Coloring/Colorism

First, a thank you to Kristopher Mosby for his kind letter about The Color of Paper. He raises several great points, so with his permission, I’m including his email here, followed by my wandering response. Kristopher wrote: “I just finished reading your latest book, The Color of Paper: Representing Race in the Comics Medium, and I found it very interesting. It got me thinking about something I don’t see discussed very often. I really started thinking after viewing the B/W images of “Alpha,” The Ultimate Mutant. “Over the years, there have been countless books, articles, videos, and essays about race and racism in comics. People have examined how Black characters are portrayed, the experiences of Black creators, discrimination within the comic book industry, and even the attitudes of fans. But one topic that seems to receive very little attention is colorism within comics. “One thing I’ve noticed is that the overwhelming majority of Black characters in mainstream comics are portrayed…