March, Book One
Written by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin; Illustrated by Nate Powell
2013, Top Shelf Productions

I finally read "March, Book One", the first part of civil rights ledger Georgia Congressman John Lewis' three-part graphic novel autobiography by Top Shelf. Lewis, for those of you who do not know, marched with Dr. King during the Civil Rights Movement, and was the sixth to speak at the Lincoln Memorial (King was tenth, delivering his seminal "I Have a Dream" speech). Lewis is the last living person who spoke at that podium, and the last of the "Big Six" of the Movement still living. The book is written by Lewis and his aide, Andrew Aydin, and illustrated by Nate Powell, all three of whom signed it for me when I got it at their book signing last Nov. 7. It was placed on a pile of graphic novels I've been wanting to read but didn't have time to, and I'm glad I made it the first on my Diamond Beach vacation reading list.

I enjoyed being taken on a journey through Lewis' early childhood, growing up on a farm where his early loves of animals and the Bible found fusion through the sermons he practiced before his beloved chickens, through the early influences on his thoughts about segregation, through his meeting Dr. King, and his first forays into nonviolent protest, which didn't always yield nonviolent reactions from whites. All of this is bound by his preparations to attend Barack Obama's inauguration in a present day framing sequence.

Nate Powell's greyscale art is understated and effective. He devotes less emphasis to technical perfection than to creating an evocative sense of time, place and emotion that draws the reader into the story, using an economy of line and detail that recalls another Top Shelf graphic novel autobiography, the mega-critical hit "Blankets" by Craig Thompson.

The 112 pages breezed by in no time, and I was left wanting more. If you're curios about venturing into the comics medium, but are turned off by the superhero medium, this is a fascinating book to use as a starting point. Highly recommended.