Ashley Wayne
Introduction
The graphic novel adaptation of Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred is a re-visualization of the traumatic and grotesque history of the black experience in America. By centering around the themes of psychological displacement/dissociation, alienation, and abduction, the graphic novel adaptation is an appropriate re-imagining and re-telling of the past’s dark and genocidal stories. Utilizing the genre of science fiction (SF) and the comic medium, the adaptation allows for a re- examination of the relationships between the black experience through history, the black body, and the black identity in extension to whiteness; mostly, focusing on the spatial and transient reality of the black protagonist. By adopting the SF genre and combining it with the age-old questions and debates about the African American experience from past and present, Kindred is a novel that does more than explain the intricacies of generational black trauma or document the details of black survival. Butler’s prose invites its readers to go back and forth in time with its heroine, Dana, and re-examine the generational effects of slavery.
By exploring questions of identity, gender, and race, the novel and adaptation challenges the conceit of black representation in popular culture — specifically, within the SF genre. With a black woman as the heroine of the narrative, Kindred does more than add a conflictive perspective on the history of Black representation in popular mediums. Kindred re-examines the dark and grotesque Black American history, picks it apart, and places it within the contemporary black existence; furthermore, it extends the current preconceived progress and ideals of the black experience by allowing space to speculate about the future. Moreover, Kindred opens the door for examining the past and its effects on the present; and, it allows for its readers to visualize the future trajectory of the African American assimilation into popular aesthetics. By exploring the taboo themes, such as race, gender, and oppression, Butler allows her novel to push past the embedded biases and dismissal of America’s mistreatment of African American’s throughout history. The novel extends African American representation into predominantly white spaces, ultimately allowing space to address and discuss the hard and uncomfortable conversation.
However, amidst the success of Kindred, another question presents itself in terms of re- imagining and contemporary repackaging: if the narrative novel is a success on its own by creating a space for African American representation in popular culture, why adapt it into the graphic novel? Why should the novel be represented in a medium separate from the original? Furthermore, how does the comic medium extend the preconceived portrayals of African Americans? The graphic novel adaptation is a visualization of the traumatic and grotesque history of the black experience. Developed by cartoonist and scholar Damian Duffy and illustrated by the University of California, Riverside, professor John Jennings, the graphic novel brings the devastation, destruction, and cultural dismantlement of slavery to the forefront. It does not conceal, and it challenges the theory behind the preconceive “erasure” of racism often argued by Futurist. Furthermore, the implementation of a black heroine (in contemporary and antebellum periods) breaks stereotypical and restrictive gendered barriers. To take a novel as successful as Kindred and adapt it into a graphic novel opens the door for a more accessible readership that extends beyond race, age, and gender. Moreover, the graphic novel allows for a space to see, examine, and explore the gruesome representations that Butler depicts within her novel. Materializing, bringing physicality to the forefront, and coming face-to-face with the overt brutality of Dana’s travels bring to light the horrors of the past while questioning the ramifications of the present. Furthermore, the graphic novel’s visual representations allow the African Americans’ speculative imaging,
employing an afrofuturistic aesthetic. With its vivid depictions of slavery, the complex master- slave relationships, interracial relationships, and the black heroine, the graphic novel appeals to an authentic, current portrayal of Black and White dynamics in contemporary America. This is why, according to John Jennings, the graphic novel adaptation is pivotal and needed to assess the issues of contemporary America. Jennings states, “It actually resonates in a particular way now even more because of some of the obvious tensions around race, class, gender, spirituality that still exist in our country that have never been dealt with,” (2017: Brown NPR). Kindred allows for the hard and uncomfortable questions about race, oppression, and representation to be asked.
In contrast, the graphic novel allows for those same questions to be asked while simultaneously extending them -- visually, with the hopes of different answers. Moreover, with its contemporary approach, the adaptation adds an additional extension to these questions, which allows for speculating about the future. By implementing a critical Afrofuturistic theory to analyze and critique themes in the graphic novel Kindred to explore movement and the traumas of the present through the re-examination of the past, I hope to answer the questions of performance, representation, and confrontation regarding the physical, spatial, and validity of the black identity, experience, and presence in the comic.
Defining the Future with Material of the Past: Looking Closely at Kindred
Kindred's graphic novel adaptation is a time-traveling comic that takes place in 1976 California and 1819 Antebellum, Maryland. It is divided into six sections representing each event that causes Dana, the heroine, to be displaced between time periods. In the section titled "The River," Dana and her husband Kevin are moving into their new home in Altadena, California. It is Dana's twenty-sixth birthday, and it is the first time she travels in time. To visually represent the differentiating time periods, Jennings uses muted shades of brown to represent the present and vibrant, bold colors like blues, yellows, and reds to represent the past. According to Jennings, he wanted to represent these time periods because of the subtle indication that the problems that Dana experienced are not far removed from contemporary time. Jennings states, "In a sense, she [Butler] was trying to state how slavery and the remnants of it and the relevance actually, too, are still with us today, and they still sit with us" (2017: Brown NPR). Dana is snatched from her home and placed in the world of Rufus and subjection. Dana, dressed in modern attire with a short hair cut representing the contemporary woman, is thrown into the past of racism and enslavement. Dana and the readers go from a world of ordinary and mundane to a world of vibrancy. Thus, both participants (Dana and the readers) are thrown into an instant race for survival.
This race for survival relies upon Dana's assimilation, and the colorization is a critical factor that allows the comic to differentiate between time periods and, later, it helps merge them — making them, and Dana, indistinguishable. On page twelve, panel two focuses on the drowning child, who later is revealed to be Rufus. Dana appears and slowly surfaces in the background of the panel. She is muted; meaning, Dana is drawn in Jennings' muted colors to depict the present, yet she is in the past. This stark color contrast is representing the crossing of two time periods. It is blatantly showing that Dana does not fit into the scene that is happening on the page. However, she interferes and interacts with her environment by saving the drowning child. As she does this, she slowly begins to adopt the past time periods colorization, thus, blending into her new environment. Slowly, the text and the images within the panel begin to subside, and the actions leading up to Dana saving Rufus overtakes the page; consequently, bringing the reader's attention fully to the environment, the actions, and the removal of differentiating time periods. According to Hershini Bhana Young, author of "Performance Geography," states how the geography or environment of the comic ultimately "gives itself over to the landscape...[making] the text and the narrative [come together] in such fulfilling ways that one barely notices how sparse the words become" (274). The readers are focused on the action, and they watch as Dana jumps into the lake to save Rufus. The colorization is no longer mute, but rather, it is coherent — ultimately erasing the gap between past and present, and emphasizes swift movement and the heightened thrill of immediate danger and impending disaster.
It is thus making the graphic novel an exhibition of movement. By demonstrating fast- paced syncopated panels, high resolution that exemplifies intensity and action, and coupled with a high sense of risk and danger — thriving in disaster, the comic showcases a stark visualization of time crossing and clashing together. Dana appears in Antebellum, Maryland, amid a child drowning in a river. Each panel is a snapshot of action: Dana realizes that a child is in danger, she jumps into the river to save the child and bring him to shore, the mother sees a black woman with her child and begins to beat her, and Dana ignores the mother and give the child CPR, thus reviving him. However, the focus is on the actions and the appeal of danger in the panels. According to Hillary Chute, author of Why Comics?, states how "Disaster is foundational to comics" (34). Dana appears during an impending tragedy: the drowning of a child. Moreover, the graphic novel materializes it, with its bold colorization and Dana’s displacement, making it real and impossible to avoid. Although Chute is connecting disaster to the immense environmental damage represented in comics — for example, the Holocaust in Art Spiegelman's Maus, disaster can represent anything from the environmental to the psychological, political, and cultural disruption and dismantlement — which is what readers experience in Kindred. As the graphic novel progress, a recurring theme of disaster is evident, and it deals with the disruption of cultural identity, physical enslavement, and psychological displacement.
In the section titled "The Fire," Dana returns to save Rufus from a fire he accidentally starts. Once she puts out the fire, Rufus sends Dana on her way to return home. However, Dana is unable to return home the way she did before — instantly and majestically. So, Dana sets off on a trip to stay at a cabin that Alice Greenwood and her mother occupied. Alice Greenwood and her mother are free-blacks, and they are ancestors of Dana. The element of disaster, which is prominent throughout the entire graphic novel, is the constant threat of death, enslavement, and being beaten. According to Chute, "[Disaster] makes readers aware of limits, and also possibilities for expression in which disaster, or trauma, breaks the boundaries of communication" (34). By representing Blacks' mistreatment and grotesque realities in the Antebellum South, the comic gives a visually encompassing account and reiteration of fear and survival-- expanding the comics' ability to transport the reader. The visual imagining that comics can portray does not allow the reader to dissociate but instead draws them into the characters' fears in the story. By highlighting the constant fear and exploiting the disastrous impacts of slavery, the graphic novel demonstrates its ability to materialize history (even fictional).
In order to demonstrate this ability, the graphic novel exposes the dehumanizing depictions of slave punishment. Upon arriving at the cabin, Dana witnesses a tragic event: the dwellers of the cabin, a black family consisting of a woman, child, and man, are snatched out by a group of white men (overseers). In the most extensive panel on page 40, the family and the overseers' are enlarged. The overseers separate the black man from the black woman and child. They harass him about having a "pass," which would allow him to be at the cabin with his family instead of in the slave compound. The woman, who is clad in a bedspread, is forcibly separated from the child and stands naked surrounded by the overseers enshrouded in darkness. The representation of this psychological and physiological traumatic event is one that indicates the harsh realities of what is to come — a man being beaten to the brink of death because he wanted to spend time with his family. In his book Afrofuturism Rising, Isiah Lavender III argues how the comic allows space for readers to experience the hyper-real events of black life — from past to present and to the future. Lavender denotes that comics are an apt vehicle for representing black trauma because it "read[s] like SF because contemporary readers are overawed by the visceral reality of a racism stirred by pseudoscientific beliefs" (11). The whipping, the family's physical breakage, and the unprovoked and overt aggression are physical examples of the hyper- real. The grotesque scene invokes an overwhelming unease and dissonance. The comic does not shy away from the gruesome and physically damaging marks of the whip upon the black mans back. And because the readers cannot dissociate, they observe the event take place and, like Dana, hold their breath until it is over. The readers watch as Dana hides in the bushes and watch the family be torn apart. Further, due to the comics’ ability to push limits by exploiting and exploring trauma and disaster boundaries, by merely allowing the readers to “fill in the gaps” of what is shown and what is not, the readers are experiencing generational estrangement through visual materialization.
Applying the Afrofuturist Critical Theory The Kindred graphic novel appeals to the wonder of folklore — especially in the realm of SF. The novel is afrofuturistic, and the graphic novel is a visual materialization of the fight for the future and the hope for change. Every time Dana goes back in time, she tries to disrupt it by appealing to Rufus's human side. Furthermore, Dana does allow herself to succumb to the role of a slave, yet she still fights by utilizing her present-day knowledge and goes against the normalized role of the slave woman in the Antebellum South. Attempting to coerce Rufus out of owning slaves and teaching the slave kids how to read, Dana acts as a trickster — hence, Kindred’s appropriation of folkloric motifs. By adopting the trickster's role, Dana dares to change the past with the present to fight for the future. The panel shows Dana working to humanize the child Rufus; she explains to Kevin, "... Rufus will be old enough to have some authority. Old enough to help me. I have to go give him as many good memories of me as I can... Not all children let themselves be molded into what their parents want them to be" (90). In the sequential panels following Dana's declaration, she appeases a young Rufus by implementing her contemporary knowledge and abilities.
Consequently, Dana’s time with Rufus gives a sense of intimacy and is reminiscent of the mammy's slave role. The panels depict vibrancy, often emphasizing Rufus's helplessness (due to his broken leg): Dana, highlighted in hues of blue, reads to Rufus (highlighted in hues of reds and yellow) and attempts to teach him how to read. Ultimately, Dana adopts the role of mother figure for Rufus, which he desperately craves. By being by Rufus's bedside, Dana is implementing "trickster technologies." According to Lavender, "trickster technology, whereby slaves pragmatically applied biopolitical knowledge to manipulate their environment to their own benefit" (94). Based on Dana's preconceived knowledge of how Rufus becomes an ancestor of hers (through the normalized violence directed toward black women — Rufus eventually rapes Alice Greenwood, Dana's ancestor), she attempts to change it — disregarding the probable elimination of her present existence. Because of the overt SF themes, the possibility of manipulating the past to change the future is one that is continuously being sought for; and, it is crucial to the implementation of the Afrofuturist critical theory.
Afrofuturism is apparent throughout the novel, and it is crucial in the exploration of the generational effects of slavery for African Americans — ultimately creating this continuous "feedback loop" that repeats the same traumas over centuries. According to Lavender, the feedback loop is a connected consciousness that combines "works across time, reaching out from the present to touch the past and vice versa" (80). The crossing happens whenever Dana opposes or acts out her modern ideology or skills. Dana's constant strivings for influencing the young Rufus to change the course of history and influence the present and future is an example of how Dana tries to "bridge the time gap, but also...articulate a hope impulse that is always presentist no matter when we 'access' it" (Lavender 80). The Afrofuturism here is reminiscent of presentism because it resembles the continuous striving of pacifying the dominant group in contemporary times. Dana quickly becomes comfortable with submitting to her role as mammy to Rufus, further strengthening the notion of the generational feedback loop — otherwise known as the transhistorical loop. The transhistorical feedback loop is seemingly embedded in the black existence and can be accessed whenever the pressures of oppression, survival, or fighting are needed. This is a connection, which Dana exemplifies is part of the generational black consciousness Lavender argues. With the use of Nat Turner's Analogues, Lavender states, "[Turner] plugging into the past to guide his own prophetic visions, African Americans today connect to a past replete with real science-fictional metaphors" (80). The realities of slavery represented in the Kindred graphic novel are deemed disruptive to the contemporary readers simply because of the inability to synthesize the actual events. Hence, Lavender referencing slave narratives (or in this case 'fictional' accounts of a slavery story) as "science-fictional metaphors." By all accounts, the history of slavery and the trauma, abuse, and grotesqueness of it resembles elements of the SF genre because of the inability to fathom its survivability. In contemporary times, the events of slavery would result in genocide and, possibly, the destruction of an entire race. However, pure realism demonstrates the collectiveness of the black existence intertwined in the dominant culture's subjugation -- hence, the collective consciousness.
Moreover, this is the same collective consciousness represented throughout Dana's existence in both the past and the present. In the section titled "The Fight," Dana stumbles upon a now-adult Rufus in the midst of being beaten by a black man. A woman stands off to the side, weeping, and Dana has to interfere to save Rufus from being killed. Upon reaching the group, Dana discovers that the woman is an adult Alice and the black man, Isaac, is her husband, and Rufus is being beaten because he raped Alice. The sequential panels on the page reveal the group's interaction while Rufus is unconscious: a distrustful Isaac, a distraught Alice, and an exasperated Dana, who tries to save Rufus's life. This selection of panels is some of the few that take place solely amongst the "slaves." Here, the collective consciousness is evident: the representation of generations and time periods clashing — e.g., Dana's presentation amongst the slave Isaac and the free-woman Alice. This transhistorical loop is being brought to the forefront of the reader's minds, and it does not act as a subconscious entity that only pertains to African Americans. The cross is glaring, and it is an apt use in the graphic novel. According to Lavender, the transhistorical feedback loop is one that energizes the connection "directly interfaced with a networked black consciousness" (80). It allows for the escaped slaves to preserve and amplify their survival and narratives while simultaneously offering hope in combination with the authority of their firsthand experience (Lavender 80). This loop is not designated between a specific gender or time frame; in fact, it expands. In the panels, the exchange between Dana, Isaac, and Alice is reminiscent of the transhistorical feedback loop, yet the graphic novel in its physicality is the connection to the future and present readers. Additionally, the characterization of Dana soon begins to influence the blacks permanently residing in the Antebellum South. In the above panels, Dana and Alice are indistinguishable. They both wear the same color, blue, and they both have short, cropped hair cuts — representing the age of the "new black woman." Although Alice is a woman born into the
generation and environment of slavery, she is not a slave — therefore, in theory, she and Dana share the same commonalities of independence. This is a visual materialization of a developing identity that excludes the relationship and connection to enslavement — which, of course, is one of the stringent themes that Kindred explores and extends. In The Blacker Ink: Constructions of Black Identity in Comics and Sequential Art, Reynaldo Anderson argues how the "fight for African Americans collectively to establish a distinctive identity has been a difficult struggle. The 'double consciousness' articulated by W.E.B. Du Bois... discusses the struggle to reconcile the self as African and American" (174). Of course, this budding discovery of identity is not only apparent in the appearance of Alice; it also appears in the behaviors and choices that happen across the page and in each panel. The above panels showcase the fight between Isaac and Rufus. In panel two, four, seven, eight, and nine, Isaac decides to attack and beat Rufus to defend the honor of his wife, Alice. An act that would be perceived as honorable — if Isaac was not a slave. Isaac consciously puts his life in danger to defend, protect, and restore Alice's honor. He stands up against Rufus as an equal rather than a slave to his master. This is an active indication of Isaac's impending identity: he is establishing that he is still male and will protect his family against anyone — including slave masters. On the other hand, the women, Dana and Alice, are establishing their sense of identity. Alice, who imitates Dana's appearance, works with Dana to save Rufus's life, even though Alice is the victim of Rufus's aggression, which resulted in her rape and the future birth of their child. This act of choice and interference is another act of African Americans' impending independence, specifically the black woman and her role within the collective transhistorical feedback loop.
Comics, Mobility, and the Black Heroine
Throughout the graphic novel, the collective consciousness signifies the importance of adapting the Kindred novel into the comics medium; moreover, the comic allows for the movement, experimentation with space, and the black body’s re-depiction in popular culture. In SF’s genre, the body is a crucial element that signifies the pivotal moments of transformation — and the use of a black woman’s body by making her the heroine of the comic allows for the imagination and the presence of blackness in predominately white spaces and art forms. Further extending the notion of black identity that acts as an extension to and adjacent from whiteness. However, with this physical representation that the audience sees within the graphic novel, there is also the dissociation of connecting the black heroine to the contemporary reality — hence the SF connection to establish the alternate reality realm. For Dana, the alternate realm lies in her frequent traveling through time periods and the slow acceptance of the role and duties of the slave woman. Contradicting the argument of the collective consciousness not being binary and universal. Anderson states, “African American women may have multiple consciousnesses available due to the intersection of race and gender...However, with these multiple consciousnesses, African Americans have been able to establish identity primarily within the context of community” (174). The comic allows for speculation, which is apt regarding the themes of speculative fiction. The body in the comic is the living manifestation of transformation, identity, and existence.
Because of the comics ability to materialize the unrepresentable, the body cannot dissociate or be displace like it could in a novel. The readers always have access to the body, because they always see it — through the pages and from panel to panel. For example, at some point, Dana is whipped like a slave. Each panel is a snapshot of each moment when Tom Weylin
(Rufus’s father) swings his whip and makes contact with Dana’s body. The black woman’s body has been the topic of debate for generations — from the overt sexualization to the dehumanizing; the body has developed its own identity that is separate from the person’s consciousness. Moreover, this disconnection is evident in the panels on pages 98 and 99. In panel one, Dana is thrown to the ground, and in panel two Weylin’s whip connects to Dana’s back. By the third panel, Dana’s body reacts to the sudden and overt trauma and abuse that it is feeling. That is, the body begins to shut down and Dana dissociates from the trauma describing the beating as “a hot iron across my back my back...Searing my skin.. And I thought I would die on the ground there with a mouth full of dirt” (98). The body outlives the consciousness in the comic because of its ability to stay present and visual. Meaning, in the following panels, Dana stops the inner dialogue, and the readers are only focused on the continuous beating she is experiencing. Once consciousness and the connection are restored, Dana can only call out for her husband, Kevin. Performance within the comic do not always need constant dialogue. The comics’ interpretation is vital due to its visual storytelling ability. To reiterate the statement from Hillary Chute, the comic allows for the readers to be “aware of limits, and also possibilities for expression in which..trauma, breaks the boundaries of communication, finding shape in a hybrid medium” (34). Because the comic often highlights the relationships between the word and the images, it allows the space to examine the impossible and the difficult. The comic is more palatable for representing the tragedies that are often overlooked or dismissed. Each panel in the graphic novel is always at eye-level, and it does not deviate from the position. This is important because it adds to intensity: it does not allow the readers to look past, around, or through the trials of Dana and the rest of the characters — it forces the readers to take in every single detail and experience every single trauma the characters experiences. Hence, the startling representation and mistreatment of the body throughout the comic which is often directed towards women.
Women in comics often assume the stereotypical roles as the confidant, counterpart, or damsel to the main male character. These male characters are often the physical representation of American culture and identity: he embodies idealized notions of masculinity (or innocence if the main character is a child), brevity, opportunity, and of course, he is the hero and he is white. To implement the central hero being a woman, a black woman, is an idea that is not often depicted in the realities of the comic medium. It is often implemented in realm of the alternate universe or as a spoof-like series — it is rarely, if ever, placed in serious comic writing. In fact, to implement a black character (generally) means to implement the societal stereotype and archetype associated with the race of the character. In her chapter titled “It’s a Hero?: Black Comics and Satirizing Subjects,” Rebecca Wanzo argues how the use of the black character is rooted melancholia. She states, “In the midst of one-liners and punch lines, these are creations of hope and desire, willing into being and proliferation that which was preciously unimaginable...critical race humor is often tired to melancholia...[and] racial melancholia [is] “physically stuck””(316). Although Kindred is not a humors novel/comic, the ideology is the same. To depict a black heroine, she needs to be placed in slavery, and then she has to go through the trials and tribulations associated with the black existence, and persevere. And, because of this embedded belief, Dana becomes the physical representation of black life. During Dana’s time in the Antebellum South, the readers watch as Dana is beaten by the plantation owner Weylin (98), succumb to role of the house slave (84), and is almost subjected to rape (50).
Nevertheless, the black heroine is separate from her body, but only in theory. Meaning that the body goes through separate trauma than the consciousness can process. When Dana travels with her husband Kevin, they share a bedroom; and, because of their interracial marriage during the time of slavery, it is not permitted. Dana is quickly depicted as Kevin’s mistress, which is frowned upon amongst the slaves. However, amongst the men of the house (e.g. Tom Weylin), it is encouraged. The physical relationship is implicitly accepted; however, when Dana tried to explain to Rufus that Kevin is her husband, the idea was unfathomable. Rufus states, “Niggers can’t marry white people” (69). This exclamation further signifies the simple fact that a white man using the body of a black woman is accepted, or at least ignored by whites, but a white man loving a black woman is somehow shameful. The comic works here because, unlike the novel, the readers can see the normalcy of the relationship between Dana and Kevin. It resembles the relationship of any married couple. The present clashes with the past simply because of Dana and Kevin’s union and the mutual respect they have for each other. Nevertheless, the black woman is a vessel for the reenactment of sexual desire or hostile aggravation. According to Jeffery A. Brown, author of “Panthers and Vixens: Black superheriones, sexuality, and stereotypes in contemporary comic books,” argues how “the power of exoticism is still a dominant trope played out on the body of the female Other, especially in visual mediums, in a manner that reduces her to a racially charged sex object and a readily consumable body (Brown, 2011:170)” (137). The visual representation of Kevin treating Dana as an equal is unpalatable for young Rufus, and the readers begin to see two nuances happening within the panels. First, by implementing a black heroine, Dana physically disrupts the present and challenges character stereotypical tropes. Second, by bringing Kevin, they both challenge American ideology and tradition, both past and present. Wanzo states, “To move beyond that [stereotypical characterizations],... is an effort to transform the expectations of audiences and to make the hyper visible in a wholly other way” (316). The stereotype acts as a fetishization to separate the preconceive ideal from the non-ideal. In other words, whiteness thrives in a society that degrades and dismisses blackness; concurrently, blackness thrives in its attempt at breaking from normative portrayals. Therefore, the relationship between black and white cannot exist without each other. Furthering the need to implement an Afrofuturistic critical lens.
Transient Performances: The Geographical, The Physical, and The Spatial
Although Afrofuturism examines blackness through the hyperreal lens and separates it from the Euro-centric influences, the connection between European, American, and African relies on each other — whether it is apparent or not. Although the body is a pivotal representation of societal oppressions and forced trauma, the environment in which the traumatic events take place is reminiscent of the comics’ ability to challenge interpretation. For example, when Dana travels through time, she is placed in Antebellum, Maryland, and she has to live amongst the slaves in the outside cabins. The environment in which Dana lives has a history in itself. To be taken from her home in California and placed in an unfamiliar location adds the discontinuity of escape, and it attempts to thwart the transhistorical feedback loops and the collective consciousness. Moreover, each hut that the slaves inhabit represents the history of systemic oppression and normalized violence towards African Americans. For example, on pages 78-79, Dana stays in the cookhouse with the resident slave, Sarah. These panels are represented in muted colors, resembling Dana’s time period, and it is where Dana feels the most comfortable. It is a physical representation of the interconnected time period and shared experiences through the transhistorical feedback loop. Each panel brings in a new character, and each character represents a sense of comfort and familiarity for Dana and the Weylin family. To separate the cookhouse from the vibrancy outside indicates a signifier only a comic can represent being signified -- the geography’s performance.
The comic is an apt vehicle for exploring the performative aspect of a character’s geography, which significantly influences the hero’s environment. In a slave SF story, it is imperative to the character arc of the hero/heroine. Young states, “the landscape [is] essential to the story itself. Space is not simply occupied, nor is it mere backdrop that visually frames the story. Rather, the land palpable, sensually participates in the performances of blacks and whites haunted by violent geographies of domination that help create racial and gender hierarchies” (274-275). The graphic novel visually represents the environment as a means of subjugation against black people. Alternatively, it is a symbol of black strength represented through an alternate environment in which slaves can manipulate it to their advantage. Meaning, the environment has a dual existence: one side relies on the oppression and enslavement of the blacks -- which works in the slave masters’ favor; the other acts as an alternate reality that overlaps the strength and resourcefulness of blacks during slavery. For example, in panels 2-4, Dana introduces herself to the cookhouse residents and explains that she is a teacher, “A nigger teacher!!” “I’m from New York, and free-blacks there, in New York, can have schools” “He [Weylin] don’t want no Niggers ’round here talking better than him, putting freedom ideas in our heads. Like we so dumb we need some stranger to make us think about freedom” (79). The conversation takes place at a kitchen table, resembling family members’ gathering, showing the normalcy and collectiveness of black survival. Although the coloring of the panels resembles the muted colors of Dana’s time period, the context of the conversation remains in the past — hence the clashing of periods evident in the relationship between text and image in the comic. The geography in this panel lies inside of the cookhouse. It shows the daily lives of the slaves, emphasizing the normalcy and a theoretical connection between people. For Dana to merge, influence, and adjust to this environment proves the interconnectedness of generational oppression and trauma amongst African Americans. Furthermore, due to the muted colors representing the past environment, it ultimately proves that the past and the present are not that much different.
To reiterate the transhistorical feedback loop and the misrepresentation and mistreatment of black bodies, I will examine how the comic represents and explores the cross-sectional relationship between the black heroine and the slaves. Being a black women traveling in time, Dana is viewed and treated like a slave. However, Dana exhibits privileges that other slave women do no get to experience (of course, excluding Alice). These “privileges” are available because Rufus has grown attached to Dana, and Kevin’s (viewed as her master) protection of her.
The environmental and relational divide amongst slaves is a concept that is not often discussed, yet, Kindred breaches the topic subtly. The materialization of black women in sequence almost always brings up the topic of representation—for example, the representation of Dana in the comic, which contrast the representation of the slave women. According to Deborah Whaley, author of Black Women in Sequence : Re-Inking Comics, Graphic Novels, and Anime, argues “Black women as sequential subjects moves conversations about representation and inclusion to a critical terrain where the complexities of narrative and visuality collide, to imagine spaces where the fictive lives, ideas, and historical images of Black women matter” (182). Dana is continuously referred to as a man due to her short hair, pants and button-down shirt, and demonstration of coherent speech. In most comics, the black woman is an antagonist for the hero or an object to be used by the hero (91).
Although Dana is not sexualized in the comic, her pure existence triggers a sense of domination and ownership for the slave master Weylin and his son, Rufus. Whaley continuous to argue, “the idea of Black women as sequential subjects interrogates problematic characterizations of difference while inciting upon the way those same characterizations are pregnant with possibilities” (182). As she moves through the comic, Dana disrupts the perception of black women in the Antebellum South, further challenging the legitimacy of the present and future awareness. Thus, begging the question: how can the readers re-imagine the black woman’s image as a fictive figure and heroine in a comic? Consequently, the implementation of visually representing the trials and tribulations of slavery through the medium of the comic establishes and exposes the general reader’s inherent biases. The story reflects the oppressive norms that have been in place for generations. Black women metaphorically remark upon or remake ideas of the self, the nation-state, and belonging within the nation (Whaley 182). And, the graphic novel adaptation, is proof of the critical depiction. Thus, allowing space for the re-imagining of the future with the physical materials of the past.
Speculative Comics: What Is Next?
The space that the adaptation provides allows for the Kindred's continuous exploration. The comic medium opens the door for a new, critical, and contemporary approach when exploring the African American presence in popular culture; further, extending the possibility of speculation through past, present, and future. The comic acts as a vehicle for repurposing and commodifying the uncomfortable-- exploring the fantastic in its most basic form. The comic gives Dana and the audience mobility to move through the past, present, and future without deferring from the formation aesthetic. Often highlighting the intersection between the said and unsaid, and what is shown and what is not shown. Comics can create connections and confront the uncomfortable at a safe distance; signifying, that comics can explore dark themes that allow the audience to dissociate from history that concerns the familiar biases of systemic racialization. Thus, aestheticizing the preconceived truth, presented under the guise of pseudo-reality or simulation -- presenting the hyperreal. Moreover, exploring a traumatic past through the comic's medium allows the majority to dissociate from the real and violent events happening on the page; this dissociation is essential to implementing an Afrofuturist critical theory.
Nonetheless, the afrofuturistic critical theory helps analyze the adaptation — allows for the close examination of proclaimed post-racial society. To examine a story of a woman who travels through time, who experiences slavery first hand, and has to take her experiences to the present, changes the perspective of freedom and preconceived liberty and ramification of Black people. Applying the Afrofuturistic critical lens gives space to the speculation of the progression of Black people. By adopting science fiction elements, Kindred can analyze these notions under the guise of fantasy and fiction. Therefore, it allows for a more accessible readership without the overwhelming sense of guilt; meaning, the reader does not have to give the comic physicality — it can simply be an adventure comic. However, by implementing the novel's themes, presented through the SF genre and the comics medium, Afrofuturism can be applied as a narrative exploration of the generational interconnection. Ultimately, it creates an open communication of dialogue and image through generational trauma presented through a science fiction framework. Combining the afrofuturistic aesthetic with the comic medium and the SF themes, the black experience, and generational trauma are adept at confronting the present issues of politics, social injustice, and the repeated American cycle of disillusionment. In many ways, Kindred's adoption of the SF genre to explore the progress and question of the liberation of contemporary blacks is an apt use of fantasy to have the conversation. Due to the inability to openly express, speculate, and deny Black people's true liberty publicly, the comic adaptation is the next best thing for starting an open discourse amongst many readers. Until the day comes when the conversations about race, gender, social and political injustice, and representation are accepted into popular spaces, novelist and comic creators will continue to spread their messages through their work — embedding it into the art form, allowing speculation.
Works Referenced
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Brown, A. Jeffrey. "Panthers and vixens: Black superheroines, sexuality, and stereotypes in contemporary comic books" Black Comics : Politics of Race and Representation. Bloomsbury Academic, 2013. pages 133 - 149 EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/ login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=nlebk&AN=545125&site=ehost- live&scope=site. Accessed 29 Nov. 2020.
Brown, Ballard Tonya. “The Joy (and Fear) of Making 'Kindred' into a Graphic Novel” npr. npr.org https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2017/02/10/514397472/the-joy-and- fear-of-making-kindred-into-a-graphic-novel 10 Feb. 2017. Accessed 11 Nov. 2020
Butler, E. Octavia. Kindred. Beacon Press. 1979. Print.
Chute, Hillary. Why Comics?From Underground To Everywhere. HarpeCollins. 2017. Duffy, Damian and John Jennings. Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation. Abrams Comicarts. 2017. Print.
Howard, C. Sheena and Ronald L. Jackson II. Black Comics : Politics of Race and Representation. Bloomsbury Academic, 2013. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/ login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=nlebk&AN=545125&site=ehost- live&scope=site. Accessed 1 Dec. 2020
Lavender, Isiah III. Afrofuturism Rising: The Literary Prehistory of a Movement. The Ohio State University Press. 2019. Pages 48-77; 153.
Wanzo, Rebecca. “It’s a Hero?: Black Comics and Satirizing Subjection.” The Blacker the Ink: Constructions of Black Identity in Comics and Sequential Art, edited by FRANCES GATEWARD and JOHN JENNINGS, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick; New Jersey; London, 2015, pp. 314–332. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1hd186b.19. Accessed 7 Nov. 2020
Whaley, Deborah Elizabeth. Black Women in Sequence : Re-Inking Comics, Graphic Novels, and Anime. University of Washington Press, 2016. Accessed 1 Nov. 2020.
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Biography
Ashley Wayne is a graduate student of English Literature at Claremont Graduate University. Ashley's background consists of strong verbal and written communication, the building of interpersonal relations, and research. Besides being a student, Ashley has an interesting background regarding different areas of my work experience, such as working with children, managing small groups in a college setting, and volunteering as a blogger during their junior year at California State University, San Bernardino. Ashley's research interest includes Literature, Visual Storytelling, and Media Studies.
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