I need to find some minority super hero characters to read. Or maybe I should phrase that as - I need to take the time to organize my reading lists so that I have CoC to hand. Because it's getting ridiculous how many times I open a story and find myself counting / find myself realizing there's no reason the main characters (not the bad guys) couldn't be black or some other non white ethnicity. It's that the writers never thought of it, because to be not white is to be OTHER. And they're writing what they know in a genre they know and that genre's never showed them anything different.
But it's a bit energy draining to realize how little effort it takes for me to shift a group of brothers - black, the cop girlfriend - latina, the doctor - south asian (South Asian?).
I think the draining part comes from realizing how differently I see the world compared to these creators.
The odd flipside to this slightly sapping situation (ooh, alliteration) is that there are some things I read where I never for a second feel a need to switch races. Shadowgirls, a comic that I've discovered is a webcomic is one such property. The small town set up with its built in biases wouldn't work if I switched the races of the main characters around. The undercurrent would become something different.
On the other hand my simpatico for lack of another term, with the protagonists in that web comic is seriously strong.
Web comic reviews coming up sometime next week then? Or something else?
Analysis takes my mind off physical pain and I'm having a serious flare right now.
Friday, August 1, 2008
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Super-hero characters-of-color: Do you want on-going? Old stuff? Big Two, Little Three, Indy, Web?
ReplyDelete*hugs* :( I hope you feel better :( *moar hugs*
ReplyDeleteI want to find more minority superheroes to read about too! D:
I wish I could draw :( I'd make a webcomic about Starlight Angel (and the other Heroes United) in a flash :D Maybe I should write short stories.. :D
I hadn't heard of Shadowgirls before, but now I have! So I'm reading from the beginning :O It seems rly interesting! I haven't gotten far yet tho D:
But I like Shadowbabies! :D
Lurker:
ReplyDeleteAnything at all, actually. I don't much care where it's from. Though I have to admit that as much as I like animated Static, the few pictures I've seen of the original Milestone Comics art haven't exactly wowed me. But that's a personal preference I can deal with after hunting down more things to hold in my hot little hands.
I can't remember who the main artist for "Static" was, I was a "Blood Syndicate" follower. But yeah Milestone would be one place to check. And hopefully with their universe being merged into the DCU, then DC will make another deal with McDuffie and any others involved to get some trades finally coming out...
ReplyDeleteFor other stuff not in trade, from the 90s you have DC's Suicide Squad (Waller, Vixen, Bronze Tiger) and Marvel's New Warriors (Night Thrasher, Silhouette, Rage) for multi-racial team books...
I'll try to think of some online stuff and other boks when I'm at home and can go thru my bookmarks...
The new Blue Beetle title features a latino main character along with his family taking place in El Paso, Texas. In fact few of the character is the book are not minorities. They even had an issue almost entirely in Spanish when Jaime (BB) went to his family reunion. Great writing, great art and Matt Sturges just started his run this month. This is actually one of 2 DC comics I get and it's the one comic I look forward to reading to most.
ReplyDeleteThere's torrents of the whole Hardware series, which was mostly Denys Cowan art (he did the old Question series, some Batman and the art for GZA's liquid swords album, but he's an acquired taste.) If you've got a problem with torrenting, that's fine, you can find the issues for nothing. That was the only Milestone series that struck me as worth a damn.
ReplyDeleteI'd second the old Squad stuff too, although there isn't really anything particularly racial about the characters--they are colored differently, but all of them behave exactly the same as one another. You're not going to tell them apart in a blind taste test.
The Shilo Norman Mister Miracle? I liked that character, and he was my favorite non-Kirby Mister Miracle. I feel like he had a short run on the third version of the ongoing. Now he's sort of cannon fodder though, same with that Jason version of Firestorm.
Eh, it's a tough bag, looking for that stuff. No surprise, depressing, but no surprise. Like, yeah, I can imagine somebody out there gives a shit about Shadowhawk, and he's a minority super-hero, but--what a terrible fucking comic book.
If you can ditch the super-hero part, and you haven't done Love & Rockets yet, then fuck. Go there. It's a better comic than just about anything in current spandex, and it's got about two or three white characters at most. (And don't just dump on it when you see Luba's chest.)
I can't stand most of the webcomics I read, and the ones I like don't even feature people, so I'm no help there. (Which is a funny way to put it, because it implies I've been helpful up until this point, which assumes you haven't already tried the above titles and found them wanting.)
Best of luck. If it's any consolation, I'd like to read a super-hero title that I gave a shit about regardless of ethnicity or gender. Or sexual preference. Or fucking anything. Just something that featured a super-hero that didn't make me want to throw up.
Hopefully of they're merging in Milestone, they'll do ongoing series and also re-release trade paperbacks. I like getting back issues in trade, but a lot of the stuff I'm recommended doesn't get bound.
ReplyDelete