'Where I'm Coming From'.
Barbara Brandon-Croft is a American comic artist, notable as the first female African-American cartoonist whose work was syndicated nationally in the US mainstream press. Her signature series was the newspaper comic 'Where I'm Coming From' (1989-2005), which offered humorous political-social commentary from the perspective of African-American women. Earlier in her career, she assisted on the 'Luther' comic strip, written and drawn by her father, Brumsic Brandon, Jr..
Early life and comics beginnings
Barbara Brandon was born in 1958 in Brooklyn, New York, as one of three children of cartoonist Brumsic Brandon Jr., creator of the comic strip 'Luther'. She was barely a few months old when the family moved to New Cassel, New York. Brandon studied Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University, where she graduated in 1980. Since her marriage to jazz musician Monte Croft in 1997, Brandon goes by the name of "Barbara Brandon-Croft".
Early comics career
Barbara Brandon's comic career took off around 1980, when she assisted her father on his political-social satirical newspaper comic 'Luther'. Interviewed by Tony Williams in Rolling Out (28 April 2025), she recalled that he needed help with his daily comic and let both her and her brother draw one of his characters on a light box. While her brother's attempt was "awful", hers was decent enough that she became his official assistant for years, learning the craft of cartooning firsthand from a professional. When her father had a back injury and couldn't do anything for weeks, Barbara Brandon also learned lettering. Apart from graphic skills, he also contributed to her political-social consciousness and informed her of the importance of "observing, interpreting and recording". Apart from his obvious influence, Brandon was also strongly inspired by Mad Magazine and Jules Feiffer.
Still, Brandon saw her assistance of 'Luther' as just a way to help her father out, and it didn't yet occur to her to become a cartoonist herself. In 1982, Brandon applied for a job as fashion writer for the women's glossy magazine Elan, which aimed at an African-American female demographic. At the suggestion of editor-in-chief Marie Brown, Brandon also created a cartoon feature for them. Later that decade, she was employed by Essence Magazine as a fashion and beauty writer. Additional illustration work appeared in The Village Voice, MCA Records and The Crisis. For Oz, she illustrated greeting cards.
'Where I'm Coming From'.
Where I'm Coming From
In 1989, Barbara's father Brumsic Brandon, Jr. was asked by The Detroit Free Press whether he knew any black cartoonists who could reflect their audience in the paper. The comic veteran suggested his own daughter and so Brandon's comic strip 'Where I'm Coming From' debuted in their pages.
In 1991, Brandon was contracted by Universal Press Syndicate, making her the first black woman cartoonist to be syndicated nationally in the mainstream press. Decades before her, Jackie Ormes had been another syndicated female black cartoonist. Her strip 'Torchy Brown in Dixie to Harlem' (1937-1938) ran in The Pittsburgh Courier, a newspaper distributed in fourteen major cities all across the US. However, this paper aimed specifically at an African-American readership and its availability was limited to just the city editions, meaning that in large parts of the country her comic simply wasn't available. Brandon's achievement happened more than half a century after Ormes' pioneering role and two years after Ormes' death. As a result, she received quite some media attention when her strip debuted. Interviewed by Tony Williams in Rolling Out (28 April 2025), Brandon recalled that many people, including reporters, openly wondered how her comic would ever appeal to more than just a handful of papers. She felt insulted, since this indicated that, apparently, the opinions of black women like her weren't considered "interesting" enough. Other times, people criticized her comic as being "anti-male" or "anti-white", even though it was crystal clear that they hadn't even read it in the first place. Decades earlier, her father had received similar commentary, so it only made her more determined to carry on writing and drawing.
Barbara Brandon's 'Where I'm Coming From' centers around twelve African-American female characters. Cheryl is blunt and straightforward. Nicole is narcisstic and not very bright. Jackie is often talking about her relationship with Victor, an unseen character in the comic. Lydia is a single mother, whose daughter Re-Re is named after soul singer Aretha Franklin. Judy is very wise for her age and always offers a helpful ear. Alisha is optimistic and idealistic, and Lekesia politically consicous. Monica is fair-skinned and quite obsessed with how "white" or "black" people's skin colors are. Sonya is a more generic character. Each cast member was based on friends of Brandon, but also reflected parts of her own personality. The characters are shown in thought-provoking gags where they cope with being part of two minority groups in the US (women and black people). Some characters got more fleshed out as time went by, particularly Lydia, because Brandon didn't have children of her own when her comic started syndication. Once she did, she could relate more to Lydia.
'Where I'm Coming From'.
Originally, the comic focused on family, sexuality and relationships. Interviewed by Tom Heintjes (9 February 2021), Brandon said that her husband motivated her to make her comic strip more political. After a while, she started addressing heated topics like racism, sexism, abortion, police brutality and US politics.
'Where I'm Coming From' is notable for its minimalistic and very verbal style. Usually only the characters' heads and hands are portrayed against a white background. This allows the reader to focus on the dialogues. Interviewed by Tom Power, Brandon also said that it was a commentary on how women in comics are often "summed up with their body parts": "the idea not to include the body was encouraging readers to look at them in their face, talk to them. They've got minds in those heads. They've got thoughts, you know." Interviewed by Rolling Out (28 April 2025), Brandon recalled feeling thrilled that people actually recognized themselves in her comics.
Barbara Brandon's comics have been published by Andrews McMeel in two book collections, titled 'Where I'm Coming From' (1993) and 'Where I'm Coming From Still' (1994). By 2005, she discontinued the series when there were only seven newspapers left that carried it. In 2016, the series made a comeback, in a direct reaction to her outrage that Donald Trump had been elected as US President. Now presented in webcomic format, Brandon has tackled the polarized climate in US society in the wake of Trump's controversial administration and other events that infuriated her.
In 2023, Drawn & Quarterly reprinted a compilation of 'Where I'm Coming From', which was crowned with a National Association of Black Journalists Award for "Outstanding Book" that same year. The compilation came about when cartoonist Jillian Tamaki saw Brandon's work at the US Library of Congress and motivated her contacts at Drawn & Quarterly to release her work again.
'Where 'Im Coming From', referencing the controversial appointment of US Supreme Court judge Brett Kavanaugh, who has been sued for sexual harrassment.
Graphic contributions
Barbara Brandon illustrated Franchestra Ahmen-Cawthorne's 'Sista Girl-Fren Breaks It Down... When Mom's Not Around' (Touchstone, 1996) and made a contribution to Rosarium Publishing's anthology 'APB: Artists Against Police Brutality' (2015).
Recognition
In May 2018, Barbara Brandon-Croft was honored with the ECBACC Pioneer/Lifetime Achievement Award during the East Black Age of Comics Convention. Since 2020, she and her father have been the subject of the joint touring exhibition, 'Still... Racism in America: A Retrospective in Cartoons'.
Legacy and influence
Brandon-Croft has been cited as an influence by cartoonists like Ebony Flowers, Keith Knight, Steenz and Bianca Xunise.
Barbara Brandon with her father, Brumsic Brandon, Jr. Photo © Drawn & Quarterly.