Last night I had the opportunity to sit back and read the 1st issue of Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man introducing the new Spider-Man, Miles Morales. I won’t go into detail about the 1st issue, although I will say that I walked away satisfied and will continue to read the book until that feeling goes away. If the 1st issue is any indication of what’s to come, than this Spider-Man will have a legacy that die hard fans can be proud of and leave casual fans wanting more. Only time can tell.
What happens to be significant to me and what has made headlines is the fact that Miles is half African American and half Puerto Rican. Well, being that I am half African American and half Puerto Rican, all I have to say is that it’s about damn time! For years, although I am a comic book guy in my heart and soul, I have always wanted a hero who I could relate too. I wanted to see myself as the character. In many ways I was Peter Parker in my teenage years; the nerd nobody quite understood or made any effort to get to know. High school could be unpleasant to say the least. Although I could appreciate his angst to a certain point and empathized, we’re still from different worlds; Peter being Caucasian and me being a person of color. Hey, at least Parker got to be Spider-Man. All I could do is live vicariously through his adventures.
Offhand I can’t tell you how many superheroes of color there were for me to identify with growing up, because it feels like there weren’t that many. Even as I write this, the only ones that come to mind are DC Comics’ Black Lightning, Black Vulcan from the Super Friends television series and the Brown Hornet from Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids television series. Man, I almost forgot about the Black Panther and Power-Man. I am glad to see that there have been some progress made since I was a little kid; Static Shock, War Machine, Blade and countless others that I have probably missed the boat on.
Spider-Man is an iconic character, no matter if he is the ultimate version or the Spider-man that currently exists in the Marvel Universe. When everybody found out that Peter Parker was going to be killed off, despite the fact that it was the ultimate version, it got everyone’s attention. Then, when everybody found out that his successor would be a character of color everyone had something to say, both good and bad, as well as down the middle. I’ll admit even I questioned the change. I have followed this series since its debut in 2000. I liked this new take on Peter Parker, Aunt May, Mary Jane Watson and the rest of the Spider-Man cast of characters. When I heard about the possibility of Parker being killed I cringed. Would this be the end of the series as we know it? The new change brought about legitimate fears; would a new Spider-Man mean a dip in quality? This change is a sign of the times and shows progress. Does this mean that I want to see a Black Superman on the horizon? No, but would it hurt to promote an African American, Hispanic, or any other minority superhero the way Super-Man or Bat-Man has been over the years? If I were to compare the 1st Blade movie to the 1st Spider-Man movie, I would have to say that Blade was totally better. It blew Spider-Man out of the water. In fact I will go so far to say that Blade was the catalyst for how films, especially ones based on Marvel comic book characters should be handled. Just look at history and you will see what I mean. Yet for whatever reason the film gets overlooked or doesn’t have the same standing as the X-Men franchise, or the Spider-Man franchise.
The bottom line is that we should have an open mind regarding the new Spider-Man. And again I will hang in there as much as I possibly can; hopefully the storyline will continue to captivate us. Keep your fingers crossed true believers!
No comments:
Post a Comment