Going "Incognrego"

I talked this morning with Mat Johnson, author of “Incognegro,” a graphic novel to be released by Vertigo next month. It’s about a light-skinned African-American reporter who passes for white as he investigates lynchings in the South. His work becomes personal as he heads off to save his brother, who has been arrested for the murder of a white woman in Mississippi.

The story is a compelling one: a deftly blended mix of a murder mystery, a character study and a bit of a history lesson. It was inspired in part, Johnson says, by the birth of his twins — one “looking very European,” with red hair and pale skin, and the other with Afro-type hair and brown skin.

I’ll have more on “Incognegro” in a future Comics Fan column.