BLADE IS BACK!!!!!!

[Francisco]

Forget about daughters and white fathers. Blade works better as a loner type of character with just one helper/assistant at a time. (Whistler/Scud/some other guy or gal). It doesn't mean he shouldn't have a cast of recurring characters.
Make him a samurai with vampire powers (he should be able to turn into mist, sprout vampire wings, hypnotize or mesmerize people with his eyes) who kills all sorts of supernatural entities and fends off supernatural threats not just vampires. Write him as a mysterious figure, shrouded in shadows. Always a couple of steps ahead of everyone else, always knowing something others don't know. Appearing and suddenly disappearing on people. He should own a mansion filled with antiques and magical artifacts. Let's say he kills some ancient vampire or evil sorcerer and he takes it from them.

[4sake]

Thanks for finding this quote. I didn't know it went down like that. I actually think this guy was pretty aware to realize that he perhaps wasn't able to tell this story the way it needed to be told and keep it authentic to a black female's lived experience. His quote also tells me that the series was not really going to be about Blade but about Fallon Grey, using the Blade brand to launch a new character, similar to how Coates's T'Challa was used to promote the Midnight Angels. But since this guy knew how to write comics, unlike Coates, perhaps the sting of that replacement wouldn't have been as egregious.

After decades of white men writing black and other non-white characters, sometimes good and very often badly, I am fine with the idea that non-white people should be writing non-white characters. It doesn't mean that they should only write non-white characters but I do appreciate what for example a black writer can bring to the table. I remember reading the T'Challa and Storm banter under Dwayne McDuffie's pen and it just felt right, or in DC how Eric Wallace used a battle between Vixen and Tattooed Man, the black one, to discuss relations between black men and women. When I read that, without even seeing the writer's face, it just felt black to me. Wallace also had his Mr. Terrific recall the Middle Passage during a mission. I remember reading a comment that slavery had nothing to do with the story or whatever, and I'm assuming this person is not black, because slavery is something blacks might be more prone to draw parallels or comparisons from than whites or other non-blacks, so to me, it felt natural that Mr. Terrific might look at slavery in that moment. That's something a white writer might miss or not even think of in part because of their own biases, obliviousness, and obtuseness. Hudlin also laced his run with stuff and language that a white writer or non-black writer might not have or even heard of or gave much thought too.

White writers, IMO, often too use black characters as mouthpieces to express the writer's ideas about race, i.e. Bendis and Miles Morales. And many on this forum have described in great detail how some white writers or non-black writers undercut black characters, almost on reflex. And I think some white writers will have black characters surrounded by white characters in predominately white environments and involved romantically with white or non-black partners not because that might be organic to the character but because its more comfortable for the writer and his/her perceived audience. They don't do the research or they do it poorly and it still goes through a racial filter that doesn't upset the white writers high opinions of themselves and many other whites when it comes to race.

That doesn't mean that no white writers can write black characters well. I enjoyed, in part, how JMS handled Nighthawk and the Blur in Supreme Power. I also like what I've read of Nick Spencer's Sam Wilson: Captain America. I thought Grant Morrison handled Black Lightning well in Final Crisis. And I liked Judd Winnick's Batwing, even though he had a tendency to throw in every African social ill that pricks the white media's bubble during his run. And if I sat back and thought more about it, I'm sure there are other examples of white writers who have done right by the black characters they wrote. But all too often, there's that undercutting tendency.

It brings to mind the first issue of the book Rough Riders, an American version of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. It's centered around a crime fighting Teddy Roosevelt and a team of American legends. I am a fan of mixing comics and history and the artwork was very good in the first issue. I was digging it until Jack Johnson showed up. I had no problem with Johnson's inclusion but the writer (who is white) made certain to show Roosevelt physically besting Johnson. Now I'm assuming Johnson is supposed to be the muscle on this team, but he wasn't even allowed to have that. Roosevelt (i.e. white guys) had to be the best at everything. That left me wondering what the hell was the purpose of Johnson then if he wasn't even allowed to own the fighting role on the team? I gave away my one issue and never read another. It sucks because the story was good but I really disliked how Johnson was handled in that.

Back to Blade...when it comes to what the writer said, Marvel could've actually listened to him and hired a black female writer. There are black women who do write horror. Tananarive Due is perhaps the best known. Her husband, fellow author Steven Barnes, even has some experience in the comics game. There's also the writer Jemiah Jefferson. That's off the top of my head and I don't have a team of lawyers or scouts or whatever. Marvel could hire someone if they wanted to. Marvel could've taken this issue and turned it to their advantage and made a socially progressive move but they chose not to do go forward. It just goes to show you that Marvel has this conflicted attitude when it comes to Blade. They just seem to want to screw up his success because it's like they can't believe the character fronted a successful movie franchise. He did it despite Marvel, not because of Marvel and in some likely subconscious spitefulness they won't celebrate and build on what the movies did.

Can't be better said..

[CvilleWakandan]

Anyone know where this is from?

[MindofShadow]

Dr stranfe: damnation #2


Blade got another zinger on elsa later

[CvilleWakandan]

Tchalla and Sam got a good shot in on Cap Marvel #1

[Ezyo]

Tchalla and Sam got a good shot in on Cap Marvel #1

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ipcEDaeWQyw/Wo4SCx5gOmI/AAAAAAAAHgE/mXETfLhJd9YmKQ6p7fEVLNMhY52XubUPQCHMYCw/s1600/RCO024.jpg

Lol Tchalla coming in hard