Harvey Award-winner Keith Knight has been creating his comics for print and online outlets since the early 90s, with collections released from a variety of publishers and self-published. Now Woke, the TV series he inspired and co-wrote about a Black cartoonist whose life is changed by an encounter with the police has dropped on Hulu, in a year defined by COVID and by the reckoning with racial justice issues brought to a head by the police killing of George Floyd. The timing of Woke seems tailor-made for 2020, but Knight's been raising the same issues throughout his career. PW Senior News Editor Calvin Reid talks to Knight about his comics, the ways he's reached his audience, how that led to the show, and what he's planning next.
Keith Knight is many things to many people–rapper, social activist, father and educator among them. He’s also one of the funniest and most highly regarded cartoonists in America, and the creator of three popular comic strips: the Knight Life, (th)ink, and the K Chronicles. Keith Knight is part of a generation of African-American artists who were raised on hip-hop, and infuse their work with urgency, edge, humor, satire, politics and race. His art has appeared in various publications worldwide, including the Washington Post, Daily KOS, San Francisco Chronicle, Medium.com, Ebony, ESPN the Magazine, L.A. Weekly, MAD Magazine, and the Funny Times.
Calvin Reid is Senior News Editor at Publishers Weekly with responsibility for comics and graphic novel coverage. He is also co-editor of PW Comics World, the magazine's e-mail comics newsletter.

Video from the ICv2 Insider Talks 2020 Livestream
Posted by Milton Griepp on November 11, 2020 @ 4:37 pm CT

MORE COMICS
Downsizing, Shifting Sources, Looking for Capital
May 9, 2025
Funko disclosed a series of moves to deal with the impact of tariffs on its business with its quarterly report, including downsizing, shifting sources, and looking for capital.
With Pre-Release Sellout
May 9, 2025
Battle Beast #1 has orders for "nearly 400,000 copies worldwide," and has sold out at the distributor level prior to release.
MORE NEWS
New Tile-Placement Game from Floodgate
May 9, 2025
Floodgate Games will release Hedge Mage, a new tile-placement game in which wizards battle wizards, this summer.
From Marvel Comics
May 9, 2025
New hero rapid makes an electrifying debut, Kid Venom finally makes the move to the 616 and more in Giant-Size Amazing Spider-Man #1!