Rupert Kinnard facts for kids

Rupert Kinnard (born 1954), also known as Prof. I.B. Gittendowne, is an American cartoonist. He created the first ongoing African-American comic characters who were also openly part of the LGBTQ+ community. These characters are the Brown Bomber, a teenage superhero, and Diva Touché Flambé, his older partner. Kinnard is an African American artist who also identifies as part of the LGBTQ+ community.

Rupert Kinnard's Life Story

Early Life and Creative Beginnings

Rupert Kinnard was born in Chicago in 1954. He spent his early years on the West Side of the city. Later, he moved with his family to new housing projects. He then moved to the South Side, where he went to Morgan Park High School. He also attended the High School for Metropolitan Studies. After finishing school, he studied art at the American Academy of Art.

In 1972, when Rupert was a teenager, he noticed something. All his favorite superheroes in comics were white. Even the characters he drew himself didn't look like him. So, he decided to create a new character named Superbad. Superbad was a strong Black character inspired by the famous boxer and activist Muhammad Ali.

In 1976, Rupert went to Cornell College in Iowa. A year later, in 1977, he created the Brown Bomber. This character was a less aggressive African-American figure. He was based on the boxer Joe Louis, who was also called "the Brown Bomber." This new character appeared in a comic strip. It was published every week in the Cornellian, the college newspaper. The Brown Bomber became very popular on campus. Because of this, Kinnard wrote a strip that showed the character was gay.

Moving to New Cities and New Ideas

Rupert graduated from college in 1979. He then moved to Portland, Oregon. There, he started working for an alternative newspaper called Willamette Week. He eventually became the associate art director. In 1983, he helped start Just Out. This was Oregon's first newspaper for the LGBTQ+ community.

In 1984, he created Diva Touché Flambé. She was a lesbian African-American character. He featured her with the Brown Bomber in a comic strip called "Cathartic Comics." After this, he became the first African American to join the board of the Portland Town Council. This was the first LGBTQ+ organization in Oregon. He also helped create The Diversity Alliance, a group for multicultural LGBTQ+ people.

In 1986, Rupert moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. He became the art director for the San Francisco Sentinel. His "Cathartic Comics" started appearing there every week. In 1989, the strip also began running in S.F. Weekly. It also appeared in LGBTQ+ publications in other big cities. A collection of these comic strips was published in 1992. It was called B.B. and the Diva. After leaving S.F. Weekly, he became the art director for Out/Look, a journal for the LGBTQ+ community.

Facing Challenges and Continuing Art

Rupert moved back to Portland in 1993. There, he and six other men started the Portland chapter of Brother to Brother. This was a social group for African-American gay men.

In April 1996, Rupert was in a car accident. This accident left him unable to move his legs. It happened just one day after he attended his grandmother's funeral in Jonestown, Mississippi.

He and his partner, Scott Stapley, were part of a court case in 2008. It was called Martinez vs. Kulongoski. They were trying to change a law in Oregon that defined marriage only as between a man and a woman. However, they were not successful at that time.

Today, Kinnard and Stapley own and run the Kinley Manor Guest House in Portland. Rupert is also working on a graphic memoir. A graphic memoir is like a comic book that tells a true story about someone's life. His book will be called The LifeCapsule Project.

How Rupert Kinnard's Art Grew

Artists Who Inspired Him

Rupert Kinnard was inspired by many other artists. These include underground cartoonist Howard Cruse. He also looked up to John Callahan, a cartoonist who couldn't move his arms or legs. Other inspirations were cartoonist Alison Bechdel, filmmaker Marlon Riggs, and poet Essex Hemphill. He also admired cartoonist Lynda Barry and historian Allan Bérubé.

Where His Work Was Published

Kinnard's writings, drawings, and cartoons have been published in many places. Some of these include Meatmen: An Anthology of Gay Male Comics. His work also appeared in A Queer Sense of Humor and The Indelible Alison Bechdel. You could also find his art in Juicy Mother and No Straight Lines. He was also featured in LGBTQ+ newspapers like Portland's Just Out and the Bay Area Reporter. Other publications include Chicago's Windy City Times and the literary journal Out/Look magazine.

Helping Others Through His Company

Through his company, The Rupe Group Graphics, Kinnard has worked with many organizations. He helped the Black United Front in Portland and the Portland Storefront Theater. He also worked with PassinArt, Theater Group, and the National Organization for Women. Other groups include the National Lawyers Guild and the Cascade AIDS Project. He also collaborated with the Workers’ Organizing Committee and Oregonians Against the Death Penalty. His work also supported California Newsreel, the Gay and Lesbian Press Association, and the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association. He also worked with the Oakland Tribune and San Francisco's Theater Rhinoceros.

Awards and Special Recognition

Honored for His Art and Impact

Two of Rupert Kinnard's publications won awards for their design. Just Out won in 1983, and the San Francisco Sentinel won in 1987. Both received the National Gay Press Association award for best overall design.

In 1992, his "Cathartic Comics" strip was part of a special exhibit. It was called "Black Ink: An Exhibit of African American Cartoonists" at the San Francisco Cartoon Art Museum. Original drawings from his strip are now part of the museum's permanent collection.

The Brown Bomber and Diva Touché Flambé characters were even brought to life on stage! In 1994, they were part of a play called Out of the Inkwell. This was a Theater Rhinoceros production in San Francisco. Characters from another famous comic, Doonesbury, were also in the play.

He received the "Spirit of Pride" award from Pride Northwest in 1996.

In 1997, Kinnard attended "A Tip of the Nib." This was the first conference in the country for cartoonists who create stories about LGBTQ+ characters. It took place at Oberlin College. Other famous artists like Howard Cruse and Alison Bechdel were also there.

In 2007, Rupert's business, The Rupe Group Graphics, received an award. It was the Community Angel Award from the Oregon Cascade AIDS Project.

In 2013, he received a "Standing on the Shoulders" Lifetime Achievement Award. This award came from the World Arts Foundation. They said his "artistic talent and leadership to reach out to the LGBTQ community honors the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr."

He was a special speaker at the first Queers & Comics conference in May 2015. He was recognized as one of the "Pioneers of Queer Men's Comics." He also spoke about "Queer Comics, Health and Dis/Ability."

In 2019, Kinnard was given the Light a Fire Lifetime Achievement Award by Portland Monthly magazine.

Exhibitions and Stage Shows

On June 12, 2021, a new documentary film premiered. It was called No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics. This film featured Rupert Kinnard's work. It also showed the work of other famous cartoonists. These included Alison Bechdel (who created Fun Home), Jennifer Camper, Howard Cruse, and Mary Wings. The film was later shown on national PBS in 2023.

On August 20, 2021, Rupert Kinnard helped dedicate a new mural in Portland. It's called the “Never Look Away" mural. This huge mural celebrates the struggles and achievements of the LGBTQ+ community. It features Rupert Kinnard himself, along with other important figures. These include David Martinez, Kathleen Saadat, Marsha P. Johnson, Angelica Ross, and Aydian Dowling.

In 2022, Kinnard was invited to create a show of his original artwork. The exhibit was called "From Cornell to Cathartica: A History of Cathartic Comics." It was held at Cornell College. While there, he also received the school's highest honor. It was called the Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award.