-
[QUOTE=Vampire Savior;4784524]I do have a problem with so many black characters being called black something [/QUOTE]
How many of them actually do though? There's Black Panther, Black Manta and Black Lightning and who else?
[QUOTE]like Black Manta, who wanted all the black people to live underwater. [/QUOTE]
I'm pretty sure even the story that did that revealed Manta was lying about this and was just manipulating black people for his own ends.
[QUOTE=lemonpeace;4785626]I think it's most likely just a nickname, a way for Hill to use a term from Katana's culture to both subtly showcase her japanese hertiage while also giving Black Lightning a little gravitas. Going into Outsiders Hill referred to Jeff as a elemental multiple time, I think the pet name and the way Soy & Gandini visualize his powers are supposed to help evoke that "force of nature" feeling.[/QUOTE]
That seems like a weird idea for a nickname. It would like Diana calling Superman "Apollo" as a nickname. I don't know if I would call it racist but it does seem... dumb. And Jefferson isn't the type of person who would like being compared to a god even if he does want people to respect him.
[QUOTE=SecretWarrior;4782015]Cyborg will always play second fiddle when Batman is on the team since Batman is first brain, first tech guy, and the bigger brand. Justice League stories are usually big fights, not mysteries since mysteries are much harder to write. Also gotta keep that golden goose looking useful against Darkseid.
Black Lightning will always play second fiddle to the other lightning guy: Flash. Besides the ownership and rights issues, his name is out of date.[/QUOTE]
I already suggested removing her from the League, but Diana is pretty redundant on a team that already has Superman and the Flash. If redundancy is an issue, Cyborg is not the only victim of it.
-
Caucasian Thunder -
"Realizing that the super heroes were neglecting the upper middle class suburbs, he dons a suit and uses his electrical powers to guard the neighborhood. "
Then add in about 25 or 30 more heroes with some reference to whiteness in their name, and often some reference to whiteness in their general theme.
That's essentially the situation you have with many black heroes.
-
[QUOTE=DrNewGod;4762961]I can see a role for Batman in the League, just not the one he's been allowed to hold since the 1990s. Their intelligence officer, and chief snitch twister? Yup. Mixing it up with The Big Guns? No.[/QUOTE]
Would you approve if he were handled as be was in the Hray Man encounter from the Giffen/DeMatteis era?
-
Yeah, given the WLM counter movement, White Thunder could realistically be a character in the DCU. And he'd have a lot of people calling him a hero.
-
[QUOTE=Agent Z;4785640]
I already suggested removing her from the League, but Diana is pretty redundant on a team that already has Superman and the Flash. If redundancy is an issue, Cyborg is not the only victim of it.[/QUOTE]
Wonder Woman brings a connection and resistance to magic, plus she has her lasso. Cyborg makes the company's golden goose completely irrelevant, so he has to be put in a position of being told what to do because DC ain't getting rid of Batman or changing the public consciousness that he belongs on the team. Cyborg isn't just redundant, he diminishes what Batman brings to the team.
Superman can make every other character irrelevant, but DC has found a way to keep him from diminishing everyone else by keeping him from being all powerful or all wise or the fastest or the best at energy projection or familiar with magic... Technopathy, instant access to all databases... What can't Cyborg figure out without writing him as incompetent? All being a detective is is finding facts and using if then logic.
-
[QUOTE=SecretWarrior;4786052]Wonder Woman brings a connection and resistance to magic, plus she has her lasso. Cyborg makes the company's golden goose completely irrelevant, so he has to be put in a position of being told what to do because DC ain't getting rid of Batman or changing the public consciousness that he belongs on the team. Cyborg isn't just redundant, he diminishes what Batman brings to the team.[/QUOTE]
Lol, so are you telling me that white privilege extends into our comics as well? ...Astonishing! I would never thought it was possible. All this tells us is that there really is a place for a Cyborg on the JL but its deliberately kept from him.
-
[QUOTE=dkrook;4786070]Lol, so are you telling me that white privilege extends into our comics as well? ...Astonishing! I would never thought it was possible. All this tells us is that there really is a place for a Cyborg on the JL but its deliberately kept from him.[/QUOTE]
The company is called Detective Comics, lol
-
[QUOTE=Vampire Savior;4785646]Caucasian Thunder -
"Realizing that the super heroes were neglecting the upper middle class suburbs, he dons a suit and uses his electrical powers to guard the neighborhood. "
[/QUOTE]
He then realizes that although the heroes have neglected the upper class suburbs, the rest of society hasn't. He spends all his time looking for crime but the best he can manage is a couple rebellious kids smoking pot, or an office worker having an affair or cheating on taxes! Dissatisfied, he moves to the inner city where there's actual problems, people to help, and crime to solve.
-
As for Batman on the League. The way DC treats him he makes everyone else redundant. Seriously, we don't need Superman, J'onn, Barry, or Diana. We just need Bruce.
Redundancy has never been a real problem in the League. How many flying bricks are typically on the roster? Plenty. Vic is no more redundant than Diana is, and if a writer can't figure out how to make everyone look good and contribute, then they shouldn't be writing the League.
Vic's earned his spot and shouldn't be forced to give it up because why, Bruce Wayne knows how to Google?
-
Jeff himself says he called himself Black Lightning because he was one of the first Black heroes and wanted people to be aware and make it a big deal.
-
[QUOTE=dkrook;4786070]Lol, so are you telling me that white privilege extends into our comics as well? ...Astonishing! I would never thought it was possible. All this tells us is that there really is a place for a Cyborg on the JL but its deliberately kept from him.[/QUOTE]
It's not really about white privilege, but green money. :) Batman is easily the biggest DC draw, so he gets to sit at the head of the table.
-
[QUOTE=Ascended;4786099]As for Batman on the League. The way DC treats him he makes everyone else redundant. Seriously, we don't need Superman, J'onn, Barry, or Diana. We just need Bruce.
Redundancy has never been a real problem in the League. How many flying bricks are typically on the roster? Plenty. Vic is no more redundant than Diana is, and if a writer can't figure out how to make everyone look good and contribute, then they shouldn't be writing the League.
Vic's earned his spot and shouldn't be forced to give it up because why, Bruce Wayne knows how to Google?[/QUOTE]
Google doesn't get you into top secret government databases, which Cyborg is able to do.
-
[quote]Redundancy has never been a real problem in the League. How many flying bricks are typically on the roster? Plenty. Vic is no more redundant than Diana is, and if a writer can't figure out how to make everyone look good and contribute, then they shouldn't be writing the League.[/quote]This is true. Which was sort of poked fun at back in the bronze age (when both Hawkman and Hawkwoman ended up on the team).
I don't want Vic in the League because I don't think it serves [i]him[/i] well, not because I don't think he serves it. Feel similarly about Ralph, who was my first contribution. Vic has much better story potential with the Titans, because of greater emotional connections. Also, because putting him on the JL furthers the notion that it's a "graduation" thing, that Titans are a junior Justice League (absolutely against what the NTT originally was). I loathe the idea that they are inferior and made up of people who just aren't worthy of the big league.
-
[QUOTE=Agent Z;4785640]
That seems like a weird idea for a nickname. It would be like Diana calling Superman "Apollo" as a nickname. I don't know if I would call it racist but it does seem... dumb. And Jefferson isn't the type of person who would like being compared to a god even if he does want people to respect him.[/QUOTE]
Jefferson does ask Katana not to call him that because he's "not a god" in issue 1, however Katana still calls him raijin and is the only one who calls him that, so I think it's just a pet name between friends. I don't see it as big deal, to me it just reads as word association to give Jefferson's character a little gravitas. maybe Diana and Clark don't have that kind of relationship where she's wanna give him a nickname, plus Apollo doesn't really match considering Superman's connection to the sun is less aesthetically apparent :p I see it more like Bruce calling Clark a boy scout more than anything, just with a more reverent cultural twist.
-
[QUOTE=SecretWarrior;4786044]Yeah, given the WLM counter movement, White Thunder could realistically be a character in the DCU. And he'd have a lot of people calling him a hero.[/QUOTE]
White Thunder does exist, he was a villain in Black Lightning: Cold Dead Hands
[img]https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/cmx-images-prod/Item/606344/Previews/6e9af9988238e92e97d1f60d89729780._SX1280_QL80_TTD_.jpg[/img]