The Voice of Marcus Williams is Visual

by Virginia Holland-Davis, MS, MBA, DMIN

Right out of high school, independent illustrator and comic artist, Marcus Williams found himself with a temporary freelance assignment at Cartoon Network. He was thrilled to be drawing The Powerpuff Girls. Though he continued to work, he realized, “After working as a freelance illustrator for 17 years, everything from Cartoon Network, comic books, comic art, and even business cards, with all the illustrations that I’ve done, I came up empty-handed asking, ‘What do I have to sell for myself?’” It was obvious he needed to create a product of his own. He travels to elementary schools and comic book events. He left his early ComicCon appearances feeling that he was the representation of what was possible for young, black comic fans and their families. It was clear that he was a rare commodity and that there is room for a new message.

Marcus, aka Marcus the Visual, recently spoke with Gwen Witherspoon, Host of Vivid Talk™ Radio. He shared that as a young artist, he was just trying to get work, get the money for it, and pay his bills. At one point, however, it shifted to, “What legacy am I going to leave?” Once he became a single father of two, he started to feel the weight of the responsibility to do more. He is finally came to terms with his art and his presence as a black illustrator in the art field. Now, he is on a mission to show young black kids heroic representations of themselves–capable, powerful, and strong characterizations.

Comic illustration can be quite lucrative with the right medium, subject, and content, commanding upwards of thousands of dollars per book project, according to Sean Jordan, founder of Army Ant Publishing. Williams encourages parents to not give up on the profession as a viable vocation for their children, and that there is an obvious shortage of black role models for them.

Marcus co-authored and illustrated a book with his business partner, Greg Burnham, highlighting black characters. Currently, the pair has a successful comic book on the market entitled “Tuskegee Heirs”. A Kickstarter campaign (the goal was $10,000, but they raised $74,000) laid the foundation for the project’s success. The goal, Williams says, is to tell stories of black heroes without any stereotypical associations seen in most comic art featuring black characters.

A constant complaint he hears from parents, he says, is inappropriate, overly sexualized images and language, though it is in a comic book. He wants to change that image and keep certain content age-appropriate.

Tuskegee Heirs: Flames of Destiny” is a new futuristic sci-fi action-adventure comic book series set 80 years into the future. It follows a squadron of young, gifted aviators, who are forced to become Earth’s last line of defense against a menacing race of artificially intelligent villains bent on destroying civilization. Trained at the legendary Moton Field, by Colonel Mars (our own fictional descendant of the Tuskegee Airmen), these five teens and their crew embody strong moral ethics and team strategies used by the Red Tails themselves to overcome their problems. Follow along as our team travels the globe in an effort to save civilization, exposing little known history and geography along the way. Also, there are giant robots!

Always interested in art, Williams has had to learn not only how to market his art, but how to treat his art as a business, not just a creative outlet. This he has learned through personal observations and by talking with veteran illustrators and artists.

There is still a shortage of minority representation, particularly at comic fests and conferences, and he is humbled to be considered a role model for his art form. He continues to use introspection and observation as motivation to drive his art forward.