Clarice Ferguson - Blink Appreciation

[Killerbee911]

Alright, and her current race and ethnicity existed since she was created.....

Yup. I have different perspective on Blink this is the most close a comic book character has come representing me on a page. Bushmaster from Luke Cage is where I am actually from but the little accurate details with Blink staying with her aunt has been dope for someone who grew up on caribbean island for example I was strangely happy to see Wolverine eating Johnny Cakes which is common thing in Caribbean islands. I get that Blink has been played by two Asian women but I love how they are expendanding on her Bahamian background.

The people upset that she doesn't look the same well that what happens in comics they draw women and men generic characters like Blink, Domino or Copycat you have no clue what is their background. When they expand into live action because artist and writers to didn't flesh out their history just about anyone can play the character so it is fine that Fa Bing and Jamie Chung has played Blink. But Blink has always been from the Bahamas which the people on the island are majority black so it makes sense the character is black. And current Exile writing team and artist have moved away from the generic look and given her clear black features if she was casted now you can pick out real person who has some of same features. Her look didn't exist before this book oh well comic book creators need to do their due diligence in fleshing out characters. Captain America is Irish American this wasn't always case that does nothing to his current look but help to flesh out his backstory some the point being details helps and more details mean you avoid convos like these ones.

I am weirdly taking the I don't like new Blink look comments a little personally. I get it is just people expressing dislike from change of what they are used to but main change is black hair style and her nose which seem to be broader on purpose. So the complains(at least for me) feels like hey something is wrong with black features which is probably not the case. Then thought pop in my head they just give her different hairstyle then she wouldn't look that different but there real issue in black community of straighten hair(and longer) being seen as more desirable over just there natural hair. Anyways enough ramblings on the racial component it is cool to have a character who has purple skin but it is plain as day what race they are because the artist but some effort in.

[Silver Fang]

Eh. In the sense that only Lobdell really knew. Her being from the Bahamas wasn't revealed till her solo, long after her debut, which was definitely missed by many.

I would've liked Blink to be Asian, just to remain consistent with the two live action pieces she's appeared in (I'm a sucker for consistency), and that the live action pieces were the first to really display her as a POC isn't really their fault.

But it is what it is at this point.

It all has to start somewhere. Everyone talks about Monet being the first Muslim, but she wasn't Muslim until X-Factor in 2006. That was 12 years after her creation by Lobdell. And plenty forget or don't know, given the praise Khan gets as being the first one. I don't think her being Muslim was ever brought up in GenX.

Plus the flippant way it was revealed is hard to take seriously.
My mother was Algerian. Most Algerians are Muslims, do the math.

Then the cringey unnatural way PAD kept bringing it up.
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*eye roll* at this line. What does being Muslim have to do with her anything here?

So, Blink was later intended to be Bahamian by a writer who started fleshing her out, and SA is now expanding on it.

But unlike PAD with Monet, Saladin Ahmed is expanding on Blink's heritage with a design reflecting it, and showing her actually being the the Bahamas and reconnecting with her family.

And it's not a retcon because prior to Blink being revealed as Bahamian, she didn't have a clear race. Like Domino she was an inhuman color and had generic features. People complained about Domino being black in the adaptation, but Rob Liefeld, the man who created her, loved Zazie and said he didn't have a race in mind when he created Domino.

Again, with Monet. There's a contrast, as Monet was clearly black when she came on the scene in 1994. She had the same features Blink has now, along with curly hair.
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But that didn't stop PAD and his team from making her Muslim, then bleaching her on top of it. Now she won't stay black. Unlike Domino & Blink, Monet was an example of clear-cut race-changing. Domino & Blink never had their race revealed or expanded on until later writers want(ed) to do so.

Meanwhile, Monet just flips around from black periodically to white. When Bunn got her in Uncanny, his creative team started making her black again & Strain stuck with it in Generation X. Now she's in Weapon X under Pak, and his creative team is making her white again -or at least towing some lines.

[Star_Jammer]

^ Yes. Just saying that Blinks origins weren't known from the very start to the reading audience (i.e. her reveal), like the poster I quoted indicated.

[BroHomo]

Eh. In the sense that only Lobdell really knew. Her being from the Bahamas wasn't revealed till her solo, long after her debut, which was definitely missed by many.

lol it Was literally 5 years after she debuted in an alternate universe crossover...I mean how many issues was she in before her Solo?

I would've liked Blink to be Asian, just to remain consistent with the two live action pieces she's appeared in (I'm a sucker for consistency), and that the live action pieces were the first to really display her as a POC isn't really their fault.

But it is what it is at this point.

Buuuut a movie changing the race of a character 15 years after it heing established is consistent!
Weird. Blink being from the Bahamas and having purple doin really put her "POC" on display for me.
Lol
Damn people seem really salty about this... like "What about Blinks familial revelations got y'all so upset?"

^ Yes. Just saying that Blinks origins weren't known from the very start to the reading audience (i.e. her reveal), like the poster I quoted indicated.

neither was Iceman's sexuality doesn't stop it from being embedded in Iceman's past appearances before the reveal

[Silver Fang]

lol it Was literally 5 years after she debuted in an alternate universe crossover...I mean how many issues was she in before her Solo?
Buuuut a movie changing the race of a character 15 years after it heing established is consistent!
Weird. Blink being from the Bahamas and having purple doin really put her "POC" on display for me.
Lol
Damn people seem really salty about this... like "What about Blinks familial revelations got y'all so upset?" neither was Iceman's sexuality doesn't stop it from being embedded in Iceman's past appearances before the reveal

Damn, yeah. Iceman is a perfect example. Given Marvel's lax attitude with continuity,, stuff like this happens all the time. A writer will do something drastic with a character or their relationships & it's now the default status quo.

Iceman will forever be gay, unless a writer has the guts to make him bisexual. It can happen. I know a woman irl who shared her story. She only dated guys, then fell for a woman & came out to her family as gay. Then she & said girl broke up, and she fell for another man, and it took her a min to really find herself & where she stood on her sexual preference. She's pansexual.

[Star_Jammer]

Buuuut a movie changing the race of a character 15 years after it heing established is consistent!
Weird. Blink being from the Bahamas and having purple doin really put her "POC" on display for me.

It was established where she was from. Do you assume everyone “from the USA” is white, just because that is the majority race? It’s funny how sometimes assuming someone’s race or country or origin is okay, and then other times it’s not...

And I meant “display” as in fleshing out her backstory; showing her origin, family, friends, etc. yknow, what we’re starting to get now.

That and purple people are a fictional POC.

Lol
Damn people seem really salty about this... like "What about Blinks familial revelations got y'all so upset?" neither was Iceman's sexuality doesn't stop it from being embedded in Iceman's past appearances before the reveal

And here I was thinking that you (and others) seemed rather upset just because I was making a clarification in the sequence of events.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

I think it's partially though that suddenly they changed her look noticeably when she had been portrayed in a very similar way up until just now, a jarring change...

[Killerbee911]

Like I said it is interesting convo

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You change her hair style a hint and there is no real difference

[Celestial]

I think it's partially though that suddenly they changed her look noticeably when she had been portrayed in a very similar way up until just now, a jarring change...

Is it really that jarring? I would understand if they changed her skin or hair color. But complaining about a hair style is a bit much. Comic book characters get different hair all the time.

[Killerbee911]

Is it really that jarring? I would understand if they changed her skin or hair color. But complaining about a hair style is a bit much. Comic book characters get different hair all the time.

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Well they changed a little more than hair,The artist used Janelle monae as a reference so they are points in comic when you look at Blink and you can clearly see her black features which makes your question more interesting. Truthful when Javier Rodriguez(issue 1 to 5) draws her she looks different but when Rod Reis(issue 6 and 7) or David marquez(covers) has drawn her she really doesn't look that different from the past.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

It's not just a different hairstyle or the length of it, her hair is not being drawn completely differently than it ever was before and her nose is different, she's like a completely different character now than she was back during the Phalanx Saga and back in AoA...

[MYCMTSC]

Few 90s artists drew noses specific to characters.

[Beetle]

Few 90s artists drew noses specific to characters.

Few artists in 2018 too

[WhiteQueenEmmaFrost]

Why does she need a "base" to start from at all? Why can't she just be purple and then anyone can say they identify with her. Once you say "this character is actually this" it brings up a lot of stereotypes and whether you like it or not comics are NOT a good medium for diversity AT ALL. Most are nothing but superficial stereotypes and it's awful.

[Celestial]

Why does she need a "base" to start from at all? Why can't she just be purple and then anyone can say they identify with her. Once you say "this character is actually this" it brings up a lot of stereotypes and whether you like it or not comics are NOT a good medium for diversity AT ALL. Most are nothing but superficial stereotypes and it's awful.

Ok. But why can't she be black?