Integrity in ink: A Conversation with Clifford Thompson, Author of "Big Man and the Little Men"

Abstract

When a story walks the line between art and ethics, the medium can speak as loudly as the message. Clifford Thompson’s Big Man and the Little Men does just that. Unfolding as both a political thriller and a moral inquiry transforms this graphic novel into a lens. The work follows April Wells, a Black journalist torn between truth and consequence, asking what integrity costs when the truth itself could alter an election. Thompson doesn’t hand readers answers but invites them to wrestle with their own moral thresholds.

When we spoke over Zoom, Thompson was candid, warm, and reflective. He shared how his early love for comics, his passion for film, and his experience as a Black artist converged to shape this work. Our conversation wandered from his early love of comics and film, to the clarity of an outsider’s perspective, to the dangers of misinformation, to the moral crossroads that define both journalism and human experience.

What follows is an edited excerpt from our conversation, condensed for clarity and length.