“…Whether it was the black power movements of the 1960s or the Blaxploitation movies of the 1970s, the rise of black people onto the landscape of American pop culture led to a corresponding rise of black superheroes in mainstream comics. But that rise hasn’t appeared to have created a complete and completely satisfying world around those very black superheroes. If the civil rights movement itself was about equality, then it is necessary to create black bad guys to go with the good ones; not doing so could be considered just as wrong as not imagining any black heroes at all. And it is possible that the very lack of powerful, recognizable black supervillains has contributed to the difficulties in creating mass appeal for books starring heroes of color.”

CBR’s Steven Grant follows up on the initial column and makes an excellent point about the irrelevancy of creator intent in creating new characters, which is something I’ve touched on in talking about the Milestone characters in the DC universe.

Also: Quantum & Woody remembered.