Originally Posted by
Emperorjones
Black people are a lot of different things, but I still would like to see the premier Black superhero, and many Black superheroes be written from an informed Black experience, and I think that can most easily come from Black creatives. I'm leery of the idea of Black characters simply becoming mouthpieces for white creators, who might just deracialize the character due to caution or fear of invoking a backlash. Of course, that doesn't mean that Black creatives might not do the same thing, or that their version of the Black experience might differ from, or even grate against, my own (which happens a lot in not just comics these days).
I don't think "race" is separate from "humanity" and I think our attempts to cleave these two ideas has led to some problems that disconnect Black characters from more genuine Black experience they are supposed to inhabit, exhibit, or represent. This might make non-Black writers skittish to delve into, but it also opens the door for white-owned corporations to just use Black creatives as the faces for things they want to say but know it wouldn't fly as easily if it came from non-Black creatives. And this also opens the door for Black creatives, with their own personal agendas or beefs, to trade in on their melanin as well.
I think about how Dwayne McDuffie wrote T'Challa and Storm in his New Fantastic Four or how Eric Wallace wrote the interplay of Vixen and the Black Tattooed Man in (I think) one of the Titans books. It's a kind of nuance that I find few non-Black writers have when it comes to writing Black characters. Doesn't mean they are bad writers, but when people know that nuance it makes it special to read because you can feel it.
If there's still a paltry number of Black creatives at Marvel and DC, and we start saying that they can't even write Black Panther, then who are they going to write or get a chance at? I don't think only Black creatives can write only Black characters, and I would like to see them get more opportunities on other books, but until that's the case, I am leery about even denying them a chance to write the Black characters. My concern right now is DC, Marvel, etc. picking Black creatives for these books who either don't like the characters they are writing, don't like themselves, or don't like straight Black males (though they are writing books about straight Black males, or straight Black male characters are in the books). I'm not too hung up on how good or bad the writers are right out the gate necessarily, because across the board it's been iffy when it comes to creatives these days and I'm willing to give people time and a chance-sometimes-to improve.