Afua Richardson

Afua Richardson is an African-Native American artist. She did covers for five issues of Marvel's World of Wakanda and art for a short story backup in the first issue.[1][2] Her comic, Genius, with writers Marc Bernardin and Adam Freeman[3] won Top Cow's 2008 Pilot Season.[4][5][6] She illustrated a Langston Hughes poem in 2014 for NPR's Black History Month,[7] and did variant covers for several comic book titles including All Star Batman for DC comics,[8] Attack on Titan for Kodansha,[9][10] Mad Max for Vertigo, as well as covers/variant covers for X-Men '92, Totally Awesome Hulk, Shuri, and Captain America and the Mighty Avengers at Marvel Comics. She was one of a small group of African American women artists who were employed by the "big two" comic publishers at the time she entered the industry.[11]

Afua Richardson
Richardson at BookExpo America in 2018
BornApril 25, 1980
New York City, NY
NationalityAmerican
Area(s)Writer, Penciller, Inker, Colourist
Pseudonym(s)Docta Foo
Notable works
Genius, World of Wakanda
www.afuarichardson.com

Biography

Richardson was raised in New York City.[12] From a family of scientists,[13] she studied classical flute from age nine.[12] As a flautist, she performed with ensembles at Carnegie Hall and on Soul Train.[14] She also performed with Sheila E. and Parliament-Funkadelic.[13]

She was a backup singer, a beatboxer, a background dancer on MTV Jams and appeared in an off-Broadway show with Melvin Van Peebles.[12][15] She is part of the musical collective Future Soul Society, and recorded with Alexa Edmonds Lima under the name 'Afua & Alexa'.[16][17]

Richardson is a self-trained artist.[12] She is a member of the Ormes Society, which promotes African-American women in the comics industry.[18]

For the comic book series, Genius (2007), she worked with two writers to tell the story through the voice of a black woman, Destiny Ajaye.[19] Richardson's experience of being a minority in the United States influenced her work.[20] In Genius, she draws violent acts in a way that is both "matter-of-fact and highly stylized," according to ComicsAlliance.[21] She portrays Ajaye's thought processes and David Brothers called it "instantly understandable and worthy of poring over."[21]

In 2018, it was announced that Richardson was chosen by U.S. Representative and Civil Rights figure John Lewis to illustrate the graphic novel Run, which would chronicle Lewis' life after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1965 the year he first contemplated running for office.[22] The book was pulled from the schedule, and set for a 2019 date, but did not appear. As of 2020, no further information was available.[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][17]

Bibliography

Interior art

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)

References
  1. "Black Panther: World of Wakanda (2016) #1". Marvel Press. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
  2. "SDCC 2016: Black Panther: World of Wakanda". Marvel Press. Archived from the original on May 19, 2017. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
  3. "Genius #1". Image Comics. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
  4. "Top Cow's Genius is a chilling reflection of this week's Ferguson turmoil". AV Club. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
  5. "Military GENIUS: 17 Year-Old Female Gang Member Takes on Top Cow". Newsarama. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
  6. "Afua Richardson: Journey to Genius". Lincoln Motor Company. Retrieved May 5, 2017.
  7. "Blood And Water: Illustrating Langston Hughes' 'Rivers'". NPR. Retrieved May 5, 2017.
  8. "ALL STAR BATMAN #9". DC Comics. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
  9. "Read This Gorgeous, Heartbreaking Story From the Attack on Titan Anthology Comic". io9. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
  10. "NYCC EXCLUSIVE: Kodansha Announces "Attack on Titan" Anthology". CBR. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
  11. Jackson, Cheryl V. (April 16, 2016). "Black female characters, artists fight for place in comic book world". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved May 4, 2017.
  12. Howe, Brian (November 12, 2014). "Real Live Wonder Woman". Indy Week. Retrieved May 4, 2017 – via HighBeam Research.
  13. 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.
  14. Howe, Brian (November 11, 2015). "Four on the Floor". Indy Week. Retrieved May 4, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. "Waking Astronomer Is ATL's New Space-Aged R&B Trio". OkPlayer. Retrieved May 4, 2017.
  16. "Afua & Alexa- Starchild". The Steady Rock. Retrieved May 5, 2017.
  17. Staggs, Matt (August 12, 2012). "Better Know an Artist: Afua Richardson AKA 'Docta Foo'". Unbound Worlds. Retrieved May 5, 2017.
  18. Peterman, Erika (November 28, 2011). "African-American Women Take On The Comic Book Industry". St. Joseph News-Press. Archived from the original on November 18, 2018. Retrieved May 4, 2017 – via HighBeam Research.
  19. 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 May 4, 2017.
  20. Sava, Oliver (August 15, 2014). "Top Cow's Genius is a chilling reflection of this week's Ferguson turmoil". A.V. Club. Retrieved May 4, 2017.
  21. Brothers, David (August 9, 2010). "Welcome to the Terrordome: 'Genius' Fights the Power [Review]". ComicsAlliance. Retrieved May 4, 2017.
  22. Rappaport, Michael (April 11, 2018). "'Run' Follows Award-Winning Graphic Novel 'March' in Civil-Rights Chronicle". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved April 12, 2018.
  23. http://www.multiversitycomics.com/news/run-book-one-delayed/
  24. "Afua Richardson". Graphic Classics. Retrieved May 5, 2017.
  25. "African Avengers: the comic book creators shaking up superhero genre". The Guardian. February 3, 2016. Retrieved May 5, 2017.
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