Open Letter: To The Occasional Superheroine

Dear Valerie D’Orazio,

I thought I could not say something. But it turns out I can't stay quiet. Whether we really want to or not, Fans of Colour, Fans of Cloak & Dagger are watching you.

I know you don't stop talking about the issues of agency for female heroines in the big two and the issues of agency for female writers, artists, inkers and colourists. But you are not someone who immediately comes to my mind when I think of Ally to People of Colour. And all the hype surrounding your love of Tyrone quite frankly scares me.

Tyrone already is a quiet, mysterious, dangerously powerful, black man, attached forever to a petite blonde, white woman. The opportunities for you to trip and fall flat on your face in a pile of privilege and unintentional but still incredibly painful racism is HUGE.

This is Marvel, the company that's done missteps with Misty Knight / Heroes for Hire / getting Black Hair right and/or bothering to give a damn. I don't see you getting any help or caring from that direction not to fall on your face.

And while it's true, comics being what they are and have been becoming, a Cloak & Dagger mini series can be ignored and attempted to be forgotten far easier than if you were writing the sequel to a book long since gone out of print - it doesn't make the stakes any less big.

Please don't screw up.

Yeah, I actually said please.