Darkstars #1

[earthdefensehero]

Hey, long time listener, first time caller. So, what with DC's minorities talking a couple blows and whatnot with the whole Choi debacle and the white Firestorm coming back and taking over instead of having a black man with an Asian girl in his head and Asian Batgirl just giving up her title to the white girl for absolutely no reason, I got to thinking. DC has a ton of minority character, but a lot of them aren't used for anything and I swear, every young black hero that appears on the scene complains about a lack of black superhero role models out there when there are a ton of them which kinda irks me, being black and all. So bein' an artist of sorts I decided to help DC show that it's diverse.

Enter the Darkstars, a theoretical all Black DC comics team. Bear with me now, I'm not the king of all artists, but I manage. Also, I wasn't expecting DC to remember that Peek-A-Boo existed when I made this, but oh well.






Heck, if y'all like it, there can be more where that came from.
Also, in case it isn't quite legal, have some Black Lois Lane.

Comments

[thanekos]

I question the validity of ' Clark Kenting it ' in the DCU actual, but other than that, it looks like you've got a pretty okay story and consistent art.

though some of the dialogue does make me wonder if you're playing this straight or parodical.

[earthdefensehero]

Something in the middle. I usually can't help the tounge in cheek thing. And, the fact that he kinda sets himself on fire really negates the chances of Clark Kenting being useful in THIS universe either.

[jlbarnett]

it's the phrase actually.

[earthdefensehero]

Hence Peek a Boo's reaction. These are the jokes folks.

[glprime]

This...is...awesome!

I also wonder if this is a "straight" or "parody" example of a lot of the racial tropes in the DCU, but the dialogue really just makes it too fun to care.

[earthdefensehero]

Kinda both. And, thank you.

[crinos]

Pretty good stuff, although in my shame I do not recognize all the characters present.

[earthdefensehero]

Eh, most of these guys are kinda obscure or have been made so by disuse. And the All New Madame Fatal doesn't exist. Kinda a playful dig at the whole Legacy Character with an ethnicity thing that spawnedChoi, Reyes, Rusch and a couple others.

[crinos]

I figured that. Course, if anyone deserves a legacy, its Madame Fatal.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Strictly speaking, shouldn't the All New Madame Fatal be a black MAN? (Or a man, anyway.)

[earthdefensehero]

In the first couple panels in the last page, she's implying that she has a kid that IS hers genetically and has a mother.

[psychopathicus_rex]

That... doesn't really clear things up all that much. I mean, either the mother is HER, or the mother is her wife/lover/whatever, in which case she's a lesbian, or 'she' is actually a he, and the mother of his daughter is his wife - but 'she' LOOKS like a she to me... Oh, I'm all confused.

[earthdefensehero]

Well, ya know. They can do wonderful things with surgery these days. Frankly, though, I'm fine with implying and banking on people's knowledge of the previous Fatal to draw their own conclusion. Probably because I enjoy being confusing.

[psychopathicus_rex]

You tease, you. *pouts*

[milleniumrex]

Ha! Awesome! :D

I didn't even know Peek-A-Boo existed for real when she appeared in Tiny Titans. My first thought was "Well, DC will write her into the main universe soon enough, no doubt."

These are all great characters, with the distinct exception of Mohammed X.

[crinos]

I read the superman issue that featured him in a Public Library. while I disliked the story, I think the character could be salvaged if they got him away from being a political staw man.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Which would be tricky, because that's pretty much all he WAS. If he were to draw as a character at all, it'd have to involve him questioning his convictions, and given the nature of those convictions... well, yeah. Tricky. What you'd have to aim for is somewhere in the neighborhood of 'all people are equal', but if badly handled, it could come off as 'I was wrong to criticize white people! They're flawless and peachy-keen!', which... well, one can imagine the sort of reactions THAT would provoke. Basically, if Mohammad X IS ever featured again, he should be written by a talented and dextrous writer, or not at all. (Shame Alan Moore doesn't do stuff for DC anymore; he could do wonders with him.)

[psychopathicus_rex]

'...if he were to GROW as a character at all'.

[earthdefensehero]

Well, I think he's a lot similar to some of the early appearances of John Stewart. I mean, once he got past just being an angry black guy who replaced Hal Jordan, he became an interesting character in my opinion. But X would probably have to be used again to even get that chance.

[psychopathicus_rex]

The difference between the two, though, is that John was CREATED to be more than an angry black guy - if you're becoming a Green Lantern, you pretty much have to be. X, on the other hand, was basically created and designed solely as an angry black guy, to make a point about bigotry not being one-sided. I'm not saying he couldn't grow as a character - I don't think there are any characters out there for whom you could say that; after all, 'no bad characters, only bad writers' - but he'd take a fair amount of retooling. At the moment, he's pretty one-dimensional.

[earthdefensehero]

He's there because I needed an obscure Black Superman analogue and President Barry O'Superman is in another dimension.