The Huffington Post describes Bingo Love as exactly what the comic book world needs. Bingo Love follows the fictional story of Hazel Johnson and Mari McCray, two black women who fall in love as teenagers in 1963 only to have their parents forbid them from seeing each other. Their feelings surface again when they bump into each other at the bingo table, both in loveless marriages with men. In 2030, they divorce their husbands to be together. It’s a story of loss, identity, love and triumph.
“I know that there are black women and men who have had to hide their sexuality due to the time era and I know that there are some that are still hiding it,” creator Tee Franklin was quoted as saying. “As someone who’s been married, sometimes you stay for the kids ― even though you know that the love is gone. Hiding your sexual orientation for decades and not truly being happy inside is what I wanted to touch on with this story.”
Franklin is the founder of Black Comics Month and organises the Mental Health Anthology comic book. Her work promotes diversity in otherwise elitist industries. Through Bingo Love she hopes to provide a narrative that doesn’t often make it to the mainstream: Love between older black women.
