WTF!?! FOX News, are you drunk???
Read this article wherein Fox News claims there are only a few black superheroes and then goes on to support its claim in the worst way possible by showing tons of evidence that there are lots of black superheroes (for example, they mention the Museum of Black Superheroes).
Tom Brevoort (not known to be a huge fan of this blog) gets a quote in, but it feels like FOX News managed to choose the worst quote possible from Tom. Then the article gets quotes from a lot of guys I've never ever heard of who completely misrepresent black characters in comics. What, was it too hard to talk to Dwayne McDuffie or Christopher Priest? Or did they just know better than to let themselves get quoted by FOX News???
Erik Larsen is actually the most eloquent commentator on the subject, saying, "The characters in comics are often too ethnic for a white audience and too embarrassing for a black one." While holding a bit of hyperbole, the statement does manage to nail down a lingering problem at most major comic book companies: their black characters are trying to hard to be "black."
Basically, writers often overstress the heritage of non-white characters, especially black characters. This has not always been the case (see War Machine vol 1) nor is it a huge problem nowadays, but it does explain a lot. In particular, it explains the one thing FOX News manages to get right in this article - few black superheroes "have achieved mainstream appeal" (though Blade, Storm, and John Stewart have done pretty damn well for themselves).
Anyway, as an antidote to this madness, I would like to link to this list of black female superheroes that just goes on and on and on forever. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, FOX News!!!
UPDATE: Oh, wait, as I was typing this article they added an even more bizarre interactive image to the article. Again, WTF!?!
i still can't get over this article. who approved this as a well researched piece of journalism? why didn't FOX interview guys like Jamal Igle or Brian Stelfreeze or Larry Stroman or jeez even Reggie Hudlin or even one of the Milestone crew. C'MON!!! i mean i know WHY they didn't do it but seriously it still bugs me.
I agree with Erik - and that goes for any 'ethnicity'.
Could Fox write anything more ignorant? It's just another example of how news agencies operate more like Rip Van Winkle than Paul Revere. Everything is groundbreaking news to them, even if it has been happening under their nose the whole time!
And that image is retarded. Politically aimed cartoons suck. The genre died with Thomas Nast.
Nast!!!!!!!! very nice analogy, neal. you just zing that one up or has it been brewing?
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i have 'black female superheroes' on my Google Alerts so whenever the phrase appears on the internet, I get an email... I read this article on Fox's website and was pretty flabbergasted.
WHAT HAPPENED TO RESEARCH IN REPORTING??? This was a laughable article - and thanks for linking to my blog.
This person obviously doesn't take their job too seriously. Fox should never report on comics again, or if they do - they should at LEAST use Google before typing a speculative and unfounded skim piece.
Haha, I stone-cold zinged it Nick! And YES becca - google/wikipedia has effectively eliminated the 'I didn't know any better' defense.
couldn't agree with you more, Becca. most major news outlets write really dumb articles on comics, but this one is probably the dumbest i've read in a looooong time. you can really thank Comics Should Be Good! for the link because i never would have known about your blog if Brian Cronin hadn't linked to it!!!
like you said, Neal, Wikipedia essentially eliminated the "i didn't know any better" defense.......
SO SUCK ON THIS, FOX NEWS:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_black_superheroes
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becca's blog post on this article:
http://promomami.blogspot.com/2009/01/fox-news-should-never-report-on-comics.html