Ten Speed to Publish “The Black Panther Party: A Graphic History”

Publishers Weekly reports Ten Speed Press will publish the biographical graphic novel “The Black Panther Party: A Graphic History” in January 2021. The book, written by David F. Walker (“Bitter Root”) with art by Marcus Kwame Anderson (“Snow Daze”), will chart the history of the revolutionary socialist party founded by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton in 1966, until its dissolution in 1982.

Walker said he initially intended to write a graphic biography of Fred Hampton, the BPP’s deputy chairman, who was murdered by the FBI and the Chicago police in 1969. “I pitched Ten Speed about the Hampton biography, but they wanted a full history of the Black Panther Party,” he told PW. “I eventually realized that I needed to tell the whole story of the BPP to be able to tell Fred Hampton’s story.”

He said artist Marcus Kwame Anderson was chosen because of he has “a very versatile style. We could approach a serious topic with a more cartoony style, though his work on this book is a little more serious than his other work.” He acknowledged how the topical the book is in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, although he pointed out “it wasn’t planned that it would be released at this time, and I wish it wasn’t so relevant.”

For more from Walker at PW, hit the link here.