and panels by Black cartoonists prominent in Black-owned and -targeted newspapers and magazines of the mid-20th-century. Tom Floyd, Grass Green, Seitu Hayden, Jay Jackson, Charles Johson, Yaoundé Out, Turtel Onli, Jackie Ormes, and Morrie Turner—the cartoonists represented here, each prefaced with a brief bio—were largely locked out of illustration and cartooning jobs in more widely available media (such as The New Yorker). Exceptions include Johnson for his novel The Middle Passage and Turner for his “Wee Pals” strip, but these were cartoonists whose first professional appearances began toward the end of the period covered here.

Not surprisingly, the content often deals with subjects white audience didn’t want to confront—the moral hypocrisies of racism and Black cartoon characters that didn’t act according to white stereotypes. (In contrast, Andy Capp—a strip about an alcoholic wife-beater—was perfectly fine for white children to read and laugh at.) The content also deals with (non-political / -racial) social and domestic issues, like any other comic strip, but from a viewpoint not usually found in comic strips of the period. And there is the science fiction / Afrofuturism of Turtel Onli’s “NOG, Protector of the Pyramids” and the alternative history of “Bungleton Green and the Mystic Commandos” (which should be a band name) by Jay Jackson. Each cartoonist brings with them their own style and terrain, none trying to be the next [name of famous cartoonist here] but just themselves, and in so doing finding they had much to say for audiences of similar backgrounds and concerns.

For more of my reviews, please see https://www.thebookbeat.com/backroom/...

[William Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great, much needed anthology of, for the mainstream (white) reading public, largely unknown cartoonists of the 1940s-1970s period. Other than Charles Johnson, these artists and their work were new to me. Even at the time, most of their work was published in black newspapers or as independent comics. They gave voice to black American perspectives even as, ironically, they were shut out of broader discourse. Read this now and educate yourself and laugh—and wince— at the same time. This work is as relevant as ever.

[Moli Liu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very important intervention into comics history! I loved the writing and biographies, but felt a little underwhelmed by the anthology—while the comics are incredible, many of them (gags and stories alike) felt somewhat crammed into the space, with not enough material to get their full context. Basically I wanted this collection to be 3x as long?? I hope that this sets the scene for many future collections of Black cartoonists, especially volumes dedicated to single authors.

[Jessica Nish · Rating 4 out of 5]

I especially found Jay Jackson’s “Bungleton Green” series fascinating. The concept was green people come take over the earth and make white peoples the lowest in society because they lack any pigmentation. The fact that the series was published in 1944 was a whole other level of outstanding. I also liked Tom Floyd’s short and profound comic strips as well as Morrie Turner creating a “Peanuts”esque series that focused on racial equality conversations.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A brief survey of the often overlooked and forgotten Black cartoons published by Chicago's Black Press. There's some really interesting stuff here, particularly Turtle Onli's afrofuturist "NOG, Protector of the Pyramides" and Jackie Orme's precocious toddler in "Patty-Jo 'n' Ginger". Like a lot of newspaper cartoon collections, however, a lot of it is kind of a wash.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting time capsule of the life and relevant themes of Black America over a 40-year span. To the aware, not many surprises. Some of the cartoons aren't even controversial and yet it's interesting to think depicting Black urban life was considered provocative. The spoofs are absolutely hilarious, and unfortunately still very timely.

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A different view of life through the art of comics that got little play on the national stage. Black artists were ignored except by their own publications, which included Black newspapers and magazines like Jet and Essence.
Focus is on a few specific artists, their lives and works. My favorites were the single-panel works by Charles Johnson.

[Molly Quinn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This book was incredible. All the cartoonists highlighted had some amazing work that has long been forgotten and overlooked. This is the type of comic book I have been looking for for a long time. Do yourself a favor and read this book.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

For an exhibition catalog, this was a lot more like a real comic anthology. The essays were short but insightful. The curation could have been a little tighter, but I'd rather have too much than not enough.

[Gabe Steller · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mix of Afro futurist fantasies and regular peanuts/ far side type cartoons. Fascinating and hilarious. Some of the most withering, take no Prisoners humor I’ve read in a while. Especially Charles Johnson’s stuff. Literallly lol’d many times.

[Dee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of these comics were not my style but I love seeing an anthology like this! Yes let’s give artists of color more pages please (I’m looking at you NYT).

[Sequella Coleman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent information and tribute to the struggles of black cartoon artists in Chicago 1949-1980. Some were familiar most were not … great read … cartoons are good too.

[Gabriel H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting survey. Particular standouts for me include Tom Floyd, Charles Johnson, Turtel Onli, Jackie Ormes, and Morrie Turner.