Rythm Mastr: Every Beat of My Heart

This comic strip’s action figures are based on historical African art objects. Led by the drummer Rythm Mastr, these superheroes join forces with the story’s young main characters, Farell and Stasha, to navigate conflicts in a sci-fi Chicago cityscape. The cover titled “Every Beat of My Heart” introduces all the series’ characters. The African artworks are used to critique how these objects have been removed from their original contexts and have been made static in museums. Rythm Mastr proposes a future in which black Americans embrace African cultural heritage in order to boldly forge ahead. The work remains true to the artist Kerry James Marshall’s exclusive portrayal of black subjects and his questioning of their absence or marginalization in art history.

The first edition of Rythm Mastr, printed commercially on newsprint, was produced for the Carnegie International exhibition in 1999. It also appeared as an eight-week series that year in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.