Before the Golden Age of comic books, there was Mr. Block: a bumbling, boss-loving, anti-union blockhead, brought to life over a hundred years ago by subversive cartoonist Ernest Riebe. A dedicated labour activist and member of the Industrial Workers of the World, Riebe dreamed up his iconic, union-hating anti-hero to satirize conservative workers’ faith in the capitalist system that exploits them. This wickedly funny anthology of Riebe’s writings and comics is a treasure trove of radical 20th-century art and an essential addition to the bookshelves of comics lovers, historians, and labour activists alike. As income inequality skyrockets and the collective power of the working class is undermined, the lessons from Mr. Block’s misadventures and misbeliefs are as relevant today as ever. Building the new world from the ashes of the old demands many tools—and laughter will always be one of them.

The Graphic History Collective is a group of activists, artists, and researchers who combine art and history to promote education and social justice. They have produced a number of projects, including billboards, posters, colouring books, and several graphic books. Their projects show that you don’t need a cape and a pair of tights to change the world!

Sean Carleton is a founding member of the Graphic History Collective and an Assistant Professor in the Departments of History and Indigenous Studies at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. He studies colonial violence, Indigenous resistance, and the history of Canada’s Indian Residential School system. Sean is the author of Lessons in Legitimacy: Colonialism, Capitalism, and the Rise of State Schooling (UBC Press, 2022).

Julia Smith is a member of the Graphic History Collective and an assistant professor in the Labour Studies Program at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. She studies union organizing and the history and politics of women’s labour activism. Julia has published articles on feminist union organizing and labour relations in the airline and banking industries.

Peter Cole is professor of history at Western Illinois University. He is the author of Dockworker Power: Race and Activism in Durban and the San Francisco Bay Area, winner of the Philip Taft Labor History Book Prize, and Wobblies on the Waterfront: Interracial Unionism in Progressive-Era Philadelphia. He co-edited Wobblies of the World: A Global History of the IWW and edited Ben Fletcher: The Life & Times of a Black Wobbly. He is the founder and co-director of the Chicago Race Riot of 1919 Commemoration Project (CRR19).