I just read this article asking the question phrased in the title. The author asks where all the black superheroes are and then . . . goes on to list quite a few of black superheroes, and if I’m not mistaken leaves quite a few unmentioned. He also at one point seems to blame the publishers for what seems more like lack of interest in a title.
He does raise some good points, but I feel like blacks are represented in comic books in a proportion that is almost equal, if not exactly equal, to their proportion in American society. Maybe I’m wrong on that; I’d be interested to compare the 2 numbers but it might be hard to count the total number of comic book characters. And I think it’s unfair to complain that “there are more characters with green skin starring in their own books than there are those with brown skin,” give the fantastic nature of the genre. Especially considering that at least one of the characters he’s referring to (I’m assuming he means Hulk and Savage Dragon) isn’t white, either.
It seems like a more relevant question, if representation is your goal, would be: where are all the hispanic superheroes? Or where are all the non-white creators?
But I think it has mostly to do with the market and comic book culture and the relative lack of blacks who are into it as much as other racial groups, though it looks as though the black fan base is increasing.
When I was a little girl, I always wondered where all the real adult female superheroes were. There was Supergirl but not Superwoman, there was Batgirl, and there was Wonder Woman, who seemed to get tied up and/or spanked a lot. I didn’t regard any of them as really adult women, who were independent superheroes. I still don’t.
Off the top of my head, he missed Steel, Spawn and Ultimate Nick Fury (who is kind of a big deal). I’m sure there are many others.
I also noticed that he seemed to poo-poo the Green Lantern and Storm, even though those two are very popular characters, just because they aren’t headlining a title right now.
And then he compared Static (of “Static Shock”) to Batman, Superman and the Justice League and then seriously asked why DC wasn’t promoting Static the way they promote Batman, Superman and the Justice League.
All in all, it felt like he was reaching to ask a question that no one thinks is a problem anymore.
Static Shock has its own cartoon on the Disney Channel. I don’t see that they aren’t promoting them. It’s just that htey aren’t iconic like Batman, Superman and the Justice League.
Well I should guess that if every black fanboy were to buy a comic book with a black superhero that would be one of the best selling comics of all time considering if a comic book sells 50,000 copies it is considered a ludicrous success. Average titles sell between 5000-10,000 copies per run, and thats for more popular titles. Your more underground and second tier sell far less than that.
Well obviously. My point is there are lots of black fanboys, lots of black people in the industry, so if there were a black character people liked it would be a hot sale if people bought it. Hell Spawn is one of the best selling titles of all time, or at least it used to be. Shadowman was one of Valiant’s hottest titles, might get a movie where he is played by a famous rapper who shall go unnamed. There are popular black superheroes, if they have a story that the kids like they’ll sell.
Well, it is not like there are hundreds of Gay superheroes, not exactly dozens of Hispanic superheroes, nor are there many superheroes that are NOT Caucasian boys/men.
However, my guess is that it has more to do with the market - up until now, the biggest market for those comics has been young white boys. I suppose it might be time to try to broaden that market, but if you were a publisher how much money would you invest in something that has not yet been proven to be a profitable niche market? Who knows - maybe it would work - but it isn’t going to be cheap to try to do it.
The publishers have been trying to do this for years. I’d guess that at least half of all recently created major characters have been minorities of one kind or another. Most of these new minority characters fail or become 2nd or 3rd tier characters because, well, that’s what happens with most new characters (comic book fandom isn’t really know for embracing change).
)