Lack of Minority Characters in the New 52 (not a rant)

We read comics not to see parallels of ourselves, that is obvious, but to get away. For some of us, the real world issues creeping into comics tend to blur the line between reality and fantasy in a way we aren't fond of. But recently I've looked into the New 52, as everyone who cares as too. I've notices a lack of minority characters, is that bad? Not automatically. I'm mixed race, half black and half white, do I want more mixed race women characters yes, do we need them? No. The thing is as long as a character has a story to tell I'm not usually concerned over race. All I'm trying to say is that, some of the minor characters we lost due to the new 52 also happened to be minorities, I'm not saying it's racism or anything, it is just a fact. I believe over time we will get more fleshed out characters for the new 52, sidekicks and what not, but right now the story line in is its infancy.

There are a few in the New 52 who are minorities. Batwing, but he's from Africa, more specifically I believe he's from the DRC, I don't want to sound racist, but I'm just saying he's not exactly John Stewart. Most readers of DC are American, we should not be egocentric about it, I love Batwing, I love his story, but when it comes down to it, I'd like to believe there are more than just black men superheroes in America, John Stewart luckily (cause I love him) got face time in the Green Lantern Corps series, and Cyborg got boosted up to the Justice League, there's Black Lightning (a joke I have about him is, no his lighting is not black :[ ) but his role was minor. I'm just a little tired of Black people, predominantly being male, or from some African country to make them exotic. We always want some of those, I still love Vixen, but part of the allure of John Stewart to me is, he's just a regular guy who somehow got a green lantern ring. There is a lack of prominent American black people in DC comics, and I'm not going to say "Oh my god, you guys are so racist", I'm just noticing it especially with the New 52, and I already said I''ll give them time, due to a lot of those characters we previously had being retconned out with changes. Yet again though, a lot of those characters were easily forgettable or filler, for example Crimson Avenger III show on the left, or Dr Midnight, the black female version of Dr. Mid-Nite retconned for obvious reasons (her brothers were named Mark, Matthew, Luke and John and then they felt the need to tell us they were hardcore Christians lol).

I'm going to give a little credit to Scott Lobdell and Brett Booth for their work in Teen Titans, 3 of the Teen Titans are "of color", which this article does apply to Hispanic and Asians in the New 52 also I do not mean to only mention Blacks, I just did it more from a viewpoint I know, so I don't seem completely out of my element. Asians is other deal entirely, I'm from Hawaii also so for me growing up Asians were the dominant race there, especially those of Japanese descent, now I live in Nevada where everyone is pretty much white, but it's put a perspective on things for me, Asians are absent in most media, and comics is not exempt from that, if you are Asian or Asian American in the DC universe, you are most likely A) in some Batman arc as a martial artist B) martial artist outside of Batman C) tech geek for Batman D) tech geek outside of Batman, okay I joke a little, but outside of Batman's story lines I don't see a lot of asians represented. At any point someone can feel free to prove me wrong, post a little comment and let me know about a character from the past, I might want to read there stuff. But still, the New 52, I'm sitting at the edge of my seat for a little more racial mixes going on. I know we started over, it's only been a year, I'll wait of course. But one day I'd like to see a comic about someone "of color" on the cover that is not John Stewart or Cyborg, maybe a woman, maybe an asian, maybe the Hispanic girl that became Aqua Girl that one time (I love Kaldur'ahm too), that was kind of cool.

What do you guys think, it's not meant to be a huge racial argument, but how does DC know what we want if we don''t even tell 'em right?

[side note: I'm a Political Science major in my last semester, and my topics of interest tend to be ethnic studies, economics, and ancestry of old dead royal lines, what can I say, I'm human]

Oh yay, another race thread.

@Living_Monstrosity: Did you read the post, or did you see the title and decide to get cynical?

@KnightRise said:

@Living_Monstrosity: Did you read the post, or did you see the title and decide to get cynical?

Yea I read the post, and it's all about wanting more minority characters in comics.

So yay, another race thread.

they are coming.....like vibe

@molotovzav: I am sure more will come in the coming months. Comics are way more inclusive now then when they originally started. But you are right so far there are not a whole lot of minorites in the New 52.

We read comics not to see parallels of ourselves, that is obvious, but to get away. For some of us, the real world issues creeping into comics tend to blur the line between reality and fantasy in a way we aren't fond of. But recently I've looked into the New 52, as everyone who cares as too. I've notices a lack of minority characters, is that bad? Not automatically. I'm mixed race, half black and half white, do I want more mixed race women characters yes, do we need them? No. The thing is as long as a character has a story to tell I'm not usually concerned over race. All I'm trying to say is that, some of the minor characters we lost due to the new 52 also happened to be minorities, I'm not saying it's racism or anything, it is just a fact. I believe over time we will get more fleshed out characters for the new 52, sidekicks and what not, but right now the story line in is its infancy.

There are a few in the New 52 who are minorities. Batwing, but he's from Africa, more specifically I believe he's from the DRC, I don't want to sound racist, but I'm just saying he's not exactly John Stewart. Most readers of DC are American, we should not be egocentric about it, I love Batwing, I love his story, but when it comes down to it, I'd like to believe there are more than just black men superheroes in America, John Stewart luckily (cause I love him) got face time in the Green Lantern Corps series, and Cyborg got boosted up to the Justice League, there's Black Lightning (a joke I have about him is, no his lighting is not black :[ ) but his role was minor. I'm just a little tired of Black people, predominantly being male, or from some African country to make them exotic. We always want some of those, I still love Vixen, but part of the allure of John Stewart to me is, he's just a regular guy who somehow got a green lantern ring. There is a lack of prominent American black people in DC comics, and I'm not going to say "Oh my god, you guys are so racist", I'm just noticing it especially with the New 52, and I already said I''ll give them time, due to a lot of those characters we previously had being retconned out with changes. Yet again though, a lot of those characters were easily forgettable or filler, for example Crimson Avenger III show on the left, or Dr Midnight, the black female version of Dr. Mid-Nite retconned for obvious reasons (her brothers were named Mark, Matthew, Luke and John and then they felt the need to tell us they were hardcore Christians lol).

I'm going to give a little credit to Scott Lobdell and Brett Booth for their work in Teen Titans, 3 of the Teen Titans are "of color", which this article does apply to Hispanic and Asians in the New 52 also I do not mean to only mention Blacks, I just did it more from a viewpoint I know, so I don't seem completely out of my element. Asians is other deal entirely, I'm from Hawaii also so for me growing up Asians were the dominant race there, especially those of Japanese descent, now I live in Nevada where everyone is pretty much white, but it's put a perspective on things for me, Asians are absent in most media, and comics is not exempt from that, if you are Asian or Asian American in the DC universe, you are most likely A) in some Batman arc as a martial artist B) martial artist outside of Batman C) tech geek for Batman D) tech geek outside of Batman, okay I joke a little, but outside of Batman's story lines I don't see a lot of asians represented. At any point someone can feel free to prove me wrong, post a little comment and let me know about a character from the past, I might want to read there stuff. But still, the New 52, I'm sitting at the edge of my seat for a little more racial mixes going on. I know we started over, it's only been a year, I'll wait of course. But one day I'd like to see a comic about someone "of color" on the cover that is not John Stewart or Cyborg, maybe a woman, maybe an asian, maybe the Hispanic girl that became Aqua Girl that one time (I love Kaldur'ahm too), that was kind of cool.

DC New52 DC ... as if Marvel was any different (or any other publisher)! Quite the contrary I can see way more minority characters in DC; especially at the very start of the New 52... Static, Mister Terrific, Voodoo, etc. Unfortunately all of these weren't successful in terms of sales numbers and that's what it all comes down to at the end of the day.

However, there's definitely more minority and female characters (leading and supporting roles) in television (movies, series) than in comics. Like @Vance Astro said many of the current superheroes are still the oldest superheroes. New characters have a hard time to find readers and survive. We've got to get rid of the likes of Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, Iron Man, etc. first.

DC New52 DC ... as if Marvel was any different (or any other publisher)! Quite the contrary I can see way more minority characters in DC; especially at the very start of the New 52... Static, Mister Terrific, Voodoo, etc. Unfortunately all of these weren't successful in terms of sales numbers and that's what it all comes down to at the end of the day.

However, there's definitely more minority and female characters (leading and supporting roles) in television (movies, series) than in comics. Like @Vance Astro said many of the current superheroes are still the oldest superheroes. New characters have a hard time to find readers and survive. We've got to get rid of the likes of Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, Iron Man, etc. first.

vance astro made some points. its the same problem with movies as well. i'm hopefully in times things will change.

@Vance Astro said:

@DonFelipe said:

DC New52 DC ... as if Marvel was any different (or any other publisher)! Quite the contrary I can see way more minority characters in DC; especially at the very start of the New 52... Static, Mister Terrific, Voodoo, etc. Unfortunately all of these weren't successful in terms of sales numbers and that's what it all comes down to at the end of the day.

However, there's definitely more minority and female characters (leading and supporting roles) in television (movies, series) than in comics. Like @Vance Astro said many of the current superheroes are still the oldest superheroes. New characters have a hard time to find readers and survive. We've got to get rid of the likes of Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, Iron Man, etc. first.

I don't think the fact that other publishers aren't different are any consolation though. As a black person, I feel that minorities should be better represented in comics but as far as DC and Marvel are concerned, I can't see anything happening with minorities because they both suffer from the same thing, the era in which they were created. Since Marvel and DC are from an era where minorities were segregated from society and women were viewed and treated as second class citizens, they built their companies on white heterosexual male characters. This isn't really a race thing, they just already have set who they are going to let represent their company and I don't see it ever changing. A black hero as published in books by either of them can only hope to get into that bracket of books that is in between selling and going under.In other words I don't like the situation but I can only be realistic about it.

Totally agree with you. I didn't mean to say the situation is perfect as it is.

Batman Inc

Not everyone uses comics as escapism 

going by American demographics, if you have 100 superheroes then:

70 whites

14 Hispanic/Latino

13 African American

3 other

@pooty said:

going by American demographics, if you have 100 superheroes then:

70 whites

14 Hispanic/Latino

13 African American

3 other

If we're going by demographics, then it should be like this --> white 79.96%, black 12.85%, Asian 4.43%, Amerindian and Alaska native 0.97%, native Hawaiian and other Pacific islander 0.18%, two or more races 1.61% (July 2007 estimate)

note: a separate listing for Hispanic is not included because the US Census Bureau considers Hispanic to mean persons of Spanish/Hispanic/Latino origin including those of Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican Republic, Spanish, and Central or South American origin living in the US who may be of any race or ethnic group (white, black, Asian, etc.); about 15.1% of the total US population is Hispanic

So...80 whites, 12 blacks, 4 asians, 1 native american, 2 mixed, and 15 hispanics.

Edit: I know this doesn't add up to 100, but shhhhh..nobody cares about the details..;D

@Shotgun: Edit: I know this doesn't add up to 100, but shhhhh..nobody cares about the details..;D

yeah somehow the numbers do add up to more then 100 when I first did it also. but i didn't want people thinking i couldn't count (:

I don't think it even needs to be evened out. Can we just get some BETTER black superheroes?

Why would such an image exist if there was not a need of subsaharian superheroes from african readers and viewers ?You should not mind David Zavimbe nationality.Batwing is not taking the place of an african american character. The lack of minority characters is the same for all the minorities who read comics books. Subsaharians readers are part of them. Little boys in Africa (and subsaharians who grew up reading DC and Marvel) dream of superheroes who originate from their respective countries. Ones who actually work there( not like T'challa and Ororo). For the first time they've got the chance to have Batwing from the respectable and famous Bat-family and i think it's great . In my opinion DC should have made an ongoing series about "The Kingdom".

Creativity brings diversity. The more the writers will be creative, the more readers will have diversity in their comic books. Batwing citizenship is not "exotic"(in the same way John Constantine citizenship is not "exotic"). The country he comes from has a meaning in his storyline. The background as a war child is maybe cliché, but it is also solid. That's why a lot of people enjoyed Batwing : It is well written. He is not a "minority for the minority" character. He stands by himself, because his writer gave him a depth, which show the writer cared for him.

This brings me to DC comics. I think they are tryin. They are really tryin with all of the minorities(Lgbt : Batwoman, the teen titan guy and Alan Scott; ethnicities : Voodoo, Simon Baz, Mr Terrific, Static Shock, Batwing,Blue Beetle,John Stewart, Cyborg and others). I concur with Vance Astro and i will add that every writer should be able to describe any kind of character. But, another reason why there is more white characters is because writers often happen to be white. I think it's maybe "easier" to write from a perspective close to you, something you already know. Just like it's maybe easier for a man to write a male character than a female character. I hope there will be more african-american writers, but the times are already changing. A lot of people are now able to rely on bunch of characters, not only those who share their ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation. I'm optimist and in 10 years this will not be an issue.

@Vance Astro said:

I don't think it even needs to be evened out. Can we just get some BETTER black superheroes?

This but each black character we have or minority in specific have so much potiental to be front line characters. Last year when the new 52 started, IMO instead of replacing MM with Cyborg, they shouldve replaced Hal with John

@redbird3rdboywonder said:

@Vance Astro said:

I don't think it even needs to be evened out. Can we just get some BETTER black superheroes?

This but each black character we have or minority in specific have so much potiental to be front line characters. Last year when the new 52 started, IMO instead of replacing MM with Cyborg, they shouldve replaced Hal with John

+1 for the both of you. Mr Terrific for example was poorly written. I'm black but i dropped his ongoing series at the third issue because it was plain bad. In the other hand, Batwing was in my top 5 DC comics books post-flaspoint.

+1 for the both of you. Mr Terrific for example was poorly written. I'm black but i dropped his ongoing series at the third issue because it was plain bad. In the other hand, Batwing was in my top 5 DC comics books post-flaspoint.

@Vance Astro said:

I don't think it even needs to be evened out. Can we just get some BETTER black superheroes?

Word. Its a petty when the Black Superhero of Marvel is basically just Cage.

I can't say I much like Batwing though.

But adding to Vance's point, we also need some real talent on the titles with Black Superheroes. Creating an interesting character isn't enough. Black Panther is interesting, but he's fallen to irrelevancy because no one's managed to write him correctly.

@Vance Astro said:

@TheThe said:

+1 for the both of you. Mr Terrific for example was poorly written. I'm black but i dropped his ongoing series at the third issue because it was plain bad. In the other hand, Batwing was in my top 5 DC comics books post-flaspoint.

Mr.Terrific should never have even been created. He's not unique. He reminds me of Triathlon with a bit of Black Panther. Batwing is one of my favorites, he's one of the only members of the Bat-Family that isn't just a variation of Batman with minor differences in personality and design. I don't think Mr.Terrific's ongoing didn't sell because he was written poorly, I don't think DC could get anyone to be interested.

Terrific was suffering from an evident lack of originality, but i think it's a writer duty to compensate by making his character interesting with a great storyline. How many characters are rip-off or mix of others characters without sounding washed up ? Ex : Midnighter and Apollo.

To me, I felt like DC tried to create and encourage more diversity with their heroes. Alan Scott, Batwoman, Bunker, Solstice, Cyborg, Mr. Terrific, Static, etc. It's not perfect, but it's a step in the right direction. Instead of lamenting this fact we should applaud the company for trying to do something about this.

@TheThe: another reason why there is more white characters is because writers often happen to be white. I think it's maybe "easier" to write from a perspective close to you, something you already know. Just like it's maybe easier for a man to write a male character than a female character.

This is totally true. You imagine people who look like yourself. Conversely, many only read characters who look like themselves.

@redbird3rdboywonder: each black character we have or minority in specific have so much potiental to be front line characters

Exactly. Photon/Pulsar/Captain Marvel. this lady has loads of potential and power. and they can't even give her a permanent name.

@ReVamp: because no one's managed to write him correctly

You didn't like Priest run on BP?

@pooty said:

@ReVamp: because no one's managed to write him correctly

You didn't like Priest run on BP?

He's fallen into irrelevancy because no one has managed to write him correctly. He fell after Priest's run.

@Vance Astro said:

I don't think it even needs to be evened out. Can we just get some BETTER black superheroes?

I know right.

Sure we have a few, but most of them are either..

• Spin offs

or

• Rip offs

The only somewhat original one I can remember is Photon.

@pooty: It mostlikely stems from writers either not knowing what to do with the character or not having interst in a character but writting that character anyway

The only somewhat original one I can remember is Photon.

@Vance Astro said:

@YoungJustice said:

The only somewhat original one I can remember is Photon.

She's a spin-off from Captain Marvel\Ms.Marvel.

Oh yeah.

0 so far then I guess, besides Miles....oh wait.

What about Batw.......oh yeah Batman spin off

Wait Mister Terr......a rip off of all other black characters...

Oh yeah.

0 so far then I guess, besides Miles....oh wait.

What about Batw.......oh yeah Batman spin off

Wait Mister Terr......a rip off of all other black characters...

@ReVamp: New Avengers is here to save Black Panther. No worries on that front.

@Alch21 said:

@ReVamp: New Avengers is here to save Black Panther. No worries on that front.

I'd be just as inclined to agree with a statement that says its going to kill him.

@Vance Astro: Thank you for your comments, they are much appreciated. I actually agree with what you wrote, I'm giving DC more time, I actually like the inclusion of the WildStorm universe because it's been adding a lot of character diversity, not just race rise, but also genre wise, I have been trying to make my way through the complete new 52, saving the cancelled titles for later unless they are really pertinent, so once I complete, maybe 50% of what's available, I'll probably have my mind changed a little bit about minority characters in the DCU

To comment on what some people have been saying, I don't think its needs to be evened out so to speak, due to the fact that African-Americans are 14% of the population, having them be 50% of the comic book universe would be too drastic. Better writers for sure. I love Batwing and such, and of course I don't want other countries to feel like "they don't care about our readership", but I just don''t want them to fall down the Marvel lines of "a lot of our black characters are African stereotypes", like with Vixen, they haven't even decided what African country she's from in the continuity, writers keep changing it, and that to me says "oh she can be any type of African, it doesn't matter to us". So if they continue to develop their African characters , they should do it right, a good move I think would be making Batwing from the DRC, and actual place in AFRICA, that was amazing. I'm glad some people are talking about this, I actually read an article the other day, which was the opposite of my stance, saying DC was doing a pretty good job at portraying minorities, and I gotta say I agree with some of what he wrote too, so I'm not stuck in these opinions. I particularly liked his mentioning portrayal of LGBT (batwoman, GL in Earth 2), and I didn't even think of it, I mean I''m not a homophobe, but I don't make a big deal out of people being gay due to the fact that, I guess its obtained a certain amount of normalness in my life, like telling me you're gay is like telling me "i'm american", its just a fact of life, not a big deal, I'm straight and no one seems to care (joking), but he kind of made me realize that by not making at least a tiny bit of a deal over it in my head, I had ignored DC making some strides. I would like to read an article now if that portrayal was genuine or if it pissed some people off, just for funs.

sidenote: I wish they'd replace Hal with John Stewart, it's not even about race, i'm a 1990, I love the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, so I just love John Stewart. I kind of wish they would of had the Hal/Sinestro story in the Green Lantern Corps, and John Stewart in Green Lantern patrolling the earth, I mean I like the storylines, but I sort of want a Green Lantern comic about one our Green Lanterns just doing earth stuff. My 2nd favorite Green Lantern is Kyle Rayner, I even have a soft spot for Guy Gardner, but Hal Jordan :[, idk I have never liked him.

@Vance Astro: Thank you for your comments, they are much appreciated. I actually agree with what you wrote, I'm giving DC more time, I actually like the inclusion of the WildStorm universe because it's been adding a lot of character diversity, not just race rise, but also genre wise, I have been trying to make my way through the complete new 52, saving the cancelled titles for later unless they are really pertinent, so once I complete, maybe 50% of what's available, I'll probably have my mind changed a little bit about minority characters in the DCU

To comment on what some people have been saying, I don't think its needs to be evened out so to speak, due to the fact that African-Americans are 14% of the population, having them be 50% of the comic book universe would be too drastic. Better writers for sure. I love Batwing and such, and of course I don't want other countries to feel like "they don't care about our readership", but I just don''t want them to fall down the Marvel lines of "a lot of our black characters are African stereotypes", like with Vixen, they haven't even decided what African country she's from in the continuity, writers keep changing it, and that to me says "oh she can be any type of African, it doesn't matter to us". So if they continue to develop their African characters , they should do it right, a good move I think would be making Batwing from the DRC, and actual place in AFRICA, that was amazing. I'm glad some people are talking about this, I actually read an article the other day, which was the opposite of my stance, saying DC was doing a pretty good job at portraying minorities, and I gotta say I agree with some of what he wrote too, so I'm not stuck in these opinions. I particularly liked his mentioning portrayal of LGBT (batwoman, GL in Earth 2), and I didn't even think of it, I mean I''m not a homophobe, but I don't make a big deal out of people being gay due to the fact that, I guess its obtained a certain amount of normalness in my life, like telling me you're gay is like telling me "i'm american", its just a fact of life, not a big deal, I'm straight and no one seems to care (joking), but he kind of made me realize that by not making at least a tiny bit of a deal over it in my head, I had ignored DC making some strides. I would like to read an article now if that portrayal was genuine or if it pissed some people off, just for funs.

@YoungJustice said:

@Vance Astro said:

@YoungJustice said:

The only somewhat original one I can remember is Photon.

She's a spin-off from Captain Marvel\Ms.Marvel.

Oh yeah.

0 so far then I guess, besides Miles....oh wait.

What about Batw.......oh yeah Batman spin off

Wait Mister Terr......a rip off of all other black characters...

I agree with your first notion that Photon is original. Her powers, background, bio, attitude are unique enough that she stands on her own. Even though Photon was first called Captain Marvel I never saw a resemblance to Ms. Marvel.

I agree with your first notion that Photon is original. Her powers, background, bio, attitude are unique enough that she stands on her own. Even though Photon was first called Captain Marvel I never saw a resemblance to Ms. Marvel.

I see no problems.

I see the word "minority" in the title, but all I see is a thread about black superheroes.

@molotovzav said:

sidenote: I wish they'd replace Hal with John Stewart, it's not even about race, i'm a 1990, I love the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, so I just love John Stewart. I kind of wish they would of had the Hal/Sinestro story in the Green Lantern Corps, and John Stewart in Green Lantern patrolling the earth, I mean I like the storylines, but I sort of want a Green Lantern comic about one our Green Lanterns just doing earth stuff. My 2nd favorite Green Lantern is Kyle Rayner, I even have a soft spot for Guy Gardner, but Hal Jordan :[, idk I have never liked him.

I'm a not strictly a child of the nineties, but i understand what you mean. JL & JLU got me interested in DC comics. At the time, John Stewart was THE green lantern for me. I've never been a fan of Hal Jordan( the animated series excepted). It was awkward to see Cyborg as a founding member of the JLA post-flashpoint. My ideal team would have been : Aquaman, Batman, Superman, Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, John Stewart, Flash and Hawkgirl.

@Vance Astro said:

I'm not impressed by DC's "let's make a character who's history is already established gay now" gimmick, because if they really wanted to make statement about their support of gays, they would have made Kyle Rayner gay. I am however cool with them creating Bunker for the Teen Titans, he's actually a cool character.

Maybe they were tryin to avoid another stereotype. Batwoman - as a strong woman competing with men in terms of strenght,agility and skills - somewhat fits the cliché people have about Bisexual girls or Lesbians. Bunker also fits a stereotype, with his flashy outfits and fashion sense. Kyle Rayner was suffering from the "gay rumor" because he is a sensitiveartist(which is also a stereotype for gay guys). Alan Scott is a regular guy. Perhaps the homosexuality of his late son Obsidian has something to do with DC comics choice.

@texasdeathmatch said:

I see the word "minority" in the title, but all I see is a thread about black superheroes.

LOL

I agree I am also of mixed race and I have no problem relating to mostly white characters. But there should be more representation because when I was asked the question "if you could star as a superhero in a live action movie who would you want to be?" I had a hard time coming up with an answer because there are not a lot of black heroes to choose form.

As with anything it must start off as a good character it doesn't matter what the race, gender, or sexual orientation is.

Hopefully they will come up with a black character who is so cool my white friends will be jealous that they cant play him in a movie.

The more diversity, the better. It gets boring when you come across too many comics starring a buff white superhero guy.

Thank you for this thread :) I'm glad someone agrees with me