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Champion

A Graphic Novel

Author Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Raymond Obstfeld
Illustrated by Ed Laroche
Hardcover
$26.99 US
Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed | Ten Speed Graphic
7"W x 10"H
On sale Sep 02, 2025 | 128 Pages | 9780593835746
Grades 6-12 + AP/IB
FOC Aug 4, 2025
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A high school student whose promising basketball career is in jeopardy discovers the triumphs and hardships of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's life as a social justice advocate in this stunningly illustrated graphic novel.

Monk Travers is the star basketball player on his high school team. Confident about his future as an NBA player, he doesn’t see the point in caring much about school, let alone his community. But his world is about to change—big time!

After getting caught graffitiing his team's rival school, Monk comes to the awful realization that his actions have put his place on the team—and his future—in jeopardy. Fearing the worst, he’s taken by surprise when his coach offers him an unorthodox way to atone: completing a report on the life of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Monk is ecstatic. He knows all Kareem’s records and stats. He smugly announces that the project will be a snap, but his excitement is short-lived when coach tells him that the project is not about Kareem’s basketball career—it’s about his life as an advocate for change.

As Monk grudgingly begins his research, he discovers a history of struggles, conflicts, frustrations, and violence that he’d never been aware of, awakening a passion for social justice that rivals Kareem’s own.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, six-time NBA Most Valuable Player, is the author of the New York Times bestseller Giant Steps, as well as Kareem and A Season on the Reservation. View titles by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Raymond Obstfeld View titles by Raymond Obstfeld
Ed Laroche View titles by Ed Laroche
“Visually inventive, cleverly written, and brimming with knowledge and joy, this passionate and funny book is a rare pleasure.” —Warren Ellis, writer and creator of Castlevania, co-creator of Transmetropolitan, and author of Gun Machine

“A book from the mind of a polymath like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar could never be less than a half-dozen different things, and Champion manages them all with deft and grace. It’s a coming-of-age story about basketball, getting in (and out of) trouble, and falling in (and out of) love. It’s a mini-history of the Civil Rights Movement, an object lesson in discovering and embracing Blackness, the burdens of talent, and the responsibilities we carry to ourselves, our teams, our families, and our communities. . . . It even manages to be a biography of Kareem himself and the awakening of his social conscience. Kareem, Raymond, and Ed’s book has made my world—and the world of comics—bigger and brighter indeed.” —Matt Fraction, writer of Marvel’s Hawkeye and DC Comics’s Batman

About

A high school student whose promising basketball career is in jeopardy discovers the triumphs and hardships of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's life as a social justice advocate in this stunningly illustrated graphic novel.

Monk Travers is the star basketball player on his high school team. Confident about his future as an NBA player, he doesn’t see the point in caring much about school, let alone his community. But his world is about to change—big time!

After getting caught graffitiing his team's rival school, Monk comes to the awful realization that his actions have put his place on the team—and his future—in jeopardy. Fearing the worst, he’s taken by surprise when his coach offers him an unorthodox way to atone: completing a report on the life of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Monk is ecstatic. He knows all Kareem’s records and stats. He smugly announces that the project will be a snap, but his excitement is short-lived when coach tells him that the project is not about Kareem’s basketball career—it’s about his life as an advocate for change.

As Monk grudgingly begins his research, he discovers a history of struggles, conflicts, frustrations, and violence that he’d never been aware of, awakening a passion for social justice that rivals Kareem’s own.

Author

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, six-time NBA Most Valuable Player, is the author of the New York Times bestseller Giant Steps, as well as Kareem and A Season on the Reservation. View titles by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Raymond Obstfeld View titles by Raymond Obstfeld
Ed Laroche View titles by Ed Laroche

Praise

“Visually inventive, cleverly written, and brimming with knowledge and joy, this passionate and funny book is a rare pleasure.” —Warren Ellis, writer and creator of Castlevania, co-creator of Transmetropolitan, and author of Gun Machine

“A book from the mind of a polymath like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar could never be less than a half-dozen different things, and Champion manages them all with deft and grace. It’s a coming-of-age story about basketball, getting in (and out of) trouble, and falling in (and out of) love. It’s a mini-history of the Civil Rights Movement, an object lesson in discovering and embracing Blackness, the burdens of talent, and the responsibilities we carry to ourselves, our teams, our families, and our communities. . . . It even manages to be a biography of Kareem himself and the awakening of his social conscience. Kareem, Raymond, and Ed’s book has made my world—and the world of comics—bigger and brighter indeed.” —Matt Fraction, writer of Marvel’s Hawkeye and DC Comics’s Batman

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