You know, I think Fox News gets a bad and unfair rap as being dumb or being shills for the Republicans.
Then they write up something remarkably stupid like this:
Captain Obama ... Is It Time for a Black Comic Book Superhero?
My, what an insightful and well-researched article! Clearly my entire mindset and view need to be changed because of this ground-breaking, hard-hitting journalism! Captain Picard, what do you have to say about this?
"Since their inception, there have been only a few black superheroes in comic books"
In the DCU alone, I can name Vixen, John Stewart Green Lantern, Cyborg, Black Lightning, Lightning, Thunder, Firestorm, Mr. Teriffic II, Amazing Man, Steeland Jakeem Thunder. And that's just off the top of my head as characters who are currently featured in books.
Jerry Craft, the creator of the "Mama's Boyz" strip, crafted this fine image of what he'd like a black superhero to look like, called Obamanation:
Yes, what we really want is what looks like a parody character who doesn't even remotely look aesthetically-pleasing.
"The first black superhero was Marvel's Black Panther, who showed up in a 1966 Fantastic Four story and has gained some popularity."
SOME popularity? He's got his own book (admittedly going over to a woman whose identity has not yet been revealed), was the starring feature of the second Ultimate Avengers animated film, and as the article says, is getting his own animated series soon.
"Robert J. Walker is the creator of Delete, one of the only black female superheroes in comics,"
...Who the hell is Delete and what about Monica Rambeau, Thunder, Lightning, Steel II (not sure what she's calling herself in Infinity Inc.), the Crimson Avenger II, Storm?
"We can be athletes and rappers, but not Superman. Thor saved the universe, Captain America saved the country, Spider-Man saved the city, but Luke Cage saved 125th Street (in Harlem) between Frederick Douglass and Adam Clayton Powell Boulevards."
Luke Cage has been a high-profile member of the Avengers for a few years now, plus at one point convinced the heroes of how they could do more help on a smaller-scale level, which certainly needs to be done from time to time. And he's, you know, helped save the world. Plus how many times has John Stewart saved planets, just in his role as Green Lantern across the universe or as a member of the Justice League?
I give the article credit to reaching out to independents, including the EXCELLENT artist and writer Spike of Templar, Arizona, but perhaps they should be addressing a FEW more mainstream creators. What about Dwayne McDuffie or Christopher Priest or Tony Isabella?
Is there a lack of black superheroes? Possibly. Black creators? Most certainly. But if you're not going to bother to do any real research on the subject or make false, blanket statements, then don't even bother.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Profoundly Stupid People
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21 comments:
This reminds me, one of the good parts of "Secret Invasion", was Luke Cage meeting his '70's pimp self. Word.
thank you.... i had to rip this article to shred on my blog too.
i have over 140 Black Female Superheroes profiled on my blog and this article is beyond laughable.
"both Spawn and Catwoman were black in certain iterations,"
Um, I thought Spawn was always black?
I agree with you, that is sad. People who have no knowledge of superheroes should not write articles without doing some real research.
"Obamanation". Sounds more like a supervillian than a superhero. Plus, that costume looks like no comic book character I've ever seen...well except my the Trickster.
Is it just me... or does the fact that they bring up so many points about why Obamanation is "socially acceptable" and ISN'T racist seem just slightly racist? Why does he need a Kwanzaa belt? Why can't he just be a good superhero?
Also, don't forgot about Mr. T and his T Force. They totally count.
This article reminds me of the "real life superheroes" story fox did, not because of the whole race thing but because in that story all they did was make fun of the guy they were interviewing and they didn't know what he was really out there doing for charity and all that shit...but yeah Linkara if you haven't seen that story you can probably find it on youtube under Razorhawk.
This plus the earlier report on real life superheroes that was so mocking (so I heard, I admit to having not actually seen it) is yet more proof that Fox News does not actually care about researching the issues before talking off on them.
"And characters like Storm, Luke Cage, Static, and Bishop have enjoyed a certain level of celebrity, but not the kind that has netted others their own big-budget Hollywood films."
Storm and the black Kingpin in Daredevil aside, the reason that black heroes aren't in big-budget films is that all the iconic money-making heroes are decades old. Everyone knows Superman and Spider-man, but Luke Cage and Black Panther? Not so much. Since Fox News seems to only watch the movies, they don't really think about this.
Hm........not be offensive or anything, but I think many people are just way to obsessed with Obama nowadays. "Obamination".....wow, if someone is gonna make a superhero of him, at least have the respect of giving him an actual good name please.
PS: I'm so happy that Static is finally in the DC comic universe. Hope he becomes a member of Teen Titains :)
...I just head-desked so hard I'm seeing stars.
Mr. Terrific is THE THIRD SMARTEST MAN ON THE PLANET. ON. THE DAMN. PLANET.
One of the three major Green Lanterns is black. He's incredibly intelligent. He's a damn architect. HE STOOD UP TO THE GODDAMN BATMAN.
Black Lightening is a school teacher who, by himself, fixed public schools in Chiacgo, Brick City, and Metropolis.
Spawn? A prick, yes, but African American.
Amazing Man?! A FIGUREHEAD IN THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT, HELPED KEEP NEW ORLEANS SAFE AFTER KATRINA, KICKED SO MUCH ASS IN THE JSA...GAAAH!
ARE THESE PEOPLE ON CRACK?!
Spider-Man's nickname is wallcrawler, not WEBcrawler! Fox "News" you fail as usual! Awesome find, Linkara.
Oh, and to Reepicheep-chan, Medieval Spawn wasn't black.
Let me think...
Storm is black
Black Panther is black
Luke Cage is black
Catwoman was originally black
Spawn (before Al Simmons killed himself, for Reepicheep-chan) was black
One of the Green Laterns is black
Steel is black
And and there's all the characters you mentioned, as well. But apparently most of those don't matter now.
Catwoman is white now.
Storm is Egyptian (But still black)
Green Lantern was once white
Spawn is now white (in a stupid turn of events)
I guess the black superheroes have that Michael Jackson disease? Seriously, Fox... get real.
That Obamanation thing has to be a joke. It's just can't be serious. It defies logic otherwise.
@ Daniel: Spidey's other nickname is the webslinger. Looks like they mixed those two up. O_o
Delete is one of the feww African American women to carry her own title comic book is what the article is saying. Checkout DELETE at www.cyberdelete.com
Spawn is black, isn't he? And Blade?
or i might be color blind.
No mask shows he's proud of who he is?
Wearing a mask hasn't got a goddamn thing to do with pride; it's about making sure people don't come all up in your face and murder your family.
Not trying to disguise yourself only works if you've got no civilian life, otherwise your just stupid to not try and hide who you are.
Also, his powers are to deflect racism? How the hell is that supposed to do a damn bit of good against any major superhero threats, like a super powered villain or, hell, even a gun?
Yeah I've noticed that when Fox does a "pop culture" story they tend to run it before doing a lot of research (some of their info on movies and books is also ludicrously inaccurate) because I guess it's not as important since it's just pop culture.
There are already so many black superheros and not including the ones already there is also the many in the Static Shock comics.
Did these people look at any comics at all or just asumed eery superhero is Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman?
What's really ironic is that now everyone knows that Fox News HATES Obama, thinking that he's a racist,baby killing,Muslim socialist. Retrospect, we love it! :D
How many comments are there? Whatever, only 20. I wanted to check because I didn't want to be the bazillionth person on this site who has said that this argument is full of crap. There is literally no research put into this and aren't even going by how many movies have black superheroes. They are going by the 5 - 10 superheroes they can think off the top of their head because those are the most classic. It doesn't mean they're the only ones that exist and are the only ones who have any popularity. They needed to at least go on wikipedia before writing this. Five minutes and they would know a hundred times more info. I don't care if I'm writing this comment four years after, it's still too stupid to let it slide. It doesn't really matter, I understand, but still. It's kind of insulting to the people who write these characters that there are none. (Though there is a lack of black creators, that's kind of true.)
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