Champion

“Visually inventive, cleverly written, and brimming with knowledge and joy, this passionate and funny book is a rare pleasure.”—Warren Ellis, writer and creator of Castlevania, co-creator of Transmetropolitan, and author of Gun Machine

“A book from the mind of a polymath like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar could never be less than a half-dozen different things, and Champion manages them all with deft and grace. It’s a coming-of-age story about basketball, getting in (and out of) trouble, and falling in (and out of) love. It’s a mini-history of the Civil Rights Movement, an object lesson in discovering and embracing Blackness, the burdens of talent, and the responsibilities we carry to ourselves, our teams, our families, and our communities… . It even manages to be a biography of Kareem himself and the awakening of his social conscience. Kareem, Raymond, and Ed’s book has made my world—and the world of comics—bigger and brighter indeed.”—Matt Fraction, writer of Marvel’s Hawkeye and DC Comics’s Batman

“The co-authors skillfully weave biography, Black history, and realistic fiction into a cleverly conceived story … An engaging blend of sports fiction, history, and real-life issues.”—Kirkus Review

“The actual Abdul-Jabbar, a true paragon of achievement in both mind and body, teams with a pair of versatile industry pros for his first graphic novel here. And how’s their game? He shoots, he scores, with a cleverly constructed story … a win for teens ready to focus on the book’s many strengths.”—Booklist

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is one of the greatest basketball players of all time as well as a committed social justice activist. In 2020, the NBA created the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion award in his honor. He is a New York Times bestselling author, an award-winning documentary producer who has won two NAACP Image Awards, and a twice Emmy-nominated narrator. He is the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Ford Medal of Freedom, the Rosa Parks Award, the Double Helix Medal, the University of California Presidential Medal, and Harvard University’s W. E. B. Du Bois Medal of Courage. He holds eight honorary doctorate degrees and is a U.S. Cultural Ambassador. Currently, Abdul-Jabbar serves as the chairman of Skyhook Foundation, bringing educational STEM opportunities to underserved communities. He also writes a biweekly newsletter commenting on the intersection of news, sports, and popular culture, for which he has won nine Columnist of the Year awards.

Raymond Obstfeld is a poet, novelist, screenwriter, and nonfiction writer. He has coauthored several books with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and has published over fifty books of his own. He teaches creative writing at Orange Coast College.

Ed Laroche is an illustrator, storyboard artist, and graphic novelist who has created advertising and commercials for clients such as CBS Studios, Warner Bros., Cartoon Network, Hasbro, and AMC. He is the creator of the Warning series and has written two critically acclaimed graphic novels, Almighty and Waveform.

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