Damion Scott's "Uncanny Inhumans" Hip-Hop Variant Revealed

[CBR News]

Axel Alonso has unveiled a new hip-hop variant cover for "Uncanny Inhumans" #1, with Damion Scott paying homage to Outkast and "Aquemini."


Full article here.

[HunterDoodle]

You know what they could do for Iron Fist?
vanilla-ice-ninja-turtles.jpg
It would be hilarious, and you know it.

[Tofali]

Neat

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

[NigerianNightmare]

You know what they could do for Iron Fist?
vanilla-ice-ninja-turtles.jpg
It would be hilarious, and you know it.

Yes. Add in the rest of Heroes for Hire there and it'll be perfect.

[Park Slope Pixie]

You know what would really be cool? How about giving black artists some real, ongoing gigs instead of a one-time hip hop variant (images that Marvel otherwise has no real credibility in appropriating, especially not lately).

Seems to me that Marvel's just pushing these out as some sort of "look at us, we're cool, we're down" windowdressing without actually putting in the work to validate that statement.

Fraudulent.

[Luke Cage]

I'm so tired of this appropriation B.S. That's what it is. B.S. Black people don't have a corner on Hip HOP, Style, Hair, whatever.

[Park Slope Pixie]

I'm so tired of this appropriation B.S. That's what it is. B.S. Black people don't have a corner on Hip HOP, Style, Hair, whatever.

You can be tired of it, but it's the truth.

Who are you to determine that this isn't the culture and that it shouldn't be defended zealously?

[HunterDoodle]

Seems to me that Marvel's just pushing these out as some sort of "look at us, we're cool, we're down" windowdressing without actually putting in the work to validate that statement.

Bo Burnham put it best

I wanna break it down for ya'll
I came from the streets, with nothin'
Now I'm makin' hit records
For my people still livin' in the streets,
Still livin' in poverty, I wanna tell you
I'm doin' this for you.
My success is your success.
And I know you may be thinkin',
Hey, if you really believe that,
Why don't you use some of your money
To help rebuild the neighborhood
Instead of putting spinning rims on a gold jet ski?
And to that I say (uh, chorus is comin' up)

[kuyu001]

Appropriation or no, this would be a different conversation if Marvel had more creators of color working on projects.

[Hypestyle]

Is Olivier Coipel doing any covers? They should get him to do several.

[Tofali]

I'm so tired of this appropriation B.S. That's what it is. B.S. Black people don't have a corner on Hip HOP, Style, Hair, whatever.

If the appropriation criticism is BS to you then at least it's a PR mis-step. You have to agree how weird it all looks thou. The whole point of variant is to sell books. Marvel wants to celebrate Hip Hop which is a genre of music originated and mostly sung by black/poc (i'm not that well versed in this genre so...) Marvel Comics is a publisher so the reflection will fall on their equivalent black creators and artists. How blind could they have been to not see this?

[Ceebiro]

You can be tired of it, but it's the truth.

Who are you to determine that this isn't the culture and that it shouldn't be defended zealously?

The problem is whether or not you believe that Hip-Hop has expanded beyond "black culture", which is an expression in itself exclusionary to non-black pioneers who were there in the beginning of its foundation as music and an art-form beyond music.

I wholly agree that Marvel should hire more minority creators but minority doesn't equal Hip-Hop. So just hiring more minority creators would not guarantee an authenticity. In addition, work across various kinds of art is not equal. We've seen successful creators in other mediums struggle with the transition to comics, working under editorial constraints, hitting deadlines, etc.

EDIT: One more point, who knows what opportunities these covers may provide for the creators involved. If Kris Anka can jump from covers and costume design to interiors, what's to say the same won't happen for other creators?

[Scribbles]

You know what would really be cool? How about giving black artists some real, ongoing gigs instead of a one-time hip hop variant (images that Marvel otherwise has no real credibility in appropriating, especially not lately).

Seems to me that Marvel's just pushing these out as some sort of "look at us, we're cool, we're down" windowdressing without actually putting in the work to validate that statement.

Fraudulent.

Just to be fair, will the white people of America get a memo when we're allowed to celebrate historically black pursuits like rap and hip-hop music? Because I'm not sure what the right answer is.

Ignore black culture and black America gets (very justifiably) upset. But try to embrace it, and you're either misappropriating it or not embracing it enough. Is there ever going to be a correct answer?

Also, I'm not sure why Marvel has no credibility in using hip-hop images lately. What happened that I missed?

[responsarbre]

Just to be fair, will the white people of America get a memo when we're allowed to celebrate historically black pursuits like rap and hip-hop music? Because I'm not sure what the right answer is.

Ignore black culture and black America gets (very justifiably) upset. But try to embrace it, and you're either misappropriating it or not embracing it enough. Is there ever going to be a correct answer?

Also, I'm not sure why Marvel has no credibility in using hip-hop images lately. What happened that I missed?

It's like they said in the article, Marvel is putting out hip-hop variants for sale, but they haven't hired ONE. SINGLE. BLACK. PERSON. on the creative teams of the new comics for September announced so far. Basically, the image is that they're willing to sell of homages to black culture for money when they would never ever pay a black person to create part of the Marvel Universe.

[Scribbles]

It's like they said in the article, Marvel is putting out hip-hop variants for sale, but they haven't hired ONE. SINGLE. BLACK. PERSON. on the creative teams of the new comics for September announced so far. Basically, the image is that they're willing to sell of homages to black culture for money when they would never ever pay a black person to create part of the Marvel Universe.

...And THAT is a very fair criticism. Thanks for the clarification.