I just saw the gorgeous Spirit of Vengeance cover for the new Ghost Rider Kushala, who also happens to be a sorcerer supreme. I don’t know much about Kushala, but I know that this is like, the 3rd time Ghost Rider has had someone else taking up the mantle (Robbie Reyes being the last) and it was met with the same reaction as Robbie. A buncha people complaining about “wokeness” and not understanding representation or a continuing story having a new face. Those are easy to ignore because it has happened every time there wasn’t a white guy on the front anymore. If you are saying that “well they should just make their own characters”… they did. It’s a non-white Ghost Rider, or a non-white Cap, or a non-white Ms. Marvel, or a non-white Spidey. To be clear, none of the other superheroes actually stopped having comics. They were made side by side with the new heroes and just given a background that related to the cultural/societal reality a lot of minorities could relate to. Even if you couldn’t relate, in some way the environment was still familiar enough for you to be able to interact with. “I know someone like this” or “This reminds me of so and so”. I mean it was never that hard for me to look at these characters and see parts of myself in them and not once did I ask “Why are they white?”. I mean I KNEW why (see: History) and it wasn’t stopping me from enjoying what they meant and what they represented. So why is that so hard for others to understand? If it wasn’t for superheroes we wouldn’t have people from my culture willing to write characters that they see more of themselves in, or push MORE of the boundary of representation which is needed. At the same time, you do have people harassing (naturally) Black comic creators/writers/whoever for actually doing the thing they complained wasn’t being done which is SO weird.
“Hey, stop changing our heroes to appease the ‘woke’ culture”
“Hey, stop making only Black heroes. The last thing we need is more divisiveness. You’re the real racist!”
It makes no sense. Not only that but how are you reading comic books and still a tool? That’s so off to me. Heroes aren’t just running around smacking people to save the planet; for the most part they represent what is possible for us if we get out of our own way. Captain America was the anti-Nazi. He was Hitler’s “perfect Aryan” thrown right back in his face to tell him he was wrong… and he also sold war bonds. Superman was an alien (take that how you will) who despite not being from Earth, protected it. He made it his home because even though he had the power to literally make everyone do whatever he wanted, he chose to be greater than his gifts. So how do people read comics and walk around thinking trash? Simple answer: there are trash superheroes (anti-heroes) too; Harder answer: they have a choice and they choose to be impulsive rather than continue to think on one specific thing longer than they feel is necessary because the world keeps distracting them. “Why didn’t you mention Batman?” Batman is a rich dude who instead of going to therapy spends billions of dollars on tech and outfits that could otherwise help Gotham because that is WAAAAY easier than dealing with trauma. Also, he fights a lot of poor people. Medical bills, property damage… That friggin guy is just making Gotham worse! I’m the J. Jonah Jameson to Batman. Anyway, heroes aren’t just heroes, they sell ideology. We can debate on whether it’s right or wrong for where they are, or we could debate on whether their ideals are even possible to fit in a real society; the point is that they aren’t just doing cool things and an artist or writer isn’t just showing off their work. They mean something more than just the flow of their cape or the arsenal they have. At some point I’ll have to make a “villains did nothing wrong” just to counteract this idea because some are just victims of circumstance. Superheroes are a template for who we are meant to be if we just get out of our own way.
Something With Nothing 