Are there any People of Color Writing XMEN?

[Tycon]

Pak can't come back, he's forever cursed to only do books for Panic. He's the brave hero holding Panic back like Hulk holding the mountain up or Atlas (HA!) holding up the celestial heavens and protecting as many other franchises as he can. He couldn't protect X-Men, and hum dee dum look what happened.

CRobinson v Panic: Who Will Wield the Pak?!?

[WebLurker]

That’s why I loved Ahmed’s QS: No Surrender. I think he specifically asked th the colorist to make them brown. And then there was Doom in Gwenpool:

Never had a huge interest in Gwenpool, due to not really liking fourth-wall humor, but I do have to admit that those samples really do sell the series having the gimmick be more then a joke.

[spirit2011]

When done right anything can work. Look at TWD. From the very beginning of that show diversity was at its core. The main character was written off an all the Leads are now Female and POC. It doesn’t take away from the story. It was Organic.

Someone cast these women and POC as leads. they didn't show up from nowhere
And it mean that women and POC always have to come later of the straight white male

[Snoop Dogg]

Never had a huge interest in Gwenpool, due to not really liking fourth-wall humor, but I do have to admit that those samples really do sell the series having the gimmick be more then a joke.

Gwenpool is an actual story where the meta-stuff primarily exists for the plot and characters, the humor is actually original, clever humor.

[gifted]

Hire good talent; no matter their demographic.

However, diversify your talent. The X-Men is a people of varying colors, backgrounds, sexualities, ages, etc. There's a lot of rich culture in the world of the X-Men.

Simply put, hire talent that 1. Is good, and 2. Is diverse. Having talent consist of more cultures and experiences possibly mean more stories that have more culture. Which give stories more depth and richness -- and opens up the doors to NEW and innovative stories.

Also, there needs to be more diversity for the sake of showing that others who aren't straight, White men can make it in the industry. So, yeah. Don't hire someone just because they're of color, but hire them because they're good writers. However, with that said, there needs to be more opportunities and open doors for minorities.

Marvel can't just keep hiring "big, successful names" because they're going to be all straight, White men. They need to give others a chance to prove themselves, which is why I absolutely love that Vita is writing Prisoner X. If the writer fails, they fail. But at least they were giving a chance to tell a story. If the writer is successful, then they have the chance to keep climbing and to become a big dog like Hickman. Hoorah!

All my favorite comic writers just happen to be straight, white men -- but that's because there aren't enough of the "other" to choose from.

[Grimsmack]

But why does race matter? why start the thread in the first place? Shouldn't it be about good stories?

It HAS to matter. Because for whatever reason, there are some that exclude people-of-color and the stories they would bring with them. Never being able to ask "why?" would help those that exclude (the decision makers) stay hidden, never questioned.

Some people ask "why?", and many others "why bother?" It can be so daunting.

[Tazpocalapse]

Vita Ayala on Prisoner X.

[Tazpocalapse]

Not necessarily to the bolded...Unless she herself spent time in a corrupt prison system and knows that experience first hand...which would ultimately be different from the male experience. There are often more parameters to consider other than race/gender specificity.
I would say that...when it comes to race related issues specifically, but all writing in general, good writers do their due diligence and conduct indepth research. And still, that does not ensure the story being told will be a good one...due to the writer's technical/creative ability.

Or the person could be a spouse ,family member or close friend.

[Killerbee911]

Of course, it should be about the story and yes writer any background can write about any race and do it well BUT if you think don't having minority writers to matter to what is on the page

1. Just look at the Kyle Jenner Pepsi commercial or H&M putting a black in the coolest monkey in the jungle shirt or Dove putting actors from dark to light in a soap commercial, Old Navy (I believe) putting a white person in their black panther ad. Nothing of things are outright bad but some minorities in a room would avoid company some negative press that hurt the bottom line. Having a different point of views helps a lot.

2. Vita Alya got to do a book, Vita Alya first choice was Bishop who she grew up liking because he looked like her. Scott Lobdell created Blink who was from the Bahamas, Saladin Ahmed made her look like a black girl like 90% of the people on the island would like and he also fleshed out Judge from Miles Morales book background to be more Carribean.

X-men are an international team but most stories are the US centric, Heck most stories are east coast centric. Think about an alien story you have seen how many times have seen an alien land in Africa? The point is many of these things happen because of the writer's background and how they perceive things. Diversity helps makes those areas better. Some of my favorite characters are Sunspot, M, Bishop, Sunfire, warpath, etc in the fantasy world where I am an X-men writer who do you think is going to get more page time?

[Mackandal]

About 62% of Americans are non-Hispanic white people. (*I'd rather not be US-focused but figuring out global demographics is almost impossible and Marvel is an American company) *Half of that 62% is male and 95.5% is cishet, making only 26.5% cishet males. OP asked about POC so I don't want to digress from that, but rest assured these statistics make the problem 1000x worse.

I'm not about to do a survey of every single Marvel writer. But I would not be surprised at all if over 95% are non-Hispanic whites. I'm almost certain at least 85% are. And I bet that's the lowest that number has ever been. You don't even have to go to an era before some of you were reading comics to find a time when that number was 99% or more.

Now, I may not be a mathematician. But I'm pretty sure that the probability of 95% of "the best writers" just happening by pure random chance to belong to 62% of the population is pretty small. And the chance of this happening while almost every other creative field or position of power has similar numbers is infinitesimal.

Which means that statistically, the current crop of Marvel writers do not, in fact, represent "the best writing".

So if you claim to "just want good writing", congratulations! Thank you for supporting the fight for more diverse talent. If you still don't want diverse writers- you never actually cared about good writing. I'll let you fill in the blanks with regards to what you actually care about.

[Foon4000]

About 62% of Americans are non-Hispanic white people. (*I'd rather not be US-focused but figuring out global demographics is almost impossible and Marvel is an American company) *Half of that 62% is male and 95.5% is cishet, making only 26.5% cishet males. OP asked about POC so I don't want to digress from that, but rest assured these statistics make the problem 1000x worse.

I'm not about to do a survey of every single Marvel writer. But I would not be surprised at all if over 95% are non-Hispanic whites. I'm almost certain at least 85% are. And I bet that's the lowest that number has ever been. You don't even have to go to an era before some of you were reading comics to find a time when that number was 99% or more.

Now, I may not be a mathematician. But I'm pretty sure that the probability of 95% of "the best writers" just happening by pure random chance to belong to 62% of the population is pretty small. And the chance of this happening while almost every other creative field or position of power has similar numbers is infinitesimal.

Which means that statistically, the current crop of Marvel writers do not, in fact, represent "the best writing".

So if you claim to "just want good writing", congratulations! Thank you for supporting the fight for more diverse talent. If you still don't want diverse writers- you never actually cared about good writing. I'll let you fill in the blanks with regards to what you actually care about.

I was about to write the same thing. Thanks for putting it better. Lack of diversity is excluding talent from the comic industry.

[Devaishwarya]

What I'm describing is that colour of skin does not necessarily mean an experience often associate/assumed to go along with the said colour of skin, and that colour of skin should not be the primary focus when judging the worth/credibility of an author.

I'm all for more ideas, unique perspectives, and different voices. And that often correlates with a diversity of skin colour. But not always. I think we often put too much credit on colour, and not enough on experiences. That's the heart of what I was trying to get at, and was using myself an example. I do not know much about my Native roots and have done very little so far to inform myself of them. Because of a lack of experience, and lack of research, I would be greatly unqualified to write about such things.

I'm not trying to erase my ethnicity or pretend it doesn't exist. I just don't place my identity in it. My Native side, or German. Who I am as a person, isn't based on where I was born, or the culture of my ancestors. But that's just me. And I completely understand why someone would put their identity in their skin colour/nationality/culture/gender/sexual preference, and therefore want stories that they can relate to. And that's awesome. Sincerely.

What I personally look for in X-Men is:

1. That they treat each other like family. A cast of misfits who come together, and have a sense of belonging. Who love each other, and stand by one another.
2. High concept speculative fiction.

I don't always get both of those things in an X-Men book, and when neither happens, I'm bummed out. But these days we get a new writer every year or two, and so eventually something comes around that I enjoy. I'm extremely lucky in that regard.

What I don't look for, is characters to relate to. But I do completely understand how frustrating it would be for someone who wants that, and never seems to get it. I would be perpetually frustrated if that was what I was looking for out of my X-Men. And it's not wrong to want that. Please don't think I'm implying that. We can all love something for different reasons, and all of those reasons can be valid.

To comment on your last two lines. You are right, being white doesn't make you a better writer. That would be absurd if it did. Could you make an argument that there is a disproportionate amount of white writers? Definitely. Does hiring people of colour reduce the proportion of white writers? Definitely. Does that automatically mean more authenticity to fictional characters of colour? Not necessarily. The skill/experience/research of the author does that.

Post of the Year!!!!
Well and perfectly said.

[Devaishwarya]

Or the person could be a spouse ,family member or close friend.

That would fall under "parameters".
That is still an experience (specific to one individual and not necessarily indicative of the whole, in this case, prison commune) understood outside and apart from the writer themselves. They would still have to do the research, beyond that one person/spouse/family/friend...even with a 'first hand' account from a second/third party. To my point...any writer worth their salt can/should/must do that...regardless if they're the same race they are writing about.

To personalise...I am Black, Male, Gay, from the Caribbean, but unless I do my research and look outside of myself, I cannot presume to speak/write for all Black men; all Black Gay men; all Black Gay Caribbean men. Because my singular experience (parts of which might be shared, yes) is just that, singular and is not a true representation of the whole BMGC community.

And...neither will my "background" make my stories more engaging or interesting (with all the research, even if they are relatable) if I don't properly hone my writing skills.

[Devaishwarya]

Also to consider...the general ish is...
A: the prevalence of White men writing for and on behalf of Characters of Colour. Or...Straight Men writing Gay characters. Or...Men writing female characters. etc. etc. etc.
But...
A converse argument can be made for...
B: Women writing male characters, Gays writing straight characters, Authors of Colour writing white characters. etc. etc. etc.

There are numerous examples or really good literature from across both categories. Just as there are gawdawful examples coming out of both categories.

With the X-Men, specifically, that's so very diverse...is it fair to surmise (going by the gist of this thread) that HiX-Man can properly write only white, male characters and Female/CoC like Storm, Jubilee, Monet and Bishop will somehow be written badly? For an answer, just look at his track record.

By all means, Diversify Marvel. Diversify the X-Office. Diversify the Writing Pool.
But what it will ultimately come down to is...is the writer skilled enough to write these characters, as a group and individually, engagingly?

[JB]

That would fall under "parameters".
That is still an experience (specific to one individual and not necessarily indicative of the whole, in this case, prison commune) understood outside and apart from the writer themselves. They would still have to do the research, beyond that one person/spouse/family/friend...even with a 'first hand' account from a second/third party. To my point...any writer worth their salt can/should/must do that...regardless if they're the same race they are writing about.

To personalise...I am Black, Male, Gay, from the Caribbean, but unless I do my research and look outside of myself, I cannot presume to speak/write for all Black men; all Black Gay men; all Black Gay Caribbean men. Because my singular experience (parts of which might be shared, yes) is just that, singular and is not a true representation of the whole BMGC community.

And...neither will my "background" make my stories more engaging or interesting (with all the research, even if they are relatable) if I don't properly hone my writing skills.

Comment of the century. Being a gay, PRican man myself, I would find it silly to think that my personal experiences would make me the best writer of gay, PRican characters. I don't even know the race of most of the writers I read and I like it that way.