Brumsic Brandon, Jr. (1927 -2014) created the long-running Luther newspaper comic strip. It was originally syndicated through New York Newsday beginning in 1968.
"'Luther' revolves around a group of small children. Luther is a bright, slightly sarcastic black boy. His best friends are Hardcore, little Pee Wee, Mary Frances and Oreo and the white girl Lily. Luther's name was a tribute to Martin Luther King who was assassinated the same year the comic made its debut. Hardcore owed his name to the term 'hardcore unemployed,' while Oreo was slang for people who act 'black' on the outside, but 'white' on the inside. They live in a typical U.S. urban working class neighborhood. Much like 'Wee Pals' the series has a satirical undertone and features striking social commentary about racism and multiculturalism. In one episode Hardcore is late for school, but it turns out he was stopped in the street by a white cop. While critiquing white racism, usually through the invisible character of the kids' third-grade teacher Miss Backlash, Brandon also addressed discrimination of whites by blacks and prejudice within black communities themselves. He avoided coming across as heavy-handed by using a children's point of view, much in the tradition of Charles M. Schulz' 'Peanuts.' He was determined to 'tell it like it is,' but by using child protagonists he could keep his messages simple and gentle. 'Luther' also dealt with more universal human drama like the struggle for survival in a tough world. In one episode Luther notices his shabby apartment has a hole in the ceiling and mutters sarcastically: 'Open housing.'"
The feature would run for eighteen years. Here are a few from the collection Outta Sight, Luther! They are copyright 1971 by Brumsic Brandon, Jr.
His daughter, Barbara Brandon-Croft, is also a cartoonist. She created the Where I’m Coming From feature, which ran from 1989 to 2005.
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