Dawud Anyabwile (formerly David Sims), who grew up in Mt. Airy and went to Central High School, created Brotherman Comics with his brothers.

by Len Lear

Dawud Anyabwile (formerly David Sims) and Guy A. Sims, who grew up in Mt. Airy and went to Central High School and Germantown High School, respectively, may not be household names to the general public, but to the community of comic book aficionados, these two creators of Brotherman Comics are superstars.

Dawud, 51, and Guy, 55, grew up on West Mt. Airy Avenue at Emlen Street. “Mt. Airy was a great place to be a kid,” Guy told us. “It was a very diverse and creative, inspirational community. It had a lot of elements of suburbia but still had a very strong city feel. I treasure my friends and neighbors from back in those days. Much of my work either focuses on or references Mt. Airy. In my novel, 'Living Just A Little,' the protagonist lives over on St. George’s Road and takes the Chestnut Hill Local to get to work.”

Sims graduated from Lincoln University in 1983, where he was the school's poet laureate, earned a master's degree from Arcadia University and a doctorate degree in education from the University of Northern Iowa in 2003. Dawud attended the Mason Gross School of the Arts (Rutgers U.) for one year and Tyler School of Art (Temple U.) for two years.

The brothers' first collaboration on a graphic novel was with the creation of “Monster,” released by a major publisher, Harper Collins, in October of last year. It was a graphic adaptation of the New York Times best-selling novel of the same name about a teenage boy in juvenile detention by Walter Dean Myers, who died just as the final artwork by the Mt. Airy brothers was being completed.

But the brothers' acclaim from comic book buffs stems from their comic book series, “Brotherman: Dictator of Discipline,” which began in 1990. Dawud essentially did the artwork and Guy the words.

According to Ki Innis, of the prestigious Ki Creative Studio in New York and Tokyo, the “Brotherman” series tells “a compelling story with amazing artwork that had more to express culturally and personally than anything on the market at that time.”

“Brotherman” was conceived to fill a void since the Mt. Airy brothers grew up reading comic books without African American characters. “It was not an overnight epiphany,” explained Dawud. “I think it was just a reflection of who I am. I have always been drawing characters that were a reflection of myself and my interests since I was a child. 'Brotherman' was just the latest of many creations. I am proud of who I am and my culture and have always shared my love of self image with the world. It just continuously refines as I mature.”

Another interesting fact one sees while reading through any “Brotherman” incarnation is that the hero, unlike Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Captain Marvel, et al, does not possess any superpowers, nor do the villains in the stories.

“That was a conscious effort on our part,” explained Sims. “The absence of powers requires me to develop stories that are a little more creative because of the possibility of characters being hurt or worse.”

“The 'Brotherman' universe is not rooted in the supernatural,” added Dawud, “where heroes and villains possess amazing superpowers. They use ingenuity and creativity to wreak havoc on the citizens of Big City. The uniqueness of each character leads the reader guessing what the next villain will have up his sleeve.”

Over the years the two guys from Mt. Airy have done lots of significant creative work in addition to “Monster” and the “Brotherman” series. They created the first children's books on Kwanzaa, “The Kwanzaa Handbook” and “The Kwanzaa Kids Learn the Seven Principles.” Sims is currently working on a “Brotherman”-related detective series, “The Cold Hard Cases of Duke Denim.”

Dawud moved to New York in 1996 to work on two Pink Panther CD Rom Games. He also had a short stay at MTV Animation doing layout work for the DARIA show. Then, after moving to Hollywood, he landed a job on the Wild Thornberrys and Rugrats. In 1999 he went back to Atlanta, where he worked as a production artist for over a decade at Turner Studios. He did storyboards, character designs, etc., for Cartoon Network, Turner Sports, CNN, Boomerang, TNT, TBS and many more. And he storyboarded the pilot episode of LEVEL UP for Cartoon Network.

Dawud still lives in the Atlanta area, and Sims currently lives in Blacksburg, Virginia, but he repeated the fact that he has very fond memories of Mt. Airy. "Two places that hold a special place in my heart,” he said, “are the Allens Lane Arts Center and the Lovett Memorial Library. I would spend many afternoons at the arts center sitting by the tennis courts or by the playground writing poems and short stories. I read most of my favorite authors at the Lovett Memorial Library. Those two places were significant in my development as a writer."

For more information, visit www.anyabwile.com, www.guysims.com or www.brothermancomics.com