From The Scoop: Full Color Fun With Dr. William Foster

From the February 16 issue of Gemstone Publishing's The Scoop:

Dr. William H. Foster III, a professor of English and Communications at Naugatuck Valley Community College in Waterbury, Connecticut, is also one of the foremost authorities on minorities, specifically African-American minorities, in comic strips and comic books in the United States. Building a collection over more that 20 years, Dr. Foster's traveling exhibit, Finally in Full Color, details the role and importance of minorities within the medium.

First picking up comics and the Sunday strips at the tender age of 7, Foster immediately found a connection to the sequential storytelling that fired his imagination.

“The first comic book I remember buying would have been either Superman or one of the Harvey Comic titles,” recalled Foster. “They were the favorites among my friend and as a young reader, anything that fired my imagination was good enough [for me]. They were great reading back in my youth and they still give me a great deal of pleasure”

As Foster matured, so did his taste in comics. Graduating from the superhero genre and humor books, he began to gravitate toward the adoptions of literary classics like those published in Classic Illustrated.

“I loved Classics Illustrated comics like Robinson Crusoe and William Tell, and other popular adventure stories,” said Foster. “Later, I became a big reader of science fiction. My selection of comic books was fairly eclectic.”

Although his tastes in reading proved to be very eclectic, the books themselves, specifically in the characters that we're featured within, were not. As Foster grew up, Black characters were typically not features in comics except to be depicted as uneducated comic relief or as savage aggressors. That lack of “color” bled over into Foster's subconscious, leaving behind a feeling of

“The fact that there were few Black people in the comics I read as a child didn't keep me from enjoying them,” said Foster. “But I think I always had a nagging feeling that something was missing. There were no people like the Black people I was surrounded by everyday.”

Like many adolescents, Foster slowly began to grow away from comics as he moved through school. After graduating from the University of Massachusetts with a Bachelor of Arts degree and later from WesleyanUniversity with a Masters degree, Foster returned again to his childhood passion of collecting comics.

Soon after his return to comics, Foster began to realize and become cognizant of the lack of minority characters in comics, as well as the distinct addition of the word “Black” into black superhero names such as Black Panther and Black Goliath.

“I became aware of the role of minorities in comics back it the 1980s,” recalled Foster. “I had started collecting comics again as an adult and started looking specifically for Black characters. As a lover of history, it seemed important [to me] to document their presence in comics. No one else seemed to care, but I did.”

Using his love of history, Foster began an academic pursuit to change the perception of minorities, especially Black characters, in the four-color world.

“My search and research became an academic pursuit when I started to create and exhibit my collection of Black characters in comics,” said Foster. “I started to take my work to schools and libraries, and then to academic conferences and comic book conventions. They soon led to writing articles for newspapers and popular culture journals.”

“The image of people of color and women in comics has certainly changed over the years,” continued Foster. “In my opinion that is a direct result of people who had been left out taking a hand in creating their own images in comics. Also there has been recognition on the part of certain people in the industry that a change was called form.”

Foster began exhibiting his first collection under the title, The Changing Image of Blacks in Comics, and has been displayed at a number of venues across the country, including TempleUniversity's Paley Library, Comic-Con International/Comic Arts Conference in 1998, and the 2000 Festival of Arts and Ideas. As his collection has grown, so has his exhibit, which is currently on display at Geppi's EntertainmentMuseum in Baltimore, Maryland under its banner.

“As with all things, there are both positive and negative images projected for Black people in comics,” said Foster of the state minorities in comics today. “As far as I'm concerned, that is definitely a good thing. Previously you would have one or two characters having to carry the burden of representing their entire group. And I think as more people or color and women take their place in the comic industry the images will continue to diversify. It is inevitable, and will lead to a truer reflection of our world.”

In addition to the traveling exhibit, Dr. Foster has also appeared as an expert commentator for both CNN News and National Public Radio and in 2005 published a book, entitled Looking for a Face Like Mine.

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