Marvel can't seem to do right by black characters

[XenobladerX]

SO in a Marvel universe with Reed, Forge and other nerds even Thunderball and Prodigy- NOBODY could have made him normal size? Not even Dr Strange and Brother Voodoo?

Wakanda to the rescue I guess



Marvel definitely knew what they doing having him tied up like that

[JudicatorPrime]

Here is the WORST part of that.....

I want to say the Black Panther book showed him being buried and there were no chains. I have to find that book.

And what is WORST how many copies of that trade sold? I am shocked NO ONE said something about that.

I mean are they that worried about his arms moving?

SO in a Marvel universe with Reed, Forge and other nerds even Thunderball and Prodigy- NOBODY could have made him normal size? Not even Dr Strange and Brother Voodoo?

All of the brilliant individuals in the Marvel Universe; all of the powerful individuals whose abilities run well into molecular rearrangement and reality warping. But the answer is no. That would defeat their intent.

Have you asked yourself yet why it was even necessary to show his face? Because Marvel wanted you to see that this was a Black man, a noble Black monolith by every definition of that word, that they had done this to. Chained up, in a box, with some White guys standing over him shedding crocodile tears.

Welcome to Marvel Comics, boys and girls. It's much more subtle here in these parts, but the peculiar ideology persists even here. Enjoy your stay.

[Huntsman Spider]

All of the brilliant individuals in the Marvel Universe; all of the powerful individuals whose abilities run well into molecular rearrangement and reality warping. But the answer is no. That would defeat their intent.

Have you asked yourself yet why it was even necessary to show his face? Because Marvel wanted you to see that this was a Black man, a noble Black monolith by every definition of that word, that they had done this to. Chained up, in a box, with some White guys standing over him shedding crocodile tears.

Welcome to Marvel Comics, boys and girls. It's much more subtle here in these parts, but the peculiar ideology persists even here. Enjoy your stay.

As much as I would hope that that's changed at all in the 15 years since that awfulness, if the attitudes of certain Marvel executives are anything to go by . . . probably not.

[ed2962]

Yeah, Bendis just regressed Luke for his OC.

I think having Luke grow a bit, get married and have a child in theory could have been some pretty interesting character development. The problem was that Marvel didn't build a solid ongoing for him at that point. He just sort of was hanging out Bendis's Avengers where not a lot happened ( despite selling well). David Walker's Power Man/Fist wasn't bad, but Stanford Green's art may have been too unconventional for some fans.

[Mistah K88]

Artists tend to forget Tombstone (Spider-Man) is black... so even villainy isn't safe.

[Huntsman Spider]

I think having Luke grow a bit, get married and have a child in theory could have been some pretty interesting character development. The problem was that Marvel didn't build a solid ongoing for him at that point. He just sort of was hanging out Bendis's Avengers where not a lot happened ( despite selling well). David Walker's Power Man/Fist wasn't bad, but Stanford Green's art may have been too unconventional for some fans.

And after Power Man/Iron Fist by Walker, I also recall Walker doing a Luke Cage solo run that lasted about 10 issues.

Artists tend to forget Tombstone (Spider-Man) is black... so even villainy isn't safe.

That's a good point there. And speaking of black albino villains . . . there's also Nekra, who started out as a Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) foe.

[ed2962]

And after Power Man/Iron Fist by Walker, I also recall Walker doing a Luke Cage solo run that lasted about 10 issues.



That's a good point there. And speaking of black albino villains . . . there's also Nekra, who started out as a Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) foe.

Nekra pre-dates Spider Woman. She was one of Steve Gerber's weird satire characters from the early 70's as a black albino person...Gerber also created Mandrill around the same time which I have problems with... Having said that, I thought Steve Englehart used her in an interesting way in Vision/Scarlet Witch in the 80's. There's a late 70's Avengers comic where the villain Grim Reaper is shown to be mildly prejudiced referring to Wanda as a "stinking mutant". In the later comic he's dating Nekra and she's happy that he's with her even though she's black and he says something like, "No don't say that! You're the whitest women I've ever seen!!"

[JudicatorPrime]

Nekra pre-dates Spider Woman. She was one of Steve Gerber's weird satire characters from the early 70's as a black albino person...Gerber also created Mandrill around the same time which I have problems with... Having said that, I thought Steve Englehart used her in an interesting way in Vision/Scarlet Witch in the 80's. There's a late 70's Avengers comic where the villain Grim Reaper is shown to be mildly prejudiced referring to Wanda as a "stinking mutant". In the later comic he's dating Nekra and she's happy that he's with her even though she's black and he says something like, "No don't say that! You're the whitest women I've ever seen!!"

Isn't Nekra also a mutant?

[Sandy Hausler]

Nekra pre-dates Spider Woman. She was one of Steve Gerber's weird satire characters from the early 70's as a black albino person...Gerber also created Mandrill around the same time which I have problems with... Having said that, I thought Steve Englehart used her in an interesting way in Vision/Scarlet Witch in the 80's. There's a late 70's Avengers comic where the villain Grim Reaper is shown to be mildly prejudiced referring to Wanda as a "stinking mutant". In the later comic he's dating Nekra and she's happy that he's with her even though she's black and he says something like, "No don't say that! You're the whitest women I've ever seen!!"

Nekra first appeared in the original Shanna, the She-Devil comic, long before she became linked with Ka-Zar.

[Huntsman Spider]

Nekra pre-dates Spider Woman. She was one of Steve Gerber's weird satire characters from the early 70's as a black albino person...Gerber also created Mandrill around the same time which I have problems with... Having said that, I thought Steve Englehart used her in an interesting way in Vision/Scarlet Witch in the 80's. There's a late 70's Avengers comic where the villain Grim Reaper is shown to be mildly prejudiced referring to Wanda as a "stinking mutant". In the later comic he's dating Nekra and she's happy that he's with her even though she's black and he says something like, "No don't say that! You're the whitest women I've ever seen!!"

Nekra first appeared in the original Shanna, the She-Devil comic, long before she became linked with Ka-Zar.

Thanks for the correction, both of you.

[Phoenixx9]

Nekra first appeared in the original Shanna, the She-Devil comic, long before she became linked with Ka-Zar.

True dat.

Later, Nekra was in the pages of Daredevil and Black Widow. Shanna and the Widow teamed up to take her down. Then Nekra met and fought the original Spider-Woman Jessica Drew.

[Huntsman Spider]

True dat.

Later, Nekra was in the pages of Daredevil and Black Widow. Shanna and the Widow teamed up to take her down. Then Nekra met and fought the original Spider-Woman Jessica Drew.

Enlightening bit of history there. Thanks, too.

[skyvolt2000]

I think having Luke grow a bit, get married and have a child in theory could have been some pretty interesting character development. The problem was that Marvel didn't build a solid ongoing for him at that point. He just sort of was hanging out Bendis's Avengers where not a lot happened ( despite selling well). David Walker's Power Man/Fist wasn't bad, but Stanford Green's art may have been too unconventional for some fans.

Put Sanford on X-Men or certain other books and like Greg Land all those complaints go away. Funny it's not hurting Bitter Root nor the various covers he has done at DC.

[Phoenixx9]

Enlightening bit of history there. Thanks, too.

Sure. Glad it helped.

[Huntsman Spider]

Sure. Glad it helped.

It did.

Put Sanford on X-Men or certain other books and like Greg Land all those complaints go away. Funny it's not hurting Bitter Root nor the various covers he has done at DC.

That's actually a good point. A lot of the people who complain about certain books based on them supposedly not being visually appealing enough do seem to have slightly less problems enduring the same (or similar) kind of artwork if it's attached to a bigger-name character. If Chris Bachalo can still get work despite his art being rather hard to interpret at times . . .