Why haven't any of the Black Male X-men caught on other than Bishop?

[skyvolt2000]

just how many black men have been able to be a regular writer of a mutant title? Not one-shots or minis. (or even then, overall?) The over-dominance of white male writers has not worked in the favor of including black male characters in these sagas. Too many people caught up in the notion that having green or purple characters means "diversity".

Bryan Hill is probably the only one I know of.

I think Bishop, Synch, Monet & Prodigy are the FEW black characters McDuffie or Priest never got to write. That is saying a lot when you think of those two.

Ray Anthony COULD write that Synch & Prodigy book himself and draw it.

Dang that would make a good mini..... That gives me an idea....

When the last time X men had two Black characters really interact on a non superficial level.

Synch and Maggot in Gen X?

[CRaymond]

She wouldn't be Storm.

This is some cynical bullshit if you think straight hair and blue eyes are essential to her character brand.

I'm with Sutekh. Incursion it all away.

[chief12d]

This is some cynical bullshit if you think straight hair and blue eyes are essential to her character brand.

I'm with Sutekh. Incursion it all away.

It’s pretty obvious that if Storm debuted in the 21st century Marvel wouldn’t even think to incorporate the racial pseudo-science of Claremont and Cockrum when designing her. She’d probably have her white hair to reflect the mutation/magical potential but she’d almost certainly have natural hair and be consistently drawn with black African features. The only reason she so often gets depicted like a white woman with a tan is because that’s how she was originally conceived decades ago and it’s baked into the consciousness of fans and creators.

Many prefer her to look as she was so clearly intentioned or simply find her more attractive than if she were to have more features in common with black Africans. Thankfully other divisions of Marvel (namely the movies) are run by competent people unlike Fox, so they’ll jettison elements of her character that are ridiculous in modern society and keep the stuff that’s actually relevant. I don’t have a problem with straight hair Storm but to consider that essential to her character is laughable but not surprising coming from some people.

But this does reflect a wider pattern in the X-Universe of how all their major black characters are foreign or exotic. Storm is a “kinda black” African goddess, Bishop is a non-African Aborigine time traveler, Sunspot is a half-black Brazilian, Monet is an Afro-Arab European. The lack of prominent African-Americans is pretty striking.

[BroHomo]

I think Sunspot became more focussed on and higher listed than Bishop. He became leader of an Avengers team and is now the leading the New Mutants. But yeah, that is just one character besides Bishop being a 'high profiled' Black X-Man. We need more, but of those currently with the X-Men, I could only perhaps see Gentle or Bedlam making it. So let us hope if a writer disides to create a new character, that it will be a black male.

Buuuuut despite Bishop's convoluted backstory he is still thought of as 'Blacker' than Sunspot. If Sunspot had maintained his OG look and followed the same trajectory, I'd totally agree,but Going the route of Sammy Sosa, being portrayed by 3 different non black actors in various media his prominence as a 'black' character is lacking

[Gripstir]

Because diversity doesn't mean black people and white people are the same. Most black characters are written to be interchanable. The best characters are ones that honor the ethos of what it means to be a black man. Bishop is a strong masculine guy who is trying to do the right thing. He's also kinda a jerk. All the others are nice guys who you could write as white and no one would care

[Havok83]

I think Sunspot became more focussed on and higher listed than Bishop. He became leader of an Avengers team and is now the leading the New Mutants. But yeah, that is just one character besides Bishop being a 'high profiled' Black X-Man. We need more, but of those currently with the X-Men, I could only perhaps see Gentle or Bedlam making it. So let us hope if a writer disides to create a new character, that it will be a black male.

No he's not. Sunspot isnt even on the team. They left him in space

[Gripstir]

It’s pretty obvious that if Storm debuted in the 21st century Marvel wouldn’t even think to incorporate the racial pseudo-science of Claremont and Cockrum when designing her. She’d probably have her white hair to reflect the mutation/magical potential but she’d almost certainly have natural hair and be consistently drawn with black African features. The only reason she so often gets depicted like a white woman with a tan is because that’s how she was originally conceived decades ago and it’s baked into the consciousness of fans and creators.

Many prefer her to look as she was so clearly intentioned or simply find her more attractive than if she were to have more features in common with black Africans. Thankfully other divisions of Marvel (namely the movies) are run by competent people unlike Fox, so they’ll jettison elements of her character that are ridiculous in modern society and keep the stuff that’s actually relevant. I don’t have a problem with straight hair Storm but to consider that essential to her character is laughable but not surprising coming from some people.

But this does reflect a wider pattern in the X-Universe of how all their major black characters are foreign or exotic. Storm is a “kinda black” African goddess, Bishop is a non-African Aborigine time traveler, Sunspot is a half-black Brazilian, Monet is an Afro-Arab European. The lack of prominent African-Americans is pretty striking.

People really need to stop using "because people find it more attractive" as an insult. Comics are a visual medium and attractiveness does play a factor in comic sales. I find it funny how a character becomes successful, even though there are other women of color who never reach storms popularity and people keep saying "make storm less identifiable just because" her hair makes her stand out. And that's good not bad.

[chief12d]

People really need to stop using "because people find it more attractive" as an insult. Comics are a visual medium and attractiveness does play a factor in comic sales. I find it funny how a character becomes successful, even though there are other women of color who never reach storms popularity and people keep saying "make storm less identifiable just because" her hair makes her stand out. And that's good not bad.

What makes you think I meant it as an insult? I put it right alongside people wanting her to look as she was originally intended. That’s not a judgement on those who think that, just providing a potential explanation. My criticism was of the racial pseudo-science that inspired her initial appearance. But I’d be remiss not to say that Storm having non-black features did indeed make her more attractive to many fans, which did fuel her popularity. Like you said, comics are a visual medium and in the 1970s a black female character would benefit from being depicted more as amalgamation of various races than a standard “sub-Saharan” African woman.

[Devaishwarya]

This is some cynical bullshit if you think straight hair and blue eyes are essential to her character brand.

I'm with Sutekh. Incursion it all away.

I'm not the cynical one here who cannot come to terms with the idea of fantasy and what that entails.

I don't know what Marvel/X-Men history you are familiar with but...It is essential to her character brand.

The comic books, TAS, the toys, the movies...they ALL attest to it.

That does not change because you personally disagree with it.

While the scientific rationale behind her facial features are proven spurious...In Story/in canon, the reasoning behind her White hair (It could be straight as in her first appearance, it could be curly as in FotM it could be braided as in XXM...the texture is irrelevant at this point...) and Blue eyes are the result of her matrilineal genetic gifts speaking directly to the women who command power, mystical and otherwise. Conceptually...conceptually... those traits have nothing to do with her "race" as it were, as she's obviously Black which have been iterated more than once in-comic and throughout her media history. Her mother, N'Dare is clearly a Black woman with Black hair and dark eyes who clearly did not inherit the power whereas Ashake, her great grandmother many times removed did.

[taozen]

She wouldn't be Storm.

Cockrum put a lot of thought and imagination into her back-story as to why she looks the way she does. And they were fully aware of what they were doing with respect to the social times in which they were living. That bolded statement completely discredits his creation.

On the one hand we want to empower Black people to be proud of who we are and embrace our Blackness in whatever form we see fit but then we want to censure individuality and uniqueness because some people aren't comfortable with the Individual Spirit, because it does not fit into any pre-conceived, stereotypical "acceptable" idea of what it means to be Black and "look" Black.

We just can't win.

We just can't win.

You can keep the eyes blue. There are dark skinned Black people with blue eyes. But what about changing her hair. Keeping the color white but giving her dreadlocks or braids?

[Devaishwarya]

You can keep the eyes blue. There are dark skinned Black people with blue eyes. But what about changing her hair. Keeping the color white but giving her dreadlocks or braids?

Definitely.
By all means...change the texture (it was never about that as Storm has had varying hair textures). But it must absolutely stay white and her eyes blue.

[skyvolt2000]

http://fav.me/ddzdko4

I have trouble with image posting so here is the art link.

Ray-Anthony's idea with a modifcation.

Every crime againt a mutant deserves to be looked at no matter how small.
Feeling they had no place in the "promise" land-these four mutants go off and deal with those crimes.

These are tose stories... (Law & Order sound effect)

X-Men Black SMU

[Gripstir]

What makes you think I meant it as an insult? I put it right alongside people wanting her to look as she was originally intended. That’s not a judgement on those who think that, just providing a potential explanation. My criticism was of the racial pseudo-science that inspired her initial appearance. But I’d be remiss not to say that Storm having non-black features did indeed make her more attractive to many fans, which did fuel her popularity. Like you said, comics are a visual medium and in the 1970s a black female character would benefit from being depicted more as amalgamation of various races than a standard “sub-Saharan” African woman.

There's no such thing as "original intent" only rough draft ideas. Eventually they make it into a final decision and that becomes the character. By your logic Of "original intent" Doctor House is in a wheel chair not walking with a cane, Crypto has dreads, Ripley is a strong man, Toph is a man and Appa is a polar bear dog. One of my biggest pet peeves in fiction is people sacrificing large fantastical elements of a story to be more grounded in reality. Especially when people talk about representation for kids but really it's about representation for adults who want realistic looks. Kids never have wanted real looks. That's something older people project onto kids

Also "pseudo science" is what made half the comic world from Sh'iar tech to adamantium. It's all pseudo science based on some form of fact. that is why it's comics.

[BroHomo]

There's no such thing as "original intent" only rough draft ideas. Eventually they make it into a final decision and that becomes the character. By your logic Of "original intent" Doctor House is in a wheel chair not walking with a cane, Crypto has dreads, Ripley is not a strong man, Toph is a man and Appa is a polar bear dog. One of my biggest pet peeves in fiction is people sacrificing large fantastical elements of a story to be more grounded in reality. Especially when people talk about representation for kids but really it's about representation for adults who want realistic looks. Kids never have wanted real looks. That's something older people project onto kids

Uh Yeah thats not true.

Also "pseudo science" is what made half the comic world from Sh'iar tech to adamantium. It's all pseudo science based on some form of fact. that is why it's comics.

But in this instance the psuedo-science aint based on anything but prejudiced old fashioned thinking

[skyvolt2000]

There's no such thing as "original intent" only rough draft ideas. Eventually they make it into a final decision and that becomes the character. By your logic Of "original intent" Doctor House is in a wheel chair not walking with a cane, Crypto has dreads, Ripley is not a strong man, Toph is a man and Appa is a polar bear dog. One of my biggest pet peeves in fiction is people sacrificing large fantastical elements of a story to be more grounded in reality. Especially when people talk about representation for kids but really it's about representation for adults who want realistic looks. Kids never have wanted real looks. That's something older people project onto kids

Just an FYI

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/13...favorite-reads

Marley Dias, a 13-year-old girl who has collected more than 11,000 books that showcase black female lead characters, can now add her own book to her list.

“I knew I was frustrated by the lack of diversity in the books I was reading in school, but it wasn’t until my mother asked me about what I wanted to change that the [book drive] idea fully became clear,” said Dias, who launched her #1000blackgirlbooks book drive in 2017 and is on Forbes’ “30 under 30” list for 2018.

If kids don't care-why wouldn't it hurt to toss out a book with a POC as the lead?

Why are there publishers going out of their way to HIDE the race of a lead in a book?

http://www.yalsa.ala.org/thehub/2012...a-book-covers/

If a YA book features a white, female protagonist (and this accounts for a not insignificant portion of YA released each year), it seems inevitable that the book cover will display an idealized and airbrushed masterpiece of her on the cover. And when a YA book actually does have a protagonist of color, too often one of three things seems to happen:

The cover is “whitewashed” and shows a Caucasian model instead of a person of color;
The cover depicts someone whose race seems purposefully ambiguous or difficult to discern; or
The character is shown in silhouette
Whitewashing

Whitewashing happens when a publishing company represents a non-white character on the cover of a book with a white representation. This has been going on for decades — probably centuries — and seems to show no signs of letting up.

Ambiguous ethnicity

One step down from whitewashing a cover is obscuring the character’s racial identity on a cover. It often seems like white characters are spotlighted front and center on a book cover, while non-white characters are hidden in shadow, have their face obscured, or are distorted in some other way that allows people to assume that the character is white.

Rivers of London a comic book series at Titan Comics is also a novel. The US version oringally HID the fact the lead of the book was a BLACK MAN.

If race was not an issue why does so may studios PANDER to China and remove blacks from movie posters?

If race was not an issue where did a certain fandom come from? Funny every single book and creator they take issue with is a POC or LBGTQ.

If it's about kids-tossing out books that feature leads who are not straight white males should not be an issue. Yet it is.