So I noticed something today...
Okay, one thing you don't know about me is that I can talk about one thing or be thinking about one thing, and then suddenly I'll end up on something that's seemingly unrelated. My mind works weird--I got it from my mother. The only person who understands what its like to think like that is my girlfriend Ehlana, who thinks in the same seemingly-but-not-really-erratic-way. (One of a long list of things we connect on.)
Anyway, my friend and I were discussing good comic runs today and because of that I found myself looking at an old article by Christopher Priest discussing black characters and getting black readers into comic shops, and while I was reading it something hit me. I'm an anomaly.
Well, that's not really anything new but nevertheless. I mean, by virtue of being myself I've managed to transform cousins my age and black friends I have into probably not agreeing with this...but really one look at a hip-hop forum or enough time spent around people who don't hang out with me regularly and I realize that article is mostly correct.
There ARE black people who seek out solely black superheroes. Myself? They tend to range from offensive (Luke Cage) to "eh" (Black Lightning) to being cool but not really anything like a favorite (Black Panther), and only one to my knowledge actually makes it to awesome (War Machine). More often than not, I find myself gravitating towards the "white" superheroes.
Its not because I'm trying to pretend I'm not black (this tan don't wipe off, remember folks?)--I just find other characters (who happen to be white) cooler. Take Steel, for instance. He's a Superman wannabe. That's not an insult--that was the point of his creation. His, Cyborg Superman's, Superboy's, and Eradicator's back in the 90's after they'd killed Superman off. But in making him an armored Superman wannabe, he loses his connection to the crazy super sci-fi shit Superman does (see All-Star Superman). And, unfortunately, while he DOES gain the chance to allow for doing awesome tech-ed out stories, the way they've portrayed his suit in the 10-15 years or so since his creation makes it seem like you could build it out of shit you find at a junkyard. So he could be DC's Iron Man, but they passed that chance up when they made him different by making him seem like a "working man's Iron Man", when if Grant Morrison's JLA is to be believed, he could build a suit that could crush Tony's armor like papier-mache. Still--the bottomline is I'm better off reading Superman and Iron Man.
Or look at Green Lantern John Stewart. Admittedly, in recent days Stewart has been pretty cool, but look at his past. Because he got so arrogant early on, he ended up letting a planet die. I'm sorry but that doesn't look good on your Hero Resume. But even without that, Alan Scott (who wins by virtue of being a Hero since World War II without quitting or deciding being evil would be more fun) or Kyle Rayner (who's far more creative with his ring) are far more interesting to me.
And then there's the fact that when you're trying to make them relateable to black people, they end up not being relateable to me. They all tend to have grown up "in the hood", or in some inner-city neighborhoods or something like that. See, I can't relate to that. (Not that it matters, because I care more about looking up to than relating to, but we'll get to that.) I grew up struggling too--I still am, but I never lived in the hood. I've also never lived in the suburbs--I grew up in a medium-sized house ten miles from my town out in the country.
Which is probably why, if you're talking relateability for me, I resonate more with Superman. I know what its like to be an outsider. I remember being a child and listening to the kids talk to each other about coming over to one another's houses because they lived next door or across the street from one another. I never got to know anything about that, since my closest neighbors were trees, so it always felt like I was on the outside looking in.
But its not about relateability to me, its about who I can aspire to, and most black heroes fail with that. I won't blame racism or comics for that or whatever--its the fault of my own race. When I talk to people of my color, it kinda saddens me. They don't wanna hear about high fantasy. They don't wanna hear about science-fiction. They wanna talk about gritty, street stuff. Drug lords, life on the streets, wars and shit. Basically, they want their own life a bit more dramatized (more bullets and explosions), blown up and put on the big screen, the small screen, and the printed page. (Granted, to be fair so are white people, as there's something about this day and age that makes people pine for uber-realistic street shit.)
Its a concept that's far, far beyond my ability to understand. I don't wanna hear about the shit I'm dealing with. Dramatized or not. I want to get as far away from that shit as humanly fucking possible. Distant galaxies. Alternate worlds and universes. Magical races and powers and weapons and theories that make your mind bend and twist itself till it looks like a gooey, grey pretzel. That's why you can't market Luke Cage towards me. The only time I go down to Earth is when I need a momentary breather from the crazy shit. But you CAN market Kyle Rayner and his giant manga robots with huge emerald missile launchers blowing up Rage Lanterns. I jump at that shit, and I await the day when everyone else does too.
(As a sidenote I'm not sure how I feel about the idea of putting black comics at places where black people are likely to be to get them sold. I mean, its more money for the industry so yay, but at the same time I'm of the opinion that you know where you need to go to buy comics if you want them, and it ain't at Li'l Wayne's CD Signing. Also, as a person who was first drawn into a comic store as a child by the wondrous displays they put up, I can pretty concretely say if they put up pictures of a whole bunch of black superheroes I'd be more likely to turn away due to feeling pandered to, and since I'm not a female Republican, I don't care much for pandering. I will agree that its all about atmosphere though, since people are more likely to stay in comic shops--which are all just big clubhouses where you can buy comics, really--if the people around are friendly.)
Anyway, my friend and I were discussing good comic runs today and because of that I found myself looking at an old article by Christopher Priest discussing black characters and getting black readers into comic shops, and while I was reading it something hit me. I'm an anomaly.
Well, that's not really anything new but nevertheless. I mean, by virtue of being myself I've managed to transform cousins my age and black friends I have into probably not agreeing with this...but really one look at a hip-hop forum or enough time spent around people who don't hang out with me regularly and I realize that article is mostly correct.
There ARE black people who seek out solely black superheroes. Myself? They tend to range from offensive (Luke Cage) to "eh" (Black Lightning) to being cool but not really anything like a favorite (Black Panther), and only one to my knowledge actually makes it to awesome (War Machine). More often than not, I find myself gravitating towards the "white" superheroes.
Its not because I'm trying to pretend I'm not black (this tan don't wipe off, remember folks?)--I just find other characters (who happen to be white) cooler. Take Steel, for instance. He's a Superman wannabe. That's not an insult--that was the point of his creation. His, Cyborg Superman's, Superboy's, and Eradicator's back in the 90's after they'd killed Superman off. But in making him an armored Superman wannabe, he loses his connection to the crazy super sci-fi shit Superman does (see All-Star Superman). And, unfortunately, while he DOES gain the chance to allow for doing awesome tech-ed out stories, the way they've portrayed his suit in the 10-15 years or so since his creation makes it seem like you could build it out of shit you find at a junkyard. So he could be DC's Iron Man, but they passed that chance up when they made him different by making him seem like a "working man's Iron Man", when if Grant Morrison's JLA is to be believed, he could build a suit that could crush Tony's armor like papier-mache. Still--the bottomline is I'm better off reading Superman and Iron Man.
Or look at Green Lantern John Stewart. Admittedly, in recent days Stewart has been pretty cool, but look at his past. Because he got so arrogant early on, he ended up letting a planet die. I'm sorry but that doesn't look good on your Hero Resume. But even without that, Alan Scott (who wins by virtue of being a Hero since World War II without quitting or deciding being evil would be more fun) or Kyle Rayner (who's far more creative with his ring) are far more interesting to me.
And then there's the fact that when you're trying to make them relateable to black people, they end up not being relateable to me. They all tend to have grown up "in the hood", or in some inner-city neighborhoods or something like that. See, I can't relate to that. (Not that it matters, because I care more about looking up to than relating to, but we'll get to that.) I grew up struggling too--I still am, but I never lived in the hood. I've also never lived in the suburbs--I grew up in a medium-sized house ten miles from my town out in the country.
Which is probably why, if you're talking relateability for me, I resonate more with Superman. I know what its like to be an outsider. I remember being a child and listening to the kids talk to each other about coming over to one another's houses because they lived next door or across the street from one another. I never got to know anything about that, since my closest neighbors were trees, so it always felt like I was on the outside looking in.
But its not about relateability to me, its about who I can aspire to, and most black heroes fail with that. I won't blame racism or comics for that or whatever--its the fault of my own race. When I talk to people of my color, it kinda saddens me. They don't wanna hear about high fantasy. They don't wanna hear about science-fiction. They wanna talk about gritty, street stuff. Drug lords, life on the streets, wars and shit. Basically, they want their own life a bit more dramatized (more bullets and explosions), blown up and put on the big screen, the small screen, and the printed page. (Granted, to be fair so are white people, as there's something about this day and age that makes people pine for uber-realistic street shit.)
Its a concept that's far, far beyond my ability to understand. I don't wanna hear about the shit I'm dealing with. Dramatized or not. I want to get as far away from that shit as humanly fucking possible. Distant galaxies. Alternate worlds and universes. Magical races and powers and weapons and theories that make your mind bend and twist itself till it looks like a gooey, grey pretzel. That's why you can't market Luke Cage towards me. The only time I go down to Earth is when I need a momentary breather from the crazy shit. But you CAN market Kyle Rayner and his giant manga robots with huge emerald missile launchers blowing up Rage Lanterns. I jump at that shit, and I await the day when everyone else does too.
(As a sidenote I'm not sure how I feel about the idea of putting black comics at places where black people are likely to be to get them sold. I mean, its more money for the industry so yay, but at the same time I'm of the opinion that you know where you need to go to buy comics if you want them, and it ain't at Li'l Wayne's CD Signing. Also, as a person who was first drawn into a comic store as a child by the wondrous displays they put up, I can pretty concretely say if they put up pictures of a whole bunch of black superheroes I'd be more likely to turn away due to feeling pandered to, and since I'm not a female Republican, I don't care much for pandering. I will agree that its all about atmosphere though, since people are more likely to stay in comic shops--which are all just big clubhouses where you can buy comics, really--if the people around are friendly.)
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