Do Racism and Comic Books Go Hand in Hand?

[Cousin_IT]

its "true" as a general statement & not limited to comic books

 

[jboking]

However, Disney's talent for marketing may change the landscape of comics; we'll just have to wait and see.

High School musical the comic book anyone?

Storm has always been black. I have personally held the first comic with her appearance in my hands. You have no clue what you are talking about.

The second was Nick Fury in his cameo appearences in the recent marvel flicks. That character was changed because they had Samuel L Jackson in mind when the role was created.

While you are correct about the fact that the character was modeled after Sam Jackson, the first change I saw was in the Ultimates(2002).

Or Storm from the X-Men

True, storm is black, but when you remember her backstory...they have the potential to still be rather racist.

 

[Loop Stricken]

BTW, Nicholas Fisk aka The Kingpin:

Spoiler: Spot The Difference

They got rid of those awful purple trousers.

 

[skcseth]

Isn't the Green Lantern African American? ... Sometimes? (well, at least in the cartoon)

 

[AvsJoe]

While we are at it. For the 1994 Mission Impossible movie, if you were committed to having a black actor portray Ethan Hunt, who would you think would be best for the part?

Phil LaMarr. I'm sure you recognize the name. If you have no idea who he is I suggest you look him up. He's played several iconic characters and nobody seems to have heard of him.

 

[Jaebird]

One more thing: to bring up the question as to whether comic books that were initially created in a time where segregation was the norm are racist, I ask you: are you high?

 

[Mullahgrrl]

Racism has just as natural a place in comics as phrenology.

 

[scarab7]

Well getting back to the article, it's a hard sell trying to build a strong fan base with any new hero. A lot of new characters get shot down because most of the fan base has already made up their mind on which characters they like. Personally I love the new X-Men, and everyone complains about dust but no one bothers to read about her. If anything I think Marvel should try their hand at more heroes until they find something modern that people can relate to.

 

[OneBig Man]

Why is it so hard to be white nowadays? No matter what we do, somebody considers it racist.

 

[JWAN]

No,
Over sensitized, brainwashed, and quite vocal tools are just going to whine untill everyone helps wipe their asses.

Look, if they dont see enough minority superheroes they should make them up.

Like Ghandi said, "Be the change you want to see in the world"

 

[Fr331anc3r]

I think it's market appeal, any self respecting marketing analyst would hopefully agree with me. Currently the comic book market is mainly held by white males, and the comic companies want to sell lots of comics to make lots of monies.

As a white male, what could you relate to easiest, a white male superhero that came from a lower/middle class background or a black male superhero that came from the same background. As with many comics the sellers want to have people relate, and therefore buy more of their comics, if someone relates it's easier for them to get into the story, and then becoming a repeat customer is more likely to follow.

So what I am saying is: As soon as more comic book readers become black, female, asian, whatever (other than white and male) the comic book companies might start to make more lead roles be of different genders/races.

 

[Treblaine]

While we are at it. For the 1994 Mission Impossible movie, if you were committed to having a black actor portray Ethan Hunt, who would you think would be best for the part?

Phil LaMarr. I'm sure you recognize the name. If you have no idea who he is I suggest you look him up. He's played several iconic characters and nobody seems to have heard of him.

Oh course I recognise it, you really have to appreciate Kojima for putting the voice actor's name as the character is introduced, though I know find it weird that the voice of Vamp is the same as Hermes of Futurama.

 

[Bloodeye]

Wolverine is actually canadian although still white and male.

 

[Knight Templar]

I don't think that is racism per se, its not ideal for sure, but not racist either. Is it discrimination for most video game protagonists to be male? Not really, its just that is what is known to sell.

They are not holding up a group of people and saying "they are bad" or "they are good", its just a lack of diversity. That is a problem, but I don't think its racism, because that would require intent.

 

[Bloodeye]

WTF at the x-men character name Dust???

that character is quite stereotypical

we need a better Muslim character than that

I think your missing the point. Yes Dust wears the traditional Muslim attire but she is portrayed as a racially tolerant, intelligent person who does so by choice, rather then out of a sense of cliche. I honestly can't recall the last time I've seen a muslim be portrayed in such a positive manner in any media, let alone in a comic book.

 

[Charli]

Well...appreciate the honesty. Fanturds go out of their way to prove this in the most nasty and vindictive ways possible even wasting years preaching it over the internet in angry hatefilled tones when we all know it's bloody obvious anyway.

Point is we all know and he's kinda right...
It's not racist it's just how that generation developed and how the culture of comic book both fandom and buyer demographic has evolved from that.
If someone wants to go out of their way to CHANGE that. I really don't think anyone is gonna stop them.

 

[Rigs83]

...Black Panther, Falcon, Luke Cage, Misty Knight, Bill Foster, Monica Rambeau...

Ninja'd I wanted to mention Luke Cage [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luke_Cage].