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Early Caribbean Comic "The Preacher Meets Big Mama" by Black Cartoonist Rudy Seymour; 1967

1967réf. 237191967. Black HistoryComics 1960s Guyanese comic book by an early influential Black cartoonist. Seymour Rudy. The Preacher Meets Big Mama: Part 2. Georgetown British Guyana: All in Pictures ca. 1967. First edition. Scarce. Illustrated throughout with black-and-white cartoon panels. Original pictorial wrappers printed in black and red on pale blue stock. A rare early work by Samuel Rudolph "Rudy" Seymour widely regarded as the father of Guyanese comics. This installment blends Christian moralism with Afro-Caribbean folklore in a visually arresting local comic format. Rudy Seymour was one of the earliest creators of locally produced comic books in Guyana whose illustrated narratives reflected and shaped mid-20th century Guyanese visual culture. In The Preacher Meets Big Mama Seymour depicts a confrontation between a Christian preacher and "Big Mama" a feared spiritualist figure with ties to Obeah a syncretic Afro-Caribbean spiritual system. The plot follows the preacher's attempt to rescue a boy from Big Mama's cult culminating in scenes of ritualistic sacrifice demonic invocation and divine intervention. The narrative unfolds in vernacular Guyanese Creole grounding the story in a distinctly local idiom. Seymour's stark expressive linework animates themes of good versus evil colonial Christianity versus ancestral spiritual knowledge and gendered power structures. While the portrayal of Big Mama leans into negative colonial stereotypes casting her as a devil-worshipper the comic simultaneously elevates Afro-Caribbean spiritual conflict to the central stage of popular print culture. Seymour's broader contributions to Caribbean arts extended beyond this title; his pioneering comics inspired future generations and played a foundational role in developing the graphic arts in Guyana. He continued illustrating through the 1970s and remained a cultural fixture until his passing in 2020. Minor wear to spine and covers; interior pages lightly toned but well-preserved and tightly bound. Overall very good condition. A mid-century Caribbean comic documenting a formative moment in Black diasporic graphic storytelling and the postcolonial negotiation of identity faith and resistance in Guyanese print media. unknown