Brotherman: Dictator of Discipline

Critically acclaimed comic book series featuring a black hero is relaunched
By Robert Jeffrey II

From their earliest inception, comics rarely featured minorities and when they did, virtually all of them were stereotypical archetypes. However, genuine representation in film, music and print was more prevalent through the independent realm particularly during the early 1990’s. One group at the forefront of this surge included the creators of Big City Comics, who filled the void of intelligent characters of color in the comic book industry. From the minds of brothers Dawud Anyabwile, Guy Sims and Jason Sims, Brotherman: Dictator of Discipline was born.

This successful comic series is based on the story of Antonio Valor, an altruistic public attorney for the fictional city of Big City who dons the guise of “Brotherman” by night. Through both personas, Valor’s mission is to serve the common people and combat whatever ills may plague them. In an exclusive sit-down with J’Adore Magazine, Dawud, who currently handles animation work for the Atlanta-based Cartoon Network, expounded more on the creation of Brotherman and the recent relaunch of the title.

“What happened was the idea of a comic book before it was actually ‘Brotherman’ came up in 1989 when my brother, Jason, and I were running a custom airbrush shop in East Orange, New Jersey called Novel-Tees,” Dawud recollected. “The Black Expo had just started in New York in 1989. After attending the Expo, we said, ‘Hey, next year, let’s have a booth promoting our store in Jersey.’ We tried to think of something that would make airbrushing stand out. In our neighborhood, we used to make comic flyers–like a one page flyer–that would say ‘Come to our store.’ After that, we thought, ‘Why don’t we make a full book that would be a draw for customers?’” Dawud continued, “When we were kicking around ideas, I was looking in my sketchbook and I had this character called ‘Brotherman.’ We then called on my brother, Guy, to work on the script and we started hammering out concepts.”

Once the story premiered to audiences at the Expo, the book took off in record numbers, with approximately 30,000 copies independently published and sold by the end of 1990, while also going into two print runs for the first and second issues of the title. Eventually featured on such networks as CNN, BET and even The Arsenio Hall Show, the creative team turned their full attention to providing to the masses–something which Dawud said they have been craving for a while. “I knew the response was going to come the way that it did because I felt as though Brotherman was created for a market I felt was neglected,” he explained. “When it came out, graffiti writers jumped on it, hip-hoppers jumped on it, kids jumped on it and even adults jumped on it because they didn’t have that type of comic book growing up. The comic fans jumped on it because it was something different that they enjoyed. Teachers liked it because there were messages which they thought were good for kids and a lot of parents liked the fact that their kids were reading.”

One of the other goals of the book that the creators hoped to accomplish was providing readers with a better portrayal of the black male in popular media.  “There’s an imbalance of the black male image in this country” Dawud professed. “A lot of times we’re either the slick-talking womanizer and we’re not really seen as the family man. That’s not the core of who we are as black men. Growing up as a black boy into a man, even if you try not to be that type of person, you sometimes find that people are looking at you as if you are. That comes from watching all these TV shows growing up, showing black men as jive, or pimps. Dawud added, “Brotherman is a personification of the brother who will accept the challenge. He’s strong, but he also has vulnerabilities and he’s not a part of all the things that they say are stereotypically what black men are into. He’s the character that says change comes when you decide within yourself that you want to see the change.”

Between 1990 and 1994, Big City Comics sold approximately 750,000 titles in a ten-issue run and the fan base of the comic was continuing to grow. Premiering the 10th issue of the book at the 1994 New York Black Expo, all progress came to an abrupt halt when the creative team of siblings found out that their mother had passed away on the eve of the convention.

“At that point it just hit me and I kind of didn’t know what to do,” Dawud said with emotion. “I was all messed up, so we just went and broke down the booth and lost the money on the show. Everything just stopped at that point.”  Within a year of their mother’s passing, the Sims Family suffered another tragedy when their father, after being diagnosed with lymphoma cancer, also died. In the wake of these two losses, Big City Comics was dissolved. Issue #11 became the last completed issue and the Brotherman collective went their separate ways.

Now, 14 years later, brothers Dawud, Guy and their talented staff are bringing back Brotherman for their fans and new audiences alike. With the recent release of a three-volume trade paperback collection, a July 31st Atlanta art show featuring original artwork of Big City and its cast of characters, and the premiere of a graphic novel to be released later which will continue Brotherman’s adventures, Dawud exhaled and said he feels as if the time is right to bring back his brainchild. “I definitely feel like the stars are aligning. I was on this mission since I was in third grade–trying to fill a void and make a comic for a kid like me. Looking up and then cracking a smile, Dawud concluded, “It all started off with me asking my father, ‘How come we don’t have comics for us black kids?’ My dad answered, ‘You gotta be the one to do it. That was back in 1973.”

For more information on “Brotherman: Dictator of Discipline,” visit www.brothermancomics.com.