Andrew Aydin (born August 25, 1983) is an American comics writer, known as the Digital Director & Policy Advisor to Georgia congressmanJohn Lewis, and co-author, with Lewis, ofMarch, Lewis' #1New York Times bestselling[2] autobiographicalgraphic novel trilogy.[3]
After college, Aydin served as District Aide to RepresentativeJohn B. Larson (D-CT) and as Special Assistant to Connecticut Lieutenant GovernorKevin Sullivan.[6]
In 2007, Aydin began working for Georgia congressmanJohn Lewis. In the summer of 2008, while on Rep. Lewis' reelection campaign, Aydin learned that Lewis had been inspired as a young man by a classic 1950s comic book,Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story.[7]
Aydin wrote his graduate thesis on the history and impact ofMartin Luther King and the Montgomery Story. Until 2012, no history ofMartin Luther King and the Montgomery Story had been written, and most versions of how the comic was created listed Al Capp as the actual creator.[8] As part of his graduate degree at Georgetown University, Aydin wrote the first long-form history of The Montgomery Story as his graduate thesis. With the help ofCarlow University Professor Dr. Sylvia Rhor and comic book iconEddie Campbell, Aydin established most of what we know about the comic's creation and use. In August 2013, Aydin published a shortened version of his thesis as the feature article inCreative Loafing's award-winning "Future of Nonviolence" issue, which was guest-edited by Lewis and Aydin.[9][10]
In August 2013,Top Shelf Productions published the first book in theMarch trilogy, a black and whitegraphic novel about theCivil Rights Movement, told through the perspective of Lewis, written by Lewis and Aydin, and illustrated and lettered byNate Powell.[13][14] The book had its genesis in Lewis' 2008 reelection campaign, when Lewis told Aydin aboutThe Montgomery Story and its influence on the civil rights movement.[15] Aydin, who had been reading comics since his grandmother bought him a copy ofUncanny X-Men #317 off aPiggly Wigglyspinner rack when he was eight years old,[16] found a digital copy of the book on the Internet and spent years tracking down an original print copy on eBay.The Montgomery Story directly influenced on the creation ofMarch.[17][18]
President Bill Clinton has said of Congressman Lewis that, throughMarch, "he brings a whole new generation with him across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, from a past of clenched fists into a future of outstretched hands." Apple CEOTim Cook has said thatMarch is "a very unique way to present what is probably the most important story of my entire lifetime. My hope is that everyone reads this, and I would love to see the day that it is required reading in every school."[19]
March: Book Two was released in 2015 and became both aNew York Times bestseller for paperback graphic novels andWashington Post bestseller for paperback nonfiction books. At San Diego Comic Con in July 2016,March: Book Two won theWill Eisner Comic Industry Award for "Best Reality Based Work."[29]
In May 2016, NYC Public Schools announced that theMarch trilogy was added to the systemwide 8th Grade "Passport to Social Studies" curriculum.[33] In October 2016, Atlanta Public Schools announced theMarch trilogy's addition to its English curriculum.[34]
Aydin and Lewis collaborated in a 2020 feature byThe Bitter Southerner, which highlighted how March embodied Lewis and Aydin’s shared commitment to nonviolence and civic activism.[35] Following Lewis’s death later that year, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution noted that the trilogy had played a significant role in inspiring a new generation of activists and was widely referenced during the 2020 racial justice protests in the United States.[36]
In 2025, chef and humanitarianJosé Andrés announced a collaboration with Aydin on a new DC Comics series titledTaste of Justice, featuring Aquaman and Superman. Aydin also worked with Andrés’s nonprofit, World Central Kitchen, helping bring food aid into western North Carolina in the aftermath ofHurricane Helene.[37]
.jpg)
