John Lewis was the hero of the House sit-in. This comic book tells his origin story. - Vox

John Lewis was the hero of the House sit-in. This comic book tells his origin story. - Vox:

John Lewis was the hero of the House sit-in. This comic book tells his origin story.

On Wednesday, Georgia Rep. John Lewis led his fellow Democrats in a dramatic sit-in on the floor of the US House to demand they be allowed to vote on gun control legislation. It felt a little like the climax of a superhero movie: At long last, someone came along with the moral fiber and purity of vision to demand action (even if that action might not make a meaningful dent in the problem). And although the sit-in wrapped on Thursday afternoon without achieving a vote, it provided an important symbol of Democrats’ willingness to close the gun control enthusiasm gap, in part because of the legitimacy provided by civil rights superhero John Lewis.

And like all superheroes, Lewis has a comic book backstory.

March is a series of graphic memoirs written by Lewis and his staffer Andrew Aydin, illustrated by the award-winning graphic artist Nate Powell. Books one and two were released in 2013 and 2015, and the third volume will come out on August 2.

March chronicles Lewis’s long history in the civil rights movement, detailing how he became one of its so-called Big Six leaders. But it starts early. In book one, set in the 1950s, we meet young Lewis, the son of share-croppers, dreaming of preaching the social gospel like Martin Luther King and practicing baptisms on his parents’ chickens.

Lewis went to college in Nashville, where he began to attend Jim Lawson’s workshops on nonviolent protest. In March, the workshops look harrowing: Participants alternate screaming racial slurs and threats at one another, their shadowy faces dominating the John Lewis was the hero of the House sit-in. This comic book tells his origin story. - Vox: