Young Black Choices

I like comedy but I especially like comedy when there's a point or a good story behind it. For the record I take the subject of this blog seriously even when it's funny. During my ongoing search through the Internet for all things Black Superhero I find quite a bit of negative feelings from Black men for the lack of them in the comics and on TV. The few that were around usually presented the worst stereotypes so I get the reason for the negative feelings and I believe those feelings are warranted. There's really a lot to cover on this. I could never put all the points into one post and do them justice, hence this blog. The other day I ran into this video and thought it covered quite a bit of the issues that keep coming up in my research so I decided to include it. It's funny too. Enjoy!

Muhammad X

This character showed up in one comic only but the story had an impact on me. Muhammad X is the name of a DC comics superhero operating out of Harlem. His name is a combination his two heroes who should be obvious. He was introduced in a Superman comic as Superman one day found his way to Harlem. Muhammad X, who apparently had density and possibly gravity powers, was angered by Superman's presence saying that Black people need Black role models and shouldn't depend on White heroes that never come to Harlem anyway. Superman was taken aback by this and went to talk to various people in his support group. After talking to Steel's niece he found out there were quite a few other Black superheroes operating that he had not heard of. (I hadn't heard of them either.) When he finally returned to talk with Muhammad X he tried to explain that he was above the color issue. The story ended with Muhammad X saying something like, "Whatever lets you sleep at night."
Obviously the character was created to make a point and rightfully that point wasn't resolved in the comic book. Whether or not the character had a secret identity we may never know. I'm not too fond of the fact that Muhammad X showed up mostly as an angry Black man but I am happy that the subject matter found its way into a mainstream comic. I have to give some credit to the writers Jeph Loeb & Geoff Johns, neither of whom are Black, for writing this story. When I read it I was more than a little suprised and had to show it to someone.

Diddy's Deed

I actually like P. Diddy, not his music as much as his persona. He dreams big, he works hard, and is actually inspiring. If you look at his story you'll see the process of his rise to fame and riches is repeatable for those that have it in them. That being said, Diddy made an ignorant remark the other day that showed up on YouTube. By ignorant I mean uninformed because I truly don't think he really knew. Anyway he made a series of statements about the absence of Black Superheroes in his childhood and that thanks to Will Smith and the movie Hancock, we finally have a Black Superhero. You already know my feelings about that movie from my earlier post. The truth is, in his video, Diddy seemed to have trouble remembering White ones too. There were quite a few Black Superheroes that rose to prominence during his childhood. He just wasn't aware of them. Watch it and read below:
I didn't very much care for his comment and considered not even mentioning it in these pages but as I looked around I found that a great many people put a lot of effort into making answer videos to his. Believe it or not P. Diddy actually sparked a new level of awareness of Black Superheroes. There are hundreds and perhaps thousands of videos an comments about his post. True, many of the videos are negative but quite a few are informative and nicely done and a large portion of them weren't created by Black people either. So I have this to say:
Thanks Diddy, your words inspired an awareness of Black Superheroes that this blogger dreams of one day achieving. I may not agree with all of what you said but I am glad you said it.

Going Postal

The show "Heroes" probably uses the term too loosely as individuals with and without powers are often shown to be just the opposite. I really do enjoy the show however. That the first Black guy with powers on the show was an escaped criminal bothered me but subsequent Black characters showed up well enough. In anticipation of the upcoming new season, NBC has produced some web-only episodes (webisodes) featuring a new Black Hero. Should I be offended by the fact that he's a mailman? The trailer is below. You can also click here to check out the webisodes online for Going Postal.

A Missed Milestone

The other day my nephews were over and I showed one of them an original Static comic starring the character that Static Shock was based on. He loved it. I dug further into the crates and pulled out Icon, Hardware, and a bunch of other greats from the Milestone Universe. You remember them right? A Black owned company of writers, illustrators, and storytellers who put a little more color back into comics in a respectable and responsible way. My nephew asked me where the comics like these are today. I told him they're still around but not all together like they were at Milestone.

One of the original creators I've been following is Dwayne McDuffie as he seems to be all over the place behind the scenes in TV animation and still in the comics. Anyway I told my nephew like I tell everyone else, Black Superheroes are out there doing their thing just like Black people in real life. They just don't get the awareness that the others do. They are, after all, a minority.


Imagine my surprise to find out from this recent announcement that the Milestone characters are going to be folded into the DC Comics universe. Static will be joining the Teen Titans! I worry that these characters will suffer the fate of similar DC purchased universes but I remain relatively confident that Dwayne McDuffie will see to it that they are handled properly. Needless to say I am very excited by this prospect, not so much that DC is absorbing these characters but that I will be able to see them in new adventures in print. Time will tell.