DC Africana Appreciation Vol. 3: 2021

[Shockingjustice]

Black Lightning easily. he already has built in sidekicks via his daughters, a potential extended cast if DC took The Outsider from Bats and made them his his team considering he of his progeny are almost always on the team, and there is always the John Stewart connection via Lynn to deepen his familial roots in the DC universe; Pierce-Stewarts could be the superhero dynasty like the West-Allens. All they need to do is introduce Freeland and they can start building his lore out properly. I had a whole pitch for a how I'd structure a Lightning Family a while back and everything.

Vixen has an entire continent that has barely been fleshed out, that she could use to build her own family as well. they could re-introduce The Kingdom and have her's be the panafrican "family" of the DC Universe.

I like your idea though I don't think outsiders will ever be considered Black Lightnings own thing and not something developed by Batman. And while I would like to see him more I'm tired of him and other Black characters being street/mid level characters. Apart of me wishes they fused him and Black vulcan from Superfriends together mainly because Vulcan was pretty powerful, at least in the way the describe him on the DC fandom wiki.

[lemonpeace]

I like your idea though I don't think outsiders will ever be considered Black Lightnings own thing and not something developed by Batman. And while I would like to see him more I'm tired of him and other Black characters being street/mid level characters. Apart of me wishes they fused him and Black vulcan from Superfriends together mainly because Vulcan was pretty powerful, at least in the way the describe him on the DC fandom wiki.

eehh i wouldn't necessarily say that. Outside of Batman i would say Black Lightning and Katana have the best claim to the Outsiders if we're looking at it as more of a DCU team. if we're talking family building, and putting aside the erronious idea that Batman needs to be there for them to sell (which, spoiler alert to DC, he won't. we all know you'll cancel the book regardless), Outsiders fit to the Lightning family better than the Batfamily. honestly I feel that the Batfamily (typically) tends to force Outsiders to be more street level than the characters (especially Black Lightning) should be. so if they want to build Black Lightning as a family/franchise, they can keep Batman as a founder (maybe make them co-founders) but Black Lightning taking ownership of that team simply makes the most sense to really elevate both parties (Black Lightning and Outsiders). that's essentially how the team is functioning right now, with Black Lightning is the leader and the only Bat on the team would honestly fit better with the Lightning family than the Batfamily. the team being founded/co-founded by Batman is honestly less problematic than them consistently making Black Lightning based in the "bad part" of Metropolis that Superman can't or doesn't protect; which just so happens to have a bunch of Black folks.

also, I don't really think they need to "fuse" him with Black Vulcan at all, we already know Black Lightning is insanely powerful and more than a street leveler. DC scaling him back, due to Isabella trying to take another crack at writing Black Lightning dealing with "urban" crime or writers trying to make him less imposing compared to folks like Batman, doesn't really change that.

[SecretWarrior]

Black Lightning easily. he already has built in sidekicks via his daughters, a potential extended cast if DC took The Outsider from Bats and made them his his team considering he of his progeny are almost always on the team, and there is always the John Stewart connection via Lynn to deepen his familial roots in the DC universe; Pierce-Stewarts could be the superhero dynasty like the West-Allens. All they need to do is introduce Freeland and they can start building his lore out properly. I had a whole pitch for a how I'd structure a Lightning Family a while back and everything.

Vixen has an entire continent that has barely been fleshed out, that she could use to build her own family as well. they could re-introduce The Kingdom and have her's be the panafrican "family" of the DC Universe.

Linking the Legion's Lightning Twins to this idea would be interesting, especially since Lightning Lass has expressed a high opinion of John during the Bendis run

[lemonpeace]

Black Manta's limited has been doing a very fascinating job building a connection between Black Manta/the Hyde family and continential Africa.

I'm curious if we'll see this newly revealed ancestory play more into Jackson and his take on Aquaman.

[Shockingjustice]

Black Manta's limited has been doing a very fascinating job building a connection between Black Manta/the Hyde family and continential Africa.

I'm curious if we'll see this newly revealed ancestory play more into Jackson and his take on Aquaman.

While that would be cool that would require the writers collaborate with each other and trade notes, which is something I think doesn't happen to often with DC.

[lemonpeace]

While that would be cool that would require the writers collaborate with each other and trade notes, which is something I think doesn't happen to often with DC.

well, Chuck Brown and Brandon Thomas are set to co-write the Aquamen book; so they're likely gonna HAVE to trade notes and collaborate to make the book coherent.

[Shockingjustice]

You know with all the talk about how iconic superman, batman, Wonder Woman, and spiderman are, DC "first" black superheroes are surprisingly irrelevant.

[SecretWarrior]

They didn't debut as superheroes (Teen Titans #26 (March–April 1970))--they got those identities later (Teen Titans #44 (November 1976)). I can't think of them as the "first" because of that, especially in-universe. Sure Black Lightning didn't debut until April 1977, but John Stewart got his power ring and costume way before then (Green Lantern #87 (December 1971/January 1972)). It would be like finding a random background Black character in a 1950s book today and giving him powers in 2021. Doesn't make him DC's first Black superhero.

[Sutekh]

You know with all the talk about how iconic superman, batman, Wonder Woman, and spiderman are, DC "first" black superheroes are surprisingly irrelevant.

Another world where Perez & Wolfman chose to use fewer original characters for their All-New Teen Titans, and repurposed Mal Duncan to be their Cyborg (with Karen replacing Silas Stone as the Star Labs lab leader who saved his life by cyborging him) could have been interesting, and a way to keep the pair relevant into the 80s. Karen could have remained out of costume, for 90% of it, being the 'woman in the chair' and Mal's tech support, for the most part, and only suiting up as Bumblebee if everyone else is captured / MIA and she has to bust them out or handle some Titans-relevant threat without them or something.

[John Venus]

Another world where Perez & Wolfman chose to use fewer original characters for their All-New Teen Titans, and repurposed Mal Duncan to be their Cyborg (with Karen replacing Silas Stone as the Star Labs lab leader who saved his life by cyborging him) could have been interesting, and a way to keep the pair relevant into the 80s. Karen could have remained out of costume, for 90% of it, being the 'woman in the chair' and Mal's tech support, for the most part, and only suiting up as Bumblebee if everyone else is captured / MIA and she has to bust them out or handle some Titans-relevant threat without them or something.

If we keep fixating on what could've/should've happened 20-30 years ago today, then 2-3 decades from now we'll be talking about all the missed opportunities of today..


Anyway, here is a drawing by Jamal Igle I saw on DC's FB page posted on 2020:

133709434_10159017682508485_3710801536373959916_n.jpg

[lemonpeace]

You know with all the talk about how iconic superman, batman, Wonder Woman, and spiderman are, DC "first" black superheroes are surprisingly irrelevant.

well if you could pitch a mythos/"family" built around Mal and Karen, how would you do it? what would be their niche? their aesthetic? who would be in their family? what would be their city/jurisdiction?

[4sake Baned]

well if you could pitch a mythos/"family" built around Mal and Karen, how would you do it? what would be their niche? their aesthetic? who would be in their family? what would be their city/jurisdiction?

I’d honestly just add them to Cyborgs, Mal would be a big brother to him ( probably make him a cousin on there mother’s side we no almost nothing imo about there mother imo anyways ) & Karen would be Vic best friend & the main person her can go over super genius/ science stuff with.. They would all would still be superheroes of course but without secret ID. Mal would be Vox without the problematic elements & a business owner something do with music, would famous RnB/New Jack Swing artists & a public hero with Very lg fan base. I’m not Drake fan but think that.

Karen one other hand would be a top mind in DCU & shown as such. I probably have her & Vic ethier take other star labs or create there own thing that’s the equivalent hopefully couldn’t be taken away from them later.

Sarah Charles would be around to act more/less as there Oracle & to be Vic love interest.

[Sutekh]

Karen one other hand would be a top mind in DCU & shown as such. I probably have her & Vic ethier take other star labs or create there own thing that’s the equivalent hopefully couldn’t be taken away from them later.

Yeah, I like the idea of Karen running a division at STAR labs (if not the whole she-bang, which she seems a little young for, plus it adds drama if some sketchy rich dude like Luthor ends up buying the place...), whether or not she takes over the Silas Stone role. Plus she could end up working at some point with Ray Palmer and then shrinking tech gets all mixed up in her potential powerset, when she does (rarely) suit up for an all-hands-on-deck situation (or a 'B-team's gotta suit up and save the A-team' situation).

Mal's interesting in that he's been Vox, Hornblower, Herald, and, in the Young Justice cartoon, even Guardian. I kind of like that he flits between roles, having never quite found one that fits him for long, and wouldn't mind having that continue, with him showing up in yet another guise, at some point. (Making him the Hank Pym/Giant-Man/Ant-Man/Yellowjacket to Bumblebee's Wasp!)

[John Venus]

My pitch: Mal Duncan and Karen Beecher as magic/science battle couple. Mal would go by Herald, he is a Homo Magi and his power manifests through musical instruments (no crazier than Zatanna having to speak backwards to make her spells work) but his preference is the horn. He is fully committed to the Herald identity, dresses similarly to his 2003 Teen Titans cartoon version albeit older and his horn is also a gift from an angel which gives him a significant power boost. Mal can open portals with his horn as well as move, assemble and disassemble objects while playing it. He can also hypnotize people with it. He also wears light weight armor underneath his costume, which is made by Karen. Meanwhile, Karen would be a former scientist at STAR Labs and a meta human who gained shrinking powers after an accident involving a Zeta Beam teleporter (or maybe a Motherbox? Just to give her a tertiary connection to Cyborg). Karen uses a glider, sting rays and a host of other gadgets. She is a woman of science while Mal is an artist and magic is an art. Mal thinks of the world in broad, abstract terms, trying to imagine new possibilities while Karen is the realist, she cares about the details and in her mind there is only a limited number of was the pieces can fit ("2+2 can't equal 5 no matter how much you may want it to"). Depending on the situation, sometimes Mal's approach works and sometimes Karen's approach is better. Mal may notice a bigger picture that Karen might not and Karen might notice a detail that Mal oversaw. At the end of the day, it's their combined effort that saves the day.

Their main base of operation would be Gabriel's Horn which I would relocate to Amnesty Bay which would give them a connection to Jackson Hyde and allow other Atlantean characters to appear. I would utilize the GH as a superhero cafe and having a rotating guest star like Jackson Hyde, Dick Grayson, Wally West, Victor Stone, Donna Troy, Aquaman, Zatanna, Shazam, Superman, basically anybody could show up. The threats they face could be either science based or magic based. A little bit of Scooby Doo mixed with X-Files. Villains could include updated versions of villains that the Teen Titans franchise don't bother with these days like the HIVE Five (Psimon, Jinx, Mammoth, Gizmo), Brother Blood along with 'off beat' villains like Black Manta, Chemo, Eclipso, Sportsmaster, Icicile, Tigress, Silver Swan and Clayface.

[Sutekh]

My pitch: Mal Duncan and Karen Beecher as magic/science battle couple. [SNIP]

That's a great pitch! Things I especially like; Mal's magic horn effects are pretty specifically defined and not just 'he says it backwards and stuff happens, except when the writer mysteriously needs it not to work because plot'. The list of former Titans allies guest-stars. The *other* non-Titans guest-stars (I like them going 'outside their lane' and growing past what we've already seen). The reverse of traditional gender assumptions, making Karen the Scully and Mal the believer. Both characters having a mix of something inherent (meta-powers, Homo Magi) and 'stuff' based powers (bug-tech, Herald's horn). HIVE as a villain, because Bumblebee has to grouse that they're infringing on her IP with the bee-themed-name.