Afua Richardson

Afua Richardson
Richardson at BookExpo America in 2018
Born New York City, NY
Nationality American
Area(s) Writer, Penciller, Inker, Colourist
Pseudonym(s) Docta Foo
Notable works
 Genius, World of Wakanda
www.afuarichardson.com

Afua Richardson is an African-Native American artist best known for her comic book illustration for Marvel's World of Wakanda.[1][2] Her comic, Genius, with writers Marc Bernardin and Adam Freeman[3] won Top Cow’s 2008 Pilot Season.[4][5][6] Some of her other works include work with NPR's Black History Month,[7] All Star Batman for DC comics,[8] Attack on Titan for Kodansha,[9][10] Mad Max for Vertigo, and cover art for X-Men '92, Totally Awesome Hulk and Captain America and the Mighty Avengers. Marvel recently chose Richardson as the artist for a new comic featuring the character Blade.[11] She is one of a small group of African American women artists who are employed by the "big two" comic publishers in the United States.[12]

Biography

Richardson was raised in New York City.[13] From a family of scientists,[14] she started to play classical flute at age nine.[13] She has performed at Carnegie Hall and on Soul Train.[15] She has also performed with Sheila E. and Parliament-Funkadelic.[14] Other music-related jobs she has held include being a backup singer, a beatboxer, a background dancer on MTV Jams and has appeared in an off-Broadway show with Melvin Van Peebles.[13][16] She is part of the musical collective Future Soul Society, and has recorded with Alexa Edmonds Lima under the name 'Afua & Alexa'.[17][18]

Richardson is a self-trained artist.[13] She is a member of the Ormes Society, which promotes African-American women in the comics industry.[19]

In working on the series, Genius (2007), she decided along with the two writers to tell the story through the voice of a black woman, Destiny Ajaye.[20] Richardson's experience of being a minority in the United States has influenced her artistic work.[21] In Genius, she draws violent acts in a way that is both "matter-of-fact and highly stylized," according to ComicsAlliance.[22] Her visual style also helps portray Ajaye's thought processes and David Brothers call it "instantly understandable and worthy of poring over."[22]

In 2018, Richardson began working with U.S. Representative and Civil Rights figure John Lewis to illustrate the graphic novel "Run". The graphic novel follows Lewis' life after the passage of the 1965 Civil Rights Act when he began to contemplate running for office.[23]

Awards

In 2011, Richardson received the Nina Simone Award for Artistic Achievement as one of the few African-American women comic book artists to work for the leading publishers in the field.[24][25][18]

Bibliography

Interior art

Marvel

Top Cow

  • Genius (2007)

Cover work

DC

Marvel

Image

  • Black Magick #3 – Variant (2016)

Other art

  • Attack on Titan Anthology – Pinup (2016)
  • Mad Max Fury Road Artist Book – Two-Page Spread (2016)
  • The Negro Speaks of Rivers – Illustrations of the Langston Hughes Poem set to Narration for NPR (2014)
  • Run - Graphic Novel written by U.S. Representative John Lewis (2018)

References

  1. ↑ "Black Panther: World of Wakanda (2016) #1". Marvel Press. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
  2. ↑ "SDCC 2016: Black Panther: World of Wakanda". Marvel Press. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  3. ↑ "Genius #1". Image Comics. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  4. ↑ "Top Cow's Genius is a chilling reflection of this week's Ferguson turmoil". AV Club. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  5. ↑ "Military GENIUS: 17 Year-Old Female Gang Member Takes on Top Cow". Newsarama. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  6. ↑ "Afua Richardson: Journey to Genius". Lincoln Motor Company. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
  7. ↑ "Blood And Water: Illustrating Langston Hughes' 'Rivers'". NPR. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
  8. ↑ "ALL STAR BATMAN #9". DC Comics. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  9. ↑ "Read This Gorgeous, Heartbreaking Story From the Attack on Titan Anthology Comic". io9. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  10. ↑ "NYCC EXCLUSIVE: Kodansha Announces "Attack on Titan" Anthology". CBR. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  11. ↑ "Afua Richardson Is The New Artist On Marvel Comics' Blade". BleedingCool. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
  12. ↑ Jackson, Cheryl V. (16 April 2016). "Black female characters, artists fight for place in comic book world". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2017-05-04.
  13. 1 2 3 4 Howe, Brian (12 November 2014). "Real Live Wonder Woman". Indy Week. Retrieved 4 May 2017 – via HighBeam Research. (Subscription required (help)).
  14. 1 2 Womack, Ytasha L. (2013). Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture. Chicago: Chicago Review Press. pp. 83, 105. ISBN 9781613747964. OCLC 854285645.
  15. ↑ Howe, Brian (11 November 2015). "Four on the Floor". Indy Week. Retrieved 4 May 2017 – via Newspapers.com. (Subscription required (help)).
  16. ↑ "Waking Astronomer Is ATL's New Space-Aged R&B Trio". OkPlayer. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  17. ↑ "Afua & Alexa- Starchild". The Steady Rock. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
  18. 1 2 Staggs, Matt (12 August 2012). "Better Know an Artist: Afua Richardson AKA 'Docta Foo'". Unbound Worlds. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
  19. ↑ Peterman, Erika (28 November 2011). "African-American Women Take On The Comic Book Industry". St. Joseph News-Press. Retrieved 4 May 2017 – via HighBeam Research. (Subscription required (help)).
  20. ↑ Bernardin, Marc. "A comic book I wrote imagined snipers shooting at police. Now that frightening reality haunts me". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2017-05-04.
  21. ↑ Sava, Oliver (2014-08-15). "Top Cow's Genius is a chilling reflection of this week's Ferguson turmoil". A.V. Club. Retrieved 2017-05-04.
  22. 1 2 Brothers, David (9 August 2010). "Welcome to the Terrordome: 'Genius' Fights the Power [Review]". ComicsAlliance. Retrieved 2017-05-04.
  23. ↑ Rappaport, Michael (11 April 2018). "'Run' Follows Award-Winning Graphic Novel 'March' in Civil-Rights Chronicle". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
  24. ↑ "Afua Richardson". Graphic Classics. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
  25. ↑ "African Avengers: the comic book creators shaking up superhero genre". The Guardian. 3 February 2016. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
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