The World-Changing Martin Luther King Jr. Comic Book From the ’50s

[EDITOR’S NOTE: This story originally ran on TR two years ago. I’m running it again because when it comes to nerdy tie-ins to Dr. King’s life, I have yet to find a better one]

When we think of “comics for grown-ups,” there’s a tendency to either imagine R. Crumb-type stuff from the ’60s, or Alan Moore and Frank Miller going grim and gritty in the ’80s. But this predates all of that. Turns out a comic played a big role in the legend of MLK.

Produced by the Fellowship of the Reconciliation and sent very surreptitiously throughout the South (it was dangerous for many to own a copy), then translated, re-drawn, and distributed once again throughout the entire SOUTHERN CONTINENT through Mexico, into Central and then South America, this comic tells the story that established the myth of Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks at the time that it mattered, mere months after news events occurred. Intended for adults, but shown in comic book format for the largest possible distribution and audience and instruction.

For more, including scans of the entire comic, go HERE.