In Honor Of Dwayne McDuffie: Dwayne McDuffie Is The Man

[aaron_bourque]

Once upon a time, it was 1989. A character named Rocket Racer, a former super criminal, had reformed, and was reappearing in the pages of Spider-Man. At the same time, in Thor, a new super team, the New Warriors, had debuted, and among their number was the character Night Thrasher.

There was something disturbingly similar about these two characters. Three somethings:

1) They were teenagers.
2) They were black (in fact, they comprised a full quarter of the black superheroes in Marvel Comics at the time.)
3) They had skateboards. (well, it was the 80s)

Dwayne MacDuffie realized something was amiss here, and decided to do something about it.

Namely, shame Marvel.



So Marvel got the hint, and to make this post legal:

Night Thrasher eventually got his own series (and he didn't even have a skateboard!)



Aaron "The Mad Whitaker" Bourque

Comments

[filkertom]

That is hilarious.

Dwayne will definitely be missed.

[wasabi.livejournal.com]

Night Thrasher sounds like someone who shouldn't drink coffee before bed. Was Dark Wheelie serious? It sounds like Darjeeling or Dork Wheelie or Daquiri...

[aaron_bourque]

Dark Wheelie is apparently part of the satire. At least, the only Dark Wheelie I could find was a reference to the Transformers character.

[jcbaggee]

I've always had a soft spot for Night Thrasher, but I've also never experienced a Night Thrasher with a skateboard. I think I'll leave it that way.

[icon_uk]

To have seen much of Night Trasher but NOT his skatebaord is actually rather an impressive achievement!

[joasakura]

oh, brilliantly played. BRILLIANT.

[big_daddy_d]

LOL that was brilliant.

WWDDD?

[capt_satellite]

Priceless.

At my first SD Comicon, Dwayne was the first pro I happened into, purely by chance. He was so cordial, and so incisive about the medium....it was such a pleasant, stimulating first impression of the Comicon experience. How wonderful it is, that we can connect with people who have already moved us from a distance with their words and artistry...and how nice to put faces and voices with the names on the pages, and to have the chance to express gratitude.

Too soon, too soon.

Teenage Negro Ninja Thrashers?!?

[chocochuy]

Now that's an excellent (and funny) way to satirize the weirdness and excesses of the 80s.

You will be missed, Dwayne McDuffie.

[thanekos]

and yet, there was Black Bat's Two-Face..

..which honestly isn't too bad, just an amusing mental image. As is his proposed last page..

[icon_uk]

Which echoes what I think Tm Burton at least notionally planned to do by making Harvey Dent Billy Dee Williams in "Batman"

[darkknightjrk]

Oh yeah, I remember hearing of that one before--I forgot that was McDuffie's pitch. I would have liked to have seen that, actually.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Personally, I actually kinda like Night Thrasher's skateboard. I mean, yeah, I get McDuffie's point, but Thrasher is a rather interestingly NON-stereotypical example of a skateboard user. You don't get too many 'grim costumed semi-ninja vigilante' types on skateboards, black or not.

[thelazyreader]

That's a hilarious story. I'd actually love to read a (parody) series like that.

I'm sorry to say I'm not very familiar with McDuffie's work besides JLU. But even so, he will be sorely missed.

[blackruzsa]

*laughs and cries*