classic, graphic, alice

My first response to this was NO! The short story “Carnival Jangle” by Alice Dunbar-Nelson is probably my favorite by the dynamic, Post ‘Bellum-PreHarlem writer. It tells the story of a young Flo, who is lured away by the mysterious and beguiling Mephisto during carnival to masquerade-as a boy. I was concerned that the parameters of graphic novels would diminish the significance of her message; would cause her work to be taken even less seriously. (Was afraid of that when Charles Johnson’s Middle Passage was to be transformed into a graphic novel for D.C. Comics, too…whatever happened with that?) Indeed, I am not a graphic novel fan. But once I collected myself and recalled the story, I decided that instead,  I applaud Lance Tooks for the cultural decendence of such an eloquent, yet neglected black, fiction icon. The backdrop for the story, Mardi Gras, does indeed provide the visual setting that might lend itself to such a transformation. So I will wait, with bated breath, its publication in December, 2012.

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