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Topic: Panel from My Childhood: A Black Man Under the Metal (Topic Closed Topic Closed) Post ReplyPost New Topic
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Johan Vikberg
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Posted: 06 March 2015 at 9:39am | IP Logged | 1  

I remember this panel from when I was a kid. I thought it was strange that Rhodes would say something like that. I was a little kid, and not in America, and I had no understanding of these issues.

Today I went looking for it, to see what others have made of it.

Comics pundit Sean Kleefeld.

It's a valid question because, to this day, Caucasian is the default setting for superheroes. Although I doubt very few people would openly admit to it, I suspect a lot of readers viewed (and probably still view) Rhodes as the ”Black Iron Man.”


When I saw the panel I didn’t know Iron Man used to be Tony Stark. I guess Mr Fantastic didn’t either. But Kleefeld of course underlines the precise reason I thought the whole thing was so weird: No one (where I lived) would be surprised to see I was white, under any circumstance, so it seemed strange to me that Rhodes could think people might be surprised to see he’s black.

Then I found Osvaldo Oyola at ”The Middle Spaces”.

I remembered it as this uplifting and resistant moment—like “fuck yeah, there’s a black man in this armor. Your all-white club of adventurers can’t keep me out!”

... we are supposed to be impressed with Reed’s color-blindness. But Reed Richards is supposed to be the smartest man on the planet ... Is he not observant? It doesn’t take a genius to see the stark under-representation of African-Americans (and other people of color) in the Marvel Universe (especially among superheroes). He should be surprised.


Pretty funny! ”Yes, Iron Man! I’m really surprised, because there’s an inexplicable lack of black super heroes” – such a jab against Marvel itself would never have been allowed.

But perhaps Reed doesn’t have to say that. Maybe the writer (Jim Shooter?) is raising the issue through Iron Man’s question itself? Acknowledging that black heroes are so rare that they think to ask?


Edited by Johan Vikberg on 06 March 2015 at 9:41am
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Don Zomberg
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Posted: 06 March 2015 at 9:53am | IP Logged | 2  
Oyola (whoever he is) sounds like an idiot. Storm, Black Panther, Falcon, Captain Marvel, Luke Cage...the Marvel Universe was hardly an "all-white" club.

And what response did he want from Reed? "Hell yes I was surprised. I thought you Black guys were just pimps and janitors."
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Matt Hawes
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Posted: 06 March 2015 at 10:01am | IP Logged | 3  
"... the stark under-representation of African-Americans (and other people of color) in the Marvel Universe..."

The company that gave us the first black superhero in mainstream comics?  In comics, at that period of time, I don't recall DC or any other comics publisher having any better a representation of African-Americans. And, note, that Oyola doesn't distinguish between super-powered and non-superpowered in his criticism. Let us recall also the supporting characters like Robbie Robertson (who, like Black Panther was introduced in a time when it truly was a rarity to see ANY black people represented in comics).

I hate when people writing articles are clueless and idiots.
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Johan Vikberg
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Posted: 06 March 2015 at 10:21am | IP Logged | 4  
the Marvel Universe was hardly an "all-white" club.

Come on, it’s obviously just an exaggeration.

And what response did he want from Reed?

Indeed. On the face of it, it’s only serves to show Reed is not a racist, or something. As readers, we have probably never thought he was, and don’t need that cleared up.

Which is why I wonder if the point of the exchange is the question, not the answer: the writer’s way to draw attention to under-representation. 

I guess it’s probably rather just a throwaway exchange, but it’s an interesting thought.

* * *

The company that gave us the first black superhero in mainstream comics?

Yeah, it can be reasonable to speak of under-representation even when Marvel has introduced one, two or several black heroes. Especially considering how much/little we actually see of these characters in the books.

In comics, at that period of time, I don't recall DC or any other comics publisher having any better a representation of African-Americans.

Well, they can be under-represented by Marvel even if they’re under-represented more by DC. Not worth calling people idiots over.
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Peter Martin
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Posted: 06 March 2015 at 11:07am | IP Logged | 5  
What I found odd was the outcome of Reed 'making it far better than it was' -- some shoulder pads, a big backpack... and some external wires!
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Don Zomberg
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Posted: 06 March 2015 at 11:38am | IP Logged | 6  
it's obviously just an exaggeration

I hereby apologize for taking the man's statement at face value. Don't know what I was thinking.
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Robert Bradley
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Posted: 06 March 2015 at 11:47am | IP Logged | 7  
Some early significant black characters at Marvel -

Gabe Jones - Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1 - May 1963
Black Panther - Fantastic Four #52, August 1966
Bill Foster - Avengers #32, September 1966
Joe "Robbie" Robertson - Amazing Spider-Man #51, August 1967
Centurius - Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #2, July 1968
Randy Robertson - Amazing Spider-Man, December 1968
Man-Ape - Avengers #62, March 1969
Falcon - Captain America #117, September 1969
Doctor Spectrum - Avengers #69, October 1969
Prowler - Amazing Spider-Man #78, November 1969
Jim Wilson - Incredible Hulk #131, September 1970
Luke Cage - Hero For Hire #1, June 1972
Blade - Tomb of Dracula #10, July 1973
Nightshade - Captain America #164, August 1973
Brother Voodoo - Strange Tales #169 - September, 1973
Abe Brown - Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #1, April 1974
Thunderball - Defenders #17, November 1974
Misty Knight - Marvel Premiere #20, January 1975
Storm - Giant-Size X-Men #1 - May 1975
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John Byrne
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Posted: 06 March 2015 at 12:02pm | IP Logged | 8  
Gabe Jones - Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1 - May 1963

••

Integrating the US Armed Forces several years before it actually happened!
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Robert Bradley
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Posted: 06 March 2015 at 12:19pm | IP Logged | 9  
Interesting how the characters are all over the map.  There's heroes, villains, Americans, Africans, supporting characters, men and (eventually) women.

By the time I started reading comics in the 1970's black characters weren't all that rare.  I can remember reading Hero for Hire/Power Man, Jungle Action and Black Goliath and thinking nothing of the title characters being black.
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Andrew W. Farago
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Posted: 06 March 2015 at 12:25pm | IP Logged | 10  
Roughly five active superheroes out of the entire Marvel Universe in 1984 (Black Panther, Falcon, Luke Cage, Misty Knight, Storm) isn't exactly a huge number.  Cage was co-starring in his own book, Storm was leader of the most popular team in comics, but the Black Panther often went years at a time without a feature or appearing regularly in any book, Falcon got a mini-series around that time, but also wasn't appearing anywhere on a regular basis, and Misty Knight also dropped off the radar for years at a time. 

I'm not sure Rhodey had even met any of those five before he encountered the X-Men in Secret Wars, so it was probably a fair enough question to ask Reed when he was repairing his armor. 
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Brian Rhodes
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Posted: 06 March 2015 at 1:01pm | IP Logged | 11  
Having Rhodey as Iron Man was also a Stark under-representation. Hah.
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Robert Bradley
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Posted: 06 March 2015 at 1:10pm | IP Logged | 12  
There was probably a feeling that titles starring blacks or women just don't sell after they tried titles like Hero for Hire, the Cat, Black Goliath, Ms. Marvel, Spider-Woman, She-Hulk and Black Panther and featured characters like Tigra, Brother Voodoo and the Black Widow in others.

The market was dominated by young, white males and that's who they catered to, although many of us enjoyed stories like "Panther's Rage" in jungle action and weren't worried about the ethnicity or sex of the characters.
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