A Monster Hunting Black Family During The Harlem Renaissance? Take My Money: A Conversation With David Walker

At San Diego Comic Con, I got to talk with David Walker, who you may know as the writer behind comics such as Luke Cage, Power Man & Iron Fist, Nighthawk, Cyborg, and Superb. We talked about his much-anticipated series Bitter Root with Chuck Brown & Sanford Greene from Image Comics out later this year.

The Story Morgan: What’s your elevator pitch for Bitter Root? David: Bitter Root takes place in 1924. Part of the backdrop is the Harlem Renaissance, although that world is gonna open up fairly quickly. It’s about a family — the Sangeryes (Sang-er-yay). They’re a famous family of monster hunters. For decades what they specialized in was curing monsters. In our world, monsters are essentially people whose souls have been corrupted. But now, there’s an ideological split between the family. There’s people that think they should cure, and people who believe they should kill. And most of the family is gone now. There was a huge tragedy. We don’t say what that tragedy is yet. But it’s about how America is about to be lost to hatred and racism and oppression in 1924, and they’re a dysfunctional family that is falling apart, and they’re the only people that can save America. And they happen to be a Black family. And then as the story progresses, if sales permit and fans permit, and we go beyond that first story arc, we’re going to then learn the origins of the family and trace that family all the way back to Africa. And you realize that they are from a tribe in Africa, Wester…