Customer Reviews

Incognegro

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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

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.

This book is well worth the purchase price. It succeeds as a noir murder mystery, social commentary, and as an indictment of social mores. This story is disturbingly, intuitively realistic in its portrayal of upscale Black life (the title character is a reporter for a Black newspaper) - which at the time had certain humiliatingly rigid similarities with Black life no matter the class, educational background, or economic station. The artwork in this tome is chillingly perfect for the tale told. Interestingly, there seem to be some direct parallels between the era portrayed in this riveting novel, and present-day American society, which the author subtly draws, as his story-telling prowess is displayed to good end in this great graphic novel. This book is a must-buy, must-read, must-share, must talk-about; for Americans of all walks!

Passing is a subject that I think about alot. I wonder what those who decide to do pass think of? Matt Johnson is an amazing writing . I love the story and Zane is sharp and witty. I hope that he writes more graphic novels and I hope that everyone reads this. Don't forget the past.

Mat Johnson, Incognegro (Vertigo, 2008)

Johnson, responsible for the Papa Midnite Hellblazer story arc, here offers his latest solo joint, a thriller set during the twenties, in the Deep South, featuring two black protagonists. I'm sure you can see where this is going, but there's a twist: one of said protagonists is light-skinned enough to be able to pass for white among, as one character says, "those who ain't lookin'". As such, our hero, Zane Pinchback (loosely based on NAACP executive secretary Walter White), has made himself into an investigative journalist covering lynchings and other crimes against minorities, writing under the name "Incognegro".

In the opening scene, Pinchback is at a lynching, and through a quickly-improvised stunt, gets a number of names and addresses of the people present. Eventually, though, he draws the ire of the local sheriff and hightails it back to Harlem. He wants to get out of the dangerous business and start covering the society pages, but his boss dangles a carrot in front of his nose impossible to pass up: the next lynching he's supposed to cover is that of his own brother, a southern bootlegger who's being held for a murder of a white woman. Accompanied by his ne'er-do-well friend Carl, who masquerades as an idle-rich British nobleman looking for land, Pinchback heads South to find out what really happened.

This is a graphic novel, and when it comes right down to it, just like Papa Midnite, this is a superhero title masquerading as something that isn't a superhero title. As such, it borrows one of the conventions of superhero titles: a whole lot of unbearably complex, and often silly, plot twists in order to keep the action going nonstop. Granted, that's not too far off from what a lot of noir authors (most notably Spillane) actually did in their novels, but it's a little more transparent here. This is especially true when Johnson goes right off the rails with a crazy mountain family, but that particular bit is so much fun that by that point you probably won't care how far you have to suspend disbelief. (Don't worry, Johnson will pull your feet back down to the ground pretty fast after that.) Warren Pleece's slightly sepia-tinted artwork is perfect for the story, and we already know Johnson is a fine storyteller; check this one out. ****

The graphic novel format of this very serious story makes an important piece of American history accessible to high school students. I have had students pick it up because they're intrigued by the drawings and read it through for the gripping plot. Highly recommended.

The other reviews here have summed up "Incognegro" well-- this well-paced graphic novel by Mat Johnson deftly explores racism in the South and the steps that one courageous newspaperman takes to combat it. I was fascinated by how the book tackled "passing"; black men and women who can easily disguise themselves as white folk.

In addition to Johnson's writing, the artwork was simplistic (in a good way) with clean lines. I liked that the book was black-and-white, further blurring the nature of race within the story.

The appalling, sordid history of the lynching of blacks in the American South is well documented (see, for example, such books as At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America or Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America). However, like so many atrocities in history, the raw facts alone aren't necessarily enough to touch the hearts and minds of people 70-80 years removed from that horrible history. That's where this compelling graphic novel steps in to provide both a gripping story and outstanding public service.

Set sometime in the early 1930s, the story follows Harlem newspaper reporter Zane Pinchback, who files stories about his exploits as an undercover investigator in the deep South under the alias "Incognegro." He periodically travels down there "passing" as a white man in order to investigate lynchings and report on them for his newspaper, with the aim of raising enough outrage to put a stop to the practice. Just when Zane is burned out and to reveal himself and move into editorship, he's forced to go back down to Tupelo, MS, where his brother is in jail for the murder of a white woman, and is rumored to be the target of a Klan-led lynch mob.

What unfolds is a murder mystery with many twists and turns, as Zane struggles to help his no-account moonshine-brewing brother while keeping his cover. Among the characters in the mix are Zane's playboy pal who tags along, a cunning Klan organizer, a local sheriff who might be a decent sort, a missing deputy, the town whore, and a strange inbred clan. As a portrait of the horror of lynchings in the South, the book succeeds, and it does so in a way that might make it a useful tool for the classroom. There are a few minor quibbles: for one, the white characters in the book are almost uniformly evil or amoral, and that lack of nuance is unfortunate. Secondly, Zane gets himself into deep trouble in a way that's not really plausible, given his experience and the life-and-death stakes. Thirdly, I'm not sure why the story is set in the early '30s, by which time lynching had almost completely died out. The only thing I can think of is that the writer wanted to work the Harlem Renaissance in, but otherwise, it seems like it would have made more historical sense to keep it in the 1910s. But these are minor quibbles that shouldn't detract from the raw power of the story and the stark black and white inkwork that brings it alive.

Readers should note that Zane's character is based on real-life NAACP co-founder Walter White, who did basically the same kind of thing in the 1910s. Johnson acknowledges him as the inspiration in a brief introduction that might easily be missed by those eager to dive into the story. Those interested in White's real-life exploits should check out his biography and a thriller based on his adventures called The Moon in Our Hands.

I read Incognegro because I was going to a book signing for the author. I was surprised to find myself caught up in the story and emotional regarding the characters' fates. Although I don't see many graphic novels in my future, I'll certainly recommend this one to others.Bad Girls Finish First