Marvel: Too many to name, but let’s go with an oblique character — I read a lot of X-men before Bishop came on the scene. He was the first new black man to enter the fray in a long time in my reading of comic books. I’d never really liked Power Man/Luke Cage, nor did I have much contact with T’Challa / Black Panther or Rhodey/War Machine. Also, Nick Fury wasn’t black yet. Wolverine is Canadian, but not black, and Storm is black, but grafted onto the same default “comic book beautiful woman” frame that almost all others were. So, Bishop made an impact on me at 14 that few other character introductions could. He was my example for the importance of representation. I actually looked forward to Hallowe’en that year.
DC: I never liked DC. Too saccharine. Too Star Wars. Not enough moral gray. To that end, my fave DC character is Amanda Waller. Uncompromising, unrepentant, and driven. Don’t fuck with Amanda Waller. She would find a way to bury Batman.
Marvel: Too many to name, but let’s go with an oblique character — I read a lot of X-men before Bishop came on the scene. He was the first new black man to enter the fray in a long time in my reading of comic books. I’d never really liked Power Man/Luke Cage, nor did I have much contact with T’Challa / Black Panther or Rhodey/War Machine. Also, Nick Fury wasn’t black yet. Wolverine is Canadian, but not black, and Storm is black, but grafted onto the same default “comic book beautiful woman” frame that almost all others were. So, Bishop made an impact on me at 14 that few other character introductions could. He was my example for the importance of representation. I actually looked forward to Hallowe’en that year.
DC: I never liked DC. Too saccharine. Too Star Wars. Not enough moral gray. To that end, my fave DC character is Amanda Waller. Uncompromising, unrepentant, and driven. Don’t fuck with Amanda Waller. She would find a way to bury Batman.