Larry Fuller (cartoonist) facts for kids

Larry Fuller is an African-American underground comix writer, publisher, and promoter. Along with other such notables as Richard "Grass" Green, Guy Colwell, and Fuller's long-time business partner and friend, Raye Horne, Fuller made sure that the voices of black comic book creators were heard in a time when their artistic efforts were largely ignored. On the topics of race, Fuller mastered the art of delivering social commentary in humorous form.

Biography

Military service

In the mid-1960s Fuller served with the U.S. Air Force at the Strategic Air Command Minot Air Force Base, in North Dakota.

Ebon and early career

Moving to the San Francisco Bay Area (the heart of the underground comix industry), in his late twenties, Fuller came up with the idea of an "authentic" African-American superhero, Ebon. After searching for an artist for more than a year, Fuller took art classes with the assistance of the G.I. Bill, and then ended up drawing Ebon himself, "swiping" many poses from established superhero artists like Gil Kane and John Buscema. Ebon #1 was published in January 1970 by Gary Arlington. (The back cover was a house ad for Arlington's comic book shop, the San Francisco Comic Book Company, an epicenter of the underground comix movement). Ebon is considered by many to be the first comic book title to star a black superhero (Marvel's Black Panther predating Ebon but not having his own title). Nonetheless, Ebon was a bad fit with the largely white, adult audiences of underground comix, and didn't meet with much success.

Shortly afterward, Fuller (in the guise of "Hairy" Larry Fuller) adapted H.P. Lovecraft's "The Ter'ble Old Man" for Last Gasp's 1971 comic Laugh in the Dark #1.

Awards

In 2007, Fuller was the recipient of the Pioneer Award at the 2007 Glyph Comics Awards.