Negro Romance Comic on NPR’s History Detective

PBS has a weekly show where the show’s detectives try to uncover the history behind various artifacts. Last week they were presented with a coverless copy of Negro Romance Comics. I had known about the existence of this comic but because comics specifically aimed at African-Americans were so rare and are now so sought after, I have never actually seen a copy. Not that it ever occurred to me that there would be any connection between Negro Romance Comics and my main focus, Simon and Kirby. However it turns out that the art for Negro Romance Comics was done by Alvin C. Hollingsworth. Now the reader can be forgiven if that name does not ring any bells because while he did work for Simon and Kirby it appears he only provided art for four stories. Despite this limited amount of work, Joe Simon still remembers Hollingsworth; probably because there were so few African-American comic book artists then. You can see examples of his work in It’s A Crime, Forgotten Artists and The Captain Aero Connections. The History Detective episode can be viewed on PBS’s web site but be sure to scroll down to the bottom where scans of one of the stories from Negro Romance Comics is presented.

One thought on “Negro Romance Comic on NPR’s History Detective

  1. J. Morris

    This was great! I learned something new today and passed it on to many people. What great news that there was an African American comic book artist however few his pieces of work.

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