Black Characters In Silver & Marvel Age Comics!!!

 

This is a chronology of the Silver and Marvel Age of Comics. I don't always "paint between the lines" so I start it in 1954, a couple years earlier, because a few important events should not be forgotten.  In the early 1960s, before reprints,  it was impossible for most to read The Spirit which featured Ebony or even  Atlas’s (Marvel’s) 1954’s Jungle Tales with “Waku, Prince of the Bantu,” a dignified take on an African Prince and a perhaps a model for T’Challa.

"African-American" refers to Americans with ancestors from Africa.  In science fiction I use the term “Black” because we often  don’t know the nationality of the character, or what planet they are from.  My friends, both Black and White, had  read comics and often looked for someone to relate to. Often, Spider-Man was their favorite to my Black friends because his mask covered his full face and he could be anyone.

Special BIG thanks to Nick Caputo for his help and insight.

Pictured above, is the first Black Marvel character Waku, Prince of the Bantu who had his own limited series in seven issues of Jungle Tales from Sept. 1954 - Sept. 1955. Waku was a prince of the Bantu nation, located in  South Africa. He appeared in a total of eight issues. The stories were reprinted in  Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Jungle Adventure. (2009). 

In William H. Foster III’s book, “Looking For A Face Like Mine!” he why it was so important to him to have black characters in comics even if they were stereotypical. Mr. Foster writes:

The images of black characters in mainstream comics in the 1960s and 70s were almost non-existent, terribly stereotypical, but didn’t represent any models worthy of emulation. All in all, people like me just didn’t seem to existing comics. And, while this didn’t destroy my enjoyment of comics, it did leave me with a disquieting feeling that people who look like me weren’t welcome, not just in comics, but society as well.

                                                “The Happy Days Syndrome!”

In the 1960s and 1970s TV producers occasionally would produce an episode to show they were inclusive. I named this phenomenon “The Happy Day Syndrome.” That show had an episode where an African-American family moves next store and they encountered bigotry.  But Fonzie likes them and then everyone does and at the end of the episode they have dinner with the Cunninghams. AND THEY ARE NEVER SEEN AGAIN. Not even at Ritchie’s wedding.  

As shown on Happy Days a couple of times, is another aspect of this syndrome: Black characters must be in plots involving prejudice. There were hundreds of innocuous plots on Happy Days, about dating, cars, staying out late, etc. However, when a black character shows up the story must be about prejudice. 

Middle 1950s and Early 1960s

Jackie Ormes (August 1, 1911 – December 26, 1985) was a female African-American cartoonist. She is the creator of Torchy Brown and Patty-Jo 'n' Ginger comic strips.

Not in the time of this article, Ormes's first comic strip, Torchy Brown in Dixie to Harlem, first appeared in the Pittsburgh Courier on May 1, 1937 through April 30, 1938. (The Pittsburgh Courier was an African American weekly newspaper that was published in from 1907-1966.)

Ormes returned to the character in starting August 19, 1950, when the Courier began a color comics section, with an updated Torchy in “Torchy in Heartbeats.” Torchy, a fashion conscious, socially aware, intelligent, and attractive woman. Unlike the first Torchy series which was humorous, this was a serious comic strip. The strip ended in 1954.

Patty-Jo 'n' Ginger, was a single-panel cartoon which ran from September 1, 1945 to September 22, 1956. It featured a big sister-little sister combination, with a precocious and socially aware child as the only speaker. 

Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story is a 16-page comic book about Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and the Montgomery bus boycott published in December 1957.

It was written by Alfred Hassler and Benton Resnik and illustrated by Sy Barry.

Dr, King himself endorsed the book and provided suggestions. Al Capp, an admirer of Dr. King, and his studio produced the comic at no charge

 The comic cost 10 cents and was published was published, in color. 250,000 copies were distributed by the Fellowship of Reconciliation.

Not nationally distributed, David C. Cook was an American publisher of Christian materials. Many of his publications were aimed at providing content for religious Sunday school curriculums. In 1960 he published a story of how John Richardson brought Christianity to the Black natives of Nicobar Island.

In the late 1950s into the 1970s, DC would often print Public Service Announcements about friendship and brotherhood.

Script: Jack Schiff; Pencils: Bernard Baily

Script: Jack Schiff; Pencils: Al Plastino

Despite the public service announcements, there were no African-American people working at the Daily Planet or at Superboy’s school. The Justice League of America and the Legion of Super-Heroes had green people, purple people, orange people but no black people. There were no black people at Supergirl’s orphanage or anywhere else. Mr. Foster pointed out that there was story about black people on Krypton and they lived on an island. “Even on Krypton, “Mr. Foster said, “We were segregated!”  

As seen below there were no black people in Smallville.

 

(Superman #97: Script: Jerry Coleman; Pencils Wayne Boring)

DC's  Showcase reprinted “Doctor No,” in a James Bond story. It was first published in Great Britain’s Classic Illustrated in 1962 and illustrated by Norman Nodel.  Much of the story takes place in Jamaica and features several Black characters, which are included in the British version. DC however not only re-colored the Black characters to be white, they redrew their faces to look Caucasian. 

 

Dr. No also was also printed as a comic strip in Great Britain newspapers in 1960. Here, black characters, such as Quarrel, are left intact.

Here is an example of the Happy Days Syndrome. Sgt. Rock also had a one shot, black character, Jackie Johnson who appeared in Our Army at War #113 (December, 1961). The cover showed only the back of his head, wearing a hat, so you really did not see that he was African-American. Years later, perhaps after seeing the success of Sgt. Fury at Marvel, Jackie would reappear in Our Army at War #160 with a cover date of November, 1965, four years later. (And that's covered in a little bit.) As mentioned in the Happy Days syndrome, it's mandatory that in his first story must be about racism.

 

Despite what Rock says, Jackie was furloughed.  (Story by Robert Kanigher, Art by Joe Kubert)

At Charlton Comics an African witch doctor Nguta Lmu saved the day in an alien invasion in "A Look at a Backward Planet" in SPACE WAR #18, Sept. 1962. But, as a product of the times, they never show his face.

(Script Joe Gill ? Pencils Bill Molno)

1963

The first African-American to appear as a reoccurring character in a nationally distributed comic was Gabriel Jones in Sgt. Fury, 1963 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

 

Stan Lee in an NEA Interview with Jo Reid, 2008

… we tried to as much as possible give the feeling that bigotry is a terrible thing. In fact, I remember I did a book called Sergeant Fury and his Howling Commandos, which was a very popular series of war stories. Sergeant Fury was...it was in World War II and Sergeant Fury led this commando squad, and this was the first as far as I know ethnically mixed platoon in literary history. I had a black fellow named Gabriel Jones, a Jewish fellow named Izzy Cohen, an Italian, Dino Manelli, and on and on. The whole platoon was totally racially mixed and everybody said to me, “Stan, that book won’ t sell in the South. It won’t sell in the East. It won’t sell in the North or the West, on Mars.” But it sold all over. It was one of our  best-selling books, which gave me a great feeling about the real American public.

In a Marvel promotion magazine, Stan said that during the war both he and Kirby served with brave African-Americans and they should be recognized for their efforts.

Gabe, in the beginning, was colored to look more white than black. Stan Goldberg, then Marvel’s colorist explained to me that while a colorist may indicate what color is to be used, “minimum wage” workers had to apply it during the printing process. So things did not always come out correctly and here Gabe, in the first issue, is colored white. Gabe did not appear on the cover for the first issue but he did so thereafter.

This was a big step. Comics book publishing is a business and making money was a prime concern. Alienating southern retailers was not profitable. In 1955, a story, entitled “Judgement Day” from EC Comics, was initially rejected by the newly established Comic Code, whose mission was to oversee content to ensure that stories were suitable for young readers. The story portrayed a black astronaut, sweating. It was originally printed before the Code was established, and EC wanted to reprint it in Incredible Science Fiction #33. 

Al Feldstein, EC's editor,  said in a taped conversation on December 29th, 1955, that the reason the story was  rejected was "they wanted a white man." Feldstein says in Tales of Terror: The EC Companion: (Murphy, head of the Comics Code)  said it can't be a Black [person]. So I said, 'For God's sakes, Judge Murphy, that's the whole point of the Goddamn story!' So he said, 'No, it can't be a Black'. Bill [Gaines, the publisher] just called him up [later] and raised the roof.”

However, as quoted in Squa Tront # 8, on the 1972 EC Science Fiction panel, Publisher Bill Gaines gave a different version of the story: "… is that according to the Monster Times (issue #10) the Code turned down "Judgement Day" because they wanted the spaceman to not be a negro. That is simply not true….What they objected to, which I couldn't understand, was the beads of perpetration on the Negro's forehead. This to them was a very distasteful thing. I refused to remove it, and it became a cause celebre  for a little while. I threatened to take it to the Supreme Court, and they relented and the story was printed… 

In The Tales of the Crypt Archives Feldstein reported the results of his meeting with the Comics Code administrator to Gaines, who was furious [and] immediately picked up the phone and called Murphy. 'This is ridiculous!' he bellowed. 'I'm going to call a press conference on this. You have no grounds, no basis, to do this. I'll sue you'. Murphy made what he surely thought was a gracious concession. "All right. Just take off the beads of sweat.. At that, Gaines and Feldstein both went ballistic. 'F**k you!' they shouted into the telephone in unison. Murphy hung up on them, but the story ran in its original form

We may suspect, that the perception of the Code's attitude may have contributed to the industry not often including Black characters.

(Story by Al Feldstein, Art by Joe Orlando)

While there were no black students at Superboy’s graduation, there were several at Peter Parker’s and throughout Ditko’s Spider-Man run. 

Superman #46: Writer: Jerry Siegel; Pencils: John Sikela

In the early 1960s Stan was having Marvel artists put black faces into crowds, DC was taking them out. (Thanks to Nick Caputo and Bill Hall) 

Roy Thomas for this blog: Stan had been insisting, way before I got there, that artists draw--and colorists (hi, Stan Goldberg) color--people in crowds as "Negroes," as the expression then was. That seems a small thing, but it was more than most if not all other comics companies were doing then.  I became aware of that policy very shortly after being hired, and it was one I applauded. 

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN  #18, (11/ 1964) 

Page 17, panel 6 

Page 18, panels 1-3, black cop.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN# 22  (3/65) 

Page 4, panel 7, black student in Pete's class.

Page 6, panel 7, black museum attendee

 

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #23 (4/1965)

Black cop - Page 3. panels 1. 2 & 3;  Page 7. panel 5

Black pedestrian - Page 4. panel 4

 

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #24 (5/1965)

Black pedestrians - Page 6. panel 1

 

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN # 26, (6/1965)

Page 6, panel 2, Daily Bugle employee;

Page 7, panel 6, student;

Page 8, panels 4-5 men in Jameson's club (panel 4 has the man incorrectly colored);

Page 16, panel 7, police officer.

 

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #27 (8/1965)

Black cop Page 4, panels 2 & 3:

Page 5. panels & 6;

Page 6, panels 1 & 2;

Page 7. panel 3 ­

Page 8, panel 1; Page 13. panel 1

page 15, panels 7-8, young kid.

page 17, panel 6;

page 18, panel 1, men in Jameson's club.

 

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #28 (9/1965)

Two black high school students; Page 2. panel 1

Black member of peter Parker's graduating class; Page 3. panels 2 & 3

Black pedestrian couple; Page 8, panel 5

Two Black members of Peter's graduating class ­Page 17, panel 4

Black member of Peter' graduating class and a Black father; Page 17, panel 5

Black Student and parents; Page 18. panel 4

 

STRANGE TALES #136 (9/1965)

Dr. Strange: Black follower of Mordo; Page 3. panel 2

Nick Fury: Black Agent Page 3

 

STRANGE TALES #137 (10/1965)

Nick Fury: Gabe Jones first appearance as a S.H.I.E.L.D agent.

 

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #33 (12/1966)

Aunt May’s black, doctor; Page 14, panels 1 & 3; Page 19, panel 5

Black Daily Bugle Employee Page 16. panel 4

 

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #34 (3/1966)

Black pedestrian; Page 6, panel 4; Page 8, panels 2 & 3

 

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #37 (6/1966)

Black Daily Bugle employee; Page 3, panel 8

Black member of a crowd; Page 8. panel 1

 

STRANGE TALES #145 (6/1966)

Black surgeon operates on Dr. Strange Page 5. panels 1;6; Page 10. panels 6 & 7

Black pedestrian; Page 3, panels 1-3

 

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #38 (7/1966)

Black boxer; Page 1, panel 2;

Page 2 panels 1, 2 & 3;

Page 14, panels I, 2 & 3;

Page 15, panels 1 & 4;

Page 16, panel 2;

Page 17, panel 6;

Page 18, panel 3

Black college student; Page 10, panel 7; Page 11, panel 7

 

1964

In Tales of Suspense #61, 1964, Lee and Kirby again remind us that African-Americans served this country. Captain America ventures into the communist area Viet Nam to rescue pilot, Jim Baker. Cap says that Baker’s brother rescued him in the E.T.O. (European Theatre of Operations) during World War II, reminding us that African-Americans were a vital part of the military at that time too.

How times have changed. The below splash says, “The last person the Communist Viet Cong expect to see on the battlefield of Viet Nam is Captain America.” Cap was originally a war hero and a soldier. He would be the FIRST person we would expect to see on a battlefield.  He, in 1941, would have been the FIRST person they would expect to see on a battlefield. But American’s view of this war was mixed and the comics, mostly, but not completely, stayed away from it.

From Charlton's Romance comic: "The Nicest Girl in Town" Teen-Age Love #37 (May 1964),  illustrated by Vince Colletta 

Treasure Chest Fun and Fact  was published from 1946 to 1972. It was distributed in parochial schools. The comics contained religious and moral themes and was one of the first comics to regularly have stories about African-Americans. For example, they had the biography of Jesse Owens in 1952.  In the 1960s-1970s Treasure Chest had several series that contained Black youth.  In 1964  Treasure Chest ran a story about the fictional Governor of New York, Timothy Pettigrew, running for president.  After ten issues the surprise ending was that Governor Pettigrew was Black.

(Pettigrew by Written by Barry Reece; Art by Joe Sinnott) 

Classics Illustrated featured many  adaptations of literary classics. It was created by Albert Kanter and ran from 1941 to 1969, producing 169 issues.

Classics was a forerunner of the graphic novel but it also presented many other features.  I don’t understand why it hasn’t gotten more publicity.

 Over the years they printed many stories and features featuring African-Americans.  They did reprint a great many stories and their comics were not “rotated” on the stands like so many others, so their dates of  availability are vague.

Tom Sawyer, Art by Aldo Rubano

    

Norman Nodel, cover artist 

Rolland H. Livingstone

Gabe Jones’ first appearances as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent was in STRANGE TALES #137 with a street date of July 8, 1965. I Spy premiered on NBC two months later on September 15, 1965, with Bill Cosby. So, Gabe was the first National African-American secret agent!

 

 Our Army at War #160: Captured by the Nazis Jackie Johnson proves that not only is he a superior fighter but that his blood is red, meaning he is just as humans as his Nazi captors. 

Writer Robert Kanigher; Artist: Joe Kubert

Gold Key Comics published M.A.R.S. Patrol Total War  for 10 issues from July 1965 to August 1969. The first two issues were titled Total War, with Wally Wood as artist. Sgt. Joe Stryker was an African America who was a demolitions expert and paratrooper.

 

Lobo: The first black hero to have his own nationally distributed comic was Dell’s Lobo by D. J. Arneson and artist Tony Tallarico in 1965. It ran for two issues but was cancelled because the southern  distributers would not distribute it.

 

Collector’s Times, Aug 2006: Tony Tallarico : I had an idea for Lobo. And I approached D.J. Arneson and he brought it in and showed it to [Dell editor-in-chief] Helen Meyer. ... She loved it. She really wanted to do it. Great, so we did it. We did the first issue. And in comics, you start the second issue as they're printing the first one, due to time limitations. ... All of the sudden, they stopped the wagon. They stopped production on the issue. They discovered that as they were sending out bundles of comics out to the distributors [that] they were being returned unopened. And I couldn't figure out why. So they sniffed around, scouted around and discovered [that many sellers] were opposed to Lobo, who was the first black Western hero. That was the end of the book. It sold nothing. They printed 200,000; that was the going print-rate. They sold, oh, 10-15 thousand.

D. J. Arneson, in a 2010 interview, disputed this version of Lobo's creation and discussed where the idea for a Black cowboy came from.:

Tony Tallarico illustrated Lobo. He did not create the character, I did. He did not plot the storyline, I did. He did not write the script, I did. And he did not approach me with the original concept or idea. ... I developed the original premise for Lobo (originally Black Lobo, a title Helen Meyer rejected as inappropriate at the time...) from the book The Negro Cowboys by Philip Durham and Everett L. Jones.... On reading the book in 1965, I recognized the potential for a black comic book hero based on historical fact.... I added other elements to the original Black Lobo character concept, e.g...Robin Hood, the Lone Ranger etc., as well as the familiar adventurous spirit of the American cowboy of popular Western novels and cowboy movies of that time....

 

1966

Golden Legacy was the name of a series of educational comics on the topic of Black history from 1966 to 1976. Golden Legacy published comic book biographies of important and famous Black people including  Toussaint Louverture, Harriet Tubman, Crispus Attucks, Benjamin Banneker, Matthew Henson, Alexandre Dumas, Frederick Douglass, Robert Smalls, Joseph Cinqué, Walter F. White, Roy Wilkins, Thurgood Marshall, Martin Luther King Jr., Alexander Pushkin, Lewis Howard Latimer, and Granville Woods. Bertram Fitzgerald was the publisher and often the writer along with other black contributors such as Joan Bacchus and Tom Feelings. Other contributors included Don Perlin and Tony Tallarico. The comics are still available at https://golden-legacy.com

Bill Foster, by Stan Lee and Don Heck, was introduced in The Avengers #32 (Sept. 1966) as Henry Pym’s brilliant lab assistant. He would become a giant part of the Marvel Universe. Before this time Black characters were often portrayed as stereotypes. At Marvel, Black characters, such as Bill Foster, were often now the smartest guys in the room. 

Robbie Robertson first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #51 (August 1967) by Stan Lee and John Romita. Robbie was nameless in his first appearance. He was the high-ranking editor at the Daily Bugle. He was often the voice of reason and, unlike his boss, J.Jonah Jameson, was actually a guy you would want to work for.

Robbie will get a name next issue.

 The Black Panther was introduced in 1966 in Fantastic Four #52-54. The Panther was not just the leader of the Wakandas, he was a brilliant scientist who led a brilliant team. Martin Goodman, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby were the publisher and creators the Black Panther. This was at a time, as we saw with Lobo, when publishing a Black character was a financially challenging thing to do. Goodman was risking real money. Several years ago, I asked the powers that be, or that were, is that the reason the Black Panther wore a full-face mask? So the sellers would not see that he was Black? They answer I got was “probably” they didn’t remember.

The character the Black Panther was thought up nine months before the political organization of the same name was founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in October 1966. That group lasted until 1982. T’Challa had no connection to it at all. In fact, T’Challa changes his name to the Black Leopard in 1972 (Fantastic Four #119) “Not because I agree or disagree with the other group, I just don’t want to be confused with them." His next appearance was in Daredevil as The Panther, with no mention of his discarded temporary moniker. The word "Black" was often not used in describing the character.

 Roy Thomas for this blog: Apparently, even before I came aboard in mid-65, Stan and Jack had played with that Coal Tiger idea, a rather ridiculous name and outfit, but they couldn't use him in a split-book as planned because of Independent's (Marvel's distributor) limit on the number of titles.  Then they brought him out... just in time for the African-American group to be founded and get itself a reputation as a radical group, so that they felt it best not to push the character. I was not happy when Stan decreed that T'Challa be called just "The Panther" when he joined the Avengers (Stan's idea, I believe), but understood the reason.  I was even less wild about the "Black Leopard" thing, but a black panther IS nothing but a black leopard, after all.  I was glad when it could be swiftly changed back, though.

Until this time characters named “Black” in comics were always white. This includes the  Black Knight, Black Cat, Black Canary and the Black Widow.

African Villages had previously been shown in comics and movies to be primitive.  The inhabitants of Wakanda, ingeniously (by Lee and Kirby), are the most technically advanced people in the world. The hide that fact by pretending to be primitive to keep the outside world out.

 Fashion Model Jill Jerrold was introduced in Modeling with Millie #48, August 1966, three months after the Black Panther debuted and she is featured on the cover of  issues #48 and #51. She was a recurring character. The first stories were by Denny O'Neil and Stan Goldberg, who we assume created the character, although Stan may have made the suggestion. 

Bwana Beast and Ka-Zar

At DC Showcase #66 introduced B’Wana Beast, a white man who had the power to a adopt the abilities of animals and can talk to them.. Here, an African, Rubert Kenboya, his friend and college roommate,  is the narrator of the stories. Very typical, in Black Africa once again, a white guy gets to be the hero. 

Art by Mike Sekowsky

Bringing a white man into Africa to be a champion had been a popular concept since Tarzan.  Marvel’s original Tarzan clone, Ka-Zar, was introduced in Marvel Comics #1, 1939 after first appearing in three pulp magazines.  When Marvel brought him back, in X-Men #10, they changed him completely, stepping away from the stereotype. He was no longer “King of the Jungle” saving natives, Ka-Zar was placed in the Savage Land, a land that time forgot. It was filled with mutating dinosaurs and other prehistoric beasts and no stereotypes. A major difference was now emerging between Marvel and DC.  Many times Ka-Zar was presented out of the jungle and in Big City adventures.

 

In 1964, after the Voting Rights act was passed, the NAACP commissioned Marvel to create a comic, “The Future Rests Within Your Hands!" This comic explained  how to register to vote. It was written and drawn by Larry Lieber and inked by Sol Brodsky.

1967

In 1967  Newspapers had notice what was happening at Marvel:

                                     San Antonio Express and News, Jan. 7 1967

If writing intelligent comics qualifies as an industry first, so do other Marvel breakthroughs. Lee was the first comics editor to integrate his books. Now Negro superheroes like Gabriel Jones and The Black Panther stalk villains in partnership with old established Arms like the Avengers, X-Men and The Fantastic Four.

                                                                        1968

In a major breakthrough in comic strips, Charles Schulz, at the behest of a Los Angeles schoolteacher, Harriet Glickman, introduced African-American Franklin into his Peanuts comic strip. Schultz was concerned that he would not represent an African-American child correctly and encouraged other creators, such as cartoonist Robb Armstrong, the African-American creator of the comic strip Jump Start, to create a better platform.  When Schultz needed a last name for Franklin for a TV special, he used Armstrong.

 

In 1977, Schulz introduces Milo to the series:

In issue #51, The Black Panther becomes the first black member of the Avengers, replacing Captain America.

Avengers #57 has one of my most favorite pages in Marvel history: The most powerful Ultron meets the least powerful person. Ain't that a kick in the head!

Marvel now feels comfortable enough to introduced a Black villain. Jim Steranko, always innovating, introduces the first Black villain of the Marvel Age in Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #2

1969

The Falcon: (Samuel Thomas Wilson) was created by Stan Lee and Gene Colanand introduced  in Captain America #117 (September 1969). He  was Marvel’s first African-American super-hero (The Black Panther was African).  He was the first Black hero to have his name on the covedr title and appear a national distributed comic. In the 1960s super-heroes mostly did not have partners, they had sidekicks. Sidekicks were often teen-agers with similar abilities as the main hero. (Robin, Speedy, and Bucky to name a few). Some had stereotypical sidekicks, Pieface, Doiby Dickles, Ebony and Chop-Chop. Sam was a full partner and was even given a full back story!

Gene Colan wrote in Captain America Marvel Masterworks #4.

...in the late 1960s [when news of the] Vietnam War and civil rights protests were regular occurrences, and Stan, always wanting to be at the forefront of things, started bringing these headlines into the comics. ... One of the biggest steps we took in this direction came in Captain America. I enjoyed drawing people of every kind. I drew as many different types of people as I could into the scenes I illustrated, and I loved drawing black people. I always found their features interesting and so much of their strength, spirit and wisdom written on their faces. I approached Stan, as I remember, with the idea of introducing an African-American hero and he took to it right away. ... I looked at several African-American magazines, and used them as the basis of inspiration for bringing The Falcon to life.

Roy Thomas for this blog: Stan, of course, conceived the Falcon pretty much on his lonesome, with Gene Colan designing and drawing.  Unless Romita drew an initial sketch, nobody else was involved.  But I think that Stan felt him not quite strong enough for a stand-alone character.  I myself never thought the name Falcon went with Captain America... but then, the Falcon made his debut NOT as Cap's partner, so it makes sense that way.

Iron Man #21: 

An African-American, Eddie March stands in for Iron Man:

Amazing Spider-Man #78: An African-American is, for the second time at Marvel,  featured as a villain.  A down and out African American kid, Hobie Brown, trying to make a fast buck as the Prowler. John Romita Jr. designed the Prowler for his father. 

 

Written by Stan Lee, Drawn by John Romita

Focus: Danger appeared in Charlton’s  Strange Suspense Stories #3, September 1968. It was an I Spy inspired strip. Charlton credited it as "Created, Written and Drawn by Don Perlin" because they weren't gonna give him more money anyway! Don replied to Nick Caputo: "It was intended to be a series. But due to power changes it never happened." I asked about possible influences of I Spy or Sea Hunt and he replied, "You got it. I Spy!" 

Licensed Comics

Licensed TV shows and movies presented in comics are NOT the prime focus of this article, but they are relevant. These are  characters and stories owned by TV, movie and literary agents and were not originally created for comics. These stories could not deviate from the screen’s or book's continuity. Often the stories had to be approved by the license holder. But those comics that featured Black characters  and should not be ignored. 

 Room 222, Mission Impossible, Hogan’s Heroes, I Spy, and Mod Squad were among the shows to have black stars and they were featured in the comics. The Harlem Globetrotters also began a series for Western Publishing in 1971.

Art: Al McWilliams

Mission Impossible: Art by Jack Sparling

Art by Jack Sparling

Art by Jack Sparling

Hogan's Heroes #3: Art by Steve Ditko and Sal Trapani

Hanna-Barbara Fun In #8 (1971) by Dan Spiegle

                  

At this time, in the Gold Key run of Star Trek, Uhura, played on TV by Nichol Nichols was only on the cover, in issue #8. She appeared in only two stories in issues #9 and #26.

Star Trek #9: Script: Len Wein; Pencils: Alberto Giolitti

Uhura had better luck in the British Comics, where she appeared regularly. (The American comic strip did not begin until 1979.)

Art by Harry Lindfield

The longest lasting licensed character in the comics is Tarzan, a popular character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs. He has appeared in comic strips since January 7, 1929.  Tarzan also appeared in comics books published by Dell, beginning in 1947 and then Western Publishing, Charlton Comics, DC Comics, Marvel Comics and Dark Horse Comics. Race relations for Tarzan would be a long article all by itself. The white bias is obvious and we don’t have to discuss that here.

Brothers of the Spear" was a long-running backup feature in the Tarzan comic-book series that began in issue #25 in 1951. It was first drawn by Jesse Marsh and later by Russ Manning. This was an original series and not licensed. It was published by Western Publishing and then through Gold Key Comics and later DC. This series was centered on two men, Dan-El and Nantongo, one White and one Black. Both were kings in neighboring countries and both had their thrones usurped. The pair  have adventures helping people across their lands.

Script: Jerry O'Hara; Russ Manning (plot); Pencils Jesse Santos

DC’s Justice League of America #57, “Man, Thy Name is Brother!” and Marvel’s Daredevil #47 “Brother, Take My Hand!” were published within months of each other. They are linked in my mind not just because of timing, but because both had a theme of blindness and the word “Brother” in their titles. In both stories an African American is falsely accused of a crime that he did not commit. The Flash in the JLA and Daredevil (Matt Murdock) are in the courtroom to prove their innocence.   These are both feel good stories.  Willie Lincoln in Marvel's Daredevil appears again in issues #49 and #58-60. The DC characters are not seen again in the Silver Age.

 Script: Gardner Fox; Pencils: Mike Sekowsky 

Script by Stan Lee; Art by Gene Colan

1970

Friday Foster, a comic strip, was introduced in 1970. It was  created by Jim Lawrence and later continued by Jorge Longarón. It ran for four years. It featured an African-American woman as the title character. (Jackie Ormes's Torchy predated it, in 1937). Dell Comics published a single issue of a Friday Foster comic book (October 1972), written by Joe Gill and illustrated by Jack Sparling.

 

 

Charlton Comics in The Phantom #39: With art by Steve Ditko Charlton had occasional stories with black characters.

Steve Ditko

In 1969/1970, Larry Fuller, a Black artist drawing underground comics, (These were comics with no censorship but very limited circulation because they had no national publisher)  created one of the first Black superhero characters in a comic: Ebon, who appeared in Spearhead comics. Only one comic was published and it did not sell well, but it is often referred to and remembered.

Ebon,(a.k.a. Valentine Jones) is an alien from the planet of Nyta, where everyone is Black. He has super-strength, super-speed and can fly.

At DC The Green Lantern  #76 (April 1970) is famous for a scene  where distressed, Black residents says to him, “You never bothered with black skins!”

This is the only appearance of an African-American neighborhood and it  is in great contrast to Metropolis. There is crime and poverty all over. Once again, the Black natives are looking for a White hero.  The Guardians let GL help, but they half his power as punishment for wanting help these people. No Black character appears again in GL until issue #86, October 1971, in a story about drug addiction.

John Stewart is introduced as a backup Green Lantern in issue #87 (Dec. 1971) and originally this one-shot appearance was another example of the Happy Days Syndrome.  It would five years before he appears in another GL book, #94, May 1977, although he does appear in a JLA #110 in April of 1974.  He is then  unemployed for four more years until Tales of the Green Lantern Corps #3 (July 1981)

 

(Script: Denny O'Neil; Pencils Neal Adams)

Jim Wilson debuts in The Incredible Hulk #131 (September 1970). He is an angry young man who befriends the Hulk. He is replacing Rick Jones, who found permanent employment in the Captain Marvel series. Jim, in later years, becomes a series regular. In Incredible Hulk #232 it is revealed that he is the nephew of Sam Wilson, the Falcon.  In the early 1990’s it is disclosed that he was HIV positive and he eventually dies of AIDS in issue #420.  The character was created by  Roy Thomas and Herb Trimpe with John Severin.

 

Jack Kirby’s Fourth World introduces  ykin, in Forever People #1. He was the first black super-hero to appear in a DC comic book. Don't tell Black Lightning.  Kirby would create the Black Racer, a clone of the Silver Surfer, just over a half a year later in New Gods #3. The racer was Willie Walker, a paralyzed Vietnam War veteran.

DC had many heroes without super-powers beginning with Batman, The Challengers of the Unknown, Secret Six, Blackhawks and Sea Devils to name a few.  As a NON super-hero, Black Molo made his first appearance in Sea Devils #23, 1965.

(Pencils Howard Purcell)

 August Durant has his first appearance in Secret Six #1, 1968.

Script: E. Nelson Bridwell; Pencils Frank Springer)

Mal Duncant is a horse of a different color. He made his first appearance in: Teen Titans #26, 1970. Not a super but gains powers by issue #44, 1976. Many consider  Mal Duncan, not Vykin, as DC’s first black Super Hero.

Script Robert Kanigher; Pencils Nick Cardy

Many of DC’s Black heroes were part of gangs or groups. That includes Walter Johnson Jr, alias “Flipper-Dipper,” known for his diving suit and swimming abilities. He first appears in Jack Kirby's  Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #133, 1970.

Nubia, Wonder Woman’s Black Amazon sister (made from darken clay) was introduced in Wonder Woman #204, 1973 but slowly fades away.

Script: Robert Kanigher; Pencils Don Heck

 In 1970’s Lois Lane #106, “I am Curious Black.”   Lois visits the Back neighborhood of  “Little Africa” and is ignored because she is white.  Using Superman’s technology she transforms herself into a Black woman. Returning to the neighborhood she witnesses the problems of those who live there. What  got to me was the splash page. Lois asks if Superman would marry her if she was Black. There should be no shock here, because, at that time, he refused to marry her when she was white! 

1971

Meanwhile at Archie Comics: Chuck Clayton is introduced as a friend of Archie in Life With Archie #110 in 1971.

Valerie of Josie and the Pussycats predates Chuck by nearly two years. She was introduced in issue #45 in 1969. She will eventually enter the Archie Universe and become friends with Archie.

 

Script: Dick Malmgren; Pencils Bob Bolling

Script: Dick Malmgren; Pencils Dan DeCarlo

In 1971 Charlton published a story, illustrated by Steve Ditko, entitled "The Last Life." Stereotypically (which also means just too often) it features an African native,  in  the jungles (never in houses)  resorting to mysticism. It was still rare to see Black people in a Charlton comic.

 

1972

 Back at Marvel: Luke Cage, was the first Black superhero to star in his own nationally distributed comic, “Hero for Hire” beginning in June 1972. He was created by Archie Goodwin, George Tuska, Roy Thomas, and John Romita Sr.  The title and character changed its name to Power Man, with issue #17. He was created at the height of the blaxploitation movies, such as Shaft and Superfly. The stories had a Film Noir element going for them, as he was a detective that people paid to solve their problems. It was VERY unusual at this time for a comic book hero to accept payment for being a hero. Also, super-heroes, including Batman and Spider-Man did fight crime in the worst part of the city, but they did not live there. But Cage did.  He cared about his neighborhood. Luke Cage was an ex-con, continuing a pattern that African-American characters had to be flawed. This concerned Tony Isabella who would write for this series and would create Marvel’s Black Goliath and Dc’s Black Lightning.

Tony Isabella, for this blog: I wish I had a longer run on LUKE CAGE. There were things I wanted to change. I never liked the idea that he was a escaped convict and fugitive, albeit a man who was framed for the crimes of others. The introduction of Stiletto and Discus, who were the sons of a Seagate Prison warden, was meant as part of a story line that would seen Luke cleared of all crimes. My further plans were to have Luke go back to college, figuring on sending him to the same one Peter Parker attended.

 

I have heard speculation that the Black Panther was not chosen to be the first Black super-hero in his own comic because people associated that name with the political group. 

 Roy Thomas for this blog: Stan decided, after SHAFT hit, it was time to create an African-American hero, so he, Archie, and I--and, design-wise, Romita--came up with him.  Stan guided the whole project from start to last... it was not a case of me, or even Archie as writer, pursuing his own ideas except as details (like D.W. Griffith, etc.). Sure, I made up the name Cage (well, accidentally lifted it from Gil Kane) and the level of invulnerability (from GLADIATOR) and the name "Hero for Hire" (but only after Stan said he wanted a different kind of super-hero title, and that he wanted the hero to work for a living as a super-hero), and later grafted Power Man onto him... but Stan guided the thing, and it was his idea (not his most original, but still good) to have him be an escaped (innocent) con.  I suspect most of the details, though, were Archie's.  The costume, derided today, fit perfectly in the milieu of 1970s blaxploitation pics that soon followed SHAFT, and the kind of dress that was going around following the flower children of the 60s.  The people being all cutesy about the costume wouldn't have done any better, back in the day.  George Tuska, of course, had zero to do with the character's creation, but penciled the early stories, so I guess is counted as a co-creator.  Stan gets the "shaft" on that one, since he wasn't listed as a co-creator on the Netflix show, even though he was really more important than any of us in Cage's creation.  I consider one of my more important contributions to Cage the suggestion that Billy Graham ink the book, and we always knew that he might eventually pencil it... which he did, even though he made more of a mark on the Black Panther strip with Don McGregor.

Tony was not the only one who disliked Cage's origin and stereotype. David Anthony Kraft began writing the Defenders with issue #44 and by issue #46 Luke Cage departs. 

David Kraft for this article: “Roger (Slifer) and I wrote him out immediately, because while I stayed true to established speech patterns and character traits, no black person nor ANY person I knew ever talked the phony jive established for Luke...I couldn't write Sweet Christmas, etc. -- I just couldn't do it. Out he went!”

In 1976, in Fantastic Four #168, Luke Cage was made a member, temporarily, of Marvel's First Family.

                           Stepping back: Gunhawks: Marvels’ Second series with a Black Lead.

Before the book and TV mini-series, Roots by Alex Haley in 1977, slavery was often not presented  as  being cruel, violent and inhumane. Movies, such as "Gone With the Wind", and TV shows often made slavery look not so bad and that people from Africa, who in reality were tortured by it, often benefited from it. 

In 1972 Marvel published Gunhawks a six issue western that never could be published after Roots. It featured the son of a rich plantation owner, to be known as Kid Cassidy and Reno Jones a slave. Here, the plantation owner is said to take a liking to Jones and brings him up as a son.  Jones' enslaved  parents are never seen.  Where are the parents? Were they sold? How did they live? Did Jones get wages for his work, was he beaten? Everything about the cruelty of slavery was left out. And Jones goes on to join the Confederacy!!!!! Oh, and it is the Union soldiers that are portrayed as the bad guys. Kid Cassidy was later shot and killed by Grey Fox, a Cheyenne chief. This actually meant that Gunhawks was a comic with an African American star.

As time went by, in real life, this storyline did not sit well with Marvel. In the year 2000 they revisited the characters in the four part Blaze of Glory. Here Jones explains that the previous stories were products of “dime novels” and nothing like that happened. Slavery was terrible, and their master may have been better than some, but was still a slave owner and he was still treated as a slave. Jones also explains that he never joined the Confederacy.

 

On your left is the original story, to the right is the retelling

Spiriting Ahead: The Spirit, appeared in newspapers beginning in June 2, 1940. The Spirit’s  sidekick, black Ebony White, was controversial because of the stereotypical way Will Eisner presented him.  Will Eisner was criticized for his depiction, especially his facial features, which were typical of racial caricatures common throughout the "Jim Crow" era. In later years Eisner did portray African-Americans more accurately.  In 1972, when the Spirit was being brought back in comic books Eisner did give him an explanation. 

 

In a 1966 New York Herald Tribune  Marilyn Mercer wrote: "Ebony never drew criticism from Negro groups in fact, Eisner was commended by some for using him), perhaps because, although his speech pattern was early Minstrel Show, he himself derived from another literary tradition: he was a combination of Tom Sawyer and Penrod, with a touch of Horatio Alger hero, and color didn't really come into it".

The first Black superheroine in comics, or a comic magazine, is Butterfly. She debuted in the first issue of Hell-Rider from Skywald Publishing in 1971. She was created by Gary Friedrich and John Celardo. Rich Buckler drew the second issue. This was four years before Storm's first appearance X-Men.

Once again, this was not an easy task. Rich Buckler told Danny Best that Skywald felt that Butterfly was too black. They hired Bill Everett to make the characters appear “more white”: “I got flack for this and Bill Everett was hired to touch up many of the faces (to make them look more white–go figure), and I quit when I saw the final result.”

In the first issue, Butterfly fights the henchmen of a costumed drug dealer, The Claw; In the second and final issue she defeats a racist, Klan inspired organization, the Order of the Crimson Cross.

Tony Isabella for this Blog: I always liked my friend Gary Friedrich's Butterfly and Hell-Rider. I once tried to figure out (with Gary) if he had any claims to the characters. I would have liked to revived them and work on the new stories with him. Sadly, he passed before we got too far into this.

                                    

In this sequence from Marvel's Night Nurse #1 (Nov. 1972), fledgling nurse Georgia Jenkins gets a whole page of her own, away from her two new roommates. Art by Winslow Mortimer. 

 In 1972, inspired by movies such as Shaft, Jack Kirby created for DC, Soul Love. It was to be a black-and-white magazine-size  format, just like his In The Days of the Mob and Spirit World. Sadly, it never was published. Here are two pages from the unpublished  “The Diary of the Disappointed Doll," with Kirby pencils and Tony DeZuniga inks. 

In 2019, John Morrow and Tomorrow’s Publications published “Jack Kirby’s  Dingbat Love” which featured many Kirby’s romance stories and a “What If?” edition of Kirby’s Soul Love.

Mark Evanier writes, as usual, an important, informative and interesting introduction.  Here is just a small part of it. 

“During its gestation, it was referred to variously as Soul Love or Soul Romance, and since it was never published, no decision was ever made on which title it would have.

As the stories for Soul Whatever were delivered to DC, some were shown to a magazine distributor who was said to have expertise on the kind of mostly-black neighbor­hoods where DC hoped to sell most of the press run. This person—I know not his race—felt that the faces were "too realistic." That's what they told us he said, and they were taking his counsel seriously. The order came down to have everyone redrawn so—and this is a quote—"...all the women look like Diahann Carroll and all the men look like Sidney Poitier." … If I sound confused about this, it's probably because I still am."

     Some of Kirby's pages were on display at a museum several years ago.  I took this picture. Note the "white out" (no pun intended) around the faces of many of the characters.         

                                              1973

In Jungle Action #6 The Black Panther finally stars in his own series, by Don McGregor and Rich Buckler. This is the series that introduces Killmonger.

This is not Kirby’s Black Panther, who was the Head of State for Wakanda, which is a full-time job. Here, in later issues,  T’Challa spends much of his time in America fighting the K.K.K. when he should be in Wakanda serving as their leader. As with Prince Namor (Prince of Atlantis) when they are away for a long time, someone tries to fill their royal vacuum and he is always a bad guy.

With issue #24 (Nov. 1976) the series was cancelled, in the middle of a story line, when Kirby’s Black Panther title was started.  The Jungle Action storyline is not referenced until two years later in Black Panther #14 and 15. The Jungle Action storyline then continues in Marvel Premiere #51 two years after that. It appears that the ruler of Wakanda was away from home for five years. 

Roy Thomas for this article: McGregor's vision of the Black Panther strip was never a big seller... probably I should have moved him to another strip, in terms of sales. But I knew McGregor felt passionately about it, so I put off replacing him.  Had I stuck around as editor much longer, though, I'd have probably had to, or else the mag would've been cancelled.  

 

Brother Voodoo, who has mystic powers, began his run in Strange Tales, #169 (Sep. 1973). In the jungles of Haiti, Doctor Jericho Drumm returns home to discover that his brother, Daniel, is dying from the curses of the evil Damballah. (A name that comes from a short story “Pigeons from Hell” by Robert E. Howard, first printed posthumously in Weird Tales, 1938.) Jericho’s brother, who was the first Brother Voodoo, sends him to Papa Jambo, to gain powers and seek revenge. Perhaps a little stereotypical, the story, characters and voodoo seemed to be influenced by 1973’s then  current and popular Live and Let Die, a James Bond movie.

Doctor Strange and Brother Voodoo were both men of science, physicians who did not believe in the mystic arts until tragedies drove them to learn. They both had ethereal forms that could come out of their bodies and can use spells. It was probably not a coincidence that Voodoo replaces Strange in Strange Tales.

Blade the Vampire Slayer was introduced in Tomb Of Dracula #10. So while the Living Dead (Zombies) were banned by the Comics Code, the undead, Vampires, were not.

Marv Wolfman: I had no intention of creating Blade, I had no intention of anything, he just popped into my head. In one step, walking down Main Street, Flushing, this is no joke. In one instant, the entire character, his costume, the look, his origin, and everything popped into my head, without my even expecting it to, because I’d only been on the book three issues at that point.

Gene Colan (Comic Book Artist #13): The visuals. Marv told me Blade was a black man, and we talked about how he should dress, and how he should look (very heroic looking). That was my input. Marv might’ve said “Put boots on him,” I don’t now. The bandolier of blades—that was Marv’s idea. But, I dressed him up. I put the leather jacket on him, and so on…(I based him on) A composite of black actors. (ex-NFL running back) Jim Brown was one of them.

I knew it was good, this character. Blacks were not portrayed in comics up to that time, not really. So I wanted to be one of the first to portray blacks in comics. There were black people in this world, they buy comic books, why shouldn’t we make them feel good? Why shouldn’t I have the opportunity to be one of the first to draw them? I enjoyed it!

Blade's mom is bitten

Marv Wolfman for this article: I wanted to add a more action style character to Dracula; someone with abilities that could actually challenge him. Most vampire hunters were powerless against him. Blade would be something better. He’d also be different from the more traditional vampire hunters.

I don’t remember speaking to anyone about the fact that Blade was black. already had several black characters so I don’t think there needed to be a reason to clear that first. I wanted him to be black and I didn’t think anyone at Marvel would have problems with that. And nobody did.

Obviously I had to speak to Gene (Colan, the artist) so he would know to draw Blade as black. Gene certainly didn’t have any problems with it, either. 

The fans seemed to like him from the get go.

Blade was using a knife so the nickname Blade made sense. It was also a strong word. I never thought it was his real given name but I assumed the different vampire hunters in his group gave themselves fake names so vampires would not know where their family lived. 

TOD was very special to me.

Mod Wheels was published by Western Publishing. It featured a group of young people, in great cars, solving crimes and having adventures.

 

Rich Buckler was very proud of his creation, with Doug Moench, of Deathlok, The Demolisher which first appeared in Astonishing Tales #25, August 1974. In issue #27 it is revealed that Luthor Manning, Deathlok, was married to a Black woman. In Deathlok's feature in Marvel Spotlight #33, his adversary, the Devil-Slayer also had a mixed marriage.

1975

Bill Foster, introduced as Hank Pym’s assistant, shows that he is no background player. In Luke Cage, Power Man #24 (April 1975)  he becomes the next Marvel Super-Hero with the power to grow into a Giant. The "Black Goliath" persona was created by Tony Isabella and George Tuska.

“Tony Isabella, 2018: “I don’t use the Black Goliath name anymore because I hated it back in the 1970s and I hate it today. Most parts of the name are stupid. I mean, Goliath was a villain. I wanted to call him Giant-Man, but, since Giant-Man was stinking up the sales before he was booted from Tales to Astonish, I was told I couldn’t use that name.

Tony strongly felt that we needed more Black Super-Heroes and he always gave his heroes a strong moral background. This will come in to play very strongly when he creates Black Lightning in 1977.

Black Goliath received his own comic in (Feb. 1976), but it lasts only five issues. The character joins the Isabella created Champions with issue #11

Tony Isabella for this blog: Black Goliath was another stepping stone on my path to creating Black Lightning. He was a brilliant scientist with inner-city roots. Scientist was an occupational step up from Times Square hero for hire. 

 Roy Thomas for this blog: Bill Foster had been around a while... since around the time of the Panther, I believe.  But of course it was Tony Isabella, as a sort of practice run for Black Lightning, who turned him into Black Goliath.  I was never wild about the latter name.

 "Misty" Knight is another creation of Tony Isabella,  this time with Arvell Jones.  Misty Knight first appears in Marvel Spotlight #21, in an Iron Fist story. Knight is a former NYPD police officer, whose arm was amputated following a bomb attack. After receiving a bionic prosthetic from Tony Stark, she started a private-investigation agency with close friend, Colleen Wing. Knight was influenced by the blaxploitation and Kung Fu crazes as well as the bionic Six Million Dollar Man. Misty never raises to be more than a supporting character. If the bionic arm makes her a super-heroine, she could be considered Marvel’s first African-American super-heroine, but most consider that to be Storm.

Often Readers often refer to Misty Knight and Danny Rand's smooch as the first interracial kiss in comics. Don McGregor has noted that the kiss between M'Shulla and Carmilla Frost in the   story in Amazing Adventures #31, July 1975 was the first. In DC's Korak, Son of Tarzan # 54, November 1973, by writer Robert Kanigher and artist Murphy Anderson, beat that out. THEY ARE ALL WRONG!!! The pair are the same race, just different colors.  Superman, from the planet Krypton, kissing Lois Lane, an Earthling, was the first interracial kiss.

Tony from his blog: Misty was not created to be a romantic interest.  She was created to be his partner, someone to talk to, someone who could hold her own in any fight, someone who wouldn’t take any nonsense from the often-naive Danny Rand and let him know in no uncertain terms when
he was being stupid.  

But, mostly she was created so that I would  never have to write those asinine second-person captions that had become the standard narration for the series. “I love Misty Knight.  Her original appearance was based on actress Pam Grier, who I also love."

Korak, Son of Tarzan # 54, November 1973, by writer Robert Kanigher and artist Murphy Anderson,

And while the couple in this story didn't actually kiss, "Black + White = Heartbreak", from Girls' Love Stories # 163, November 1971, art by Werner Roth and Vince Colletta, and almost certainly uncredited script by Robert Kanigher, was an early interracial romance, 

 In DC's "We Can Never Marry!" from Girls' Love Stories #172 (August 1972) with pencils by John Rosenberger,* a young man is nearly left at the altar for a reason you might not expect.

(Thanks to Jacque Nodell's Sequential Love blog!)

Storm was one of the last major Black super-heroes of the Marvel Age. Storm enters with a splash in the Giant-Size X-Men #1. She becomes part of an international and diverse team of outcasts, better known as mutants.

Chris Claremont (plot assist, uncredited); Len Wein (plot, script) Pencils: Dave Cockrum

Bronze Tiger's first DC Comics appearance was in Richard Dragon, Kung Fu Fighter #1 (April/May 1975). Here is certainly a hero, but not a super-hero. Bronze Tiger first appeared was a supporting character in “Dragon's Fists” a novel by Dennis O'Neil and Jim Berry. The lead character was Richard Dragon

Ben Turner comes from a middle income black neighborhood in Central City, home of the Flash. At age ten, he stops a burglar in his home by stabbing him.  To control his anger Ben studies the Martial Arts and teams with Richard Dragon. This is important because too many times, DC and other companies portray Black families in poor neighborhoods. The series would also portray women as Martial Arts fighters.

1976

Fast Willie Jackson Comics was published by Fitzgerald Periodicals, which wanted to show a more diverse “Archie” Type Universe. Archie had many imitators over the decades. Willie Jackson lives in  a diverse neighborhood and adapts the Archie style. There are few ads in these comics and they certainly are directed at a particular audience.  

When Tyroc becomes a member of the Legion Of Super-Heroes Superboy says “ When it comes to race, we’re color-blind.” But it took them 20 years to get a black member into the Legion. They finally get one in Superboy #216.

Script: Cary Bates, Pencils: Mike Grell

In 1976, in Detective Comics #463-464, The Batman fights the Black Spider.  As I mentioned previously, after the Black Panther all characters named "Black" were Black, not White. Well, in issue #464, the same issue that the Black Spider appeared, so did the Caucasian  Black Canary!

Writer: Gerry Conway; Artist Ernie Chua

1977

Since Panther’s first appearance there have been many black characters in comics All these heroes and more have succeeded because Fantastic Four #52 led the way in showing readers that what mattered in a hero was something found beneath the surface

-Mitchell Brown.

 

This version of The Black Panther reestablishes Kirby’s vision of The Black Panther being the King of Wakanda. Kirby leaves with issue #12 and a new crew has to finish his story.

 

Roy Thomas for this blog: As it is, when Gerry Conway came in briefly as editor in early '76, I believe (Gerry would have to tell you if he remembers it the same) it was I who suggested, when he was wondering what to do re Panther, that Jack Kirby be put on it.  That didn't work out particularly well saleswise, either... but it was worth a shot.  After all, Jack had co-created the character.  Still, a revamped series that began with a story titled "King Solomon's Frog" was perhaps not likely to head in the right direction.

 

Black Lightning:

Tony Isabella has a rare achievement, done only by him, Jack Kirby and Bill Everett.  When a comic character is rebooted it is most often done by a different creator. Jack Kirby brought back Captain America In Avengers #4. Bill Everett brought back the Sub-Mariner in Young Men #24.  Tony has been asked twice, once in 1995 and in 2018 to reboot  Black Lightning.

Tony Isabella wrote, Everything important about Jefferson Pierce, Black Lightning and their world was created by me, just me, before I pitched the series to DC Comics. That's why I had the solo creator credit on the feature, up to the day I inquired about buying Black Lightning back from DC.

Black Lightning was the result of my building towards what I wanted
in an African-American super-hero.  I wanted a positive character
who was neither a foreign king or an ex-criminal.  I wanted a hero
to whom young readers could relate.  That’s why I made Jeff Pierce
a schoolteacher.  Every child know what a schoolteacher is and the
lucky ones have had great ones.

This is wonderful. People, young people especially, can relate to teachers and can even aspire to be one.  They can’t be royalty such as the Black Panther and they don’t have to be criminals, such as Luke Cage.

Tony Continues…When DC and I were negotiating an agreement a while back, and the restoration of my solo credit was on the table, I chose to include Trevor. The correct credit line is "Created by Tony Isabella with Trevor von Eeden." I did that in recognition of Trevor's work on the series and to make sure he kept getting royalty payments on the character. Black Lightning showrunner Salim Akil probably put it best: "Tony created Black Lightning and Trevor showed us what he looked like."

 

Tony Isabella’s thoughts, for this blog, are the perfect way to conclude:

Over the years, three readers have told me my Black Lightning comics inspired them to become teachers. One of these readers chose to teach in inner-city schools because he wanted to be a Jefferson Pierce to those students.  These were proud and humbling moments for me.

As for Black Lightning being an inspiration to readers, that just becomes more mind-bogging every year. Several years ago, a woman came up to me at a convention and hugged me with tears her eyes. Black Lightning was the first comic she bought for herself because it was the first time she saw herself in a comic book. 

Comic book heroes need to inspire and to give and show hope.  William Foster III looked for a face like his in many places including  comics to encourage him to go on to do great things. You can’t be a super-hero but you go can on to be President and  a Vice-President.

 

                           Addendum 

My Favorite story on this subject comes from Marvel's World's Unknown #1 from 1973: