The folks at AfterShock Comics have an intriguing new project coming up next year with the announcement of Shadow Doctor. Scheduled for a February 2021 debut, it comes from writer Peter Calloway and artist Georges Jeanty who are joined by colorist Juancho! and letterer Charles Pritchett to tell the tale of the events of Calloway’s grandfather in the 1930s. Calloway previously brought The Last Space Race to AfterShock Comics.
“This is my grandfather’s story,” said Calloway. “– a Black doctor that, after graduating in the early 1930’s in Chicago, couldn’t find a job at a hospital because he was Black. He also couldn’t get a loan from a bank to start a practice, because he was Black. Desperate, he turned to the only other source of money in Prohibition-era Chicago: the Mafia.
What my grandfather did is something of a legend in my family. He faced enormous obstacles and overcame them, setting his children up for a better life than he had. That’s not to say he was a saint. He wasn’t. The choices he made had consequences for the rest of his life.
I guess what I’m saying is that — on the one hand — his story represents the promise of America. On the other hand, it also shows the worst of it. That, to me, is compelling, exciting, and ultimately important.”
Plot Concept: This is the true story of Peter Calloway’s grandfather, Nathaniel Calloway. A Black man, he graduated from medical school in the early 1930’s. Unable to get work at any Chicago hospitals (because he was Black), and unable to secure a loan from a bank to start his own practice (because he was Black), he turned to another source of money in Prohibition-era Chicago: the Mafia, run by none other than Al Capone.
