Now Let Me Fly: A Portrait of Eugene Bullard
by Ronald Wimberly (Author) Brahm Revel (Illustrator)
From author Ronald Wimberly, creator of the viral comic Lighten Up, comes a soaring graphic biography that casts new light on the first African-American fighter pilot.
On the eve of World War I, Eugene Bullard was a refugee of the Jim Crow South who was determined to find a place where a Black man would be treated as a fellow human being. His search took him from rural Georgia to the streets of Paris, from the vaudeville stage to the boxing ring, and finally, from the muddy trenches to the open skies. In 1914, Bullard joined the fight to defend France--and made history as the world's first African American fighter pilot. In this candid but sensitive portrait of Bullard, author Ronald Wimberly balances the personal and the historical to interrogate concepts of cynicism, idealism, fear, glory, and the pervasiveness of anti-Black racism.
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Publishers Weekly
The winding life of Eugene Bullard (1895-1961), one of the first Black American fighter pilots, is streamlined by Wimberly (Prince of Cats) into a deservedly ripping folk hero origin tale. Born in Jim Crow-era Georgia, young Bullard stares down terror when a lynch mob invades his home seeking to kill his father. He runs away "to go someplace where people don't want to kill us" and later stows on a boat headed toward Europe, which drops him off near Aberdeen. Prizefighting takes him to Paris; along the way he meets other Black expats, such as heavyweight Jack Johnson. In France he joins up with a patchwork infantry during WWI. Blazing trench warfare kills fellow soldiers and his own injuries earn a Croix de Guerre. Bullard's valiant reputation secures him a spot on a flying corps of American mercenaries despite his lack of piloting skills. A quick study, he's soon dogfighting Germans with a pet monkey riding along. Wimberly's script navigates haunting scenes of racism and ultimate optimism and triumph. Revel (Guerillas) draws emotive faces and propulsive action, as fluidly rendering a boxing ring as a battlefield. Yellow and white coloring with deep inks reinforce the period landscape while lettered sound effects resonate. It carries off the lift of a pulp adventure, while memorializing Bullard's warrior spirit. (Jan.)
Copyright 2023 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.Review quotes
Ronald Wimberly is an American cartoonist, illustrator, and designer. He has published several graphic novels, as well as shorter works for The New Yorker, DC/Vertigo, Nike, Marvel, The Nib, Hill and Wang, and Dark Horse Comics.
Brahm Revel is an American artist and writer best known for his creator-owned comic series GUERILLAS, published by Oni Press. He has also created comics for Marvel, Boom!, and most recently, IDW, where he helped develop the character Jennika for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle universe. This led to a nomination for a 2020 National Cartoonists Society Reuben Award for his work on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Jennika II. Brahm has also worked in the film and animation industries, most notably storyboarding for the animated show The Venture Bros. He currently lives and works in Barcelona, Spain.BIO002010 - Biography & Autobiography | Cultural, Ethnic & Regional | African American & Black
CGN007020 - Comics & Graphic Novels | Nonfiction | History
France
United States
20th century
World War, 1939-1945
World War, 1914-1918
Race discrimination
Comics (Graphic works)
Nonfiction comics
Biographical comics
Bullard, Eugene Jacques
African American fighter pilots
Fighter pilots
Aerial operations, French
