While some who follow the rules of writing strictly and literally might prefer a more dialogue centric approach, the ability to break up dialogue and narration into different panels ties the action, narration, and dialogue together into something more than the sum of its parts. Anyone who’s ever heard Congressman Lewis speak will hear his diction, his compassion, and his talents as a storyteller in the text of this comic.Īydin and Lewis seem acutely aware of the emotional power contained in a comic’s gutters. Though it seems obvious that Aydin’s influence was a big part of this book coming to print, the words are solidly Lewis’.

Over fifteen years later, Congressman Lewis is doing it again on a far grander scale, with the release of a graphic novel based on his life and experience.Ĭo-written with one of his staffers, Andrew Aydin, book one of March details Congressman Lewis’ early life, his first encounters with Social Gospel and nonviolent resistance, and his efforts as part of the Nashville Student Movement to desegregate the lunch counters at the local department stores. I was a small child, without any full conception of the true significance of what was happening, but he lifted me up and showed me where it was that the history happened. “That was an historic day,” he told me in his distinct way of talking. He was obviously busy, but he took a little time to show us around and, finding ourselves before a large window, he lifted me up and showed me the national mall, where he had spoken some thirty years earlier, preceding Reverend Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. My uncle had worked with a number of notable people in Washington and, on a trip to the capital building, we had the good fortune to have one of them come out and say hello. I was there to visit my uncle, who took us around and showed us some of the sights. When I was young I took a trip to Washington DC. But, for the moment, I want to talk about one small good fortune from my childhood. I was born in a time and place where even with tan skin and unusual features I have rarely felt endangered or even outcast. I consider myself to be an exceedingly lucky person.

March graphic novel