Jamaica.
Jamaica
1962
Jamaican comics grew up on the pages of the national newspapers.
Urban Leandro drew cartoons for The Gleaner for about five decades until his death in 1989, and from 1970 The Star's Laugh With Us comics page launched Wilfred Limonious, whose strips such as Chicken and Amos were widely read before he became famous for dancehall record covers. Editorial cartoonists Clovis Brown and Las May followed, while comic books stayed rare until the anthology I-Land Chronicles set out in 2016 to build a local industry, and Jamaican-born artists such as Keron Grant, Robyn Smith and Davi Go found work abroad.
9
11
1962
2010s
Artists from Jamaica in the archive.
Comics from Jamaica in the archive.
Story of Jamaica, the earliest comic from Jamaica in the archive.
The decade when the most new comics from Jamaica began.
comics
Jamaica in 4 chapters
A short history you can leaf through. Click a page, use the arrow keys, or press Turn the page to read on.
Jamaica.
4 chapters
Chapter 1
1937
to 1969
Leandro and The Gleaner
1937
to 1969
Chapter 01
Leandro and The Gleaner
Urban Leandro, born in Trinidad in 1917 to Guyanese parents, settled in Jamaica and became The Gleaner's cartoonist, mixing comedy about men and women with comment on national politics. For independence in 1962 the Gleaner Company published Story of Jamaica, a 32-page colour comic on the island's history.
1970
to 1999
Chapter 02
Laugh With Us and Wilfred Limonious
In 1970 Wilfred Limonious began publishing single-panel cartoons in Laugh With Us, The Star's full page of comics that printed local artists next to foreign strips. He went on to create Amos, Shane and Shawn, Grass Root, Earth Runnings and the three-panel strip Chicken, illustrated publications for the JAMAL literacy programme from the mid-1970s and later drew hundreds of dancehall record sleeves before his death in 1999.
1980
to 2015
Chapter 03
Editorial cartoonists
Clovis Brown joined The Gleaner after a full-page drawing of Edward Seaga as a one-man band and took over from Leandro, then spent more than 20 years at the Jamaica Observer, which published his collection Clovis Uncensored in 2001. Las May, whose early comic strip led to work in The Star's Laugh With Us section, drew for The Gleaner and The Star for more than 25 years and collected his work in 2014.
2016
to today
Chapter 04
Comic books and creators abroad
The animator Kevin Jackson launched the anthology I-Land Chronicles on 10 May 2016 so local creators could publish and keep their rights, with a second issue in July 2019. Self-published graphic novels such as Andrew Francis's The Cat series also reached the National Library. Jamaican-born artists built careers abroad, among them Keron Grant at Marvel, Robyn Smith, who shared the 2023 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Wash Day Diaries, and Davi Go, who draws Marvel and DC covers from Montego Bay.
The comics to know
- Story of Jamaica1962 · comic book seriesGleaner Company. Independence comic on the island's history, with the national anthem and a timeline.
- Chickencomic stripWilfred Limonious. Popular three-panel strip in The Star.
- The Best of Leandro1984 · comic stripUrban Leandro. 200 cartoons from nearly 50 years at The Gleaner.
- Clovis Uncensored2001 · comic stripClovis Brown. Collector's edition of the Observer cartoonist's work.
- Las May's Classic Editorial Cartoons2014 · comic stripLas May. Decades of Gleaner cartoons in 338 pages.
- I-Land Chronicles2016 · comics magazineKevin Jackson (publisher). Anthology meant to start a Jamaican comic book industry.
The people to know
- Urban LeandroUrban S. Leandro1917 to 1989The Gleaner's cartoonist for about five decades.
- Wilfred Limonious1949 to 1999Newspaper strip cartoonist and father of dancehall cover art.
- Clovis BrownEditorial cartoonist at The Gleaner and the Jamaica Observer.
- Las MayLascelles MayCartoonist for The Gleaner and The Star.
- Keron GrantBorn 1976Montego Bay-born artist for Marvel Comics.
- Robyn SmithKingston-born cartoonist and graphic novel artist.