Black Something.......

My op-ed in the LA Times touches on some of my thinking about race in comics, but if you have been reading this blog, you know there is more to my research. Here is a list for those wondering about blackness in comics.


Black Panther (1966) 1st Black Superhero
Falcon (1969), 1st African-American superhero
Eddie March, Iron Man for one issue (1970)
Black Racer (July 1971)
John Stewart (Dec. 1971, becomes star GL in 1985)
Luke Cage (1972), 1st Black Superhero with his own book
Blade (1973)
Brother Voodoo (1973)
Bronze Tiger (1975)
Storm (1975) 1st Black Superheroine
Misty Knight (1975)
Black Goliath (1975) Get his own book in 1976
Bumblebee (Teen Titans 1976)
Tyroc (1976)
Black Lightning (April 1977), 1st DC superhero with his own book
Vixen (1978), 1st DC black superheroine

This list is imperfect, but it is telling us something about race in comics. As you can see, after the Black Panther a number of black characters are introduced. The first African-American character, the Falcon is very much in the same mode as Black Panther, a character much like his white counterparts, but not white. The characters created after 1970 however, coming as they do, after the explosion of blaxiploitation film craze are very different.

If we employ a carefully analysis to the 1970s character the full impact of film depictions of African-American is clear. Blaxploitation began in 1971 with Melvin Van Peebles’ Sweet Sweetback’s Baad Asss Song and Gordon Park’s Shaft, both of which featured strong African-American men who challenged white authority. Perhaps more importantly, as the most successful independent film of 1971, Sweetback’s Baad Asss Song, highlighted the hidden economic power represented by the African-American communities. The economic impact of blaxploitation on comics came at a time when the public increasingly looked to comic books as legitimate sources of cultural understanding. By 1972, entertainment producers had begun to explore the new black militancy in film, television, and print. This new genre reveled in the perceived violence and hyper masculinity associated with African-American males. This explains at some level lack of female character introduced (gender representation is problematic in comics regardless of race) and it also explain how these characters incorporate tropes from film. Misty Knight is Coffey, Luke Cage is Shaft, and Blade blends popular horror themes with an African-American character. Other characters play on other concerns about African-American life and society. One issue is the emphasis on physicality in these characters. Virtually all the characters reference raw physical ability, while intellectual ability plays a secondary role. There are some exceptions, but even those exceptions play to stereotypes. Black Goliath is offered as ghetto kid made good in his short 1976 series. Black Lighting pretends to be ghetto to “hide” true identity as educated morally upright African-American.

The Black Panther series might spark an interest in depictions of blackness in comics. If it does, these characters may get new attention. In contemporary terms, these character have been revamped by creators like Brian Michael Bendis, who devotion to Luke Cage has placed the character in the center of the Marvel Universe. In a similar way, Dwayne McDuffie love of Vixen (and Jon Stewart) and his role as a producer on the Justice League animated series and later his time as writer for JLA comic has led to the character current important in the DC universe. Still, the history of these characters informs the current dialogue about identity and society that continues to affect the United States.