Remarkable Receptions

 A brief take on Storm’s debut in the 1970s, tracing how Marvel’s first Black female superhero in the X-Men overcame racial stereotypes, developed her powers and backstory, and emerged as a groundbreaking figure in Black representation and superhero comics. 
By Stephyn Phillips

Edited by Elizabeth Cali and Howard Rambsy II
Read by Kassandra Timm

A brief take on Ta-Nehisi Coates’s move into Marvel Comics, highlighting how his Black Panther run bridges African American literary continuums and comic storytelling while expanding the scope of Black artistic production across forms. 

Written by Howard Rambsy II
Read by Kassandra Timm

 A brief take on Ta-Nehisi Coates’s entry into comics, examining how his rise to prominence with Black Panther highlights the double-edged nature of representation—simultaneously expanding visibility while reinforcing disparities in attention for other Black creators. 

A brief take on Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda, tracing how “Star Wars for Black people” becomes a framework for merging Afrofuturism, slave narrative traditions, and large-scale Black representation in comics. 

Written by Howard Rambsy II
Read by Kassandra Timm

A brief take on Phillis Wheatley’s tribute to Scipio Moorhead, interpreting surviving poem and portrait as fragmentary “rumors” of early Black artistic collaboration in eighteenth-century America.

 Written by Howard Rambsy II
Read by Kassandra Timm 

A brief take on Kerry James Marshall’s portraits of John Punch, Scipio Moorhead, and Harriet Tubman, reimagining enslaved figures as liberated subjects through contemporary Black artistic interpretation. 

Written by Howard Rambsy II
Read by Kassandra Timm

A brief take on Phillis Wheatley’s portrait, tracing Scipio Moorhead’s 1773 image, Kerry James Marshall’s reinterpretation, and its circulation on a 2026 U.S. Postal Service stamp.

Written by Howard Rambsy II
Read by Kassandra Timm

A brief take on evolving labels for Black poetry, tracing shifts from Negro poetry to Black poetry to African American poetry through anthology titles reflecting changing cultural identities.

Script by Howard Rambsy II
Narration by Kassandra Timm

A brief take on racialized anointments, tracing how media repeatedly elevate one Black writer at a time, narrowing attention while obscuring the broader landscape of African American literary production.

Script by Howard Rambsy II 
Narration by Kassandra Timm

A brief take on Toni Morrison’s rise in graduate research, showing how dissertation data tracks her shift from minimal attention in the 1970s to central prominence in African American literary studies. 

Script by Howard Rambsy II 

Narration by Kassandra Timm