“And they have to see through his own eyes, through his own life, how many defeats he overcame. “People forget that John Lewis’s greatest strength was not simply his courage, but his resilience, his ability to show that courage after being defeated,” he continued. Everybody wants to be the hero, with their name in lights, but they forget how hard it is to be a good person in every moment of your life to every person you meet.” That's the John Lewis that I try to keep with me, more than anything, because that's what we forget. On the anniversary of his passing, I saw people tweeting out stories of small moments they remembered, of him being kind to them in a voting line or holding the door for them or speaking to their children.

“The man you saw on stage or in lights that so many other people know, that's not the person that I remember. The publication of Run almost exactly a year after Congressman Lewis passed away in the summer of 2020 is bittersweet for Aydin, who regards Lewis as a father figure and takes seriously the responsibility of advancing his legacy.

Page from Run by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, L. Lettering is by Nate Powell and Chris Ross. This is the Houston-based cartoonist’s first graphic novel and she showed herself up to the task of bringing the history to life in the medium of comics. Fury took up the reins from March illustrator Nate Powell (who drew the cover and the introductory material in Run) after Lewis saw her work and liked how she depicted the subtleties of his emotions and expression. That is not a problem with Run, which shows the experience of Aydin and his team as visual storytellers and the strength of Abrams ComicArts as a “comics-native” literary imprint in supporting this kind of work. We’re creating a new methodology, a new academic standard for how these books are done.”īecause non-fiction graphic novels for middle grade and young adult readers are such a hot category in publishing, some publishers shortchange the artwork in the name of getting the book out quickly, or because they lack the editorial experience of working in the comics medium. “It’s difficult because you have to work in multiple dimensions, and having to do this as a team with other people rather than just sitting in a room collecting information to put words on a page. “Doing non-fiction graphic novels requires a different kind of scholarship,” said Aydin.

John lewis graphic novel