Profiles in Black Cartooning: Larry Fuller

In celebration of Black History Month, CBLDF has partnered with Black Nerd Problems to spotlight Black comics creators and cartoonists who made significant contributions to free expression. Visit CBLDF.org throughout the month of February to learn more! Larry Fuller — a.k.a. A. Christian White — with his quick wit, eye for innovation, and keen sense of opportunity is regarded as one of the indisputable kings of the 1970s underground comix movement. From Ebon to White Whore Funnies, Fuller wrote comics, drew comics, published comics, and would become one of the premier businessmen in an industry characterized by its fast, loose, and decidedly un-business-like attitude that arose out of the aftermath of the 1954 Comics Code. Fuller’s ability to effectively use satire to comment upon social issues such as race and sexuality would make him an influential and important icon not only in the Black, but also the LGBTQ comics communities. Living in San Francisco, the heart of the underground comix movement, Fuller’s first foray into comics was with the publication of his black superhero book Ebon #1 in 1970. Considered by some to be the first American comic featuring a Black superhero protagonist (Marvel wouldn’t introduce their first Black superhero headliner until 1972 in Luke Cage, Hero for Hire) and even the first comic to be entirely written and drawn by a single Black creator, Ebon was Fuller’s homage to his childhood love of the medium.

“As a young boy, Larry Fuller was fasci…