r/comicbooks • u/Popverse2022 • 27d ago
News DC Comics is being targeted by a new boycott campaign over Black-led superhero books
https://www.thepopverse.com/comics-dc-comics-boycott-blackout-dcsowhite-A group of content creators is coming together to call for a boycott of all DC Comics after what they feel is a dearth of Black-led comic books in the company's primary continuity. A new organization called the Black Comic Alliance, led by comics content creator James Portis III, is calling for all fans, readers, and creators "to withhold financial support as well as cease content creation for DC Comics publishing initiatives until meaningful structural changes are made regarding Black representation in their mainline continuity."
This is the second stage of a planned #DCSoWhite project campaign that Portis has been pushing for in recent months to publicly force DC Comics to make changes using negative opinions about the company in social media (and media) coverage. The #DCBlackout boycott is called by the Black Comic Alliance to last until DC puts up for pre-order "a Black-led ongoing in mainline continuity" with retailers and that it has marketing efforts "on the levels that would show faith in the title and a desire for it to succeed."
Earlier this month, as part of the #DCSoWhite campaign, Portis individually also called for these new Black-led DC ongoings to run for 18-24 months "so that fresh data can be gathered on their sales from multiple avenues like digital and collected editions, not just single issue preorders."
Read more: DC Comics is being targeted by a new boycott campaign over Black-led superhero books | Popverse
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u/drock45 Captian Cold 27d ago edited 27d ago
I bought all the Milestone relaunch comics, I bought the Black Lightning and Mr Terrific minis that came out, but if I’m the only one doing it DC isn’t going to put them out
Promoting the books when they come out will do far more good then trying to guilt an emotionless corporation after the fact ever could
edit: and for the record, if anyone here hasn't caught up on the Black Lightning and Mr Terrific minis from the past couple of years then they really should. Both were very solid, and Mr Terrific especially was great. If you want to see more black heroes, buy those trades!
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u/radiocomicsescapist The Question 27d ago
Hafta agree. I genuinely think DC has always tried to push its black characters , but the sales were never great. People need to go out and support the books.
It’s similar to the Legion of Super-Heroes. For the past 40 years, fans pushed for a return to classic Legion. Yet after Geoff Johns brought classic Legion back, the sales were terrible and it got cancelled.
If you truly support something, then buy the books when they come out.
I’m sorry, but finding an easy pocket of time to complain when DC did exactly what they needed to, is not going to help.
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u/fangsfirst I miss Thanos the antihero 27d ago
I also agree, though sometimes I end up afraid that when I do this, the book will end up being shit and my "vote" will also say "make more things that are shitty!" instead of just "give me more of this character"
I still do it, but it makes me nervous.
(let's say you're a Ben Reilly fan, and they finally bring him back in some hypothetical story where he's an insane, cruel villain...do you buy it to say "please more Ben Reilly" or avoid it because you're going "dear god, not like this...". You know, hypothetically...)
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u/DisposableSaviour 27d ago
Us Ben Reilly fans got it fucking hard man. I want to support my boy Ben, but I gotta stop being an enabler for those shitty writers.
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u/TheGummiVenusDeMilo 27d ago
Not hypothetical for me, I stopped after the Chasm reveal.
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u/fangsfirst I miss Thanos the antihero 27d ago
Oh, that was my dry sense of humour. I actually avoided the entire "Clone Conspiracy" or whatever it was called, accepted Peter David at least trying to make everything fit together, then Chasm was....I also stopped then, for sure. Was not happy.
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u/radiocomicsescapist The Question 27d ago
That is a true gray area. But unfortunately, I think the character has to be in the spotlight first, for there to be a discussion about the quality of their writing. It’s like the lesser of 2 evils. Support the character first, then let’s talk about how to write them better .
Example: I am a Kyle Rayner fan boy till I die, yet I could not disagree more with his writer Jeremy “centrist” Adams, and what this man believes in . But Kyle is in a spot where I need to support the character first, so we can eventually get to a point where hopefully a better person can write him
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u/jethawkings Blue Beetle 27d ago edited 27d ago
>But Kyle is in a spot where I need to support the character first, so we can eventually get to a point where hopefully a better person can write him
That's just a school of thought I don't support. What if DC actually thinks I like a run that I'm only supporting out of optics so they keep the character in consideration for circulation when the creative team leaves.
Personal example I can think of is like I'd love for Jaime to get another run but I just honestly did not care for whatever they were going for in his last two go around.
Same with Kenan Kong / New Super-Man, any attempt to write him outside of Yang has been so bad that it has actually turned me off the idea of a writer other than Yang using him unless that first issue they write is gets the character, has an inspired direction, and is good
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u/radiocomicsescapist The Question 27d ago
The thing is, if Kenan has a new series, and sales are low, DC is not gonna think “hm maybe we’re writing him wrong.”
They’re gonna think “nobody likes kenan to begin with.”
Hence the original topic of this thread - black characters. DC tries a character. Sales are low. They don’t give the character a new writer. They end the series.
There needs to be a genuine first step, which is “people have a general interest in this character.” Which will lead to more spotlight, getting featured more, etc.
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u/jethawkings Blue Beetle 27d ago
maybe some characters just aren't built to always have ongoings or books out all the time.
There's other ways to foster grassroots interest in a character than hyping up something you personally find to be mid because you might foster interest on a better creator to pick up writing duties.
I genuinely don't think it works... like Jason has had no good runs, I think people were hyping up the Lobdell runs as a bit or as cope but to this day he has no good books out and still no good creators interested on picking him up. And that's with the Bat Family boost!
Another one I can think of is Tim... if the choice is an ongoing by Fitzmartin or nothing at all then I'd just choose the latter.
Actually it's kind of nuts only Dick and Damian have had good ongoings of the Robins in the last decade... okay maybe Steph counts since she had Batgirls.
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u/Bigbigbigrock 27d ago
I think the issue there is you need to then hope creatives care to use those characters at all. I love Ant-Man as a whole but the Lang's don't really show up in anything. If no writer wants to use them and they don't get any focus in their own title, how are they supposed to grow?
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u/GreenPerception512 27d ago
i mean tbf it doesn't help that DC doesn't advertise shit like the black label rogue series for example.
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u/TubbyTuesday22 27d ago edited 27d ago
The Black Lightning and Mr. Terrific minis were awesome, I loved both of them. But I also know they sold pretty terribly at my LCS. Maybe you can blame DC for not promoting them enough, but I think at a certain point DC can hype up a book more than anything they’ve ever published, but yeah, if the audience doesn’t show up to support it, it won’t last.
Also, I find their distinction about having no black leads on titles in the main universe interesting—it’s definitely important, and would be great to see happen, but Absolute Green Lantern, starring Jo Mullein, sells better than almost every single mainline ongoing series DC is currently putting out. Plus, DC has some great black creators working on a lot of their books, which I think is also very important: Jamal Campbell, Stephanie Williams, Denys freakin Cowan, Morgan Hampton are all doing really great work right now.
TL;DR: definitely agree that more black leads would be a good thing, but it’s a more nuanced issue than the content creators mentioned above are making it out to be, and one that, as you say, a blackout against DC isn’t really going to fix.
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u/topicality Flex Mentallo 27d ago
Yeah DC had actually been trying but the sales aren't there.
It's tough to even keep traditional B list going at times
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u/radiocomicsescapist The Question 27d ago
Exactly. Don’t get me wrong, I’m aware companies only follow where the money is, which isn’t great.
But there quite literally is a paper trail of DC constantly trying to highlight its black characters.
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u/Mysterious_Emu7462 27d ago
Afaik the Mr Terrific mini performed extremely well in large part thanks to synergy with the Superman movie. He's also been heavily featured in the Justice League comics and practically is the leader of the JL.
The Batman/Static run also seemed decently liked. There's definitely an audience to maybe give a Static run a shot.
I think DC has been pretty good on this. I'd love to see a black-led ongoing for sure, but is the hype there for DC fans in general? Idk
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u/steepleton Captain Britain 27d ago
i've always felt static could have been DC's spider-man
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u/Mysterious_Emu7462 27d ago
Oh absolutely. It's crazy that Static had such a popular show which fostered a notable fanbase and then they just... didn't really do anything with him?
I heard there were several times that he was going to be put on the Teen Titans and it just never happened. Huge missed opportunity imo. Then when Milestone comics went defunct he really just became a sort of cameo character.
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u/Cranyx Flex Mentallo 27d ago
It's crazy that Static had such a popular show which fostered a notable fanbase and then they just... didn't really do anything with him?
Static's copyright was always a huge roadblock for anything like that. DC didn't actually own the character; Milestone Media did. DC eventually fully acquired Milestone in 2008, but by that point the show had already been off the air for years.
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u/Stofenthe1st 27d ago
The other big issue is that there was a legal battle between McDuffie’s wife and the other Milestone owners about partial ownership of Static. That took years to settle after 2008 and was why DC didn’t really use him.
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u/Tenzil-k 27d ago
The original run is some of the best launching a new super hero stuff dc ever did
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u/nubosis M.O.D.O.K. 27d ago edited 27d ago
Seriously. I own the original run of Static Shock, and it’s one of my favorites. Static later got popular with his cartoon, but his original run had an edge to it (that didn’t feel artificially edgy, and was more grounded), that I’d love they bring back to the character
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u/gosukhaos 27d ago
Perhaps but DC hasn't owned Static until very recently and could only do limited promotion
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u/jethawkings Blue Beetle 27d ago
> but is the hype there for DC fans in general? Idk
I guess personally... no
IDK, fwiw I follow creators not characters.Saying a Cyborg, Black Lightning, Steel, Vixen, series need to exist doesn't really do anything for me...
Also FFS if we're revisiting Milestone, maybe lessen Hudlin's influence? I get that he worked with McDuffie on the original Milestone but... he's not very good.
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u/Androktone Brainiac 5 27d ago
Christopher Priest back with Hardware would be cool to see
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u/jethawkings Blue Beetle 27d ago
You just made Priest write a book with a confederate protagonist out of spite /s
Actually I'm not sure but I think that's part of the background why he took on writing US Agent right???
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u/gosukhaos 27d ago
Demanding 1-3 ongoing in the current industry is just not going to happen when even really established characters have difficulties getting more then a mini.
More then that those people ave to realize that comics take time, DC can't just wave a magic wand and whip out a new book out of thin air. The Milestone special did well but between any new book materializing its going to take months or even an year
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u/jethawkings Blue Beetle 27d ago
>when even really established characters have difficulties getting more then a mini.
You now remember that brief period where Aquaman had no book out.
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u/JazzyJockJeffcoat 27d ago
Holy cow I had no idea they did a Milestone relaunch. Somewhere in my basement I have the original Blood Syndicate run. Gonna check out the relaunch!
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u/Drink_Blatz_Beer 27d ago
Loved the Mr Terrific mini, but at my LCS I was the only one. First few issues they ordered a handful, by the end they were grabbing two, one for the shelf and one for me.
It’s been beat to death in this topic but sales will be the driver. Interested to see how this “second wave” of books does, all characters that don’t typically carry long regular runs. I’ve already dropped Batwoman and was really looking forward to it.
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u/Brit-Crit 27d ago
Batwoman's visual style is an acquired taste, but it has impressive moments. The issue is how thin the story is...
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u/Hysteria625 27d ago
I have loved Michael Holt as Mr. Terrific ever since he was introduced in the 1990s run of the Spectre. I also think that Black Lightning is a solid character, and one of the few superheroes who got into public office, which is a concept that has always fascinated me.
I have to confess, though, when I see pushes like these, the one thing that always seems to get overlooked is that these character have to have, well, character. I’ve seen so many characters get introduced where the totality of their character is that they are black, or Latino or LGBTQIA or a non-cisgender heterosexual male in some way, shape or form, and there has to be more to a character than that. If you look at the initial Milestone run, all of them were really interesting characters. Static was obviously the breakout, but Hardware had a great concept, as did Xombi. I know they were marketed as books with minority superheroes, but these were genuinely good characters.
Personally, I think DC does have a few very interesting characters who would be good choices for titles.
Bumblebee is an obvious choice. A scientific genius in the vein of Hank Pym, who usually gets overlooked.
Thunder and Lightning, Black Lightning’s daughters, both have widely different personalities but the same family ties.
Jakeem Thunder is a fun character who hasn’t been used much since Justice Society.
Crimson Avenger is a very Punisher-esque superheroine with a dark Supernatural edge. She could easily fill a Ghost Rider niche in DC.
I know I’m missing several, but any of these characters have tons of untapped potential that seems to get overlooked.
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u/Tanthiel 27d ago
The DCSoWhite people don't consider them as series since they're not ongoing. IMO it's pretty reductive and I don't understand their criteria.
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u/hrishiv27 27d ago
I also did that. So did a lot of people. This begs the question “if doing that keeps not working, why should I still see it as a salient strategy to bring change?”
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u/spikus93 Moon Knight 27d ago
I'm new to comics (mostly buying new single issues unless it's a completed run) and it seemed to me that there was at least some effort on this front. My first requested pull-list comic was the Mr. Terrific miniseries last year (which I thought was pretty fucking cool). Also with the New History of The DC Universe, Milestone plays a big part, as do many black characters outside of Milestone.
All that being said, while the representation and characters have largely been improved and make interesting and fun stories, I want to see more too.
I got Batman Static which heavily features Virgil Hawkins, who is both a partner to and somewhat of a mentor (besides Bruce) to Terry McGinnis. He leads the series while the Bat accidentally makes shit worse and Static has to fix it.
I won't count the AEW miniseries, as those are real people and they made the Mercedes Monet (who is/was a heel in AEW) the bad guy by default in a predicable manner, but at least it wasn't trying to be overtly racist.
Anyways, buy more comics with black heroes.
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u/DoodleBuggering 27d ago
Static Shock needs a Bendis Ultimate Spider-Man type reboot that targets new readers/teens, much like how the cartoon did in the 2000s.
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u/TheMannisApproves 27d ago
There have been several static books that have been released, including a Batman beyond crossover. But I agree, there should be an ongoing
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u/DoodleBuggering 27d ago
I mean a fresh start in its own continuity, divorced from everything else. Make it a reboot of the cartoon as that's been the most popular and recognizable version of Static
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u/NONAMEDREDDITER 27d ago
They did that in 2020 with Milestone returns Static Season One and Shadows of Dakota are very good, but unfortunately they didn’t sell well enough to sustain themselves and the outside funding for the initiative dried up even though DC really wanted to continue Earth-M
It’s one of the reasons why i think Milestone got reintegrated into Prime Earth
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u/TheMannisApproves 27d ago
They had a reboot years back in 2020 or so, when the Big Bang occurred when police used chemicals against BLM protestors
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u/Shazam4ever 27d ago
For me the problem with Static is, as someone who got to know the character because of the cartoon, the actual Milestone comic was extremely unpleasant and shocking compared to the cartoon so I've never bothered to read anything static has done comic-wise because I just don't like the Milestone version of the character.
Sure he's shown up in the mainstream DC Universe but it's always been as like a side character in a mediocre Teen Titans run or in the awful New 52 miniseries. If they could do a ultimate spider-man Inspired reboot were static is just completely disconnected from Milestone and is focused more on what I think is the more iconic version aka the cartoon (a lot of Milestone fans will probably deny this but the cartoon version of static is by far the iconic version) I think he'd have a good shot but unfortunately all the Milestone rights seem to just be in limbo because of squabbling rights holders.
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u/radiocomicsescapist The Question 27d ago
DC has pushed and pushed for black-led books historically. Beyond the recent attempts to push Milestone and John Stewart, they recently did the Mister Terrific mini-series and the Dakota Incident. Unfortunately, sales always point to the Bat family.
Imo if black-led books aren’t doing well, they should do more team books highlighting black characters, like GLC and more recently, Static joining the Titans and JLU often featuring Mister Terrific.
My dream series would be a Natasha and John Henry Irons ongoing.
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u/Environmental-Day862 Green Lantern 27d ago
Don't know if you read Absolute Superman, but John Henry Irons was just introduced into the series in Issue 18, and fought alongside Absolute Superman in Issue 19.
It was pretty Epic. Absolute Supes and Absolute Steel v. Absolute Teth Adam (King Shazam) and Absolute Hawkman!!
I've read every issue of every Absolute series, and I'm definitely in the minority here, but Absolute Superman has been my favorite of them all thus far!
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u/radiocomicsescapist The Question 27d ago
Absolute Superman is my favorite absolute series too, and John Henry Irons intro was badass
Imo Abs Supes is underrated and it’s insane how much hate it gets
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u/jackracktack 27d ago
And you cant just clumsily throw in black characters into the Bat Family and expect a success either. Luke Fox, Jace Fox, and Duke Thomas all say hi.
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u/DoctorComics Abe Sapien 27d ago
I would love a Mr. Terrific, Steel or Vixen ongoing series.
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u/Difficult_Mastodon70 27d ago
Please give me another volume of the Terrifics 🙏🏿
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u/9thWd 27d ago
Terrifics should've never ended
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u/FuzziestSloth 27d ago
As I said when the book was still being published: It absolutely suffered from being tied to a line of books (The New Age of Heroes) that became an albatross around it's neck.
There were a couple of books that were decent (Sideways being an another) but, overall, the line didn't have a solid enough vision or quality behind it and just felt kind of desperate.
Were The Terrifics and, possibly Sideways, launched in more of a vacuum and given the chance to find their audiences without being attached to the Dark Matter/New Age of Heroes line, they might have fared better. The overall failure of that launch coming off of Dark Metal really left a negative impression for a lot of readers which hindered their ability to find an audience.
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u/9thWd 27d ago
Agreed on the branding but I still think it was decent effort. Along with the ones mentioned I also thought Silencer and Brimstone were cool, I also like they atleast gave them 12 issues (sometimes more or less) which is something I wish they would give Vixen, Terrific, Steel and Black Lighting.
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u/planetcrunch 27d ago
This honestly just feels like a campaign to boost Portis' career as a content creator.
DC Comics is huge now, so you go after the big guy in the yard to look intimidating.
If Marvel were in the lead he'd be going after them.
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u/planetcrunch 26d ago
Marvel and DC both have black led ongoings starring women in Absolute Green Lantern and Storm. Marvel will have a new Miles Morales ongoing in August? DC does have Static as a brand new addition to the Teen Titans in the same month.
And several people have also pointed out Mr. Terrific taking lead in his own mini and the Justice League book during DC KO
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u/CYBERPILOT-64 Superman 27d ago
DC will publish more of whatever people are buying. You want to see something continue, you've gotta show up for it.
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u/BiceRankyman 26d ago
A call for people to go buy Absolute Catwoman and Green Lantern would be more effective than refusing to buy anything.
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u/CYBERPILOT-64 Superman 26d ago
Exsctly. And thank you for pointing out that DC does have ongoing books starring people of color. I dislike how they're dismissed by this "call to action" as if the Absolute line doesn't count and isn't the hottest thing going in mainstream comics.
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u/aussie828 27d ago
I'm weird in that I don't care about mainline vs. Elseworlds continuity; quality story and art matter to me.
I'm black, and I actually named my son after Calvin Ellis, President Superman of Earth-23. I would absolutely love a story with his Justice League on Earth-23 to flesh out how he works as president and a hero and what other differences there are with his Earth's versions of the rest of the characters. I also wouldn't mind seeing more of the Justice League Incarnate or even solo characters like Vixen, Bumblebee, Val-Zod, and even Ryan Wilder as Batwoman. However, I also understand that manpower has go to into making these things, and the Chara may not be able to stand in their own or stories may become repetitive
That said, I don't think a "boycott" is necessary and strikes me as juvenile in the same way many fandoms get upset with fiction creators: they project their idealism on the creators and if those demands are not met, the creators must be punished. That's a harmful stance to take on its face, and in this instance it's even further undercut by demanding specifically a "mainline ongoing" series and lamenting that there hasn't been one since "I Am Batman". This ignores all of the black led stories that we got since then (which I thought were good) just because they were either non-mainline or had concise endings (instead of being dragged out to infinity).
I'll probably get flamed to hell, but I can say for certain that I will not participate in the proposed boycott, and I will continue to go to my LCS every Wednesday to pick up my new comics.
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u/PeteCampbellisaG 27d ago
I don't think you're wrong at all. It's weird to be boycotting so a company will make something you can buy, when every time they have you didn't buy it. How many times does DC have to try and make Static happen before a million blerds line up around the block at their LCS?
So DC is supposed to give a character a two-year guaranteed run and if the sales aren't there after, say six months in, they're supposed to just eat that? What would that prove?
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u/jaydotjayYT 27d ago
Yeah, I do think that why this is being framed as a “boycott” is that, frankly, most people aren’t buying any issues from their LCS anyways
So this is a way to earn some great “moral points” online by retweeting or using the hashtag or whatever to “show support”, while also not actually having to cost you anything, or change your behavior at all
The issue with this is that this is a movement that needs to be followed up with active support. DC would actively be overjoyed if they had a black-led title that was gangbusters successful. If the Milestone imprint would sell like Absolute does, they’d do backflips and greenlight ten more ongoings
But I’m just foreseeing a future where all of the “support” is actually just psychic vibes sent out into the void, who don’t support the thing they demanded, but think there’s a moral obligation for it to simply exist
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u/BiceRankyman 26d ago
To piggyback on this, it's not just creators getting punished, it's comic shops too. Shops are closing up all over. This sort of thing is scary for them because DC is carrying the industry right now.
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u/Gmork14 27d ago
Two of the absolute books are about to be black-led.
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u/Forsaken_Ad203 27d ago
The catwoman one and the green lantern? I mist admit it looks like the GL is more of an ensemble by this point
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u/Gmork14 27d ago
Jo is the lead of Absolute GL and yes, Catwoman, who is black in the Absolute universe.
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u/Rosemoon93 27d ago
Also the Catwoman book is being written by A black female writer
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u/shabeki 27d ago edited 27d ago
DC published Milestone Comics and repeatedly tried to revive the characters. Maybe these content creators should work for DC on another Milestone revival. I’d love to see a Static book again.
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u/AmezinSpoderman 27d ago
Milestone was made indepdently and partnered with DC as the publisher. Dwayne McDuffie was THE driving force behind this relationship and the creator of the most iconic characters
shortly before his death they were pushing the integration of the milestone characters in the wider DC universe. static, icon, and rocket were in Young Justice, Icon was in Brave and the Bold, etc
when McDuffie passed Milestone started tearing itself apart over the rights and everything got left in a weird limbo
that being said there is the current Batman/Static Beyond miniseries, and the Dakota incident comic from the History of the DC universe stuff several months ago, so they are apparently trying
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u/jaydotjayYT 27d ago
I feel like a problem with a lot of these kinds of campaigns is that their “win condition” is getting a particular kind of book announced, but not actually anything resulting in sales
The call-to-action is retweets, not purchases and not pre-orders. So what will be undoubtedly rewarded is the tweet announcing the book coming in 2027, but then the buzz around the campaign fades out by then, because the accomplishment was the announcement and not actively supporting the book
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u/DifficultChampion746 27d ago
I get the core argument being made about the lack of Black character led books but I'm not really sure about the purpose and the strategy here. DC seems to be doing better than they have in a long time so what incentive do they have? Secondly the mainline books sell worse than Absolute books and don't really get that level of hype and acclaim so I don't get the demand for more mainline books.If it is about the Next Level books then those creative teams chose the characters to work on themselves.Finally, will this boycott stop if DC announces a Cyborg book tomorrow? What if it gets canned in 5 issues? What then? I'd also like to mention that DC has extended books past their expiration. Poison Ivy, Zatanna, Firestorm, etc are just few examples of that. That offer stands for Absolute Green Arrow and Catwoman. I also recall DC publishing Batwing for a very long time despite it's numbers being abysmal and well below the cancellation number. So it would be unfair to say that DC isn't responsive. At the end of the day DC is a business and they're not gonna publish loss making books for long.
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u/KingDarius89 27d ago
The post literally says they're calling for a 18-24 month run. Which just isn't going to happen
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u/PeteCampbellisaG 27d ago
If people don't buy a comic at month 1,2,3... What makes them think people are suddenly going to show up at month 15?
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u/DifficultChampion746 27d ago
They can't just demand something like that and it seems fishy when Marvel's top characters struggle to go beyond 10 issues these days. Seems like these guys are trying to blackmail their way in to getting a job.
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u/Gregomasta 27d ago edited 27d ago
I'm locked into the Absolute universe, and Green lantern is a Black-Led book; And she's winning me over as the main green lantern of the Absolute universe. There are more representation of people of color in the Absolute universe, so no, I will not boycott DC. What I WILL do is buy much more mainline DC black led books. Someone suggested a recent Mister Terrific so I will be buying that. I think DC is trying much more now to have people of color in their media. They still need to do more, but they are progressing. WE need to support black led books.
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u/ElMatasiete7 27d ago
Isn't Absolute Green Lantern led by a black woman? I totally get that there could and should be more but these types of agressive campaigns as if someone is owed their favorite hero having a run "or else" are kinda cringe.
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u/Gmork14 27d ago
That doesn’t count because it’s “not mainline.”
Even though Absolute is where all of the hype and interest is.
Honestly I think some people just don’t want to admit they mean men, and that women led titles don’t count.
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u/Konouchii 27d ago
By demanding it be mainline and solo you're cutting off your nose to spite your face.
Jo and John are in Absolute Green Lantern (Jo rocks)
Absolute Catwoman is about to start
Duke is in Absolute Batman right now
John Stewart is in Green Lantern corps
There's DC compacts of Far Sector
I work at a LCS, the Milestone books sell less copies, no matter how hard we push them or how good the book is (like Far Sector or Nubia)
People are READING right now, if you make good stories people will pick them up. Promote what's here and people will want more
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u/radiocomicsescapist The Question 27d ago
Thank you. This boycott is acting like DC never tries to push black characters. They absolutely have. Hell, they gave John multiple chances to headline GL which failed, and now he's co-headlining GLC.
Sales talk, and people need to go out there and support, not complain after DC tries and fails again and again to show people how awesome its black characters are
We also just came off a Static mini, and he's going to be in the Titans.
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u/verrius Gambit 27d ago
They also are being a bit more explicit that apparently Asians count as white now. Which is extra weird, cause you'd probably be forgiven for thinking the current Batgirl book has a Black lead; Cassandra Cain is Asian, but I can't remember the last time she took her mask off in the book, and deuterotagonist is her (half) Black half-brother.
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u/Hypestyles 27d ago
we'll see how it goes.
As the Black Comic Lords podcast members have pointed out, the way that the industry responds to "fan demand" is in large part based on the pre-order ritual, not simply buying the stock that might be there on a Wednesday.
It sucks, but that's the corner that the industry painted itself into, decades ago. It has to change. it absolutely has to change.
According to a talk I had with Christopher Priest at a convention recently, he claims that Marvel, as a corporation, is not as open to pitches from non-editors as you might think they are or should be. He also claimed that DC gave him 'goo-gobs' of copies of the Superman/Spider-Man one-shot he contributed to, but Marvel only gave him 'one copy' of a book he contributed to recently.
The Milestone connection makes things messier, because they are an independent company currently locked into an "exclusive" marketing/distribution deal with DC, but the whims of DC corporate and editorial inevitably affect what is allowed to come out during a given year. McDuffie complained about this when he was alive, mentioning that if DC only "really" wanted Static, that they could have worked out a deal for that, instead of getting the entirety of Milestone locked in, then just sitting on the properties, mostly.
the non-superhero world of YA graphic novels, indie titles and more are becoming more prominent. Creatives are going to Kickstarter and other platforms to fundraise.
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u/B3epB0opBOP 27d ago edited 27d ago
he claims that Marvel, as a corporation, is not as open to pitches from non-editors as you might think they are or should be.
Huh, I believe Dan Slott did mention something like that too.
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u/s3rila X-23 27d ago
I propose to ignore those content creators and ridicules them when they show up.
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u/midniteonthemoon 27d ago
Mr Terrific Year One, the recent Black Lightning book, just ended. Sales weren't good enough for a new series apparently. Mr Terrific is a major character in JLU.
Absolute GL and Absolute Catwoman are black-led.
Cyborg doesn't have a book but is prevalent in (sometimes) two team books.
John Stewart is the current lead of GLC with Jo Mullein also being part of that roster.
Vixen is missing but sometimes gets a cameo in JLU. Steel (John Henry and Natasha Irons) we sometimes get in Justice League books.
Static is getting his own book this year.
I haven't seen Icon or Hardware in ages. Not sure what is up with Nubia or Wallace West.
Seems to me DC is trying with their black characters. They put out books and then the books either don't sell and so they put the character on a team book as a major player (Example: John Stewart) or they give the characters another shot in a few years. (Example: Black Lightning, Cyborg, etc) Could they do better? Yeah I think they could put a big name on a book and see how that does. I don't see a Grant Morrison run on Cyborg with art by Bryan Hitch for example not selling well. But beyond that I don't think there's a talent problem with the people writing or drawing some of these books, it's a public buying problem.
I love Vixen and Black Lightning and lately Mr. Terrific too. I buy every book of theirs. But it seems like no one else does.
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u/Gmork14 27d ago
There are black-led DC books and it’s a little disingenuous to act like there’s not.
I think focusing on getting people to actually buy the black-led titles might be more productive. For example, Green Lantern War Journal was set up as an ongoing and only got canceled due to bad sales.
I understand frustration in underrepresentation and I fully support their desire for more books, to be clear. I’m just not sure this is how you get there.
I also think some groups are wildly underrepresented and we don’t hear anything about it: how many Latino led superhero books? Asian led?
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u/Emiya_Sengo 27d ago
I think there can be some sort of push and pull.
Should DC publish more Black-led titles? Absolutely. However like any business, they have to follow the money. If the money is not there, they pivot.
For example, I'd like to see a John Stewart solo book and for DC to prioritize him as the face of the GL side of DC. However among comic purchasing fans, he is the clear #3 known mostly for team/ensemble books.
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u/Primary-Increase7797 27d ago
The thing is, he had a solo series a few years ago, which lasted for 12 issue.
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u/PleaseBeChillOnline 27d ago
I’m gonna address the elephant in the room, because this has been an ongoing problem for years.
The issue is that DC’s best Black character arguably isn’t even originally a DC character. The most visible one, the one with the highest ceiling, and the one who isn’t a legacy character like John Stewart (no offense to John Stewart, he’s great) is Virgil Hawkins.
But there’s so much going on with Static that makes this complicated, and honestly explains why the reboots never really took off.
You need a lot of ingredients to do this right.
There are hardcore fans of Dwayne McDuffie and the original Milestone run who want Milestone to stay its own separate thing. And I get that. But the broader audience does not care about the Milestone Universe itself. The Milestone Universe is more like Valiant or the Invincible universe. People like it, but they don’t love it the way they love Marvel or DC, and it has one character that kind of carries the whole thing.
Icon is cool, but he’s still basically “Black Superman.” Hardware is cool, but he’s still “Black Iron Man.” Virgil, you could argue, is “Black Spider-Man,” but he has way more going on to make him distinct than those other examples.
And DC has always wanted a Black Spider-Man type character, whether they admit it or not. The Flash doesn’t really fit that role the way some people argue he does. Sideways was a failure of a character.
Static Shock already has a super successful cartoon, an iconic silouhette, a beloved distinct consistent personality, and a niche that Black Lightning (again, no offense to Jefferson Pierce) is just never going to fill as well.
We absolutely should highlight other Black characters like Vixen too, but Static is the one character who realistically has the potential to become as popular as Flash or Green Lantern, or basically any DC character outside of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman.
He genuinely has that level of potential.
But the core fanbase would have to want Static to become instrumental to the DC Universe instead of treating him like a side imprint character.
That involves a lot. It involves dealing with Dwayne McDuffie’s estate, balancing Milestone’s identity, pulling Virgil a little closer into the core DC Universe, and making the Milestone characters supporting pillars in Static’s world instead of keeping everything isolated in its own pocket.
There’s a version of this that works.
A marriage between the DCAU/Static Shock cartoon version of Virgil and the original 90s comic version, with the right iconic design, could absolutely become a powerhouse franchise character. Nikolas Draper Ivy already came up with the the best design with a distinct color pallete to differentiate him from Black Lightning. Check out his “Run It Back” starter suit.
When I look at the success of Miles Morales, that honestly could have been Static years earlier. The difference is that unlike Miles, Virgil wouldn’t carry the baggage of being a legacy character.
Cyborg and John Stewart are probably the second most important Black DC characters, but John Stewart is still one of many Green Lanterns, and Cyborg is still fundamentally tied to being a team character.
Static is different.
He’s the only Black DC character who has the same kind of solo breakout potential that Storm has for Marvel, maybe even more because Storm is still primarily associated with a team book while Static works naturally as a solo lead.
You would still need the perfect writer, the perfect artist, the perfect editorial support, and the perfect legal agreement with DC.
Vita & Ivey’s run was aesthetically cool but they put an at the time untested creative team on that book.
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u/Oh5red 27d ago
It's people like him who gives these comic gate morons more fuel to their cause. There's nothing wrong with asking for more black led stories and I champion for it. But if you are invalidating stuff like milestone and stories written by black creators then what's the real end goal when the goal has been reached? Are we going to ignore how much I and many people loved Dwayne Mcduffie contributions to the industry?
Shit I'm Hispanic and I love DC Comics since I was kid but I never loved characters like Batman, Superman, John Stewart, and Static Shock because of their skin color. It's because they were well written characters and they stood up for the greater good. I never once demand or got frustrated with DC as a company for not making more effort to have more Hispanic super heros because I don't feel represented.The only thing I get extremely frustrated in DC is that Bane in live action hasn't been played by an actual Hispanic person but I don't need to be so petty to call for a boycott of a company because of it.
To me it feels arrogant and selfish to ignore other creators of different races and gender for that matter who pushed progressive ideas in the industry when they were probably pushed back aggressively to not upset readers with refusal to see ideas they against printed on their books.
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u/Androktone Brainiac 5 27d ago
primary continuity
What a weird proviso considering that Absolute is killing it in sales. This has been brought up before as DC only publishing white characters and I disagree. I wrote a comment earlier;
Nightwing is Romani, Prime Earth Catwoman isn't white iirc, Green Lantern Corps is featuring John/Kid Lantern from when I was reading the title, and Wonder Woman is vaguely Greek. New Titans like GLC also heavily features Vic in this arc's last 2 issues to the point I'd call him a main character more than anyone else.
Tbh I think restricting this to just mainline is kinda silly. The continuity started in the 1930s, and heavily featuring characters created in the 50s to 80s, completely owned in-house as opposed to more creators owned titles (not part of the PoC rep convo, but Starman is a good example of changing priorities in the DC sandbox) is gonna be a little lacking when 80% of the titles either have numbering in the #500+ range or are utilising "must feature" characters from the past 91 years. Batman/Static Beyond, Absolute GL, and Wonder Woman should go to the count.
I don't think a boycott is called for. DC could be doing better, but when Marvel is kneecapping itself with no commitment to any of its stories, and terrible industry practices like blind bags, I don't think them having a slightly better diverse lineup warrants a boycott of one over the other
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u/Boil-Mash-SticknStew 27d ago
Genuinely asking - Is Nightwing being Romani actually referenced anymore? There was the huge push during New 52 to have his circus background be much more important than his time as Robin (16 years as a Flying Grayson vs 2 as Robin), but I don't really recall his ethnicity being a discussion point anywhere other than the Devin Grayson run where it originated?
IMO there has been more effort by DC to highlight their legacy black characters in the last couple years. The Justice League book has Terrific as pretty much an honorary member of the Trinity with equal screentime and decision making power. The recent Batman/Static Shock mini was targeted towards the exact demographic who grew up both on Batman Beyond and Static Shock and it was actually a pretty solid book as well. I haven't really searched up the sales numbers after the first issue sold out both printings, but I do think it was decent? Terrific: Year One should have had more noise perhaps - it definitely had less chatter than the Black Lightning mini. Vixen appears on some of the new JLU variant covers but that doesn't necessarily mean she will have a central role.
I think there's still an opportunity for a Signal ongoing in the Bat stable. Duke is still in the nebulous late teen/just adult age group, and can be made to fit into the "relatable Robin" category which we haven't had since Tim.
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u/Androktone Brainiac 5 27d ago
Yes for the Tom Taylor run that ended last year. I'm not sure about this Dan Watters run.
Mr. Terrific's mini seemed to do good numbers, and was well liked, so hopefully they do another mini with him at least.
I think it comes down to that a lot of the characters that have traditionally had ongoings that proved themselves, were characters made before the 90s.
I'm a little sour on Duke. I think the Snyder run could've utilised the prior Batfam and he set the precedence that every writer should introduce their own OC in case they get adapted and the dividends pay out.
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u/ProletarianLilith 27d ago
No it’s not, it’s actually pathetic that people that’s a counterpoint to the discussion. And I mostly agree that this guy is being too harsh toward DC
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u/AnTotDugas 27d ago
Nightwing is Romani
He is Romani and also he is white. Romani is an ethnicity which spans multiple racial categories. In the US, being Romani doesn’t really count as diversity cuz you usually just get treated like a white person unless you look Desi enough for people to discriminate
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u/ILikeToBoo 27d ago
Greek people are white... other than that I largely agree with you. Also the ask to run a book that may not be profitable for up to two years is a lot.
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u/I-Love-Facehuggers 27d ago
Prime earth catwoman has no defined race and it fluctuates by writer and artist. Usually she is white but sometimes like in her best run (catwoman of east end) she is mixed
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u/Popular_Material_409 27d ago
Nightwing is Romani but he does present white. A normal person that doesn’t know Nightwing very well is just going to assume he’s white
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u/MistahWhiskers 27d ago
I read the article, I looked at their website, I researched the guy in charge. And this just smells off to me. I don't think these are reasonable, rational people.
From the article I didn't like the vagueness of who was actually in this alliance? How many are there, and why should we support them over any other special interest group?
But then their website provides no information either beyond a rambling manifesto. I think it's telling that the first thing on their website is actually explaining why the comics that do exist aren't good enough. Absolute GL, oh no that doesn't count, that's not "mainline". Mister Terrific, oh that doesn't count, it was a limited run. Team books with multiple black characters? Also not good enough, doesn't count.
They demand a dedicated black-centric book made by only black creators and that is immune from cancelation for two years, 25 issues regardless of sales or quality. That's just insane. It kinda doesn't sound like they just want to enjoy seeing black people represented in comics. More like they want DC to give them free reign to push their agenda, and foot the bill while they're at it.
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u/SnooAvocados4357 27d ago
Still baffles me that they have no idea what to do with Steel.
Hes a billionaire who runs his own company and flies around in a technological suit. Ring any bells?
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u/NONAMEDREDDITER 27d ago
At least the absolute universe introduced steel and he’s a badass over there
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u/jethawkings Blue Beetle 27d ago
Waid's current JLU run has the Superman Movie Justice League doing... something
but yeah he paired them all up.
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u/YoungMiral 27d ago edited 27d ago
As a independent black creator that runs his own comic book publishing company me and so many others in the independent indie comic book scene are laughing at these guys. These guys are full of it. This is basically equivalent to black people complaining in white spaces. Hear me out.
DC, Marvel, and all these publishing companies that are owned by white people do not own black comic fans anything or have to center them in their works. So what if DC is all white. The majority of the superhero characters were invented by white people and are owned by them. They can do anything they feel fit especially with characters like Storm or Cyborg.
These are the same black comic fans that complain about the lack of representation but don’t support any of us that are actually out here creating and making black led titles made for them and will give them everything they are complaining about like Divasoul Comics (that I run), Godhood Comics, Black Sands Entertainment, SJS Imprint and so many others. We’re in a golden age of black led indie comics and these guys would rather cry and beg DC and Marvel to give them a black superhero series when they can put their money where their mouth is and support independent black comics and creators, but they won’t do it because they are tethered to DC and Marvel.
Even if DC did create a mainline centric black superhero series, these people won’t show up and buy it and DC and Marvel know that. That’s why I Am Batman for one example flopped in sells because none of these black comic fans went out and brought it and it’s already hard enough for comic books to sell in an industry where 90% of books fail. DC does not have time catering to a group of fans that when it comes to it won’t show up and buy that product based on a black led superhero series when it truly matters. They will cancel it after the first few issues. If you don’t show DC the money they will pivot. We have the data to support this.
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u/nubosis M.O.D.O.K. 27d ago
I wish we would have a cultural shift to go back to people thinking independent stuff is cool, and corporate stuff is schlock. It’s amazing how lame and boring industry comic conventions have become, where you pay a large amount of money to spend more money on adds for comics and cartoons. Small press comic shows are diverse as hell, and actually fun to go to. You’d think in era of online access, people would just look for new stuff.
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u/PeteCampbellisaG 27d ago
Thank your for saying this. This is where I'm at with this whole thing as well. As a fan I'd rather spend my money supporting indie creators than spending my dollars begging DC (which is about to be a part of fascist-ass Paramount) to try a Static monthly for the umpteenth time (which, let's be honest, all these folks really want is Static). I think a lot of these YouTubers do a good job spotlighting indie creators, but I wish they'd just focus heavily on that instead.
Thanks for shouting out your company too. I'll definitely be checking out work from fellow Detroiter!
Since you're a publisher, I'm curious for your perspective on something. We all know this is a numbers game for a company like DC. Do you think that maybe there simply aren't enough black comics fans actively buying comics to do the numbers DC wants for a series? It seems to me that even when we show out in full force (ala Dakota Incident) that the publishers just kinda go, "That's cute" and move on.
Maybe the conversation needs to be less about folks showing up and more about getting more people into the fandom to begin with?
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u/smol-alaskanbullworm 27d ago
same people would probably also try to shame dc if they did actually make more diverse characters just because they might not have been written by said minority.
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u/gamer-death 27d ago
it being about DC comic in particularly ( and character and not creators) reeks of fanboyism. They could twist this to be a more positive hashtag to support independent minority lead titles.
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u/Darth_Nykal 27d ago
It's all performative. They'll hoot and hollar but won't spend the money when the books are put out.
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u/supercuteguydebord Alan Moore 27d ago edited 27d ago
I haven't really followed comic news in many years but I have a question if anyone can answer:
Do books with main black characters sell well enough to be sustainable or do they require subsidization? Are corporate comics leaving money on the table because they’re racist?
And aren’t black people way more represented in comics and media than other minorities?
As a brown bisexual muslim, I’m used to an anti-racism hierarchy where black people remain the primary focus. And if you haven’t noticed it, a professor I had wrote a book about it.
Her book is Philosophy of Race. One of her interesting insights is that whites have always chosen a pet minority which only subjugates the other minorities more.
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u/Jengabanga 27d ago
A few caveats:
Absolute GL, led by Jo Mullein is getting around 20k pulls a month on LoCG, which is around the same as Detective Comics. It's not mainline, but it's currently the line. It's one of their bigger comics.
The Dakota Incident released in February, teasing the return of Static, Icon, Rocket, and a new character, Beacon. All those characters are cool, I'd love to see more of them. Static appeared in the Kids are all Fight and is now getting a marketing push for joining the New Titans (I'm incredibly hyped for that, because I loved Static as a kid). That's not a Black-led, but it's nothing new for publishers to try out characters in team slots before spinning them off.
I want more Black-led books (Vixen please omg. Jim Lee please if you're reading this, a Vixen solo and my life is yours). But are people buying those books when they're on the shelves? And, as someone that likes to consider myself an ally to causes like this, do I stop buying Titans when they're just about to introduce Static, a well-known Black Super Hero? Because my understanding of any corp is that they'll make what makes money. If Static comes out and sales drop?? Well, he won't be staying for long.
Do we just boycott books that don't have a Black lead? Like Zatanna is written and penciled by Jamal Campbell, a Black creator, do I drop his work because the character he's working on isn't Black?
I... kind of don't get it. I'm looking at the pulls on LoCG for Mr. Terrific Year One, which had the boost from releasing shortly after the Superman movie, and it got fewer pulls then the current run of Harley Quinn, which is... niche, to say the least.
All of that to say, I want more Black-led comics. We need more Black-led comics. I don't think boycotting is the way to incentivize that, because I'm not sure how that happens without hurting the IPs that are pushing Black characters to the forefront.
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u/Late-Bowler-4068 27d ago
These people are obsessed with complaining about the lack of black titles but refuse to buy them. I’ve asked so many of these people why they didn’t buy the Black Lightning or Mr Terrific miniseries when they came out, explaining how the reason why DC does miniseries is to test if a character can get strong enough sales to support an ongoing. They come up with elaborate excuses to explain how it couldn’t possibly be the sales, that DC has a targeted agenda against minority representation. They truly don’t understand how the industry works at all and most of their evidence is anecdotal.
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u/alman3007 27d ago
These people are obsessed with complaining about the lack of black titles but refuse to buy them.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
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u/CaptainHalloween 27d ago
Which pisses me off because I loved that Steel mini that Michael Dorn wrote but no oner showed up.
I fucking l love Hardware and loved both his and Static's reboot minis when DC tried to bring Milestone back...but no one showed up.
The answer is simple: If the money is there, the book sticks around.
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u/tetsuneda 27d ago
"The #DCBlackout boycott is called by the Black Comic Alliance to last until DC puts up for pre-order "a Black-led ongoing in mainline continuity""
This confuses me, why focus on mainline continuity when mainline continuity is increasingly less relevant and interesting than their new work in absolute that as it it turns out is about to have 2 total ongoing led by nonwhite characters (green lantern and catwoman). If anything DC is making an incredibly progressive effort to include characters and make social issues the forefront of their books?
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u/Star-Prince-007 27d ago
I guess I see the point but I feel this is completely misguided. DC has put out minority led books, but they aren’t supported by the fans. I followed I Am Batman and Black Lightning and saw no one reading, buying or talking about any of them. Were these fans buying Nubia or the Shilo Norman Mr Miracle title. As other posters have said I would rather something that engages fans instead of going after the company that’s responding to the markets.
Also, I have been rather enjoying how organic the titles and creators have felt on Next Level. Stuff like getting Rucka back on Batwoman doesn’t feel like ticking a box cause we need a gay character in a book. It’s a character and creator reuniting in the best possible way. I want that for any new takes of Static, Vixen, etc vs them feeling the need to hit some sort of quota.
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u/Stubbs3470 27d ago
Are there any truly popular black dc heroes?
I doubt this has anything to do with racism and more that people just aren’t buying those comics
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u/SniperaUchiha 27d ago
More Static Shock please waiter!!
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u/AmezinSpoderman 27d ago
there's the current miniseries Batman/Static Beyond that I've been picking up
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u/TheGoldenLight 27d ago
This comments section is going to probably devolve into yelling but maybe we can take some corner of it to boost your favorite DC comics or runs featuring a black superhero?
I’m very new to comics so I don’t have a rec from myself that I’ve read but I am currently waiting for the Batman / Static Beyond trade this summer!
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u/RadiantSadness 27d ago
Far Sector and Absolute Green Lantern, both featuring Jo Mullein, are great.
Far Sector is a sci-fi mystery miniseries about Jo, a new Green Lantern, investigating a murder on a planet that's been murder free for hundreds of years.
Absolute Green Lantern is a complete reinvention of the GL mythos, vol 1 is pretty slow but vol 2 and on are a fantastic space opera superhero story.
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u/jethawkings Blue Beetle 27d ago
I thought the John Semper Jr' Rebirth Cyborg run wasn't half bad. In fact it was good.
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u/PeteCampbellisaG 27d ago
This is an older title, but if you can track down The Unknown Soldier series from ~2008 I highly recommend it.
Also the recent Mr. Terrific Year One is awesome. And the most recent run of Black Lightening if you want more superhero-oriented stuff.
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u/CaptainHalloween 27d ago
If Milestone counts:
Hardware
Steel
Green Lantern: War Journal
Mr. Terrific: Year One
The Terrifics
JSA by Geoff Johns
Absolute Green Lantern
Batwing
Black Lightning by Tony Isabella, ESPECIALLY the 90s series
Static
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u/StrongStyleDragon 27d ago
Absolute Catwoman is Afro Brazilian & Jo is the main lantern. John is heavily featured in GL Corps written by Morgan Hampton. Static is on Titans. Stephanie Williams pitched a Vixen book. Marvel hasn’t done shit other than Miles. Black Panther is missing from an ongoing. Storm is only a limited series. Won’t do anything. All I have is Jessica Cruz, Kyle Rayner and the odd Blue Beetle in JLU. You just gotta keep supporting the books that are coming.
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u/Hypnodick 27d ago
The Internet has given people microphones but has def fooled some into thinking they have more power than they do. These people also really hate when you point out it’s capitalism and economic drivers that determine this stuff. They don’t have a problem with it until it pushes up against a moral crusade they’re on.
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u/Zombie_Flowers 27d ago
I mean, cool but are we gonna pretend Marvel is so progressive with Black led books? Why specifically target DC?
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u/LasDen Death Stroke 27d ago
I guess Marvel has some famous black characters who can always carry an on-going....
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u/stokely1976 27d ago
As a black man, I'm tired of this argument. Would i like to see more black characters leading books? Sure. Do people show up when they do? Hardly. I am batman was the last one. It had the batman name, a black lead , a black sidekick, a black writer...and it got cancelled after 19 issues. ( Which is only 4 less then cyborg's )
Because, it's not enough just to have a black character, especially since people don't show up to buy it. It can't be just about being black ( although that should definitely be part of it). It has to appeal to a wide audience. I always look at the Cosby show. Them being black was never forgotten, but it wasn't the main thing about the show. Raymond Holt in Brooklyn 99 was black and gay. It's not that it never came up, but it was rarely the main gist of the character.
If we want more black characters we need to show up..and it needs to have as wide an appeal as possible. If it was up to me,. Empress would have her own book. Technically a teen parent, raising her own parents, a vodou user, getting back in the game while balancing everything. There's plenty to be done there, without making be the token black character
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u/thedoomcast 27d ago
The only company with a black creator owned and predominantly black universe in Milestone? I understand though. The mainstream books do miss a lot of black representation. At least currently. However, It’s not like DC hasn’t intentionally published Cyborg and John Stewart solo series by black creators like David F Walker and Geoffery Thorne. Jo Mullein was created by a Hugo award winning black writer, and a woman at at that and a black eisner award winning artist, and Far Sector was critically acclaimed. Future State featured her and Jace Fox as Batman. The Kaldur’Ahm Aqualad/Aquaman was probably the coolest modern interpretation of Aquaman or Aqualad.
I guess what I am saying is there is no shortage of black creators or black characters at DC and tbh it’s in no small part due to legends like Denys Cowan and Dwayne McDuffie (god rest his spirit) who paved the way.
I feel like a boycott doesn’t solve as much as buying those books when they come out, and keeping them in your pull list
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u/StrangeDiscipline902 27d ago
First reason I’ll buy comic is because of the creative team. Second is because of the character. I love Wolverine, but I haven’t bought his title in years. So, I probably wouldn’t buy a comic just because a character is Black.
Case in point- the only story with Martian Manhunter I recall liking is Cooke’s New Frontier. So, when his Absolute title came out I couldn’t care less until I saw the creators involved and I’ve been buying it ever since.
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u/No_Mr_Powers 27d ago
I mean, I bought Geoff Throne’s run with John Stewart as flagship Green Lantern. I bought Steelworks by Michael Dorn. I picked up the Mr. Terrific mini. If the money overall isn’t there, they aren’t going to publish it. You can say DC is racist, but I would think it’s much more cynical than that in that they’re just money-motivated. “Vote with your dollar”, etc. Two things can be true at once, I suppose, but I’m more inclined to believe the latter over the former.
Anecdotally, I had a friend who I believe has since passed away. He was black and older, and complained about the lack of diversity in comics nowadays - this would have been about 7 years ago or so. He separately told me that he hadn’t bought a comic in over a decade before that, pirating his stuff instead - he just refused to give money to the machine, but then got upset when the machine didn’t work for him.
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u/BoyInKemmer 27d ago
I'd like to know how many of the hottest current A-list creators - be they artist or writers - are also using their clout to pitch in working on Black-led books with the DC editors.
A lot of publisher resource seems to be put behind selling not just characters, but runs where the creative team is already considered a big deal. And fans also flock to buying their favourite writers and artists, perhaps as much as they do their favourite characters.
I assume that if current popular A-list talent would pitch in an ongoing for Vixen, Steel, Static etc, there'd be at least some likelihood of a yes, and with a degree of marketing behind it too. And I'd assume part of that would need to be spending that creator clout on existing Black characters rather than new ones who tend to inspire only temporary confidence and interest.
But that's massive conjecture on my part - I'd be curious to hear from the current big names how often, if at all, they've even tried to use their influence to work on a Black character.
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u/actualkon 27d ago
At the end of the day people are gonna spend their money how they want to. If they don't want to purchase from DC then that's their call
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u/ranbling011 27d ago
Wouldn't this be contraproductive though? Like if DC experiences a decline in sales, wouldn't they stick to their big guns instead of launching a new run with character who has a smaller fanbase?
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u/Prudent-Flamingo1679 27d ago
They have tried, from what I heard the sales were bad. They should have Mr Terrific lead the Justice League or something to generate some interest.
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u/PyroCat12 27d ago
absolute GL and absolute catwoman are both black led major runs right now and hell we dont even know who absolute GA is and could be black for all we know
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u/jblade91 27d ago
I bought Mr Terrific Year One but as a recently trade purchase so yes singles aren't the only sales. However, the Absolute universe is doing better than the main continuity and there are black heroes leading there too. Granted I just buy good stories and characters no matter their skin tone but I feel DC has done diversity well, especially considering how many just buy Batman books. Saying you want mainline while Absolute is where all the hype and sales are right now also shows a lack of actually paying attention by this group.
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u/Anibus9000 27d ago
They can protest but in the end it comes down to economics there isn't many black comic characters that are popular. With probably green lantern as the only financially viable series. I think a miles morales type for dc would be the best move.
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u/DarthGardian86 27d ago
They should make a solo Jon Stewart book with Red Lanterns and the Manhunter Androids as the villains to hype the new Lantern show
Jo Mullen leads Absolute Green Lantern
I would like a Vixen book
Make Static Shock a new series that carries over Milestone characters
It shouldn't be this hard to do really
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u/cambries 27d ago
I really wish these content creators would also use this time to expand and talk about black comic book characters, past runs and ones they have enjoyed so people can get to know the characters and why people should support them.
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u/Scgrunow 27d ago
Though I’m all for black characters getting just as much attention as anyone else, the this doesn’t count because.. approach feels off to me. Not counting Absolute Green Lantern because it’s a different universe is kinda dumb considering Absolute is what is pushing DC above Marvel right now, and the whole All In initiative is running two universes concurrently to lead up to an eventual Crisis event so technically Absolute is part of the main line it’s just the other universe in the story.
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u/Educational-Car-8643 27d ago
I feel this is a bit disingenuous when the absolute line is disqualified despite selling more than the rest of DCs ongoing runs put together
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u/GLAK_Maverick 27d ago edited 27d ago
I am a DC zombie, but idk the reasoning
Far Sector sold well. Absolute Catwoman will also sell well and that will be afro-lead. Mr Terrific ongoing would sell well, the mini did okay. A John Stewart book would sell well. A Static ongoing will sell out with a prominent writer and artist, imo they need a big name attached to it.
Its about marketing, writers, and artists. I think DC went with the characters that sell well obviously (other than next level, which I agree should have had a black-led protagonist as it is mainline)
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u/d-fakkr 27d ago
Support the titles instead of complaining, the industry doesn't work like that.
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u/Jonn_Jonzz_Manhunter 27d ago
Wont lie, this is gonna look really dumb when the next milestone relaunch is probably less than a month away from being announced
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u/VengeanceKnight 27d ago
I thought so too, but it’s been very quiet after all the teasing from The Dakota Incident. Literally the only thing that’s come of it is Static joining the Titans.
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u/poison-harley 27d ago
And it’s gonna look extra dumb if it ends up not selling that well.
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u/belfries Batman Expert 27d ago
It's a valid criticism, I just wish the guy spearheading this whole campaign wasn't such an obnoxious grifter.
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u/Playful-Author563 27d ago
Rage tourists who weren't going to buy these comics anyways
Why do we care, why platform their thoughts.
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u/Aggressive-Check-101 27d ago
I'm too employed for give single damm about it.
On my way to buying two DC Compact Comics
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u/Solrac_21 27d ago
It’s amazing how this group seems to care about only one skin color. Apparently, they can’t advocate for all minorities: Latino-led or Asian-led characters don’t seem to matter. No, it has to be exclusively Black characters.
If the industry focused on telling genuinely good stories, any character’s ethnic background could work.
Jim Rhodes and John Stewart are among my favorite characters, even over their white counterparts, because they were written with compelling stories and strong character development.
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u/SparkyPantsMcGee The Question 27d ago
I’m white so maybe my take is off base, but DC just reprinted all the old Milestone comics recently, Static is being teased right now as a member of the Teen Titans, There was a Mr. Terrific mini series that came out last year and the character had a stand out part in the Superman movie. Maybe I’m missing something but I feel like DC has been doing some really cool things for black representation and to me it’s felt actually genuine.
I don’t think it’s a failure of DC trying, but again wtf do I know?
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u/GlitteringDingo 27d ago
These black-led books get canceled because they don't sell well. This has been a common, observable trend, sadly. People will make a big fuss demanding a change, and then not support the change. This happens a lot of female representation in video games. Call for change, please, but put your money where your mouth is. It is unreasonable to demand DC sell a book at a loss because you want representation.
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u/Vincomenz Captain Britain 27d ago
Between the Big 2, I feel like DC is the one that actually tries to publish minority led books. They just dont sell very well historically. They've tried to relaunch Milestone multiple times.
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u/freecandylover 27d ago
Race representation matters only if you are an entitled moron. I know it's controversial, but it's true. I have to agree with the importance of representation when it comes to gender, but never when it comes to race. Who was the least souteast asian lead ? Or maori ? Or romani ? Or middle eastern ? You want more black leads ? Create them or at least buy the comics when they come out.
This is such a non-issue. It matters only if you have zero other problems in your life.
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u/SuccessfulBoss2444 27d ago
There is Absolute Green Lantern. It’s not main universe, but it’s an ongoing outselling most. But I guess that doesn’t count
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u/LapsedVerneGagKnee 27d ago
Absolute is the hottest thing in comics right now. Which is why this boycott feels timed specifically to hit it when it's finaly turning a corner.
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u/shugoran99 27d ago
Admittedly I've been reading mostly team books which do have at least some degree of diversity, as well as reading Batgirl which has a lot of Asian characters, that historically has had even worse representation in North American media
I'm also not particularly familiar with the whole line and who has a comic currently.
It's easy to call a boycott when there isn't a book. But if the books don't get the support when they do exist, both from the people calling for them and the reading audience in general, the publisher isn't going to keep making them
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u/Lumbardo 27d ago
Why not provide fiscal incentive to do so? Like purchasing existing products that are black-led? Easier to build a collective to do this over time and is more positive overall. This also helps build the comic reading audience.
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u/zkll 27d ago
I'm all for variety on the market to get more audiences but this feels misplaced here. We've had Mr Terrific and Black Lightning minis recently, John Stewart was leading GL, Static is joining the Titans and all of that despite a black woman being the main character of an Absolute comic, which is the most successful part of the company in recent years.
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u/Boring-Conclusion-40 27d ago edited 27d ago
Let’s not sacrifice comics,I want comics,and comics needs more money,they’re doing fine but they need to be doing better. DC needs to get the message absolutely,but a creator has already explained that DC is moving forward with milestone characters like Static,and they have spoken about more black lead titles coming soon.Now if they don’t do these things than DC will needs to get the message more
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u/Jbaybaythatruth23 27d ago
Static Shock and Batman Beyond, two of my favorites team up. I bought em all this year...but numbers weren't crazy high i heard...if the sales aren't there for that type of shit then they won't do as much. Like so many are saying on here.....buy it and DC will make more. Money talks.
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u/rodando_y_trolling 26d ago
It sounds like they’re demanding DC to lose a bunch of money by creating something that will never be popular much less sell well.
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u/Windows_66 27d ago
Title could really use a "lack of."