Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics

[Bored at 3:00AM]

This is a surprisingly good documentary with a great collection of comics experts going through DC's history, warts and all. I am only 20 minutes in, but it's been great so far.

Once I saw who one of the talking heads was, I realised why I hadn't heard of this documentary before now. I can't imagine DC wants to draw any attention to this guy, even though he's clearly an expert on the history he's going over.

[Lightning Rider]

Nice, I'll have to check this out.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Nice, I'll have to check this out.

It's mostly a corporate puff piece that completely omits screwing over Seigel & Shuster or suing Fawcett into bankrupcy, but there's enough interesting tidbits in there during the talking heads segments from Waid, Levitz, Adams, O'Neil, Wein, Wolfman, McDuffie, Gaiman, Berger, Miller, and Moore that I hadn't heard before.

And, of course, he who shall not be named.

[batnbreakfast]

How can comicbooks be a white male power fantasy when they were created by immigrants and social misfits? Kinda funny that superheroes kinda "died" after world war II but survived through Television

[Vakanai]

Once I saw who one of the talking heads was, I realised why I hadn't heard of this documentary before now. I can't imagine DC wants to draw any attention to this guy, even though he's clearly an expert on the history he's going over.

And, of course, he who shall not be named.

Who are you guys talking about?

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Who are you guys talking about?

Gérard Jones

[lemonpeace]

How can comicbooks be a white male power fantasy when they were created by immigrants and social misfits? Kinda funny that superheroes kinda "died" after world war II but survived through Television

maybe because the immigrants and misfits in question were still white men...

[Johnny]

And those white men created 99% of the popular characters of color that we have today. In perspective maybe they did something for someone other than just themselves.

[batnbreakfast]

maybe because the immigrants and misfits in question were still white men...

Wish it were otherwise but its not. When it comes to superheroes what gets me excited are the characters I read as a kid (big on nostalgia) and I think the only black character from back then I remember is Falcon because he was Cap's partner. I can only hope a lot of black kids out there have a black or white hero or heroine to fall in love with (as a reader) and manage to keep the fire burning when they're all grown up

[lemonpeace]

And those white men created 99% of the popular characters of color that we have today. In perspective maybe they did something for someone other than just themselves.

not really, have you seen the state of characters of color at DC? Marvel is significantly better but the most of the most popular characters of color do not come from comics.

no one said they didn't do anything for anybody else but them making characters of color doesn't make comics not largely full of white male power fantasy. the most "important" stories of last year (Doomsday Clock) was effectively a thesis about the greatness of Superman, the epitome of white male power fantasy characters. let's not pretend there isn't a clear hierarchy at DC that just so happens to heavily favor white characters, particularly white male characters. is it intentional, not really, but that's just reality.

[lemonpeace]

Wish it were otherwise but its not. When it comes to superheroes what gets me excited are the characters I read as a kid (big on nostalgia) and I think the only black character from back then I remember is Falcon because he was Cap's partner. I can only hope a lot of black kids out there have a black or white hero or heroine to fall in love with (as a reader) and manage to keep the fire burning when they're all grown up

it's a product of the times, luckily there has been progress in terms of race in comics. unfortunately, when you have a medium that tends to deal in and lean on nostalgia, but it has roots in non-inclusive times, it makes it harder for that progress to be fully realized; which has and continues to be DC's biggest issue with diversity.

[batnbreakfast]

For a black superhero character to achieve a certain level of success he'd have to be written by a white guy. I pick up books based on writers. I'd read about John Stewart but not when a newcomer like Brian Hill does him it would have to be Morrison. I'd pick up Black Panther but when I go to the BP appreciation thread I discover that not even BP fans like what Coates is doing. Why would I pick BP up? Currently reading 35 issues of Priest's BP in trade but Priest's writing is too quirky to be enjoyable for me. Miles Morales is someone I'd go back to.... but Newbie writer. So right now there's no black superhero character for me and I'd be willing to read one.

[MoneySpider]

For a black superhero character to achieve a certain level of success he'd have to be written by a white guy. I pick up books based on writers. I'd read about John Stewart but not when a newcomer like Brian Hill does him it would have to be Morrison. I'd pick up Black Panther but when I go to the BP appreciation thread I discover that not even BP fans like what Coates is doing. Why would I pick BP up? Currently reading 35 issues of Priest's BP in trade but Priest's writing is too quirky to be enjoyable for me. Miles Morales is someone I'd go back to.... but Newbie writer. So right now there's no black superhero character for me and I'd be willing to read one.

Both Christopher Priest's and Reginald Hudlin's work on "Black Panther" helped to elevate the character and help the character achieve a certain level of success after being largely unused and ignored for a long time. And a lot of what was seen in the "Black Panther" movie was based on concepts introduced by Priest and Hudlin.

[batnbreakfast]

I know but its been a while since the Priest/Hudlin days and it'd make me happy if T'Challa's solo title were constantly more successful. Priests story is great but I don't care much for the way he tells it.