DC Africana Appreciation

[SecretWarrior]

The idea of racebending as a solution is dumb since it can be undone just as easily. See Starboy's change from white to black to white again.

Racebending Aquaman to half-Polynesian will only stick as long as Jason Mamoa plays the character and no further.

See also Iris West and the black Catwomen vs Vixen.

[kurenai24]

So actual black characters, possibly with history informed by their race, are inferior to just painting white ones black?

Wow, you're really acting like they got this deep history, like they're Black Lightning, Vixen, John Stewart, Static level, I can only see for it Tyroc but okay...

This wouldn’t likely be a problem for Bendis who is the reason Marvel started paying attention to Luke Cage again and who created Miles Morales. A poc character or written by Bendis is not going to be ignored.

First of all just b/c Bendis has written black characters doesn't mean anything would change, Bendis is not a life preserver for characters of color, he's not gonna be the thing to help people care about minority characters. I don't know why you think that especially when in the past he was more well liked but even as a fan of Bendis I wouldn't even put that much of a white savior complex on his shoulders.

It kind of does when the black characters in question are left out for racebends.

Name them, outside of this Legion thing what characters in DC comics have been racebent that have effected actual minority characters ...b/c the only time I'm seeing racebent characters and their negative effect is when WB is casting for live action...

Assuming they do use these new racebent versions for adaptations. Huntress being black in the comics right now didn’t stop the Birds of Prey movie from casting her as a white woman. WB/DC is not exactly consistent with these things.

Did you read what I said, I said I could see those changes in live action or animated form, not that they would happen. What that means is even if the new Legion wasn't racebent, I think some of these changes would have happened in other forms of media.

Also the Hunteress thing for BiP was dumb as we all know, but is she confirmed to be black in the comics, didn't Tom King or whoever was on that book say they didn't have the opportunity to confirm in story (i.e canon).

I don’t mind racebending by itself (YJ Artemis Crock is about the only version of the character I’m interested in and I’ve even suggested racebending of certain characters myself) but the execution of this has to be done on a case-by-case basis. If people weren’t talking about the poc Legion members before this was an opportunity to get them talking about it.

You're very innocent or ignorant to believe anybody outside of this thread, minorities, and a few others would actually be talking about them and not about the white characters everybody seems to love...

The idea of racebending as a solution is dumb since it can be undone just as easily. See Starboy's change from white to black to white again.

Racebending Aquaman to half-Polynesian will only stick as long as Jason Mamoa plays the character and no further.

See also Iris West and the black Catwomen vs Vixen.

All those examples of racebending benefit white characters which I've stated I dislike, that's one of the things I hate about the DC kids books, the CW shows and the WB movies, but unfortunately that is not gonna change where DC/WB is concerned. I'm not gonna get into Catwoman b/c while that is frustrating, any Catwoman that is black is an homage to Eartha Kitt's version to me.

I just feel like people are tripping over an ant hill, that's how little of a problem I have with this Legion thing.

Call me when Hal Jordan in the comics is turned black and that effects John Stewart, call me when Wonder Woman in the comics is turned black and that effects Vixen, call me when DC comics decides to do another imprint full of new minority characters and others them while also ignoring the minority characters they do have, call me WB wants to do another comicbook movie on a white character and they decide to racebend the lead/supporting character/love interest...

I will fight the good fight, but for this, for a Legion that's in a new continuity, whether it lasts long or not I don't see a problem.

[SecretWarrior]

All those examples of racebending benefit white characters which I've stated I dislike, that's one of the things I hate about the DC kids books, the CW shows and the WB movies, but unfortunately that is not gonna change where DC/WB is concerned. I'm not gonna get into Catwoman b/c while that is frustrating, any Catwoman that is black is an homage to Eartha Kitt's version to me.

I just feel like people are tripping over an ant hill, that's how little of a problem I have with this Legion thing.

Call me when Hal Jordan in the comics is turned black and that effects John Stewart, call me when Wonder Woman in the comics is turned black and that effects Vixen, call me when DC comics decides to do another imprint full of new minority characters and others them while also ignoring the minority characters they do have, call me WB wants to do another comicbook movie on a white character and they decide to racebend the lead/supporting character/love interest...

I will fight the good fight, but for this, for a Legion that's in a new continuity, whether it lasts long or not I don't see a problem.

Legion isn't itself the major issue-- It's another frustrating symptom of how poorly DC in particular handles race, so it's an addition to the haystack that provides a justifiable opportunity to complain.

[Agent Z]

Wow, you're really acting like they got this deep history, like they're Black Lightning, Vixen, John Stewart, Static level, I can only see for it Tyroc but okay...

Most of the Legion isn’t even on these guys’ level either.

First of all just b/c Bendis has written black characters doesn't mean anything would change, Bendis is not a life preserver for characters of color, he's not gonna be the thing to help people care about minority characters. I don't know why you think that especially when in the past he was more well liked but even as a fan of Bendis I wouldn't even put that much of a white savior complex on his shoulders.

Miles Morales got a movie and still has an ongoing last I checked.

Name them, outside of this Legion thing what characters in DC comics have been racebent that have effected actual minority characters ...b/c the only time I'm seeing racebent characters and their negative effect is when WB is casting for live action...

The Legion thing is exactly what I am talking about in this regard. I don’t criticize the racebening in the BoP movie because, among other things, they at least featured original poc characters alongside the racebent one.

Also the Hunteress thing for BiP was dumb as we all know, but is she confirmed to be black in the comics, didn't Tom King or whoever was on that book say they didn't have the opportunity to confirm in story (i.e canon).

Her mother was shown as black in flashbacks and the writer who reintroduced her into the DC universe confirmed Helena was black. Anyone who was if she was black either needed to get their eyes checked or was actively in denial.

And regardless of if she'd been cast as a black woman in the movie, it wouldn't change the fact that she was originally a white woman and most people familiar with her know her as a white woman.

You're very innocent or ignorant to believe anybody outside of this thread, minorities, and a few others would actually be talking about them and not about the white characters everybody seems to love...

The popularity of Kamala Khan, Jaime Reyes, Jessica Cruz and Miles Morales easily disproves this. I mean by your logic, fans will just ignore these racebent versions as well and just focus on the characters who remained white. Either way, minority characters and their fans end up losing.

I just feel like people are tripping over an ant hill, that's how little of a problem I have with this Legion thing.

Can you at least try to understand where fans of these minority Legion characters are coming from?

Call me when Hal Jordan in the comics is turned black and that effects John Stewart, call me when Wonder Woman in the comics is turned black and that effects Vixen, call me when DC comics decides to do another imprint full of new minority characters and others them while also ignoring the minority characters they do have, call me WB wants to do another comicbook movie on a white character and they decide to racebend the lead/supporting character/love interest...

Honestly creating an imprint solely to develop minority characters and have them be the stars of their own stories would be better than most of what the comics have been doing with minority characters for a long time now. As for the rest of what you said, again, we have the Legion comic doing that right now. These racebends benefit white characters as much as live action ones do and given the Legion’s history of being rebooted constantly, I don’t expect it to last long either. As I said, this could have been mitigated with the inclusion of original minority characters.

[Robanker]

I'm not gonna get into Catwoman b/c while that is frustrating, any Catwoman that is black is an homage to Eartha Kitt's version to me.

I don't see how Eartha Kitt's Catwoman is any different from if it's done today. By your own description, this practice is benefiting a white character... But it's okay with Kitt because it happened a long time ago? I feel like there's some inherent hypocrisy here. So Iris West on the TV show. Will you be more comfortable with it in thirty years if we get another black Iris because it's an homage to Candice Patton, the first black Iris? This is a weird line that I can't quite wrap my head around. Is it because it happened in the past, so it feels more brave? Eartha Kitt didn't have to deal with twitter and getting bombed with negativity all day like these modern actresses do. Don't get me wrong, she most likely endured duress over it, I can't imagine everyone was just groovy back then, but I don't understand why make her the exception and be bothered when it's done today as well.

I really don't understand. Please enlighten me.

[SecretWarrior]

Looks like this was timely since Zoe Kravitz has just been cast as Selina Kyle.

[LordAllMIghty]

Looks like this was timely since Zoe Kravitz has just been cast as Selina Kyle.

Lol...well this should be interesting.

[SecretWarrior]

Looking forward to Kurenai's take.

[Shockingjustice]

So I've been reading JLark and it really makes me crave a minority team of mythical creatures like the creature commandos. Fantasy/horror elements is something we rarely see for black superheroes.

It makes me disappointed that Vixen didn't at least get a cameo the that magic bar. It would be awesome to see her normal powers switch to demon powers because of magic getting wonky.

[Agent Z]

Was Wildstorm's Michael Cray always a black man?

[LordAllMIghty]

So I've been reading JLark and it really makes me crave a minority team of mythical creatures like the creature commandos. Fantasy/horror elements is something we rarely see for black superheroes.

It makes me disappointed that Vixen didn't at least get a cameo the that magic bar. It would be awesome to see her normal powers switch to demon powers because of magic getting wonky.

Vixen is (or was) considered a magic user in the old DCU.
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[skyvolt2000]

Was Wildstorm's Michael Cray always a black man?

NO I think he was white in the Image version of Wildstorm. It's hard to tell with the way they use to ink some of those Image books.

[HandofPrometheus]

Vixen is (or was) considered a magic user in the old DCU.
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I miss when the magic community looked like this.

[Agent Z]

I miss when the magic community looked like this.

May I ask what's wrong with how it looks now?

[HandofPrometheus]

May I ask what's wrong with how it looks now?

It feels empty? More than half the characters here are gone, in limbo or not even reintroduced since the New 52.