Back in 1969, comic book artist and writer Larry Fuller created a black superhero character, Ebon, who becomes mild-mannered alien Valentine Jones by day. Only one comic book was published instead of a series. This year 2022, academic professors John Jennings and Stacey Robinson collaborated with Fuller to expand upon his original character and comic book, adding a backstory, a unique written alien language, a mythological pantheon of “oracles,” and connections to current cultural events and Afrofuturism concepts.
An exhibition of the project is on view at UC Riverside, California from March 19 through to June 19, 2022.
Read this beautifully illustrated essay on the Ebon world at UC Riverside’s Art Center website.
And read some background on the project at the Los Angeles Times website.