‘Black lines on white paper’: how comic artist Barbara Brandon-Croft draws on Where [she’s] Coming from

Abstract

ABSTRACT Barbara Brandon-Croft is the first African American woman to have a nationally syndicated mainstream newspaper comic strip. Her comic Where I’m Coming From was first published in the Detroit Free Press in 1989. Two years later it was nationally distributed when it was picked up by Universal Press Syndicate. This interview is a compilation of edited excerpts from two recorded interview sessions conducted with Barbara Brandon-Croft during the summer of 2022, and follow-up sessions that occurred in the fall of 2023. The conversation focuses on how Barbara’s experiences during her formative and adult years inspire the world depicted in Where I’m Coming From. We discuss her experiences while growing up in the predominantly Black neighbourhood of New Cassel, Long Island; her father Brumsic Brandon, Jr.’s influences on her career path; her undergraduate years at Syracuse University; and the inspirations behind the content in some of her strips.