[TheBlueMarvel]

@Von

Thanks for engaging me in a topic that most would leave alone given the potential landmines embedded within the subject matter. I was actually unaware of the current debate considering that I’ve only dipped a toe back in; collecting Strange and Herc (will be adding Black Panther…and maybe Power Man and Iron Fist). I’m not suggesting that writers must line-up ethnically (or gender-wise) with the characters they write, but I am definitely advocating that selecting writers who are personally familiar with the particular nuance of a character could potentially generate more organic stories that might in-turn appeal to a larger market of readers.

Marvel’s recent moves toward diversity have been both lauded and lamented. Lauded because more voices will create greater interest and readership. Lamented because canon has been changed to suit the initiative (i.e. Miles Morales, Nick Fury Jr, lady Thor etc). My personal opinion, as an African American who loves comic canon, is that I don’t need you to change a character who was white into a black hero. I’d rather you develop existing heroes of color and add new ones. All of this could be accomplished by increasing the diversity within your creative staff, allowing this transition to feel more natural and less forced (not to mention, this would be ‘true’ empowerment). Let me use an indirect example in the form of the Cleveland Show. I used to love Family Guy, and I feel that Seth MacFarlane is a hilarious and creative mind. However, as a black dude, I found the Cleveland show to be obnoxious and sloppy in presentation. It left me wondering if Seth knew anything about my culture outside of stereotypes and generalizations. I kept thinking to myself, “Does this dude even know anyone black in his personal life?” I’m not sure what Seth was thinking when he created the spin-off; whether he was trying to branch out or the venture was just a lark. The end result, however, demonstrated him as being outside of his depth (IMO) and the show was panned.

I’m sure Al Ewing is doing a wonderful job with Blue Marvel based on all of the praise I hear for the Ultimates book (I just can’t do ‘Ultimate’ anything). This doesn’t surprise me because Priest had a good run on Panther, years back. I actually preferred Priest’s run to Hudlin’s, due to some of Reginald’s stereotypical takes on African culture that I found to be personally offensive as a ‘Pan-African.’ Some of the dialogue made me wonder whether Hudlin knew that there are industrialized African nations outside of fictionalized Wakanda. He was heavy on tropes and it reminded me of how little (some black and white) Americans know about Africa. I don’t see this happening with Coates. My thing with Coates and Adam is that Coates is very nearly an activist in the consideration of a growing number of people. That fact, combined with the lens of his unabashedly ‘African American’ experience make him nearly a perfect candidate to write a stand-alone book about Blue Marvel. A book that in my opinion could expand exponentially on the civil rights origins that Kevin Grevioux initially wove into the character.

I hope you can appreciate this long and meandering exploration of how my mind works lol I’m not saying no one white can ever write for black characters. Rather, what I’m saying is that I’d like to see black writers (or writers of other non-status quo ethnicities and genders) get an opportunity to write their nuance into characters they share qualities with…especially when they seem so perfectly paired as Coates and Blue Marvel appear to be.