Scott MacGregor

Irony: Write a historical fiction graphic novel about an African American inventor named Benjamin Beltran and his part in the rescue following a major tunneling accident under Lake Erie. In your end matter write extensively how your story is actually based on Garrett A. Morgan, a real African American inventor, whose story is "a perfect example of how the history we're taught is not necessarily the history that happened," and how his "heroics on the night of July 25, 1916, was, thanks to systemic racism, erased in the same way one erases a wipe board or an email."

Ummm.

So you honor Garrett A. Morgan by erasing his name and life and writing your story over them? Why not tell his story instead of just taking it for yours? Or trying to somehow have it both ways by slapping in an afterword?

Jeepers.

I was actually over halfway through reading the book before I realized how much of a fiction it really is. A sudden intrusion of premonitions, dreams, visions and supernatural claptrap into what seemed a down-to-earth retelling of a "true-life tragedy" finally forced me to read the dust jacket copy. My interest quickly dwindled but I read it through to the end.

And then the afterword told the story I actually wanted to read: No angels, ghosts, or fake names; just the true story of a man named Garrett A. Morgan who worked hard to succeed and who rose to the occasion when called upon to risk his life to save others.… (mehr)