I'mma hold your hand with a Clorox™️wipe between when I say this to you
Just because YOU don't know about the treasure trove of Black characters DC has, doesn't mean they don't exist... And calling them all derivative/weak reads so diabolical coming from a bald white man who could pass for a Neo Nazi. Could be perceived as racist by those who may not know better. I'd seriously do some reevaluation from your alabaster tower.
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These are just the handful of the Black superheroes DC has that I can name off the top of my head at any given moment...
Most of these characters are well known. They would be even better known if they were actually used as more than just "negroes on the wall" to tick a box when a white writer wants to include Black characters but not actually do anything with them.
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Oh but wait... there's more...
Don't you just love when white men center themselves at the heart of a conversation about Black characters in comics? Keep Savage Dragon and Spawn outta this. Those are Black characters written exclusively by white men who aren't even depicted fully as Black men. That ain't what anyone was asking for. If I wanted a white man's interpretation of a Black person, I'd ask for one.
Spoiler alert: I wouldn't because we've been force fed that shit for decades.
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I can't vouch for your feelings about writing Black characters, but I remember Todd saying “I took away the thing that would be a distraction for some people, and said I just want to do a hero. I don’t want to do a black hero, I don’t want to do an Asian hero, or a Caucasian hero; I just want to do a hero.”
"I stripped his skin off him"
This shit ain't it when you wanna hold Spawn up as a pillar of Blackness "done right" in your very VERY white eyes. I wonder who the "some people" were...
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Long story short.... White men writing Black superheroes who can't even be bothered to capitalize the "B" in Black, or view race as a distraction and think representation isn't so important...
Y'all are NEVER beating the charges.
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Look at em... LOOK AT THEM!!!! I see nothing but an embarrassment of riches and wasted potential.
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As a nerd of a certain age, I have some ironic fondness for Rob Liefeld, but it's ABSOLUTELY outweighed how much he genuinely sucks as both an artist and a person
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Doesn't surprise me. Erik also thinks that Lois Lane is nothing but a damsel in distress. Erik's opinions are shit 9/10 times.
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Yeah, that right there is a dead ass red flag. Hate to see it. Then again, I shouldn't surprised considering how women are depicted in his books.
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Everything said here is spot on. The few black heroes that were given space were able to grow. Black Panther, Static, Cyborg, Storm. It helped that some of them started in team books but at some point a company has to commit the resources to make them bigger. There are so many weak characters that got 20-30 issue runs.
Also there’s needs to be space for minority writers, artists, editors, and every other position.
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One of them books was given to Jonah Hex... I repeat... DC gave a book to Jonah Hex... JONAH... HEX... But Black characters can't get shit. I hate it here.
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Went in is an understatement. You ate him up, spit him out, and feed him to the lions
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Don't blame you. It's been exhausting seeing big names in the industry dismiss Black characters out of hand.
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Right. It's not the fault of the characters, it's decades of malpractice with regards to how they've been written and presented.
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And I'm so tired of publishers making it OUR problem and blaming readers as if we're the only reason these characters "failed."
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This is a really really bad take. It feels like the Black characters of DC have been getting nothing but hate since everyone has started realizing that DC isn’t using them
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Oh. So uhm yeah maybe you disagree but maybe less name calling and little more research. Larsen can be a hard pill to swallow but he is honestly outspoken and if he knows anything it’s comic history and the comic business. Few dig as deep into comics history and its evolution as Larsen and though his characters may not meet your high expectations for diversity he is one of the few unafraid to boldly interpret the differences he sees in the world around him. It’s folly to try to silence him.
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Sometimes I have to remind myself why I don't really fuck with him. Then I see shit like this and go... yeah... he on the list.
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I think it shows….man this is gonna sound bad…that many of these creatives have a devinitive ceiling to their work because they don’t have any other perspective to draw from. It’s by conditioning AND by choice.
“Minority” writers can write about white superheroes all day. We have been indoctrinated into their thinking and even their fantasies all our lives. White writers can rarely do the same. I mean, can you picture some of these guys putting out something like Bitter Root?
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This is 100% true and why I often say a Black writer can write white people better than actual white people because white supremacy forced us to assimilate to their culture... They refuse to engage with us on a good faith level and that's why their Black characters will always be lesser than when written by actual Black people.
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Ever. There are SO many characters. People think it's only 4 or 5 characters but there's literally dozens.
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They think it's only a handful of characters because they think those characters aren't worth acknowledging. And to that I say these assholes can't call themselves comic book fans.
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Their talking points haven't & won't change because they feel safe and comfortable in their bubble because they can say "I'm not part of the problem because I write a Black character!" When all it does is give off "I have a Black friend so I can't be racist." vibes. We're not asking for them to delve deep into the diaspora and cover all things Black with their characters. However, don't play in our $%@! faces like there's not a lot of them out there that could have their own titles.
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THis. EXACTLY this. Like I'm sorry but Spawn and savage Dragon ain't the flex they think it is.
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It really can't. Honestly, he didn't have much respect from me to begin with but now he has zero.
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I blame myself for giving some of his other shitty takes a pass because I figured he was a good guy overall... that's on me, I fucked up
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Erik Larsen actually said that bullshit? The same one who constantly puts literal hentai porn in his comics. Like the stuff in this issue below and other issues with hypersexualized stuff we can't even post on Threads without getting banned.🙄🤦♂️
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The second my boy dropped that DCSoWhite article, I had a feeling shit like this would start coming up.
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I follow Erik Larson. When I see his posts, I sit back and wait for him to say something tone deaf. Folks gotta realize, there's a difference between not being racist, and being anti-racists. It's more than just calling MAGA folks nazis.
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This is why I say folks need to be more self-aware. A man like him could easily be mistaken for something he might not even want to be associated with. But he has the complexion for the protection, so he probably steps on that rake repeatedly.
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that's disappointing from him. Even not counting the Static universe characters, there's quite a few black characters in DC of note. I mean John Stewart for crying out loud, and Mr. Terrific has had a recent spike in popularity because of the movie. Cyborg has been big forever. Really any character that appeared in the old Titans cartoon that has been critically underutilized
Related threads
These be the same 🥷🏿 s who say they won't buy a Black creator owned comic just because its Black.
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Just saw those July solicits. Let’s wrap that shit up.
At this point… it makes no sense. I should not be reading about the same 7 characters and their legacy characters every fucking week.
You got black characters on the roster riding the bench for which reason exactly? And please stop saying “we don’t know what stories to tell”
Hire black writers, what the fuck? THEY have stories they can tell.
I stg I don’t have the energy in me anymore.
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This article hits the nail on the head. This doesn't just benefits us as Black People but benefit the industry as a whole. As much as I love Batman. I dont need 15 got damn titles. Miss me with that and give these stellar black characters the shine they RIGHTFULLY deserve and put the best team on it as well as be TRANSPARENT. balls in your court!
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Hey what's the current count on how long since we had a Black main character in a DC Comics series?
Asking for my damn self.
This may be out of turn, but fuck it. Fortune favors the bold.
If I was given the opportunity to write a Mr. Terrific ongoing I’d center the story around Mr. Terrific and his son. The two of them having adventures together while Mr. Terrific teaches his son how to be a hero, and his son teaches him how to reconnect with his humanity. I’d build his rogues galley. He deserves iconic bag guys. And switch up the threats from smaller personal stakes, to earth shattering events.
jpenumbra_: And yet, all Mr Terrific got last year was a 6 issue mini series. Mind you it was spectacular work done by @al_letson but when will Mr Terrific get a proper ongoing in the main continuity?
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We've been telling yall, and now it's really out here for yall to read
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