andersonh1 wrote:
So I'm cynical about the move, but we'll see if they can sell it. I just object to the whole argument I've read several times that comics are "racist" because the majority of characters are white males, when that is only the case because of when the most successful characters were created. If DC and Marvel could have made more concepts stick in the 70s, 80s, 90s, etc. there would be more diversity in comics without having to pull stunts like Ultimate Spider-Man is doing.
I just hate sacrificing good, long-lasting characters on the altar of diversity for the sake of diversity.
I don't know if I'd say that comics are racist, but when you've got things like Ray Palmer and Ron Raymond coming back and replacing the minority versions of their superhero identities within a few months of each other...man, that just looks bad. Even if it's not done with malicious intent, it doesn't look good. And it's not like either Ron or Ray could sell a regular book for any length of time, either, so I don't know what the point was, there. That said, I did really like when the Atom got stuck at six inches and became a barbarian warrior among a hidden race of other tiny people. That was good comics, right there.
If more characters could work as well as Luke Cage has lately, then? Cage was basically a blaxsploitaion parody, but Bendis' man-crush on him got the guy into the Avengers, and now he's on both teams, and is leading one. And it feels right, not forced. The good news is that Bendis is writing the new Spider-stuff, so that's a good sign that this character might go well. I see where you're coming from on the "sacrificing good characters" thing, but...Ultimate Spidey was certainly his own dude, a very different Peter Parker than the original, but the fact that the original's still around sort of says that the character hasn't been sacrificed, exactly. You can still see regular Peter Parker doing his thing, it's just that the new guy'll be around, too.
You know, this conversation's done convinced me to pick up Static's new book come reboot time, too. Here's an original minority character that's just fuckin' awesome on his own merits, even if he does bite a few moves from Spider-Man's formula.
The Death of Spidey was a huge gimmicky mess with older characters thing, but having a black dude under the mask isn't any more gimmicky than anyone else taking over, way I see it.
I think ending the book by killing off the main character is a real downer. I can't say I even like
that idea.[/quote] Yeah, but as bleak as it sounds, he died smiling. He'd taken out his worst enemy, and saved the people he cared about, especially his Aunt May. Closer to Dinobot's death than Ironhide's, if you dig it.
Hope I haven't come off hostile here, I really haven't been trying to be. And I know you're a levelheaded dude, so I don't think this is gonna get outta hand, but figured I'd best put in a disclaimer.
No, not at all. I didn't take your tone as hostile at all. I get where you're coming from.
[/quote] Yeah, I figured that you would, but there's always the off chance, y'know? If we'd tried this conversation on TFW, I'm sure all hell'd have broken loose.
