Two Black former editors at DC speak out about obstacles they faced

[achilles]

The racism is horrible and so is the sexual harassment. This stifled talent that DC desperately needed.

I, too, am upset to confirm a corporate hierarchy about which books and characters are supposed to be the most important and therefore successful.

DC always seemed unprepared when a character was a break out success. Now we know DC expected to dictate to us which characters we were to enjoy. Those fools.

This explains the many lost opportunities through the decades. DC wasn't adapting their product for their consumers...DC expected their consumers to adapt to their product.

Now we know? That's been pretty obvious for years.

[scary harpy]

Now we know? That's been pretty obvious for years.

I'm slow. Forgive me.

[Crazy Diamond]

I certainly wasn't present, but I'm not sure I'd throw around the "R" word in these situations. A lot of the time people just don't see things beyond their own perspectives, and that can lead to things that may seem racist...like having only two black editors. I don't necessarily think that's an example of overt racism as much as it is an example of people likely hiring from within their networks, and probably way more white people even wanting to get into comics versus black people. And not going out of one's way to do black people favors because they're black does not necessarily equal racism in my view. You might say they lacked consideration, and perhaps did not see or consider the value in having more people from diverse backgrounds on staff, but I dunno' if I'm ready to say that the people were racist from what I read.

As to the comment about the guy's grammar...well...was it bad? Were there errors, because there shouldn't be. The article never addresses that point from what I saw.

The problem is DC Comics had that reputation before the interview of these two editors came out. Christopher Priest on his old site had some writings about his time in comics. I remember one of them mentioning how he was told that there were people at DC to avoid because of their racism. Then there was the way Dwayne Mcduffie's firing was handled and that one editor who was put on Zuda Comics. He was Black as well and he mentioned in his interview that Jim Lee and Dan Didio basically didn't care and gave no support to the line. Considering what has been revealed in this interview there's a pattern.

Even if Richards had grammar problems (which doesn't look likely), how does that explain the other comments about "some people say you deserve this reward"?

At the least it reeks of bias and covert racism. Combined with how Corporate America typically works it frequently turns into a terrible situation.

EDIT: Turns out the Zuda Comics editor was Kwanza Osajyefo. I'm going to try and find the Newsarama article (might need to wade through archive.org for that) but here's another one: https://bleedingcool.com/comics/how-...anza-osajyefo/

[scary harpy]

I always wondered "how is it that Black Lightning can be going strong for 4+ seasons yet DC doesn't invest in getting the Black Lightning/Freeland brand rolling? at least a get a ongoing solo off the ground or something." but when you look at it like that, it makes perfect sense now. so basically DC for the last however many years have been flailing and pushing out new stuff looking for a hit, but whenever anything hit that they didn't like they basically closed their ears to it to push what they think we should want; yet they wonder why they were flailing and constantly chasing the dragon?

I think DC has been doing that for decades.

I also think that their misogyny and racism was both in their workplace and their writing.

I can only hope things have changed for the better.

[Dark Falz]

The problem is DC Comics had that reputation before the interview of these two editors came out. Christopher Priest on his old site had some writings about his time in comics. I remember one of them mentioning how he was told that there were people at DC to avoid because of their racism. Then there was the way Dwayne Mcduffie's firing was handled and that one editor who was put on Zuda Comics. He was Black as well and he mentioned in his interview that Jim Lee and Dan Didio basically didn't care and gave no support to the line. Considering what has been revealed in this interview there's a pattern.

Even if Richards had grammar problems (which doesn't look likely), how does that explain the other comments about "some people say you deserve this reward"?

At the least it reeks of bias and covert racism. Combined with how Corporate America typically works it frequently turns into a terrible situation.

EDIT: Turns out the Zuda Comics editor was Kwanza Osajyefo. I'm going to try and find the Newsarama article (might need to wade through archive.org for that) but here's another one: https://bleedingcool.com/comics/how-...anza-osajyefo/

There's no doubt been racism in the history of DC Comics. At the same time, I'm not entirely convinced that whenever something goes bad for a black person there, it's racism. In the stories these editors told, I just didn't see anything that makes me really see it. The comment about "some people say you deserve this reward"...I'm just not seeing racism. That could be taken a lot of different ways and I don't even want to pass judgment on it without having been there to witness it, or at least more accounts of the event than just this guy. Obviously, the editor took it negatively, and while I don't want to disregard his experience, I'm not seeing it as a necessarily racist action. Maybe the guy was just being an idiot and/or passive aggressive, but who's to say he wasn't that way with white employees?

[The no face guy]

No one should have to handle that stress or emotional abuse at work (or home, for that matter).

At work, DC should be helping their talent produce their best work. (Also, I thought it was the editor's job to catch mistakes. Shouting and throwing paper balls is not managerial...it's juvenile.)

I agree, but back then that was just the work culture a lot of these guys grew up in.

When I read the part of Levitz, ringing him out for the editing, and giving him an award stating "some people think you deserve this" I was like ah...I know what this is exactly about.

When you join an elite firm, if one of those old school higher ups doesn't think you have what it takes to naturally be there, regardless of the colour of your skin, it's a rough ride, and really hard to change their mind otherwise.

I've seen people drummed out in my time because they couldn't handle the stress, and I've seen old school white man abuse being misinterpreted as "I know what this is about" your picking on me because I'm not white, when it was because they walked into an old school European work culture were fear and abuse were used as methods to get you to toe the line that were totally alien to them.

I started out in the trades and it was even worse, I worked in a union shop and was being trained by an old fat guy, who would shout me, whip items across the shop that would make a huge clang everytime I messed up. I was in my early 20's and I would go home and cry every night but I put up with it because good paying union jobs are hard to come by, but within less than a year I quit. Old European men could be the worse, Greeks, Italians, and fat mean bastards from Liverpool.

There was most likely racism at DC, if he had been there for 20 years and felt it, so I am not hear to deny his experience, but when I read the part about Levitz it really clicked with what I've experienced with old school white guys in the workplace.

[Iconic]

Makes me think of:

McDuffie’s Justice League that was doomed when he wasn’t allowed to use the JL mainstays. He pretty much said that they handicapped him on that book.

The lack of a push for Blue Beetle Jaime Reyes. This character is just too dynamic to be sidelined. He’d make a great animated series.

The regression of Cyborg’s appealing, modern/futuristic Ivan Reis design back to the poor Forever Evil design.

The aging of Black Lightning. (90’s/00’s?)

The burying of John Stewart during the surge of popularity from the JL animated show.

[skyvolt2000]

Makes me think of:

McDuffie’s Justice League that was doomed when he wasn’t allowed to use the JL mainstays. He pretty much said that they handicapped him on that book.

The lack of a push for Blue Beetle Jaime Reyes. This character is just too dynamic to be sidelined. He’d make a great animated series.

The regression of Cyborg’s appealing, modern/futuristic Ivan Reis design back to the poor Forever Evil design.

The aging of Black Lightning. (90’s/00’s?)

The burying of John Stewart during the surge of popularity from the JL animated show.

They were in it.

It was just that DC wanted to slowly move them out due to events in their solo books. When he got removed from the book-Batman was written out. McDuffie had that book planned out with issue 50 seeing everyone return.

The trolls never let him do what he planned. Because they saw a few pic of JLA and Icon/Hardware and that was it.

He explained what was going on to them and they didn't listen.

Despite that the book was still a top seller.

[Iconic]

They were in it.

It was just that DC wanted to slowly move them out due to events in their solo books. When he got removed from the book-Batman was written out. McDuffie had that book planned out with issue 50 seeing everyone return.

The trolls never let him do what he planned. Because they saw a few pic of JLA and Icon/Hardware and that was it.

He explained what was going on to them and they didn't listen.

Despite that the book was still a top seller.

Conveniently, they all had events that pulled them away at the same time when McDuffie gets to the book. Hmmm....

[skyvolt2000]

Conveniently, they all had events that pulled them away at the same time when McDuffie gets to the book. Hmmm....

In terms of story lines-

Batman died.
Superman was walking the Earth or something.
WW something was happening in her book.
Hal was getting ready for Sinestro Wars.
Not sure what Aquaman was doing.
Wally was about to start his downfall as Barry returned.

I have that run and in all reality all the big guns (except Hal) was there for the most part. Everyone did not start leaving until James Robinson took over after Len Wein did 2 issues.


And one thing McDuffie pointed out was it was NOT his idea for 4 black folks to be in the book. That was Dan's/editorial's idea.

McDuffie said he would have left one of them out-I would SUSPECT it was Black Lightning because he had just finished Jason's book and did a bit of stuff with him in JLA. John & Vixen from the cartoon. BL-aside from a bit role in McDuffie's adaptation of Crisis on the 2 Earth-he did nothing with Jefferson.

Also a joke got edited out of the book. The infamous Black Bomber-who was suppose to be in Teen Titans back in the 70s (before Malcolm Duncan showed up) was shown as a black man.

He has a scene with Vixen that had the ending edited out-he asks Vixen if he can use the N word since he was black now. She say NO. Her reply is edited out. I am not sure if the question was. I have to dig up that issue.

[Frontier]

The lack of a push for Blue Beetle Jaime Reyes. This character is just too dynamic to be sidelined. He’d make a great animated series.

I might be talking out of my butt, but Jaime got a solid push when he first came out as far as Didio supporting the book even when sales weren't hot and then putting him on the Titans or the new JLI book, and he was getting pushed in some of the main DC cartoons at the time (Brave and the Bold and Young Justice).

In terms of story lines-

Batman died.
Superman was walking the Earth or something.
WW something was happening in her book.
Hal was getting ready for Sinestro Wars.
Not sure what Aquaman was doing.
Wally was about to start his downfall as Barry returned.

I have that run and in all reality all the big guns (except Hal) was there for the most part. Everyone did not start leaving until James Robinson took over after Len Wein did 2 issues.


And one thing McDuffie pointed out was it was NOT his idea for 4 black folks to be in the book. That was Dan's/editorial's idea.

McDuffie said he would have left one of them out-I would SUSPECT it was Black Lightning because he had just finished Jason's book and did a bit of stuff with him in JLA. John & Vixen from the cartoon. BL-aside from a bit role in McDuffie's adaptation of Crisis on the 2 Earth-he did nothing with Jefferson.

Also a joke got edited out of the book. The infamous Black Bomber-who was suppose to be in Teen Titans back in the 70s (before Malcolm Duncan showed up) was shown as a black man.

He has a scene with Vixen that had the ending edited out-he asks Vixen if he can use the N word since he was black now. She say NO. Her reply is edited out. I am not sure if the question was. I have to dig up that issue.

I'm pretty sure Aquaman was dead, or at least not Arthur Curry.

[John Venus]

In terms of story lines-

Batman died.
Superman was walking the Earth or something.
WW something was happening in her book.
Hal was getting ready for Sinestro Wars.
Not sure what Aquaman was doing.
Wally was about to start his downfall as Barry returned.

I have that run and in all reality all the big guns (except Hal) was there for the most part. Everyone did not start leaving until James Robinson took over after Len Wein did 2 issues.


And one thing McDuffie pointed out was it was NOT his idea for 4 black folks to be in the book. That was Dan's/editorial's idea.

McDuffie said he would have left one of them out-I would SUSPECT it was Black Lightning because he had just finished Jason's book and did a bit of stuff with him in JLA. John & Vixen from the cartoon. BL-aside from a bit role in McDuffie's adaptation of Crisis on the 2 Earth-he did nothing with Jefferson.

Also a joke got edited out of the book. The infamous Black Bomber-who was suppose to be in Teen Titans back in the 70s (before Malcolm Duncan showed up) was shown as a black man.

He has a scene with Vixen that had the ending edited out-he asks Vixen if he can use the N word since he was black now. She say NO. Her reply is edited out. I am not sure if the question was. I have to dig up that issue.

I remember that period well so some corrections:
Superman was gearing up for New Krypton.
Wonder Woman was going to get rebooted by JMS.
Aquaman was dead.
Hal was gearing for Blackest Night and Robinson's Cry for Justice (ugh) was in the works.
Final Crisis was also on the horizon.

To add to your point, there were multiple big events happening in so many non-JLA books that the JLA book was a glorified hypeman for those events.

Dwayne was very cordial in answering most of the questions. He even defended cross over events at first, it wasn't until a website compiled all his responses that it painted a broader picture of how DC was screwing him over. Dwayne couldn't even focus on non-Big 7 characters as DC couldn't make up their minds about how to use them either. They had plans for Roy in Cry for Justice and they planned to kill off Kendra in Final Crisis before changing their mind at the last minute forcing Dwayne to scrap his initial plans and he had to re-dialogue finished pages. There were also times when the artist, Ed Benes, had more power than him. Benes wanted Zatanna so he can do more cheesecake poses.

There is also the whole Milestone fiasco, DC wanted *all* the Milestone characters and not just Static so Dwayne had to jump through multiple legal hoops to get them into the DCU only for them to use just Static on Teen Titans. They didn't even bother to use anyone else until recently. Also in the Milestone mini series Dwayne wrote to get them in the DCU, they removed a Neil Gaiman quote for no real reason.

[Robanker]

I always wondered "how is it that Black Lightning can be going strong for 4+ seasons yet DC doesn't invest in getting the Black Lightning/Freeland brand rolling? at least a get a ongoing solo off the ground or something." but when you look at it like that, it makes perfect sense now. so basically DC for the last however many years have been flailing and pushing out new stuff looking for a hit, but whenever anything hit that they didn't like they basically closed their ears to it to push what they think we should want; yet they wonder why they were flailing and constantly chasing the dragon?

DC rarely rides popularity waves if the character doesn't have a bat on their chest. Sometimes you get a Blue Beetle or Power Girl where DC pushes them, but usually that falls through after a minute. Jaime is the only one I can think of where they really gave it a good effort with multiple series and media exposure.

I know you're a huge Duke fan so consider this: given his lukewarm reception at best, if he was in any other office, he would have disappeared or died by now. Even the Super or Wonder books with all their merch significance would not have protected him.

DC only commits to their sacred Bat-cow. If something else takes off, they milk it for a moment before trying to remind you Batman exists, as if that book you popular simply because you forgot to buy Batman a few months.

[Robanker]

Makes me think of:

McDuffie’s Justice League that was doomed when he wasn’t allowed to use the JL mainstays. He pretty much said that they handicapped him on that book.

The lack of a push for Blue Beetle Jaime Reyes. This character is just too dynamic to be sidelined. He’d make a great animated series.

The regression of Cyborg’s appealing, modern/futuristic Ivan Reis design back to the poor Forever Evil design.

The aging of Black Lightning. (90’s/00’s?)

The burying of John Stewart during the surge of popularity from the JL animated show.

They kept his book going for a year after it dropped into cancellation numbers the first time and were promoting it at con panels. He also had a New 52 solo and a Rebirth solo. He was a recurring guest on Batman the Brave and the Bold rivaling other popular guest star Aquaman. He was prominent in Injustice 2. I think he's in the direct to video DCAU Titans team and showed up in Young Justice as well.

Jaime is possibly the worst example of "didn't get a chance" at modern DC. For once, they actually really did try. He got a bigger push than DC classics like The Atom and rivaling if not surpassing Hawkman in terms of push. He got a fair shot. I like Jaime too and I think he should show up more, but it's not like he got dumped unceremoniously. They used him a lot and that first run got so much praise in-house they were publishing it at a loss in hopes the word of mouth would finally catch on. They really, genuinely wanted Jaime to work even when the market wasn't agreeing.

And then they did it two more times, albeit with less commitment which in business I can't exactly fault them for. I say this as someone who loves Power Girl, Zatanna, Hawkman and many other characters who don't get pushes often and when they do it's a struggle (the recently concluded Hawkman was cancelled three times behind the scenes before lurching to 29 issues). In the lean margins of the comic book industry, Jaime got a fair shot.

[Vordan]

Yeah Jaime got a fair shake. I think putting Giffen on Jaime during Rebirth was a bad call though. That said, they absolutely should try a Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle YA book, I suspect Jaime would do quite well outside the direct market. The DM doesn’t care about him, or about any B/C-Lister these days honestly.