oday DC Comics has launched a new digital-first comic book, called Represent! The first issue is free and available now, It's a Bird by Christian Cooper and Alitha E. Martinez. You may recognise Christian Cooper as the former Marvel Comics editor and Star Trek comics writer accosted in New York's Central Park while birdwatching, with threats that the person would call the police and tell them that an "African American man" was threatening her, with all that this implied. The event received national coverage and was a contributing factor to the rise of the #BlackLivesMatter movement.
"This digital series is designed to showcase and introduce creators traditionally underrepresented in the mainstream comic book medium," said executive editor Marie Javins. "We'll highlight both new and familiar voices, beginning with 'It's a Bird' by writer Christian Cooper and artist Alitha E. Martinez, a semi-fictionalized account of Christian's very real evolution from a kid with a pair of binoculars to a man in an unexpected media spotlight after an altercation with a woman walking her dog in Central Park." It's A Bird, echoing the famous Superman line, tells the story of a young Black birdwatcher gifted with a pair of binoculars that allow him to learn the stories of Amadou Diallo, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd.
Christian Cooper says that the new EIC Marie Javins and the departing VP, Global Publishing Initiatives & Digital Strategy Bobbie Chase "approached me about possibly doing a comic story that tapped into my experience. I thought, "I don't know, DC Comics? Superheroes? Not sure how that's going to work." We kicked around a couple of ideas. They said they had gotten the title, I'm not sure exactly from who, but somebody pretty high up in the DC food chain: "It's a Bird." It took me half a beat. "Oh…I get what you did there." Once I had the title, the story wrote itself."