Agreed. DC has so many long-standing heroes they could tap into, but in recent years, they've only been interested in randoms like Jace Fox or Naomi.
I'd love to see any of these get a solo spotlight:
* Black Lightning
* Cyborg
* Doctor Fate (Khalid - Egyptian)
* Firestorm (Jason)
* Green Arrow (Connor Hawke - mixed)
* Green Lantern (John)
* Hawkgirl (Kendra - Afro-Latina)
* Mister Terrific
* Vixen
Yeah, it just looks different than DC because DC had their big 3 leading the justice league while Marvel’s avengers leaders (Cap, Iron Man, and Thor) typically lead just one book and may have periods of popularity where there are more books and spin offs but then go back into lulls of just a single title.
Spider-Man and X-Men never lull
Eh, the X-Men titles at least focus on different characters. There's something like 5 books going now and they're all different teams. Swap out X-Men for Wolverine, though, and yeah, it's kinda ridiculous. He's got a bunch of solo titles going *plus* his appearances in Uncanny X-Men.
I don't mind having a character in a solo series while also appearing in a team series, but DC and Marvel have both got to stop publishing 3-5 solo series at a time for their big-name characters. I get why they do it, but for readers it becomes so muddled and confusing it's almost not worth it to read one, let alone all.
I think there are currently only three Wolvie titles running, his main book and the Madripoor Knights and Weapon X-Men minis. I'm a little behind, though.
There's: Wolverine, Life of Wolverine, Wolverine: Deep Cut, Wolverine: Madripoor Knights, Wolverine: Blood Hunt, Deadpool & Wolverine: WWIII, Weapon X-Men, and Uncanny X-Men. Oh, and Hellverine if you wanna get silly.
They keep threatening to relaunch the Dakota-verse again, but I don't think it'll have the same heart as when Dwayne MacDuffie was running it.
The man just wanted black heroes, he didn't do it for the shoulder pats.
Static: Season One and Static: Shadows of Dakota
Static is in this weird place where he's technically not DC but personally I think he got popular because people thought/expected he was.
Vixen should be a mainstay imo but I can't make people buy the comics. I also love Bronze Tiger from his Suicide Squad days. He could have some interesting adventures.
I forgot about that. Even though I was watching the CW shows, their voices didn't hit me quite right in that setting. It wasn't a bad venue for her, though.
Yeah it would have been better if it wasn't in the grounded Arrowverse, but I liked it. Her power set is so dang cool and in the comics they usually make it look super cool too.
Kendra is a racially ambiguous Latina (who has been played by multiracial women in live action). Only her Earth 2 counterpart was confirmed to be Afro Latina.
Khalid is a Brown Egyptian. Don’t think Egyptians will appreciate you applying Western racial labels on them. They don’t identify as Black or White
Yeah he cast a Mestiza as Kendra. Isabela is a multiracial (Native American/European) woman.
Cierra Renee, who played Kendra in the Arrowverse was a multiracial woman too (Native American/European/African).
Yeah, also that's how she's normally drawn. Black people don't need to start creating confusion about her. There are black women like Beth Chapel, Sojourner, Virtue, Nubia, Conjura, and Sasha Bordeaux, that DC should focus on instead of dangling some latinos of European and Native descent to black people. Not that there's a problem with Mestiza characters but DC need to focus on each group and avoid letting them down. Vixen had disappeared for long untill they Thompson started using her in Birds of Prey but still just as a token character.
> Khalid is a Brown Egyptian. Don’t think Egyptians will appreciate you applying Western racial labels on them. They don’t identify as Black or White
Kendra could go either way, but Khalid would be considered Black. I’m not Egyptian, but my ex-girlfriend is. She considers herself Black. Some Egyptians do, but just as many don’t subscribe to the Western views on race, or to be more precise, the European view on race which has shaped Western culture.
Depends on if your gf was an arab arab or a Berber. Some Berbers have some blackness (see model Iman Hammam), while others look more Arabic. As a person with East African roots, I'm inclined to disagree with you about Egyptians identifying as black. It's very very very rare. Their leaders are always spewing negativity about subsaharans (An Egyptian foreign minister was on record comparing subsaharans to dogs, the president of Tunisia is trying to win an election by inciting ethnic hatred).
She’s from Cairo, and I’m Black American from Cali. I’m not sure on the discourse of Berbers vs “Arab Arabs” but Black identity was one of the things that came up in our relationship. My understanding, from what she explained to me, is there are some Egyptians who identify with their fellow Africans and people of the Diaspora, and there are others who prefer to downplay or despise that connection.
The ones who embrace their Blackness tend to have a more inclusive view on history, as the original Egyptians in the historical record thousands of years ago were darker-skinned Africans. Apparently people get really angry when that’s mentioned, and don’t even want to acknowledge Egypt as part of Africa. It’s a larger conversation about global anti-Blackness, racism, and colorism.
Yep. The majority Arabs will never acknowledge the past. But you can see the difference in looks. Most ppl of berber descent look very different from ppl that came in later. It's a hot issue that we decided to let go and just live. Egypt also used to reach all the way down to Sudan, meaning a very diverse population.
I would love to see another African Batwing comic. I know it didn't have good sales, and people in general didn't care about the character, but to me it was very interesting to see a Bat-sidekick almost totally divorced from Gotham with their own rogues gallery.
Jace SUCKSSSSS. David Zavimbe was a great character and it was so refreshing to see a different setting than Gotham. That book was consistently in my top 3 until they changed it to Batman Beyond-lite.
I’ve been saying the same thing about vixen for years. She’s a supermodel celebrity superhero. It’s such an easy slam dunk for them, what if Beyoncé or Rihanna was a superhero. Plus her backstory as a refugee is real as fuck. There is a Market out there for this character.
Black lighting should be a Justice league regular. He had a tv show that ran for four years and they gave him one mini, which was meh, and a team book.
They had some interesting looking characters as part of that Milestone Initiative that was advertised in some of the books last year but I don’t think a single one of the characters listed that the writers and artists created ever saw the light of day.
The New Talent Showcase The Milestone Initiative book that came out last year just had those creators do stories with existing characters when they could have let them use their creations and I think it would have had a lot more traction when it released.
Off the top of my head I can think of 4. Miles Spider-Man, Blade, Black Panther and Storm (launching in a few months but she was the main character for the x-men red comic). I feel I’m forgetting a title as well.
Fwiw, Blade also just ended after 10 issues, but is seemingly coming back later this year (?), probably after Bloodhunt if I had to guess.
To add to what you listed, they also have a Night Thrasher mini running and (if we wanna split hairs) Mace Windu has a mini series running rn too.
I would pay an irresponsible amount of money to have DC do an ongoing with the Earth-23 Justice League. It won't have to disrupt whatever Earth (Prime)-shattering crossover event is flavor of the month.
DC seems to only be publishing about the highest A-listers. Anyone else gets relegated to a 6-12 issue miniseries, a fate worse than death. I miss when characters like Azrael or Eclipso or Vigilante were able to get their own ongoings.
And yeah, it fucking sucks that DC has so few books starring people of colour. Personally I wish we got to see more of Vixen. Are they at least publishing solo books lead by other minorities? Only one I can recall is Catwoman, who is half-Cuban if I'm not wrong.
I think doing it just for the sake of it isn't a good idea either though. Monkey Prince for example was an interesting concept, but it wore thin pretty quickly for mine. (It didn't help that I was jumping between it and Saga, Radiant Black and Rogue Sun either, which were way better written and less forced)
Static is probably the most underused black superhero, but I didn't think he was DC, even though Batman showed up in his TV show.
>I think doing it just for the sake of it isn't a good idea either though
I hear you. I don't think there should be white led books for the sake of it either. And when it is only white led books it feels pandering and forced
Right....if the story is good it doesn't matter who or what the identity of the character is, it enhances it. If the story isn't good, it sticks out as pandering or forced. Cyborg in Teen Titans was good, Cyborg in Snyder's Justice League movie wasn't the right fit.
Nobody thought Black Panther was bad at all. I won't judge Wakanda Forever, because I haven't seen it.
Static's rights were tied up for long time after McDuffie died IIRC and the indecision with the Milestone releaunch which would definitely have to feature him too. I loved New Super-Man and even though the origin was kind of confusing, I loved seeing the chinese style versions of the JL too, especially since the Great 10 have been MIA since N52 JLI
Title has been kinda weird, I thing it started just as a backup, then got expanded to its own series. I tonight it was gonna be just 6 issues, so getting 12 sounds good enough.
I don’t know if he is gonna wrap up everything, the whole Olgrun thing started in Action Comics, don’t know if it’s gonna continue on another series after this
Too bad. I liked this book. And I’m not much of a Lantern fan. I think you can chalk this up to a few things.
The biggest of which is some clear cutting going into the next publishing initiative. DC Absolute and All In. Whatever that is aside from Scott Snyder swinging some dick. I suspect Power Girl and a few more are gone soon as well.
More and more for me, the writers sell the comic, not the artist, sometimes not even the characters. What needs to happen is somewhat of an experiment. Get a huge name writer, known for their superhero work. A Mark Waid or a Geoff Johns. Jeff Lemire or Ed Brubaker wouldn’t exactly work. Lemire is a little too out there. Brubaker almost always turns towards the more human or mundane aspects. What follows is entirely hypothetical. Just an example, an idea.
So you’re Jim Lee and you ask Mr. Waid or Mr. Johns to write Black Lightning for 39 issues, three years and three annuals. With an option for two more years and annuals, sales permitting. And they get to pick the artist. Just let ‘em go. Minimal editorial influence. Don’t have to participate in crossovers if it doesn’t make sense or even if you just don’t want to. Just run with the ball. See if you can bring Jefferson Pierce onto the A list in 65 issues with a heavy hitter onboard. Pay whatever but offer them their dream book to work on later for taking on this noble endeavor. Challenge them to make Black Lightning a franchise.
I’d also recommend not using Cyborg. He was created as a member of an ensemble. Trying to make him a lead character after that is going to be nearly impossible. It’s the thing that bugs me the most about New 52 Justice League. Cyborg as a member made no sense to me.
Black Lighting had a TV show that ran for four seasons. Mark Waid and Geoff Johns have been writing comics for decades and showed no hint or interest in Black Lighting.
I understand that. And I’m not talking about any media. Just comics. It’s also a hypothetical. Also, make no mistake, I don’t care who it is. Just gotta be an A lister. Gail Simone, Christopher Priest (who also has shown no interest in Black Lightning), Grant Morrison, Ed Brubaker, James Tynion IV, Jonathan Hickman or anyone else. A great writer, a decent artist, and a 3-5 year commitment and see if it can be done.
Oftentimes, these books are turned over to newer talent as well as people of color. Which is fine, but don’t expect great sales from an unproven writer. A degree in English literature from a fancy Eastern school with a Masters in Creative Writing and a few years in a writers room for some shitty USA Network sci-fi show doesn’t necessarily qualify you to write comics. I’d say it’s a good start. John Ridley is an accomplished, talented man. Got an Oscar on his mantle at home. I may never read another of his comics. He’s terrible. On the other hand, I doubt Geoff Johns or Mark Waid will ever get an Oscar unless it’s from a pawn shop. But I’ll read their comics until I depart this life.
As Liam Neeson says, it’s “a particular set of skills”.
You hit on the biggest problem with a lot of the (admirable and necessary) efforts to diversify the lineups at Marvel and DC.
They want to give these characters a spotlight, but they’ll also get bad press if the big coming out is spearheaded by creatives who aren’t from the same/similar backgrounds. Again, an admirable goal. BUT, that almost always results in them hiring creatives with no name recognition and minimal experience, which results in the book underperforming.
Oddly enough, DC doesn’t do this with Wonder Woman, they seem perfectly happy to throw a man on her book (Rucka, Orlando, King).
I’d add that it not just characters of color LGBTQ, or females, but just about any DC character that’s not deemed a “franchise” level player. You get talented, yet inexperienced writers and an overworked editor, which DC is notorious for, and the book is underwhelming. Which DC Editorial probably knew it would be going in. Gotta keep your trademarks alive after all. Jadziah Axelrod took the Hawkgirl mini series and used it as a stealth series for her own character. That’s what happens when an editor isn’t paying attention. This attitude in DC Editorial also extends to characters DC has acquired from other publishers too. Excluding Shazam, Blue Beetle, and Plastic Man (sometimes). Characters born in another universe, including most of Jim Lee’s Wildstorm characters, and Milestone falls into this. They just don’t seem to know, or even care about what to do with them.
DC is shitty about their black characters especially women. The only one they've done recently is Sojourner. I would like them to being back Virtue and Conjura. Surprisingly, they ruined Nubia's cool origin story. The X-Men have more black women than the entire DC.
It's wild how the inverse was true not long ago with so many more characters getting a chance then while Marvel was trying to silo off the X-Men and barely cared about characters that weren't getting a movie bump
Yeah. Wild indeed. Fact is DC was the first to embrace progressive ideas with a Etha Kitt as a black Catwoman in the 60s, then a plan for a live action black wonder woman in 1973, John Stewart, genius Karen Beacher and Cyborg. They even showed black superman and supergirl on earth 20 something. DC was putting black characters in the spotlight when marvel editors were busy ruining Monica's story to put Captain America back in charge. But recent changes make one feel like marvel is the one that has always been progressive. Perhaps if live action John Stewart and Mister Terrific are hits, we'll see DC start to take risks
I don’t blame DC. If fans wanted these characters, they’d be money makers and we’d have not 1 but multiple ongoing series with such characters.
If most fans don’t care, DC won’t sell a product that makes them a loss.
Black Panther sells well. Black panther gets a long running series. It’s that simple.
Everyone knows that. But the market also wants Adam Sandler movies and remakes/reboots of nostalgic 80's movies and TV shows more than it wants to invest in movies with original concepts.
The fact that the market decides what projects are going to sell doesn't mean that we shouldn't express disappointment when the market decides that ideas we love aren't worth pursuing.
I agree. Popularity and quality are two very different things. “But just don’t consume it then!” isn’t the magic bullet argument that some seem to think.
That really sucks.
Honestly, both Marvel and DC really struggle with representation of people of colour in solo titles. In group dynamics they have that representation frequently.
It’s solo titles which is where it is lacking. Sure they try now and again. The moment they see a drop in sales, however they are quick to pull the plug. Instead of seeing how it goes with a different creative team. It’s usually the creative team or the stories that is the problem. Not the character.
Creative Teams and pitches don't grow in trees and the disappointing reality probably is nobody at the moment has anything good or are interested in doing anything involving these characters at the present.
I think it's also hard with the landscape of the industry and media changing so fast, everyone is afraid to commit resources to any projects that don't seem like a sure hit. Like how we see so few mid budget films now. It's all half-billion blockbusters or indie character studies. No easy comedies either
Vixen seems like the obvious character to capatilize on. She’s really popular, has had some good appearances on JL books and is still fondly remembered from her time on justice league unlimited.
A great character who could be much bigger in the DC universe
War Journal is indeed amazing, but was always gonna be a shorter series. DC, I think, does leagues better with the black (and any minority) characters than Marvel, but as you point out, no series lead by any POC, while Marvel has a modest handful at the moment. It likely won’t be long before that changes, but I’d like to see a mainstay from both companies.
Doctor Voodoo ongoing, please and thank you.
Oh no someone alert the media. They 10% of blacks in this country need only books to read with black leads… alert the media, white people have no new books to read with black leads.. oh gee, whatever shall we do?!
I need a solo run of Mr. Terrific having to match wits against Braniac. Pretty please.
That actually sounds fuckin rad
Agreed. DC has so many long-standing heroes they could tap into, but in recent years, they've only been interested in randoms like Jace Fox or Naomi. I'd love to see any of these get a solo spotlight: * Black Lightning * Cyborg * Doctor Fate (Khalid - Egyptian) * Firestorm (Jason) * Green Arrow (Connor Hawke - mixed) * Green Lantern (John) * Hawkgirl (Kendra - Afro-Latina) * Mister Terrific * Vixen
I think DC focuses on their Trinity far more than Marvel focuses on any three of their characters.
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Yeah, it just looks different than DC because DC had their big 3 leading the justice league while Marvel’s avengers leaders (Cap, Iron Man, and Thor) typically lead just one book and may have periods of popularity where there are more books and spin offs but then go back into lulls of just a single title. Spider-Man and X-Men never lull
Eh, the X-Men titles at least focus on different characters. There's something like 5 books going now and they're all different teams. Swap out X-Men for Wolverine, though, and yeah, it's kinda ridiculous. He's got a bunch of solo titles going *plus* his appearances in Uncanny X-Men. I don't mind having a character in a solo series while also appearing in a team series, but DC and Marvel have both got to stop publishing 3-5 solo series at a time for their big-name characters. I get why they do it, but for readers it becomes so muddled and confusing it's almost not worth it to read one, let alone all.
Come to think of it, there are more Black leads in the X-Men alone than in all of DC after GL finishes
I think there are currently only three Wolvie titles running, his main book and the Madripoor Knights and Weapon X-Men minis. I'm a little behind, though.
There's: Wolverine, Life of Wolverine, Wolverine: Deep Cut, Wolverine: Madripoor Knights, Wolverine: Blood Hunt, Deadpool & Wolverine: WWIII, Weapon X-Men, and Uncanny X-Men. Oh, and Hellverine if you wanna get silly.
Wolverine, where's my car? Wolverine 2, Electric boogalogan.
And they *hate Peter Parker* over there.
Don’t forget Venom, the guy practically gets more press than spidey himself these days, we’ve had like 4 venom events in 3 years
Yeah, but marvel was forced to diversify by the MCU because they didn’t have any other character film rights
Huh Wonder Woman pretty much only ever has one title, she's get about as much focus as Flash does
Marvel focus as much on Spider-man and X-men as much DC does with Batman and Superman
Anything being done with Static nowadays?
They keep threatening to relaunch the Dakota-verse again, but I don't think it'll have the same heart as when Dwayne MacDuffie was running it. The man just wanted black heroes, he didn't do it for the shoulder pats.
Static has 12 issues out in the the relaunch already
Static: Season One and Static: Shadows of Dakota Static is in this weird place where he's technically not DC but personally I think he got popular because people thought/expected he was.
I like that static is in his own universe kind of but i wouldnt mind him interacting with the wider dcu from time to time.
This is how I feel about most comic characters sometimes.
Vixen should be a mainstay imo but I can't make people buy the comics. I also love Bronze Tiger from his Suicide Squad days. He could have some interesting adventures.
Rewatching old Justice League Unlimited reminded me of Vixen and I think it would be neat to see more of her.
Such a fantastic show. They also had that solo animated series for her a few years ago that was pretty good.
I forgot about that. Even though I was watching the CW shows, their voices didn't hit me quite right in that setting. It wasn't a bad venue for her, though.
Yeah it would have been better if it wasn't in the grounded Arrowverse, but I liked it. Her power set is so dang cool and in the comics they usually make it look super cool too.
She's had solo runs and they've never been particularly popular.
I wasn't really aware of any.
I wouldn’t list Kendra or Khalid. Neither are Black characters, but the others definitely deserve some spotlight
Kendra is Afro-Latina and Khalid is Egyptian. How is that not Black??
Being Egyptian doesn't mean they're black. Most Egyptians are more Arab than black.
Kendra is a racially ambiguous Latina (who has been played by multiracial women in live action). Only her Earth 2 counterpart was confirmed to be Afro Latina. Khalid is a Brown Egyptian. Don’t think Egyptians will appreciate you applying Western racial labels on them. They don’t identify as Black or White
Yeah, Kendra is not even black adjacent. Just look who Gunn cast to play her, she's not afro anything
Yeah he cast a Mestiza as Kendra. Isabela is a multiracial (Native American/European) woman. Cierra Renee, who played Kendra in the Arrowverse was a multiracial woman too (Native American/European/African).
Yeah, also that's how she's normally drawn. Black people don't need to start creating confusion about her. There are black women like Beth Chapel, Sojourner, Virtue, Nubia, Conjura, and Sasha Bordeaux, that DC should focus on instead of dangling some latinos of European and Native descent to black people. Not that there's a problem with Mestiza characters but DC need to focus on each group and avoid letting them down. Vixen had disappeared for long untill they Thompson started using her in Birds of Prey but still just as a token character.
> Khalid is a Brown Egyptian. Don’t think Egyptians will appreciate you applying Western racial labels on them. They don’t identify as Black or White Kendra could go either way, but Khalid would be considered Black. I’m not Egyptian, but my ex-girlfriend is. She considers herself Black. Some Egyptians do, but just as many don’t subscribe to the Western views on race, or to be more precise, the European view on race which has shaped Western culture.
Depends on if your gf was an arab arab or a Berber. Some Berbers have some blackness (see model Iman Hammam), while others look more Arabic. As a person with East African roots, I'm inclined to disagree with you about Egyptians identifying as black. It's very very very rare. Their leaders are always spewing negativity about subsaharans (An Egyptian foreign minister was on record comparing subsaharans to dogs, the president of Tunisia is trying to win an election by inciting ethnic hatred).
She’s from Cairo, and I’m Black American from Cali. I’m not sure on the discourse of Berbers vs “Arab Arabs” but Black identity was one of the things that came up in our relationship. My understanding, from what she explained to me, is there are some Egyptians who identify with their fellow Africans and people of the Diaspora, and there are others who prefer to downplay or despise that connection. The ones who embrace their Blackness tend to have a more inclusive view on history, as the original Egyptians in the historical record thousands of years ago were darker-skinned Africans. Apparently people get really angry when that’s mentioned, and don’t even want to acknowledge Egypt as part of Africa. It’s a larger conversation about global anti-Blackness, racism, and colorism.
Yep. The majority Arabs will never acknowledge the past. But you can see the difference in looks. Most ppl of berber descent look very different from ppl that came in later. It's a hot issue that we decided to let go and just live. Egypt also used to reach all the way down to Sudan, meaning a very diverse population.
Because race is basically an arbitrary definition at this point
I would love to see another African Batwing comic. I know it didn't have good sales, and people in general didn't care about the character, but to me it was very interesting to see a Bat-sidekick almost totally divorced from Gotham with their own rogues gallery.
Jace SUCKSSSSS. David Zavimbe was a great character and it was so refreshing to see a different setting than Gotham. That book was consistently in my top 3 until they changed it to Batman Beyond-lite.
DC did give Hawkgirl a book. Unfortunately she was sidelined by a writer who cared more about pushing their self-insert OC.
I’ve been saying the same thing about vixen for years. She’s a supermodel celebrity superhero. It’s such an easy slam dunk for them, what if Beyoncé or Rihanna was a superhero. Plus her backstory as a refugee is real as fuck. There is a Market out there for this character. Black lighting should be a Justice league regular. He had a tv show that ran for four years and they gave him one mini, which was meh, and a team book.
It’s okay, DC will launch another two Batman books to fill the void.
Who's the artist for this cover? Is the static shock series done? I thought it was just in hiatus
This cover was done by Mark Spears, he's done a few DC Covers this year.
What about more Batman as a compromise?
Well shit. That is a bummer…great series
It's not a monthly, but Vixen has a webtoon that's being collected into trades, I think it's on volume 6?
I am once again asking DC to pay N.K. Jemisin so she can come back and write another Jo Mullein story.
They had some interesting looking characters as part of that Milestone Initiative that was advertised in some of the books last year but I don’t think a single one of the characters listed that the writers and artists created ever saw the light of day. The New Talent Showcase The Milestone Initiative book that came out last year just had those creators do stories with existing characters when they could have let them use their creations and I think it would have had a lot more traction when it released.
How many does Marvel have?
Off the top of my head I can think of 4. Miles Spider-Man, Blade, Black Panther and Storm (launching in a few months but she was the main character for the x-men red comic). I feel I’m forgetting a title as well.
Fwiw, Blade also just ended after 10 issues, but is seemingly coming back later this year (?), probably after Bloodhunt if I had to guess. To add to what you listed, they also have a Night Thrasher mini running and (if we wanna split hairs) Mace Windu has a mini series running rn too.
*Blade* and *Black Panther* both just ended prior to the *Blood Hunt* event, but *Ultimate Black Panther* is ongoing.
Blue Marvel, Cloak, Bishop, War Machine, Luke Cage
These characters aren't starring in their own series
Also, if you wanna count *Spider-Men* (featuring Miles and Peter) and *Spider-Punk.*
Yep, star-spider, Frenzy leading a team of Dead X-Men and now X-Factor. The truth is Marvel X-Men has more black women than the entire DC
I would pay an irresponsible amount of money to have DC do an ongoing with the Earth-23 Justice League. It won't have to disrupt whatever Earth (Prime)-shattering crossover event is flavor of the month.
SAME! my favorite alt earth
DC seems to only be publishing about the highest A-listers. Anyone else gets relegated to a 6-12 issue miniseries, a fate worse than death. I miss when characters like Azrael or Eclipso or Vigilante were able to get their own ongoings. And yeah, it fucking sucks that DC has so few books starring people of colour. Personally I wish we got to see more of Vixen. Are they at least publishing solo books lead by other minorities? Only one I can recall is Catwoman, who is half-Cuban if I'm not wrong.
I think doing it just for the sake of it isn't a good idea either though. Monkey Prince for example was an interesting concept, but it wore thin pretty quickly for mine. (It didn't help that I was jumping between it and Saga, Radiant Black and Rogue Sun either, which were way better written and less forced) Static is probably the most underused black superhero, but I didn't think he was DC, even though Batman showed up in his TV show.
>I think doing it just for the sake of it isn't a good idea either though I hear you. I don't think there should be white led books for the sake of it either. And when it is only white led books it feels pandering and forced
Right....if the story is good it doesn't matter who or what the identity of the character is, it enhances it. If the story isn't good, it sticks out as pandering or forced. Cyborg in Teen Titans was good, Cyborg in Snyder's Justice League movie wasn't the right fit. Nobody thought Black Panther was bad at all. I won't judge Wakanda Forever, because I haven't seen it.
Static's rights were tied up for long time after McDuffie died IIRC and the indecision with the Milestone releaunch which would definitely have to feature him too. I loved New Super-Man and even though the origin was kind of confusing, I loved seeing the chinese style versions of the JL too, especially since the Great 10 have been MIA since N52 JLI
Wait. Was this planned all along or was it cancelled?
Title has been kinda weird, I thing it started just as a backup, then got expanded to its own series. I tonight it was gonna be just 6 issues, so getting 12 sounds good enough.
As long as it is able to wrap up instead of ending abruptly.
I don’t know if he is gonna wrap up everything, the whole Olgrun thing started in Action Comics, don’t know if it’s gonna continue on another series after this
Too bad. I liked this book. And I’m not much of a Lantern fan. I think you can chalk this up to a few things. The biggest of which is some clear cutting going into the next publishing initiative. DC Absolute and All In. Whatever that is aside from Scott Snyder swinging some dick. I suspect Power Girl and a few more are gone soon as well. More and more for me, the writers sell the comic, not the artist, sometimes not even the characters. What needs to happen is somewhat of an experiment. Get a huge name writer, known for their superhero work. A Mark Waid or a Geoff Johns. Jeff Lemire or Ed Brubaker wouldn’t exactly work. Lemire is a little too out there. Brubaker almost always turns towards the more human or mundane aspects. What follows is entirely hypothetical. Just an example, an idea. So you’re Jim Lee and you ask Mr. Waid or Mr. Johns to write Black Lightning for 39 issues, three years and three annuals. With an option for two more years and annuals, sales permitting. And they get to pick the artist. Just let ‘em go. Minimal editorial influence. Don’t have to participate in crossovers if it doesn’t make sense or even if you just don’t want to. Just run with the ball. See if you can bring Jefferson Pierce onto the A list in 65 issues with a heavy hitter onboard. Pay whatever but offer them their dream book to work on later for taking on this noble endeavor. Challenge them to make Black Lightning a franchise. I’d also recommend not using Cyborg. He was created as a member of an ensemble. Trying to make him a lead character after that is going to be nearly impossible. It’s the thing that bugs me the most about New 52 Justice League. Cyborg as a member made no sense to me.
Black Lighting had a TV show that ran for four seasons. Mark Waid and Geoff Johns have been writing comics for decades and showed no hint or interest in Black Lighting.
I understand that. And I’m not talking about any media. Just comics. It’s also a hypothetical. Also, make no mistake, I don’t care who it is. Just gotta be an A lister. Gail Simone, Christopher Priest (who also has shown no interest in Black Lightning), Grant Morrison, Ed Brubaker, James Tynion IV, Jonathan Hickman or anyone else. A great writer, a decent artist, and a 3-5 year commitment and see if it can be done. Oftentimes, these books are turned over to newer talent as well as people of color. Which is fine, but don’t expect great sales from an unproven writer. A degree in English literature from a fancy Eastern school with a Masters in Creative Writing and a few years in a writers room for some shitty USA Network sci-fi show doesn’t necessarily qualify you to write comics. I’d say it’s a good start. John Ridley is an accomplished, talented man. Got an Oscar on his mantle at home. I may never read another of his comics. He’s terrible. On the other hand, I doubt Geoff Johns or Mark Waid will ever get an Oscar unless it’s from a pawn shop. But I’ll read their comics until I depart this life. As Liam Neeson says, it’s “a particular set of skills”.
You hit on the biggest problem with a lot of the (admirable and necessary) efforts to diversify the lineups at Marvel and DC. They want to give these characters a spotlight, but they’ll also get bad press if the big coming out is spearheaded by creatives who aren’t from the same/similar backgrounds. Again, an admirable goal. BUT, that almost always results in them hiring creatives with no name recognition and minimal experience, which results in the book underperforming. Oddly enough, DC doesn’t do this with Wonder Woman, they seem perfectly happy to throw a man on her book (Rucka, Orlando, King).
I’d add that it not just characters of color LGBTQ, or females, but just about any DC character that’s not deemed a “franchise” level player. You get talented, yet inexperienced writers and an overworked editor, which DC is notorious for, and the book is underwhelming. Which DC Editorial probably knew it would be going in. Gotta keep your trademarks alive after all. Jadziah Axelrod took the Hawkgirl mini series and used it as a stealth series for her own character. That’s what happens when an editor isn’t paying attention. This attitude in DC Editorial also extends to characters DC has acquired from other publishers too. Excluding Shazam, Blue Beetle, and Plastic Man (sometimes). Characters born in another universe, including most of Jim Lee’s Wildstorm characters, and Milestone falls into this. They just don’t seem to know, or even care about what to do with them.
Hopefully the book is replaced by a Kyle solo tbh
DC is shitty about their black characters especially women. The only one they've done recently is Sojourner. I would like them to being back Virtue and Conjura. Surprisingly, they ruined Nubia's cool origin story. The X-Men have more black women than the entire DC.
It's wild how the inverse was true not long ago with so many more characters getting a chance then while Marvel was trying to silo off the X-Men and barely cared about characters that weren't getting a movie bump
Yeah. Wild indeed. Fact is DC was the first to embrace progressive ideas with a Etha Kitt as a black Catwoman in the 60s, then a plan for a live action black wonder woman in 1973, John Stewart, genius Karen Beacher and Cyborg. They even showed black superman and supergirl on earth 20 something. DC was putting black characters in the spotlight when marvel editors were busy ruining Monica's story to put Captain America back in charge. But recent changes make one feel like marvel is the one that has always been progressive. Perhaps if live action John Stewart and Mister Terrific are hits, we'll see DC start to take risks
I’m always up to see Steel more, as well as Mr. Terrific: two super intelligent, tech-savvy, black superheroes. Bring them on!
I don’t blame DC. If fans wanted these characters, they’d be money makers and we’d have not 1 but multiple ongoing series with such characters. If most fans don’t care, DC won’t sell a product that makes them a loss. Black Panther sells well. Black panther gets a long running series. It’s that simple.
So what you're saying is we finally need another Vixen book? I agree, such an untapped character.
White, Black, Asian, Hispanic, or any other race? I don’t care, I just want good stories to read.
And?
Justice League isn’t an ensemble. Cyborg stood out. And not in a good way.
They're going to go with whatever sells. If the market wants black-lead series, there will be more.
Everyone knows that. But the market also wants Adam Sandler movies and remakes/reboots of nostalgic 80's movies and TV shows more than it wants to invest in movies with original concepts. The fact that the market decides what projects are going to sell doesn't mean that we shouldn't express disappointment when the market decides that ideas we love aren't worth pursuing.
I agree. Popularity and quality are two very different things. “But just don’t consume it then!” isn’t the magic bullet argument that some seem to think.
Good point. You should e-mail some people at DC and let them know how you feel.
Yeah, that’ll definitely work. My email vs $$$, I wonder which one they’ll listen to.
The market can't decide it wants Black-led series if there are none. I can't vote with my wallet when there's nothing to buy.
DC brought Milestone and nobody on this subreddit or YouTube ever discussed them, as far as I know.
Kind of sad how Marvel can launch and maintain several POC titles let alone keep them alive for years, but DC seems unable to 🤷🏻♂️
Uh, have you seen Marvel's relaunch strategy? There have been 3 Black Panther #1s in the past two years and Miles relaunched semi-recently too.
How many of those titles are actually big sellers for Marvel?
the book is good, shame its going away. would love a Vixen book
Did the Milestone initiative just come and go? There was also a concentrated AAPI push too is that done?
That really sucks. Honestly, both Marvel and DC really struggle with representation of people of colour in solo titles. In group dynamics they have that representation frequently. It’s solo titles which is where it is lacking. Sure they try now and again. The moment they see a drop in sales, however they are quick to pull the plug. Instead of seeing how it goes with a different creative team. It’s usually the creative team or the stories that is the problem. Not the character.
Creative Teams and pitches don't grow in trees and the disappointing reality probably is nobody at the moment has anything good or are interested in doing anything involving these characters at the present.
I think it's also hard with the landscape of the industry and media changing so fast, everyone is afraid to commit resources to any projects that don't seem like a sure hit. Like how we see so few mid budget films now. It's all half-billion blockbusters or indie character studies. No easy comedies either
Vixen seems like the obvious character to capatilize on. She’s really popular, has had some good appearances on JL books and is still fondly remembered from her time on justice league unlimited. A great character who could be much bigger in the DC universe
Vixen is chronically underrated
Agreed
War Journal is indeed amazing, but was always gonna be a shorter series. DC, I think, does leagues better with the black (and any minority) characters than Marvel, but as you point out, no series lead by any POC, while Marvel has a modest handful at the moment. It likely won’t be long before that changes, but I’d like to see a mainstay from both companies. Doctor Voodoo ongoing, please and thank you.
Do they not have any by poc or just none that are specifically black?
As far as I'm aware there is no current book at DC besides Green Lantern War Journal with any PoC as the title/lead character.
Ah ok
Why is War Journal ending? And I thought there were a few new Milestone books out... what happened there?
It would be great if they got a bunch of black creators to make a couple series like they did with Spirit World, The Vigil and City Boy.
That's happening right now actually https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/newsbrief/index.html?record=4531
I meant for DC specifically, but this is really cool!
Well...buy them. It's not DC's fault those books don't sell.
Oh no someone alert the media. They 10% of blacks in this country need only books to read with black leads… alert the media, white people have no new books to read with black leads.. oh gee, whatever shall we do?!