DC Africana Appreciation

[HandofPrometheus]

Steel isn't as prominent or recognizable as he was, Aqualad and Kid Flash are probably more recognizable and popular nowadays.

Agreed. Honestly, I would also voucher that Bumblebee would be over Steel or Mr. Terrific.

[Shockingjustice]

Steel isn't as prominent or recognizable as he was, Aqualad and Kid Flash are probably more recognizable and popular nowadays.

I want to agree but honestly ginger Wally still has a huge stake as the Wally with his comic book and media exposure. Aqualad Kaldur has only appeared in Young justice, yet Garth was in Titans (briefly) the teen Titans animates series, and multiple comics.

[Shockingjustice]

Agreed. Honestly, I would also voucher that Bumblebee would be over Steel or Mr. Terrific.

To be fair Mr. Terrific is having a little more exposure right now. But yeah Steel has pretty much been forgotten.

[Anthony Shaw]

I am sure Bendis can promote Steel like he did Luke Cage back in the day.

[SecretWarrior]

I just find it extremely odd that DC was willing and ready to give Vixen a solo ongoing series back in the late 1970s, but in the 21st century, when there are so many calls for diversity, DC is not willing to give her a solo. However, DC is willing to give OTHER characters solo ongoing series and give them big roles after they were just created. Something very odd is going on with DC and Vixen on the comic book side of things.

John Stewart and Mari McCabe not getting developed in the various diversity pushes, OGNs, etc. is criminally dumb. Develop the IP you already have.

[kurenai24]

You can not spend time in that Legion thread and still not get why DC has allowed for some Legionnaires to be racebent. You don't have to like racebending but playing dumb is not a good look especially when it's obvious.

[Sutekh]

You can not spend time in that Legion thread and still not get why DC has allowed for some Legionnaires to be racebent. You don't have to like racebending but playing dumb is not a good look especially when it's obvious.

What is obvious about it?

It seems to me that Bendis surgically removed the actual black (and Asian) characters like Tyroc, Invisible Kid 2, Computo, GEAR, Kid Quantum, XS, Catspaw, Glorith, Mwindaji, etc. from the lineup, and then someone pointed out that he'd somehow picked only the white Legionnaires (and Dawnstar), and then had the issues recalled and pulped and hastily recolored a couple of the white Legionnaires black, since it was too late to redraw the entire issue with the various pre-existing black (or Asian) characters. Check the beginning of that last sentence. *NINE* actual black Legionnaires he passed on (five of which have been active in the last 'classic' continuity, even if one of them, XS, was a native of the Reboot).

I would have loved to see Tyroc (especially after Levitz revamped him into a sonics guy), Computo and Glorith in this new 'Bendisboot,' carried over and then Kid Quantum introduced, since it's a new continuity anyway, there's no reason she can't be part of it.

And if there are 'too many white people,' then get rid of some. Let the Founders retire. Tellus can handle telepathy. Ayla can chuck lightning at folks. The team can live without a magnetic guy. Retire a few of the older whiter folk, and embrace some of the *many* black and Asian characters that already existed.

[Shockingjustice]

0c2151026097064dee7fbfdf00bca04b.jpg
It would have been cool to see these 2 together in the Black lightning series.

[Shockingjustice]

It's a little disheartening that big discussions of minority characters outside of this thread usually are talked about when they're replacements or when they are being treated poorly.

[9th.]

It's a little disheartening that big discussions of minority characters outside of this thread usually are talked about when they're replacements or when they are being treated poorly.

That’s exactly why I started looking elsewhere. We shouldn’t be having these discussions with 50 year old characters.

[skyvolt2000]

It's a little disheartening that big discussions of minority characters outside of this thread usually are talked about when they're replacements or when they are being treated poorly.

That is why you start taking your money ELSEWHERE.

All the mistakes of management (former and current) have come to roost. The worst thing to happen was DC letting diversity be limited to Milestone back in the day. They thought they had those guys forever and ignored everyone else aside form Steel-who already had a book before Milestone started.

Now they are trailing not jut Marvel but EVERYBODY.

If a book about a cell phone store starring a black guy can last 10 issues (maybe more if Lion Forge didn't merge with Oni Press) or 47 issues of Moon Girl-what is Dc's excuse?

It should never just one choice. Marvel put out 3 black female lead books. Yes they are now all gone but they tossed out 12 trades and all three will be on tv between now and 2020.

[Vampire Savior]

I laughed out loud when Cyborg got his spot stolen from him by Jessica Cruz in Justice League Odyssey. That's such a "Cyborg" thing to happen. I laugh because I tell people stuff like that is going to happen WELL ahead of time (DC will never prioritize black characters, at least not for any decent length of time, because that's not the company's interest or what its audience wants to see) then they don't want to listen to what I say, and then they quickly see EVERYTHING I tell them unfold right before their eyes. Then they go right back to buying this stuff when DC suckers them with some other lame scheme. At that point, these people only have their selves to blame. I don't even blame DC at that stage.

[kurenai24]

What is obvious about it?

It seems to me that Bendis surgically removed the actual black (and Asian) characters like Tyroc, Invisible Kid 2, Computo, GEAR, Kid Quantum, XS, Catspaw, Glorith, Mwindaji, etc. from the lineup, and then someone pointed out that he'd somehow picked only the white Legionnaires (and Dawnstar), and then had the issues recalled and pulped and hastily recolored a couple of the white Legionnaires black, since it was too late to redraw the entire issue with the various pre-existing black (or Asian) characters. Check the beginning of that last sentence. *NINE* actual black Legionnaires he passed on (five of which have been active in the last 'classic' continuity, even if one of them, XS, was a native of the Reboot).

I would have loved to see Tyroc (especially after Levitz revamped him into a sonics guy), Computo and Glorith in this new 'Bendisboot,' carried over and then Kid Quantum introduced, since it's a new continuity anyway, there's no reason she can't be part of it.

And if there are 'too many white people,' then get rid of some. Let the Founders retire. Tellus can handle telepathy. Ayla can chuck lightning at folks. The team can live without a magnetic guy. Retire a few of the older whiter folk, and embrace some of the *many* black and Asian characters that already existed.

The fact of the matter is, you go into that Legion thread, or you go on to twitter to those Legion accounts and no one is talking about those original minority characters b/c they weren't Legion characters who were there from the beginning. They weren't characters who were given issues upon issues of focus to make anyone care about them. They aren't the characters you think of when you're talking about Legion in the first place.

You make those original minority characters a part of the unracebent version of the cast, and we would be stuck at square one where those minority characters are getting no focus, aren't being talked about, and are being ignored. I trust Bendis to focus on them, but I've been in enough fandom spaces where I've seen people look straight through minority characters and not pay attention to their existence.

And even if you get rid of the well known white characters to make the minority characters a focus, we're dealing with the vindictiveness of comic fans who say all this stuff about supporting original minority characters but wouldn't support this book b/c they're not getting what they want which is seeing their favorite(s), and that's on top of the fact that we're then dealing with whether or not this feels like a legion book ...and yeah you might think so but I think even the people running DC would disagree b/c sometimes you can't just slap a brand name on something, sometimes characters really are the things that evoke the feeling of "ah yes I am reading a [insert name] book." and all those characters you named do not evoke that, and even if they do for you and a few other people, they don't for others, especially to the people who matter most which is the company itself.

With this change, people get the characters they want but in different packages and it's funny to watch people try to word why they dislike these changes when all that's changed (at this moment) is the skin color.

And the great thing about this racebent team is that, I could see these changes being done for a live action movie or series, or an animated movie or series; it's about time a comic got ahead of that and this is the kind of racebending I support. It doesn't effect the black characters I care about nor the black characters this thread frequently talks about, and it doesn't in the long run benefit a white character like Black Canary in the BoP movie does.

Also who lied to you...

1. Yes Lightning Lad's earliest design showed him as white but Bouncing Boy was black, so there was a black character.

2. As shown, there are other brown characters on the team, so whether a black character was a part of the cast or not doesn't really matter since the team did have minorities already, and representation is more than just black characters.

3. The new redesign of Lightning Lad was shown on Seth Meyers. Idk what all that recalling was about, maybe they sent the redesigns in too late or the editors notified everybody in the Superman offices too late, but even Bleeding Cool stated they could be making a mountain out of a mole hill (which they were), all anyone needed to do was look on Bendis instagram and they would see he had 2 pics on the new Legion and he never took them down throughout the recalling despite BC talking about backlash and changing Lightning Lad to white again.

4. It's really never as deep as people make it. If Bendis cared about the team not having enough or any black characters, he would've left Bouncing Boy black instead of having the only 2 black characters on the team (that we know of) be related which is it's own trope and issue. More than likely Bendis and Sook just wanted the Legion trio to be of different races (eg. Asian. White, and Black) and Lightning Lass being the twin/sister of Lightning Lad was changed as a result.

[Tzigone]

With this change, people get the characters they want but in different packages and it's funny to watch people try to word why they dislike these changes when all that's changed (at this moment) is the skin color.

And the great thing about this racebent team is that, I could see these changes being done for a live action movie or series, or an animated movie or series; it's about time a comic got ahead of that and this is the kind of racebending I support. It doesn't effect the black characters I care about nor the black characters this thread frequently talks about, and it doesn't in the long run benefit a white character like Black Canary in the BoP movie does.

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

[Agent Z]

And even if you get rid of the well known white characters to make the minority characters a focus, we're dealing with the vindictiveness of comic fans who say all this stuff about supporting original minority characters but wouldn't support this book b/c they're not getting what they want which is seeing their favorite(s), and that's on top of the fact that we're then dealing with whether or not this feels like a legion book ...and yeah you might think so but I think even the people running DC would disagree b/c sometimes you can't just slap a brand name on something, sometimes characters really are the things that evoke the feeling of "ah yes I am reading a [insert name] book." and all those characters you named do not evoke that, and even if they do for you and a few other people, they don't for others, especially to the people who matter most which is the company itself.

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.

And the great thing about this racebent team is that, I could see these changes being done for a live action movie or series, or an animated movie or series; it's about time a comic got ahead of that and this is the kind of racebending I support. It doesn't effect the black characters I care about nor the black characters this thread frequently talks about,

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

and it doesn't in the long run benefit a white character like Black Canary in the BoP movie does.

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.

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.