Victoria Johnson

It's no secret that white male leads have dominated comic books since --- well forever. In the '60s, Marvel and DC finally started to put a change to that with the addition of super-powered people of color, which led to some of today's biggest names in comics. But it still wasn't enough. Eventually the lack of diversity led to the onset of Milestone Media in the '90s, where Dwayne McDuffie, Denys Cowan, Michael Davis, and Derek T. Dingle crafted several intriguing characters. With an increasingly active black nerd, or blerd, community, new black characters are being created every day --- primarily through independent publishers, though Marvel has also kickstarted a focus on one of its most notable black characters --- but more on that later. To celebrate Black History Month, ComicsAlliance is running down our list of 20 Great Black Comic Book Characters. Our list considers old staples as well as some new favorites, including a certain katana wielding badass, space explorers and of course, plenty of superheroes.

What if only black people had super powers? Kwanza Osajyefo and Tim Smith 3 are set to answer that question in their upcoming graphic novel, Black, with art by Molly Danger creator Jamal Igle, and covers by Khary Randolph. The creators have provided us with some exclusive storboard art to share with ComicsAlliance readers. Osajyefo, a former DC comics digital editor, and Smith, who worked on Iron Man and The Amazing Spider-Man comics, are the co-creators of the book, which tells the story of Kareem Jenkins, a young black man who survives being gunned down by the police only to discover that he may be superhuman --- a common trait among black people that the government conspired to hide for centuries.

Yohance is an upcoming graphic novel completely inspired by Ancient Africa, and according to its artist, Paul Louise-Julie, it's "the first of its kind." The three-part series revolves around Yohance, "a notorious thief with a shadowy past." But as the story goes on, Yohance will find himself in a centuries-old intergalactic conflict that will force him to face villains he never imagined and venture into places he's never dreamed.

The Pack, by Paul Louise-Julie, follows Khenti and Nekhet, two Nubian brothers on the run who end up becoming the leaders of a werewolf pack --- hence the title. With two issues complete, Louise-Julie is set to release the third issue within the next few weeks. ComicsAlliance spoke with Louise-Julie about the what's to come in The Pack, including some background information on the mysterious new character introduced at the end of issue two. Louise-Julie is also developing a sci-fi epic, Yohance (pronounced Yo-Han-Say), and shared some details of what fans can expect from the upcoming three-part series. He also shared some exclusive pages from issue three.