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With the awkward framing device of an aged John Lewis guiding a pair of disinterested children through the early history of his civil rights odyssey dispensed with, March: Book Two sees Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell's graphic depiction of the civil rights movement come into its own. Split between modern scenes taking place on the day of Barack Obama's inauguration and the clash of peaceful protest and racist violence occurring during the early 1960s, Book Two runs the gamut of emotions and charts the range of political gains that black men and women in the United States have attained over decades of struggle, in which former Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee chairman Lewis played a profound role.

The heroes (Lewis, Martin Luther King Jr., Bayard Rustin, Malcolm X) and villains (George Wallace, Bull Connor, various nameless racists) are brought vividly to life by the combination of great artwork and straightforward storytelling. This remains a tough book to read, with all its depictions of injustice and violence, even with the rays of hope and progress that shine through. Ultimately, the authors decline to settle for an uplifting ending: instead of the victorious words of Obama, March: Book Two concludes with the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, which killed four young girls. By this point, the freedom riders and marchers have made much progress, and awakened the conscience of white leaders such as Robert Kennedy, among others. But the fight -- for hearts, minds, justice, equality -- goes on.