Invisible Men reveals the history that has been sitting right under our noses. Quattro opens his introduction with a quote from Ralph Ellison’s book Invisible Man,
“… I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.”
Chapter by chapter, Quattro introduces us to the Black artists who contributed to the Golden Age of comics. Their identities were largely unknown, and the work they produced was centered on a white audience. The hefty book size features several pages of full-color scans of artwork from each artist as they’re discussed.
Quarto connects greater historical and social events with the impact they had on the comics industry. A new connection for me was his convincing chain of events; the defunding of the WPA and lack of white artists due to World War II created a demand for artists in the comics industry.