I’ve written two graphic novels and produced three more.

My semi-autobiographical graphic novel - The Silence of Our Friends - became a New York Times-bestseller. Set in 1967 Texas, against the backdrop of the fight for civil rights, a white family (my family) from a notoriously racist neighborhood in the suburbs and a black family from its poorest ward cross Houston's color line, overcoming humiliation, degradation, and violence to win the freedom of five black college students unjustly charged with the murder of a policeman.

The New York Times said, "…Long convincingly depicts the systemic racism, blatant and subtle, that suffused and corroded everything during the period…and Powell's imagery amplifies the overwhelmed kid's-eye view of uneasy family dynamics and open Texas spaces."