But the LCBRD would have felt threatened by and not identified with African Storm rocking her African Mandinka Mohawk. We know this because literally every single Black character at that time and in Marvel period until Priest reworked TChalla was mostly ignored [ TCHALLA ], known as being mostly a stereotype [ Luke Cage ], essentially wholly unknown [ BLADE ] and mostly a REFORMED stereotype [ SAM WILSON ] who redeemed himself as a sidekick to a far more popular, far more legendary White hero. And CC smartly ensured Ororo's longevity by essentially writing the tamest exotic accessible Black woman he could write.
Rutog...the mighty oracle of all things Ororo...made it clear that there are multiple takes on the history and specifics of Ororo's powers and their development. He holds to Ororo having an innate understanding and mastery of her powers since their manifestation as a teen. I think that EJD kept her powers manifesting as a teen but caught her AND TChalla at a clearly YOUNGER age than CC wrote both of them. And EJD wrote much more realistic Black characters with much more respectful canon due directly to Black writers writing them and reworking the offensive garbage.
Put bluntly...both of those previous White written characterizations were designed to appeal to the sensibilities of the LCBRD. And all of the characters that wish to survive in the largely LCBRD world of comics must follow suit or perish. Which says all that needs to be said about both the preferences of the writers in general in all of comics AND the general comic book consumer.
EJD wrote the post Priest, A-List RH Black Panther...AND WAKANDA. The unstoppable presence of Wakanda is the operative difference here. What if African civilization had never felt the yoke of civilization and never surrendered it's multiple millenia cultural scientific spiritual and everything else lead over the rest of the world? Frankly, nobody except Asgard and Olympia could hott box with her. And that's the Wakanda that RH wrote and that's the Wakanda that figured prominently in EJD's work.
Remember. Our Maestro Dwayne was doing his incomparable work on the F4 at that time, too. His Ororo? Yeah, she housed the essence of ETERNITY. Warren Ellis' Ororo clowned The White Queen with a single speech. Yost's Ororo stared down TPG. RH Ororo? Queen, most important mutant on Earth, incarnation of the highest dreams of Professor X, stuck a lightning bolt up TChalla's tail, she was smashin people left and right, backed down Tony Stark at her Embassy, squared off with Clor.
The X-Office Ororo? Yeah, she housed the essence of...basically house mammy chump being ignored and not used anywhere near to her staggering potential.
Like I said. EJD wrote totally different characters in TChalla and Storm by much more respectfully, realistically, identifying with and literally making more true to the Black experience and Black aspirations every relevant detail of the characters and relating them to the specifics of the story that he wished to tell.
EJD wrote Storm as being the decisive factor in defeating The Bull. I like that version better than the version written by CC. EJD wrote Ororo very decisively saving TChalla's life.
TCHALLA. DID NOT. SAVE ORORO'S LIFE IN THAT WHOLE ADVENTURE. He saved her from the degradation of essentially slavery. Not death. And that was the first of TWO TIMES that Ororo saved TChalla's life. Yet the people dissin EJD's work rather conveniently forget that about his story.
And frankly, EJD wrote everything else better, more realistically and more respectfully than CC's version, too. The grown RH+EJD BP wouldn't even find himself condescending to smash mere henchmen. He wouldn't even do battle with The Bull. None of those guys are worthy of BP's personal attention, nor would they even withstand a rush by a squadron of Wakanda's armed forces. They wouldn't even rate the attention of the Hatute Zerazi or The Dora Milaje. They are literally not worth mentioning as even the mildest of irritants. Teenage TChalla SHOULD dispense with them all with ease. And for the most part...he did. Teenage Ororo...even a young teen Ororo just stirring with the awakening of her powers and womanhood...would dispense with them too, and she did.
Now. Back to the "Blackness" of Storm...
...there are many manifestations of Blackness. Pink Mohawked Ororo is cool and could be Black as space during a power outage. However. Reading the X-stories of Ororo? None of the actual manifestations of Blackness [ not even going back to Africa, which Ororo did at one time in the mutant saga, to reacquire her spiritual equilibrium ] equates with the primary way in which Storm has been written. Storm has been written, as I said, as Black African on the outside and White mutant on the inside. Period point blank. And there was little other option for her while she resides on that plantation; written any other way? She would have speedily declined in significance and faded into the background of the X-Men...or been killed...long ago.
QUICK. NAME ONE SIGNIFICANT, LEADING BLACK CHARACTER GETTING SIGNIFICANT ACTION, CHARACTERIZATION, SHINE, ETC IN ALL OF THE X-MEN, WHO IS WRITTEN AS BEING CLEARLY AND OBVIOUSLY AFRICAN OR AFRICAN-WHATEVER AS BANSHEE IS IRISH.
That's what I thought.
Now. Find ONE Black character in all of Marvel who is close to as prominent and cool as TChalla is. Better not say Luke Cage, neither. Not yet, anyway. He would've been a good answer...WHEN RH WAS WRITING HIM. Falcon would've been a good answer...WHEN PRIEST WAS WRITING HIM. So who does that leave?
That's what I thought.
Now name 5 really cool White superheroes who are all the way White, American and say...New York'd out.
Hawkeye. Matt Murdock. Peter Parker cuz we know he's coming back. Captain America...both of em. Tony Starks. You can't name them fast enough. And you can't name enough of them.
And there ya go.
Hi Supreme, again, excuse my lateness in answering this.
First, back on the "blackness" of Storm...
Let me say first that we honestly disagree on how anything "cultural" can and should manifest themselves and also how people react to it. Firstly, the characters you mentioned before, outside of Captain America whom I will get back to, I dont and most people dont see as manifestations of "all the way white and American" whatever that is? Hawkeye, Matt, Stark, and Parker are obviously white, but how do they manifest white or American culture in ways similar to how you think Storm should manifest African culture? The main characteristics of all 4 are ones that everyone, regardless of color, can relate to and Im wondering how you see these strong manifestations of white and American culture coming out of them. The 4 from my readings don't tend to manifest a strong commitment to America, they dont talk about being white or America as a proud part of their identity nor do they manifest it in ways clearly seen. Like most northeastern Americans, they are American sure but they dont tend to give it much thought or show much basic loyalty to it. They just are. So again, Im not sure how they are all the way white or American or what that even means when the only thing shown as a part of this is that they are visually white and live in New York. Stark maybe, if you want to say him being an American capitalist underscores this, then fine, but it still begs the question of how that makes him "all the way white" or even American since he is just about promoting business and the future and making money. None of these characters wear their "whiteness" or "American-ness" on their sleeve the way you seem to want Storm to wear her "African-ness" on hers.
As for Captain America, you do realize their is a huge segment of fandom whom are very uncomfortable with the character and his very outright in your face symbolism of America, right? Xmen fans in particular HATE the character and find him corny, outdated, preachy, offensive in his percieved over the top loyalty to his country, and possibly even fascist and racist. I had a friend whom isnt even into comics who actually liked all the Avengers movies but wouldnt go see his because she percieves him and his outright symbolism for America to be preachy and fascist. Cap and his over the top American-ness doesnt always do the character good. He's not always considered "cool" because of that. Hawkeye and the others you mentioned are moreso considered cool simply because they DON'T manifest these in your face examples of being white and American in the way that he does.
And Banshee?? You used a third rate Xman as an example? Why do you think he hasnt been used much over the years? You do know many fans, including Irish ones, considered Banshee a stereotype, right? The only thing Irish about him was his accent and that he stereotypically smoked a pipe and was named after a cultural mythic figure. But most people, or fans today, who dont necessarily wear their culture on their sleeve would consider him a parody of an Irish character. Same with characters such as Thunderbird and in a way even Sunfire, whom are not at all popular Xmen (like Banshee) and Sunfire is getting play in Uncanny Avengers but is now being shown moreso as a complex character without going into his whole "son of Nippon" thing he used to play out.
So no, I cant name a black character in the Xmen that fits the example you gave above. But given the examples that espouse the cultural virtues you seem to want Storm to have, and their total lack of popularity, that arguably wouldnt help said character.
If you look at these across the board examples, youd probably see in a practical sense that portraying Storm in the way you wish, which is similar to the examples above, would satisfy a small segment of fans but turn off many others (including believe it or not, some black ones) and especially old Xmen fans not only because its not how she's been portrayed and thus not what they are used to, but because it most likely wouldve taken over her character and made her unrecognizable to what honestly is her core base.
Storm is clearly African and has been shown relating to it and having fondness for it numerous times. She has returned there for enrichment even in the Claremont series twice and yes, Ellis has touched upon this remarkably as well. But when these stories were written, she didnt need an Afro for it
nor did she need to wear her culture and race on her sleeve or espouse black politics or honestly, though I didnt mind it, be married to an African king. Again, when people say "black african on the outside, white mutant on the inside" I'm not sure what that means. She is a mutant. That is her primary role in the MU and what she was created as and is for. Making her being black as her primary role would change the character too much. As for what makes her white on the inside, why? Cause she has more white friends than black? cause she doesnt espouse black politics or hairstyles? When has she ever espoused white politics? Again, not sure what this means.
She's not political so her taking on black politics, or any politics, would be out of her character. Even for mutants she's not political in the way Cyclops is. I do think because she is such a popular character who happens to be black many black fans are putting a weight on her to be this example of a "strong African queen" which she never was. And mentioning characters who honestly came off as parodies doesnt help the argument.
As for your example of the era she came out of, not sure what that has to do with anything. Not every black person in the 60's was being a revolutionary or espoused black politics or afrocentric-thinking. This includes some musicians and actors and people who had a platform or notoriety. A person like Storm couldve came out of that era as easily as a person like Assata Shakur could have. In fact, Iman, whom is African, (and whom Ive always seen Storm as being more like) did come out of that era and though was African rarely if ever espoused being african or got into black politics.
Also you asked to name one black character whom is as close to cool or as prominent as T'challa...Im not sure again what that has to do with your point, unless youre saying "cool" and being prominent is linked to how "black" or African they are being shown. Most of the things I find cool about the Panther isnt because he's African, yet it is cool to see a black man be portrayed that way. I actually like Cage as shown by Bendis, though I did like RH's rendition too. Agree about Falcon as i think he's rarely shown as being cool as he could be though the Geoff Johns Avengers tale came close. Yet Panther was still cooler.
But youre not gonna find a black character as cool as he is because none are as smart, resourceful, has his tech, and are as enigmatic as he is. Its like trying to find somone cooler in the JLA or heck, DC for that matter, than Batman. you can't.
As for the EJD story and the CC version, I agree with Princesca, EJD didnt have to change that one instance, which was a major point of some fans, so much as to make Ororo a damsel in distress so T'challa could be shown as being the man. It was definitely an example of downplaying her to upplay him and I can see from a character standpoint, and especially a feminist standpoint, how that looks. But we can agree to disagree on that. Though I cant see how in that instance where she was shot down by the bull and passed put crying and was later picked up and cradled by T'Challa after he defeated all of her attackers how you honestly can sit there and say she was not, in that instance, a "damsel in distress".
