Written by L.L. McKinney
Art by Robyn Smith
Published by DC Comics
Anyone who has ever met me can tell right off the bat that I am not a young black girl. My grandfather who died before I was born—my mother’s dad—was, according to genealogical sources, considered a black man in the US Census until he married a white woman and moved to another county, thereafter passing for white.
That said, I’m old and still about as white bread as one can get, and the new DC Young Adult graphic novel Nubia: Real One, is not aimed at me.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed the heck out of it. If ever a book was aimed squarely at a specific target audience, though, Nubia: Real One is most definitely it.
The Introduction by bestselling author Dhonielle Clayton is literally about the need for, and the importance of, this book and books like it to inspire young African-American girls.
Nubia isn’t exactly a new character in DC Comics, the original having debuted over several issues of Wonder Woman beginning in late 1972. I went back and re-read those issues today.
Okay, Nubia IS, in fact, pretty much an all-new character, albeit strongly inspired by the original armored warrior Amazon of the same name.
As noted above, technically, this is a Young Adult graphic novel, although one couldn’t tell it from the number of times various words and terms generally avoided in books aimed at a teen audience turn up.
Writer L.L. McKinney does an excellent job of realistic dialogue, though. So good, in fact, that I found myself having to look up a number of more modern slang words online to be sure I knew what they meant.
At its heart, this is the relatable story of three friends in high school just trying to get by—tall gap-toothed Nubia, her shorter, activist BFF LaQuisha, and their geeky guy pal, Jason (who looks a lot like Archie Andrews). There’s a big party, an unrequited crush, a bully, overprotective parents…all the stuff of modern sitcoms.
The book is, however, firmly based in the real world in some ways, prompting this unusual warning that appears on the copyright page: Content notes: The following story includes depictions of racial injustice, sexual harassment, police brutality, and an active school shooter. To anyone impacted by these issues, we encourage you to use our list of resources at the end of the book for support.
And then, of course, there’s also our protagonist’s secret superpowers.
Nubia’s mothers have spent their lives trying to keep her from being found out and treated like a freak. High school, sadly, has a way of making that kind of thing happen anyway, and Nubia finds herself having to use her powers to protect her friends more than once. In the age of cell phones.
How did she come to have superpowers in the first place? In the course of the story both she and the reader find out, and that’s what ties her firmly back to the 1972 version of Nubia, while leaving her at the same time very much a 21st century gal!
Robyn Smith provides the muted artwork, with its very expressive faces, a style semi-familiar from many other modern graphic novels and yet unique here to Nubia’s world.
In the end, Nubia: Real One is the story of a teenage girl growing up. Nubia’s superpowers aren’t the thing that most defines her. The way she cares for her friends, the way she loves her mothers, the way she tries when all seems hopeless. That’s what makes her a role model, and not just for young black girls.
That’s the kind of thing that should and will inspire readers of any race or any age.
Booksteve recommends.
