Black Cotton

Publisher: Scout Comics

Writers: Patrick Foreman and Brian Hawkins

Art: Marco Perugini

Letters: Francisco Zamora

Patrick Foreman’s and Brian Hawkins’ (Don’t Ever Blink) latest comic Black Cotton is set an alternate universe where the black race is the majority and the white race is the minority. The story centers around the Cottons, a powerful and wealthy black family who owns Black Cotton Ventures, a successful business that has roots dating back 400 years in America’s history. The elite family’s world is rocked when the news of a black police officer shooting a young minority white woman hits the airwaves. That police officer is Zion Cotton, the son of Black Cotton mogul and Elijah Cotton.  As a result, a furious Elijah puts his daughter, and Zion’s sister, Qia up to the task of cleaning up the family’s image while the entire country becomes embroiled with protest from white minorities.  

When I read this comic, it took me to a parallel universe that is a mirror of our world. This comic portrays an alternate reality where minorities are still affected by the presence of the majority. Only difference is that the majority is a different skin color. In a sense, this alternate reality is a character in the comic. And like our world, it has been teetering on the edge of division caused by political and discriminatory strife.

One of things I enjoyed about the comic is that it shows that had the roles been reverse, society would mostly be the same. If a shooting from a cop, who is of the majority race, on a minority were to occur, protests and riots from minorities would still be triggered. Police officers, especially ones from elite families, would be marked by the media and protests.

When I read the scene where the news of Zion shooting of the young white woman begins reaching the door step of the Cotton family business, I began to think back to George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, two African-Americans murdered by the very people sworn to protect and serve: the police officers. Like the murder of Floyd and Taylor, the murder of the young white woman at the hands of Zion has sparked protests from white minorities. We see the organization the minorities protesting under “White Lives Matter” signs in front of Zion’s apartment. And we also see that the matriarch of Black Cotton, Zion and Qia’s mother, is willing to give money to the white woman’s family to brush everything under the rug.  

With the familiar themes of racism and privilege, this comic’s writing does an amazing job of having the reader ask questions about this world that seems, again, similar to our own. Were whites subjugated to slavery like African Americans in real life history were? Did the Civil War end in a different way? Were the Native Americans treated any different? And I know that these questions will be answered with the help of Zion and Qia’s brother, Xavier who is tasked with doing a school project on the history that his family has been a part of for 400 years.

The comic art along with the pacing of the panels compliments the writing. The panels from the first scene had me asking why Zion was chasing the young white woman. A part of me almost feels that there was more to the story as to why Zion shot the white woman. I also liked how the comic ended on Qia and Zion’s mother asking the family on how much she would give the Nightingale’s, the white woman’s family which the panel was used as a cliffhanger.

I am looking forward to learning how the relationship between Elijah and Zion became strained. Did Zion believe he had a bigger calling that taking over the family business? Does Qia enjoy working for Black Cotton? And what secrets will Xavier find out? Scout Comics will launch Black Cotton on February 2021 and it is on my list of comics to read.

 As many of the characters would say: Black Cotton.