Big Jim and the White Boy: An American Classic Reimagined

Good graphic novel and an important piece of storytelling. It's remarkable to think this came out about the same time as James, another Huckleberry-Finn-from-Jim's-Perspective. But this is a very different book.

It's only very loosely Huckleberry Finn, and the weakest parts were towards the start where the story tries to follow the Twain narrative. It gets much stronger when it becomes its own story. An imagined history of Jim, the liberated Slave, fighting for freedom before, during, and after the Civil War. Along with a very sweet story of his love for Huck and their lifelong friendship.

I didn't love the art. Or the simplified superhero elements in the story. I think it works as a fun graphic novel and if it brings in readers, great! But this story seemed most powerful to me at its moments of the most complexity, particularly Jim and Huck's relationship.

This book seems like a great introductory text for young readers needing a counterbalance to Confederate mythology.