Lion Man was essentially the first black superhero, introduced in 1947’s All Negro Comics. And the mostly forgotten character is now back in a new book, The Adventures of Lion Man, from Rosarium Publishing.
“As a Black writer/publisher and self-confessed history nerd, I felt it was important to reclaim and celebrate Orrin C. Evans’ legacy as the pioneer that he was,” publisher Bill Campbell told Comic Book Club over email.
To find out more about the book, the inspiration, and what’s next, read on.
Comic Book Club: Why was it important to bring back Lion Man, other than it being in the public domain, so available?
Bill Campbell: Lion Man was basically the first Black superhero (ALL NEGRO COMICS, 1947). So, as a Black writer/publisher and self-confessed history nerd, I felt it was important to reclaim and celebrate Orrin C. Evans’ legacy as the pioneer that he was.
What was involved in updating the character? I’d imagine getting the right creative team in place was a large part of it?
Initially, John Jennings and David Brame worked with Professor Michael Dando (St. Cloud State) to put out a single issue for underserved elementary school children. That issue exists in the world. So, it was “simply” a matter of expanding the idea.
Jennings has been with Rosarium since before the beginning in 2013. Damian Duffy joined back in 2014 with KID CODE. Brame was part of the APB project back in 2015, and he drew BAAAAD MUTHAZ. Yvette, on the other hand, was one of my students at Clarion West. I loved what she was doing and thought she would be perfect for the project. The PUBLIC DOMAINS pinup gallery was a bunch of friends.
So, basically, this project is “a family affair,” if you will.
There have obviously been large cultural shifts between when the character debuted and now – how do you see this anthology reflecting those changes?
Good question. I hadn’t really thought of it in this context. Unearthing/rediscovering Black cultural history is an ongoing process since we are constantly being disappeared from American history. So, to me, only time will dictate the significance of any of our efforts. Since so many are trying really hard to take the US back to 1947, maybe it will resonate more for some folks. That’s not really up to us, though. All we can do is keep doing what we do.
You’re not just bringing back Lion Man, you have other characters, as well… Again, public domain I’m sure played part of it, but what do the rest bring to the mix?
Oh, like the pinup gallery says, “the past is our playground.” So, we’re toying around with the idea of reimagining a bunch of public domain characters like Damian and David did with Fantomah. So, don’t be surprised if one day a Lion Man Universe emerges.
As a publisher, where does this book fit in your overall strategy?
We publish works from all around the globe and are fairly wide ranging, so I’m not sure if it fits any kind of overarching strategy. As a history nerd, though, it definitely fits my interests. I absolutely love finding hidden histories and works that expose or play with them. The Adventures of Lion Man definitely does that.
The Adventures of Lion Man is now available from Rosarium Publishing.
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