Where I'm Coming From by Barbara Brandon-Croft

A seasoned cartoonist of epic proportions, Brandon-Croft carves out space for Black women’s perspectives in her nationally syndicated strip

Few Black cartoonists have ever entered national syndication, and before Barbara Brandon-Croft, none of them were women. From 1989 to 2005, Brandon-Croft brought Black women’s perspectives to an international audience with her trailblazing comic strip Where I’m Coming From.

Brandon-Croft appraises popular opinion through nine distinct women in constant dialogue. From diets to daycare to debt to the dreaded microaggressions of everyday racism, no issue is off-limits. This remarkable and unapologetically funny career retrospective holds a mirror up to the ways society has changed and all the ways it hasn’t. The magic in Where I’m Coming From is its ability to impress an honest image of Black life without sacrificing Black joy, bolstered by unexpected one-liners eliciting much-needed laughter.

As the daughter of mid-century cartoonist Brumsic Brandon Jr., creator of the second nationally syndicated strip to feature a Black lead, Luther, Brandon-Croft learned from the best. With supplementary writing by the author and her peers alongside throwback ephemera, this long-overdue collection situates Brandon-Croft as an inimitable cartoonist, humorist, and social commentator, securing her place in the comics canon and allowing her work to inspire new readers at a time when it is most needed.