Kerry James Marshall. The Rythm Mastr: This Is How It Begins

In 1999 American artist Kerry James Marshall began working on his comics series Rythm Mastr in response to what he perceived as the historic absence of black characters and authors in the comics industry. Initially serialized in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for eight weeks, Rythm Mastr was eventually presented as an installation on the occasion of the 1999/2000 Carnegie International, where the newspaper pages would cover the vitrines of the Carnegie Museum Treasure Room.

In contrast with characters such as the Black Panther or the Falcon, Rythm Mastr focuses on the daily struggle of black people, elevating events like gang crimes and public houses demolition to epic proportion while following the adventures of the two protagonists, i>Rythm Mastr, and his young protege, Farell. Over the course of the past two decades, Rythm Mastr has been presented in various incarnations, including light boxes, paintings and drawings. Thing came full circle when, almost twenty years later, Rythm Mastr was exhibited again in an updated form at the 2018 Carnegie international. This book is the most comprehensive discussion of Rythm Mastr to date, chronicling its genesis and developments, as well as offering a deep analysis of Marshall’s motivations and aspirations when he started the series.