Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Black History Month, Dixie to Harlem, entertainment, Matt Baker, Orrin Evans, phantom lady, Toonseum, Torchy Brown, Zelda Jackie Ormes

Things To Do In Pittsburgh If You Like Comics – An Exhibit Of Early Black Comic Artists

Published Mon, 10 Feb 2014 17:00:01 -0600

by Dan Wickline

Last updated Mon, 10 Feb 2014 19:20:37 -0600

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In Pittsburgh there is a Black History Month exhibit that is focusing on early black comic creators that broke the color barrier in the 1930s and 1940s. Entitled Beyond The Funny Pages, the exhibit runs through the end of February at the City/County building. It showcases the work of Matt Baker, the first black man to work in the industry, Zelda "Jackie" Ormes the first black female comic artist and Orrin C. Evans, the first black comic publisher.

Baker was hired in the 1940s by Eisner & Iger Studios, an all-white firm at the time and went on to work for Marvel Comics and Playboy Magazine. Baker redesigned the Phantom Lady into the character we see above when it moved to Fox Publications in 1947. He was inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame in 2009.

Ormes began convinced an editor at the Pittsburgh Courier to let her draw a comic strip called Dixie To Harlem and went on to create Torchy Brown and Patty-Jo 'n' Ginger.

Evans came up with the idea of an all black comic and in 1947 published the first issue of All-Negro Comics. A second issue was written and drawn but never published. Evan became a journalist for the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin.