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Column:
Variant Coverage
Diversificated
By Adam White
Published: 06 February 2006
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In
honor of Black History Month, I thought I’d use my first
column for February to explore the cultural diversity of lead
characters throughout the comics industry in this enlightened day and
age; then I realized — I’ve already reviewed Black
Panther.
All kidding aside, can you name one comic off of the top of your
head aside from Black Panther that features any character that
is not white? For that matter, how many significant books can you
name that feature a lead female character? I decided to look into
this conundrum and see how many comic books (especially monthlies)
feature non-white, non-male leads. Therefore, I examined
Previews’ listings for Marvel, DC, and Image in the
months of March and April 2006 (these three companies being the
lion’s share of releases; plus, I didn’t have any other
publisher’s data handy).
As I mentioned before, Black Panther stands as the most
significant example, featuring the exploits of the king of the African
nation of Wakanda. Current writer Reginald Hudlin has provided some
(perhaps all) of Marvel’s much-needed “diversity” within this
title, most recently featuring iconic (yet rarely utilized) characters
such as Shang Chi, Luke Cage, and Blade (who hasn’t been used
engagingly since the 1970s); Hudlin affords them all the respect they
deserve, something that can’t be said for many others in the
last few decades. Hudlin also injects African culture into Black
Panther, which not only lends authenticity to the stories but provides
something other than Marvel New York for readers to enjoy. Granted,
Christopher Priest did all these things and more during his
magnificent run on the title a while back, but he didn’t get the
marketing push that the new series has, so Black
Panther’s current prominence in the media helps make it more
noticeable to readers.
And that was pretty much it as far as non-white males go — I
searched through all those solicitations (Marvel, DC, and Image) twice
trying to find something else, to no avail (apologies if I did happen
to miss something, or if something was not present in solicitations
due to lateness). Now, the criteria I established was that a series
had to feature these characters as the lead (or at least one of the
top two), and I was shocked yet somehow not surprised when I had
trouble locating anything beyond Black Panther. So I opened up my
search to women as well (originally a separate topic), just to have
something to write about. Lo and behold, I had a little more luck,
but not much.
At DC, I found the following: Birds of Prey,
Catwoman, Hawkgirl, and Supergirl. I will also
mention Fables since it often features prominent females.
However, Supergirl is out because it suffers from poor quality
and a lack of direction, and really does little to promote a strong
female image to readers. Which leaves three DC books featuring
positive leading female characters: Catwoman, which has the
best example of a strong-willed, fiercely intelligent and independent
woman; Birds of Prey, which does the same with several women,
especially Barbara Gordon, who represents perfectly able disabled
individuals as well (try finding that anywhere else…); and
Hawkgirl, which has yet to be released as of this writing, but
rests in the hands of two more-than-capable creators who I trust will
make the most of it. But that’s it — three books, with
rotating levels of success for each as far as story quality and
sales/recognition go. And yes, I know that I neglected to mention
Wonder Woman, but that book wasn’t solicited for those months,
and it will only join this group if it gets an upgrade in quality from
its current version.
I then searched through Marvel’s listings, finding
Daughters of the Dragon, Sable & Fortune, the
excellent She-Hulk, The Pulse, Generation M, and
X-Statix Presents: Dead Girl. I was going to include
Spider-Girl, but it’s on the chopping block (again); and
I was also going to include Amazing Fantasy, since it has
mostly featured female leads, but alas, it’s being cancelled as
well and doesn’t currently feature said female.
Araña was also absent from the listings I believe,
indicating a likely cancellation. Marvel also has upcoming series for
Spider-Woman and Ms. Marvel, both of whom are great characters, but I
doubt either series will do justice to them. Another thing to
consider is that The Pulse (which just finally recaptured some
of Alias’s glory), which does double duty as it stars
Jessica Jones and Luke Cage, will be taken over by the Generation
M team as of issue fifteen and the cast will be replaced as well
(although it will still have a capable female lead). Three of the
others mentioned are limited series, which leaves She-Hulk as
the lone ongoing series consistently featuring top notch stories
revolving around an intelligent, complex female lead utilized to her
capacity by an excellent creative team.
One last Marvel notable is the upcoming Storm miniseries,
and, regardless of its quality, it mainly serves as a continuity
retcon for her impending wedding to T’Challa in Black Panther.
I will briefly mention Ultimates as well, since in the
Ultimate-universe Nick Fury usually headlines the series. And yes, I
intentionally left out New Avengers, because although Luke Cage
is a member, he is relegated to the background and sadly serves as
little more than “muscle” for the team, and Spider-Woman does get more
“screen time” but serves as window dressing.
As for Image, I honestly didn’t find anything worth noting.
There are several books that do have women in them (or at least all
over their covers), but I discounted books that had little substance
and/or influence, and I especially threw out T&A books. Top Cow
tries with books like Witchblade and Necromancer, but
they just don’t have the consistent story quality I was looking
for regarding the purposes of this column.
My intent here is not to chastise anyone in particular or supply
reviews for individual books, but to provide an overview to readers
that shines a spotlight on the fact that there is still very little
significant diversity among the comic books that show up on the stands
each week. I’m left wondering why there are so many ongoing
series devoted to white males and virtually no one else, and think
that it is a question that the readers should be responsible for
asking. Is it because the creators are predominantly white males?
The readers? I just don’t think that is the case, and
it’s time someone started taking notice and lobbying for some
new ideas and characters that don’t fit this tacit industry
standard. If we don’t demand it, then why should the publishers
bother?
I love the old Master of Kung Fu series from the 1970s,
featuring Shang Chi. I have a huge collection of Power Man and
Iron Fist. Essential Tomb of Dracula is essential
reading as well; but where are all these characters now? Where are
the women (granted, there are more series now than there used to be,
but still not many)? Where are all the female readers demanding
something more than mindless T&A? Why can’t anyone seem to get
a solid story and/or series off the ground? Why no new series that
represent more than the usual suspects? Is there no demand? Because
there’s certainly no supply.
Look around next Wednesday and you’ll see what I mean.
—CCdC—
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