BETHLEHEM – Across cultures, a 67-year-old comic book featuring the Rev.Martin Luther King jr. remains a vital tool for teaching nonviolence. The comic, depicting King in his clerical robe, is used in discussions about achieving peace through nonviolent action.

Zoughbi Zoughbi, a Palestinian Christian and the international president of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, employs the comic at Wi’am: The Palestinian Conflict Transformation Center. He asks, “What are the teachings we have from Martin Luther King? How can we benefit from it, and how do we deal with issues like that in the Palestinian area under the Israeli occupation? How to send a message of love, agape with assertiveness, not aggressive?”

Zoughbi said the 1958 comic book is a key resource in his work, available in English and Arabic, and in six languages overall.

The comic book has been used in various movements, including the Arab Spring uprisings, anti-apartheid activism in South Africa, and Latin American ecclesial base communities.

In the United States, the comic book remains an influential teaching tool. It was recently distributed at New York’s Riverside Church and is a curriculum resource for Muslim schools. Patricia Sampson, store director at Atlanta’s Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, calls it “one of our best sellers,” available for $2.

The 16-page book was created by the Fellowship of Reconciliation, with Alfred Hassler writing and benton Resnik providing the artwork. A $5,000 grant from the Ford Foundation’s Fund for the Republic supported the project.

Ariel Gold, executive director of FOR-USA, said, “we are a pacifist organization, and we believe deeply in the transformative power of nonviolence. And where this comic really fits into that is that we know that nonviolence is more than a catchphrase, and it’s really something that comes out of a deep ideology of love and an intensive strategy for political change.”

The comic book recounts King’s leadership during the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott, where Black riders protested segregated seating. rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her seat in 1955 sparked the boycott, leading to a Supreme Court decision that declared segregated public busing unconstitutional.

The comic concludes with advice on fostering nonviolence, such as “decide what special thing you are going to work on” and “see your enemy as a human being … a child of God.”

andrew Aydin, who wrote his master’s thesis on the comic book, titled “The Comic Book that Changed the World,” noted that Hassler received “adulation and a few corrections” from King after sending him a draft. The artist was revealed in 2018 to be Sy Barry, known for his work on “the Phantom” comic strip.

King wrote in a letter about his appreciation for the comic book: “You have done a marvelous job of grasping the underlying truth and philosophy of the movement.”

The comic quickly gained popularity. By January 1, 1958, the Fellowship magazine reported 75,000 advance orders from groups like the National Council of Churches and the NAACP. An ad offered single copies for 10 cents and 5,000 copies for $250.

By 2018, approximately 250,000 copies had been distributed, “especially throughout the Deep South.”

The comic book has inspired other series focused on civil rights efforts. “March,” a graphic novel trilogy by U.S. Rep. John Lewis, Aydin, and artist Nate Powell, depicts Lewis’ experiences in the Civil Rights Movement. A follow-up, “Run,” was published in 2021.

Lewis said, “It was part of learning the way of peace, the way of love, of nonviolence.Reading the Martin Luther King story, that little comic book, set me on the path that I’m on today.”

Matthew Cressler’s webcomic series, “Bad Catholics, Good Trouble,” was inspired by the King comic book and “March.” It tells the stories of Sister Angelica Schultz and retired judge Arthur McFarland, who fought for racial justice within the Catholic community.

Cressler said the King comic book’s continued use in education makes it “one of the most significant comics in the history of comics – which is something that might seem wild to say, given how when most people think about comic books, they think of superheroes like Superman or Batman.” He compares it to “Maus” by Art spiegelman and “On Tyranny” by Timothy snyder as tools for education and political mobilization.

Anthony nicotera, director of advancement for FOR-USA and an assistant professor at Seton Hall University, uses the comic in his peace and justice studies classes.

Gold said future translations are planned to further share the message of King, the boycott, and nonviolence. This year, the organization aims to translate it into French and Hebrew for use in Israeli-Palestinian studies and Jewish religious schools.

“Especially in this political moment, I think we really need sources of hope, and we need reminders of the work and the strategy and the sacrifice that is required to successfully meet such an intense moment as this,” she said.