Your Black Friend

by Ben Passmore

Overview

Ben Passmore's necessary contribution to the dialogue around race in the United States, Your Black Friend is a letter from your black friend to you about race, racism, friendship and alienation.

On the heels of viral online success with 500,000+ views, the revised print edition of the Your Black Friend comic is in gorgeous full color on fancy matte paper stock.

Inspired by Frantz Fanon's White Skin, Black Masks, Your Black Friend is just as direct, immediate, and necessary as Ta-Nehisi Coates' Between the World and Me and Claudia Rankine's Citizen.

Known for his politically charged science fiction comics, enthusiastic fans of Passmore's work include Brandon Graham (Island, Image Comics), Carolyn Nowak (Lumberjanes) and Josh Simmons (Fantagraphics).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781945509032
Publisher:	Silver Sprocket
Publication date:	12/01/2016
Pages:	11
Sales rank:	553,725
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.70(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

If Mœbius were an anarcho nihilist, focusing his surreal lense towards race and regret, sex and society, anxiety and Aquaman references, you'd get Ben Passmore.

A black comics artist from New Orleans, Passmore's work is rooted in his experiences and observations from punk rock and direct-action activism. The apocalyptic wasteland of post-Katrina New Orleans comes to life in fantastic sci-fi wrapping complex ideas in sex jokes and exploding uncomfortable truths through sophisticated analogy.

Read an Excerpt

High-res artwork pages:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/y90gqewet6eruw1/AABDChbeyGIaJnqfVF0SNajIa?dl=0

Editorial Reviews

"Ben Passmore's slim, 11-page mini-comic is an open letter, written in the second person, consisting of a litany of gentle admonitions for well-meaning but racially tone-deaf white people: "Your black friend hates that you slide into 'black' presentations thoughtlessly. He feels like you're mocking him, but knows that you are totally unaware of this ... Your black friend wishes you would play more than Beyonce. There are more black performers than Beyonce and he's worried you don't know that." That last sentiment is matched to a panel in which a clueless white guy sings along to "Formation," while his black friend shoots a hilariously weary side-eye at the reader. Your Black Friend is by far the shortest comic to make this list, but there is nothing slight about it. Beneath its sardonic tone lies a truth that is urgent, sincere and deeply affecting." — NPR ("Let's Get Graphic: 100 Favorite Comics And Graphic Novels" / July 12, 2017)



"It's entertaining and comical and heartbreaking, everything an eye-opening experience should be." — Comicsbulletin.com

From the Publisher

★ 01/01/2018
Passmore aims to alert white readers about how some of their (usually) well-meaning communications come across to that "black friend" of theirs. He especially addresses the emotional discomfort around race that can sidetrack encounters. Drawn from his own experiences and friends' accounts, these vignettes add direct yet gentle commentary addressed to blacks as well as whites and delivered with humor to defuse some of the tensions likely in personal conversations. Buy multiple copies. Watch for Passmore's forthcoming Your Black Friend and Other Strangers.

Library Journal

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