Incognegro [Hardcover]

Mat Johnson (Author), Warren Pleece (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 6, 2008

Writer Mat Johnson (HELLBLAZER: PAPA MIDNITE), winner of the prestigious Hurston-Wright Legacy Award for fiction, constructs a fearless graphic novel that is both a page-turning mystery and a disturbing exploration of race and self-image in America, masterfully illustrated with rich period detail by Wareen Pleece (THE INVISIBLES, HELLBLAZER).

In the early 20th Century, when lynchings were commonplace throughout the American South, a few courageous reporters from the North risked their lives to expose these atrocities. They were African-American men who, due to their light skin color, could "pass" among the white folks. They called this dangerous assignment going "incognegro."

Zane Pinchback, a reporter for the New York-based New Holland Herald barely escapes with his life after his latest "incognegro" story goes bad. But when he returns to the sanctuary of Harlem, he's sent to investigate the arrest of his own brother, charged with the brutal murder of a white woman in Mississippi.

With a lynch mob already swarming, Zane must stay "incognegro" long enough to uncover the truth behind the murder in order to save his brother -- and himself. He finds that the answers are buried beneath layers of shifting identities, forbidden passions and secrets that run far deeper than skin color.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The brows are furrowed and teeth mightily clenched in Pleece's noirish artwork for Johnson's pulpy tale of a black journalist who goes undercover in the 1930s South to investigate a possible trumped-up murder charge against his brother—a charge that could lead to a lynching. Zane Pinchback, who is so light-skinned he can pass for white with a little cosmetic help, writes the Incognegro column for a Harlem newspaper, and his beat (like that of many a brave black journalist at the time) is the bloody circus of lynchings still claiming lives in horrendous numbers. Johnson's tale is a smart and fast-paced one, particularly when dealing with Pinchback's reluctance to return to Mississippi (wisely preferring his comparatively sheltered Harlem life). Once he's back down South, the twists and turns of the story come fast and thick, goosed by the not particularly trustworthy explanations being given by Zane's moonshine-distilling brother, and the attention-drawing antics of Zane's playboy friend Carl, who invited himself along on a lark. Johnson and Pleece have done a mostly commendable job, though the plot gets too knotted for its own good long before the conclusion, but they give a cracking Chester Himes kick to what could have been a sub–Walter Mosley imitation. (Feb.)
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From Booklist

As a light-skinned African American growing up in a predominantly dark-skinned neighborhood, Johnson was electrified when he learned about the early exploits of Walter White, executive secretary of the NAACP, 1931–55. In 1919, White used his own pale skin to pass for a white and investigate lynchings in the deep South. Inspired by White’s experiences, Johnson tells the similar story of Harlem journalist Zane Pinchback, whose own eyewitness reports of lynchings are regularly written up in a New York periodical under the byline Incognegro. Pinchback is on the verge of abandoning his undercover work for an editor’s job when he discovers his own brother is in jail and days away from lynching for apparently murdering a white woman. How Pinchback tracks down the real killer, saves his brother’s life, and narrowly escapes an angry mob form the plot of a riveting meditation on racism and self-reliance. The beautiful chiaroscuro pen-and-ink illustrations provided by veteran artist Pleece bring to vivid life one of the darkest chapters in America’s racial history. --Carl Hays

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 136 pages
• Publisher: Vertigo (February 6, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 140121097X
• ISBN-13: 978-1401210977
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 0.6 x 9.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #185,762 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great offering from Vertigo Comics, February 16, 2008

By 

R. SHARIFF "rayhans1282" (Jamaica, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Incognegro (Hardcover)

I've been waiting to read this ever since I first saw it on the solicits. And often when you are waiting for something for a while, most of the time, you find yourself disappointed by the final product. This is not so in this case.

Incognegro is an exploration of racial identity and tension set in the 1930's. The main character is Zen Pinchback, a journalist who has a syndicated weekly column. Zen is also a Black man who is "light-skinned" enough to pass as White and does investigative reportings on lynchings in the deep South that usually went unreported.

The main plot is that Zen's brother, Alonzo has been accused of murdering a White girl and according to Southern justice, he's all set to be lynched. Now, it is up to Zen to try and save him.

I am not going to reveal the ending of the story. The story is well-paced and is layered with twists and turns. The author Mat Johnson, based this story somewhat on his own experience. He stated in the intro of the book that he too has the physical similarities that Zen possesses and growing up in a mainly Black neighborhood, he felt out of place. So, he used to invent and "incognegro" identity for himself and pretend he was a spy in the war against White Supremacists. The story is also inspired by former head of the NAACP, Walter White who also did his own "incognegro" investigations.

Johnson doesn't restrict his story to dealing with racial identities but instead deals with identities as a whole. It is a very well-crafted story and will stay with you long after you have finished reading the book. Warren Fleece's art is done entirely in black & white (what else?) and suites the story well. It's not grandoise in any scale but complements the story perfectly well. He is also adapt at capturing the different facial expressions that too many of today's artists seem to sacrifice in the favor of style.

A great read and highly recommended.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Going Incognegro for the Cause, April 22, 2008

By 

Dera R Williams (Oakland, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Incognegro (Hardcover)

The term "incognegro", a play on the word "incognito" was coined to describe a Black person trying to maintain a low profile or who is racially ambiguous; who could pass for White. The Black man that usually comes to mind is Walter White, one of the founders of the NAACP who went undercover in the South to investigate lynching of Negroes. Thus, in Mat Johnson's latest literary offering, a graphic novel, Incognegro, has Zane Pinchback, a journalist going to Mississippi to prevent a lynching---that of his own twin brother, Alonzo.

There were 2,522 lynchings of Negroes between 1889 and 1918. A great majority of these lynchings occurred in the South for the smallest infractions, real or imagined. A great many of the allegations were bogus accusations of Negro men assaulting White women. Zane decides he will hang up his investigative shoes as it becomes increasingly dangerous as his undercover status is compromised. He wants to become an editor and turn his attention to personal writing. But his brother is being held in a Mississippi jail for killing a White woman; he knows he has to go back. His co-worker, Carl, also fair-skinned and able to pass for white talks his way into going with him but Zane is worried because he is young and hot-headed. When they arrive in the small town, he uses a guise to get into the jail and see his brother, who though they are twins, is obviously Negro. Meanwhile as Zane works on getting his brother freed, incognegro, of course, Carl assimilates into the community doing his own investigation but soon finds himself in a dangerous situation when his lies start running together. Zane's investigation takes him to the hills and backwoods where he stumbles upon a mystery and realizes he must work fast to free his brother.

Johnson used a different sort of literary device, a growing trend, the graphic novel, better known as a comic book in hardback cover illustrated by artist, Warren Pleece. Reminiscent of the old Dick Tracy or Mary Worth comics, the subject matter is serious with just enough tongue-in-cheek humor. This is an ideal device to encourage adolescents into reading about a vital part of African American history while they enjoy what appears to be a comic book. Johnson has long wanted to do this kind of project and the birth of his twin sons provided the impetus when the quirk of genetics had one born brown and one white looking. I applaud Johnson for stretching his artistic muscles and stepping outside the box while telling a part of American history.


Dera R. Williams
APOOO BookClub

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Vivid reminder of forgotten history, March 12, 2008

By 

Fred Zappa (Urbana, IL United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Incognegro (Hardcover)

I thought this was a powerful read. While it doesn't have the visual and narrative complexity of some of the more full-fledged graphic "novels," it works very well as a more straightforward comic book that still has an important story to tell. Some of the content is graphic in another sense, as in, shockingly violent. But it's actually less violent than such things as superhero comics. The shock comes because the events depicted here really happened. Lynchings and horrific abuse of black people were just as bad, and often far worse, than the ways they're depicted here. And people really did keep and trade photos and postcards of these hellish "picnics."

The story is fast-paced and gripping--I kept reading to find out what would happen next. However, in this war between blacks and whites, the white people are a little too uniformly evil. I thought there was some hope for one in particular, but he turned out to be almost as much of a sicko as the rest of the Southern "crackers." A white character with some depth and humanity would have made the story less starkly . . . well, black and white.

I was led by this reading to learn more about Walter White, a real-life investigator who did even more dramatically heroic undercover work against murderous racism than this book's fictional hero performs. The recovered history in this book, and its invitation to remember more of it, is the most valuable part for me. Thank you Mr. Johnson and Mr. Pleece for infusing a format aimed at young people with such serious and relevant, yet also engaging, content.