Addenda to Yesterday's Post

Just as I was thinking further this morning about Green Lantern John Stewart, and the confusion between so many radically different versions of the Green Lantern trope, a new installment of Andrew Wheeler's excellent "No More Mutants" essays on diversity in comic books was posted online. Today's topic: "Black Label."

Writes Wheeler: 

"Thankfully the name Black Goliath was dropped after only four years, and the character’s nephew and successor goes by Goliath. We’re unlikely to see another character saddled with a name like that any time soon, even while the Thor Girls and the Lady Bullseyes continue to accumulate. Yet we do still see black versions of white characters, dating back at least as far as John Stewart, the black Green Lantern.

Stewart was followed by James Rhodes, the black Iron Man; Steel, the black Superman; Michael Holt, the black Mister Terrific; Shiloh Norman, the black Mister Miracle; Josiah Bradley, the black Captain America; Jason Rusch, the black Firestorm; Crispus Allen, the black Spectre; Jackson Hyde, the black Aqualad; and Ultimate Nick Fury, the black Nick Fury.

This is a derivative approach, but most of these characters have at least had a chance to headline their own books, which is more than can be said for most other black superheroes. I’m reminded of something Avengers editor Tom Brevoort said; 'Whenever your leads are white American males, you’ve got a better chance of reaching more people overall.' Are these latter day black Goliaths the only way to sell black heroes to an audience that reflexively rejects them? Is it easier for readers to accept a black superhero if he’s wearing hand-me-down clothing?"

Wheeler's done some excellent work on the subject, and his occasional columns are all very much worth reading.