Terminal Velocipede

Fights: One Boy’s Triumph Over Violence (2020)

“Fights is the visceral and deeply affecting memoir of artist/author Joel Christian Gill, chronicling his youth and coming of age as a Black child in a chaotic landscape of rough city streets and foreboding backwoods. 

Propelled into a world filled with uncertainty and desperation, young Joel is pushed toward using violence to solve his problems by everything and everyone around him. But fighting doesn’t always yield the best results for a confused and sensitive kid who yearns for a better, more fulfilling life than the one he was born into, as Joel learns in a series of brutal conflicts that eventually lead him to question everything he has learned about what it truly means to fight for one’s life.”

by Joel Christian Gill

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Joel Christian Gill is Associate Professor of Illustration at Massachusetts College of Art and Design he teaches, draws comics, researches black history, sharescstories and believes #28daysarenotenough

Ladies and their Magic Swords (2019)

Strange Fruit, Volume II: More Uncelebrated Narratives from Black History (2018)

“Strange Fruit Volume II: More Uncelebrated Narratives from Black History” is a collection of stories from early African American history that represent the oddity of success in the face of great adversity. Each of the eight illustrated chapters chronicles an uncelebrated African American hero or event. 

Joel Christian Gill offers historical and cultural commentary on heroes whose stories are not often found in history books, such as Cathay Williams, the only known female buffalo soldier, and Eugene Bullard, a fighter pilot who flew for France during World War II. These beautifully illustrated stories offer a refreshing look at remarkable African Americans.

Joel Christian Gill is the Chair of Foundations at the New Hampshire Institute of Art and recipient of the 2016 Boston University College of Fine Arts Alumni Award. He wrote the words and drew the pictures in “Strange Fruit, Volume I: Uncelebrated Narratives from Black History”, “Bass Reeves: Tales of the Talented Tenth, Volume 1”, and “Bessie Stringfield: Tales of the Talented Tenth, Volume 2”. 

Joel received his MFA from Boston University and a BA from Roanoke College. His secret lair is behind a secret panel in the kitchen of his house (sold separately) in New Boston, New Hampshire.

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