When A Coloring Mistake Means Much More
By Guest Contributor Sue, cross-posted from DC Women Kicking Ass
On Monday I posted how DC Comics had published a corrected version of the Flash family from Flashpoint #1. This portrait included the granddaughter of Barry Allen properly portrayed as a black woman. In the pages that were included in DC’s Green Lantern Free Comic Book Day issue, she has been colored and presented as a mysterious white member of the Flash family.
How did this happen? I have no idea. I asked DC if they wanted to comment on it yesterday, but my email has not been responded to. Neither have I seen any explanation. And even if they did respond, I am sure that they would say it was a “mistake.”
But a mistake that changes one of the few women of color in the Flash family, one of the few women of color in the Legion, one of the few women of color in comics is more than a mistake. It’s a painful reminder that in comics, white is the default. White is the majority. White is the easy choice because you have, according to Marvel’s Tom Brevoort, only a 1% chance of being wrong.
One year ago this week, DC Comics killed off Ryan Choi. The only male Asian superhero of prominence was murdered and shoved into a matchbox. The reason? To make the Titans look evil and, of course, to pave the way for his white predecessor Ray Palmer to return to comics. The timing of this latest fumble on race by DC would be amusing if it wasn’t so enraging and sad because
- It’s not as if comics hasn’t been accused of white washing before.
- It’s not as if comics hasn’t been called out on the racial politics of returning to “classic” characters.
- It’s not as if the the most prominent voice for diversity in comics hadn’t just died and his thoughts regarding racial diversity and comic book companies hadn’t been repeated over and over.
- It’s not as if Tom Brevoort of Marvel, who has previously said positive things about diversity, hadn’t described the idea of a Black Avengers as a contrivance because and, I quote,
99% of all super heroes are white. It’s the law of averages.
This conversation with Brevoort has been written about elsewhere and I was only tangentially involved; the conversation was driven by the essayist SonofBaldwin, but I can tell you it was one of the most disheartening things I’ve experienced during my time in comics fandom. Why? Because it confirmed something I and others have suspected for a long time; that white is the default because anything else is less important and hard. Need proof? Read why there are not more white faces at Marvel comics. Why 99% of superheroes were white and are white. Why a Black Avengers is a “contrivance” (as say opposed to “Pet Avengers”)
Oh, that’s social justice and that’s not their job. Their job is to write
I had to ask.
Brevoort’s response?
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