Comic book heroes battle for democracy: Philly nonprofit uses comic books to inspire voter turnout

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It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a new super team-up, joining forces to tackle one of our society’s biggest topics: voting.

Show Up Strong ’24, funded and led by The Voter Project, is a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan initiative that is tackling the mission of raising voter engagement through the creative arts, music, art, and in this case … comic book storytelling.

“Voting is scary to some people, they have a lot of anxiety,” said April M. Burks, director of neighborhood activations for Show Up Strong. “It seems like a much more complicated process than it is. People don’t understand it.”

In September 2024, Show Up Strong collaborated with REC Philly and held a think tank pitch competition to develop a solution for getting over 50,000 young adults in Philadelphia to register and vote in this coming election. Those who were selected for the finals of the competition were given a set amount of funding and 30 days to generate said solution.

“These comic books are to help motivate people to go out there to register to vote,” said Derrick Allen, founder and CEO of Konkret Comics, a Black-owned comic book publishing company based in New Jersey. Allen’s idea didn’t win the pitch contest, but the company still went ahead with supporting the concept of a free comic book to encourage young people to get out to the polls.

The winning idea, “Liberty Knights,” created and written by Allen, is about a team of superheroes representing the best of Philadelphia as they fight their archnemesis, whose goal is to steal the “power of the voting” from the people of Philadelphia.

“It was a combination of everything I thought was the most important aspects of Philadelphia, look-wise, presence-wise and just what they represent,” said Allen, who talked about the motivation behind the comic’s name and story. “And each of the characters, they come from a different section of Philadelphia. South Philly, West Philly, North Philly, Fishtown, Frankford. Every one of them comes from a different part of town. Some are teachers, some are students. I just wanted to give a face to everyone I could imagine in Philly.”

“We’re just really excited how it turned out,” said Burks about the comic book. “It’s super cool, and it’s gotten a lot of great reception.”

“One of the main points is I really wanted to show that all of us have these same ideas,” said Allen, motivated by the message of this and the positivity his other works create. “But at the end of the day, your voice is your superpower.”

Over 100,000 copies of the comic have been mailed out across Philadelphia to voters between 18 and 35 years old who were eligible to receive their free copy for registering to vote. Show Up Strong has distributed the comic books while visiting satellite election polling locations in the area. For those interested in receiving a copy of the comic book, all hope is not lost.

“We will be at different events with these comic books,” said Burks. Copies of the comic book can be found at upcoming events hosted by Black Voters Matter and Committee of Seventy. “We want everyone to know that voting is a superpower. This is one of the ways that you are able to get your voice heard.”