All Skinfolk Aint Kinfolk

The need for representation is such to where people want representation, not only from the hero side but from the villian side as well. It's one of the dumbest things ever but hey, it does make life as a Black comicbook reader interesting. Last night, I sat down and watched the first episode of Hawkeye on Disney+. There is a scene where Clint Barton aka Hawkeye is in a restroom relieving himself at a urinal. He goes about his business and looks down at the urinal where he is and sees a small bit of grafiti on the urinal. It read "Thanos was right". Now let's be honest. This was a nod to the sentiment about another villian in the MCU, Killmonger. In the Black comic community, some people are of the opinion and there are those in the wider scope of the Black community in general, that the character, Killmonger, in the Black Panther movie was right. How is that possible? How can a villian be right about anything?

Here is something to consider. When a people have been oppressed, naturally whomever tends to side with the oppressed become sympathizers, allies, or advocates. However, like anything that is messy and convoluted, the truth gets choked out. Sometimes our inability to see clearly lies in the obvious. People are oppressed, therefore they want to be free. It's the cost that tends to be bothersome. Killmonger's father in the Black Panther movie saw the oppression of American Blacks and wanted to help them fight the oppression. In his striving to do so, he helps an enemy of Wakanda steal vibranium. As a result, he is killed by the Black Panther T'Chaka. However, in T'Chaka doing so, he makes an orphan of N'Jadaka aka Killmonger. The kid grows up fueled to take revenge not only those who oppressed his American brothers and sisters but those from his native land of Wakanda. He knows that vibranium can and will liberate Black people. It's a noble cause with calculated collateral damage. This goes back to the cost I was talking about. In war, there are not heroes and villians on both sides. Listen, here's the truth about war. There are no heroes or villians. There's just war and the bitter fruit it produces, death. One side might be more right than the other but in the firefight, in the exchange of battle; Honestly, its hard to tell. As a Black man who has experienced the oppression of the United States through the lens of war, police brutality, enviromental racism, etc. If someone wants to come along and free the land, who am I to disagree? To many of us, Killmonger was right. Sister Souljah speaks passionately along these lines in the her song 'The Hate that Hate Produced' "Two wrongs don't make a right but it damn sure makes it even!" This mindset is fair. Why? All is fair in love and in war. At least that is what they said. They been saying a lot and they been wrong a few times and they is like a broke clock. It's right at least twice a day.

Now Killmonger isn't the only Black villian that is mired in conflict from a sentiment side. There are others but for the sake of time. I just want to focus on one other villian. Moses Magnum. Now Moses Magnum is not the most well known Black villian but he is one of the most powerful and most impactful. Moses Magnum, however is a flawed individual who saw to destoy his enemies but in truth like Killmonger in a lot of ways, had no real allies. His first victims, were his own people. His first appearance in comics takes place in Giant-Size Spider-Man #4. When Italy invades Ethiopia, Moses joins with the invaders against his own people. It is interesting because what makes Moses Magnum a true villian in my humble opinion is that he inflicts evil not on what he percieves to be the enemy of his people but he inflicts that desire to do evil on his own people. How is it that in this day and age we salute and honor drug dealers? How is it that we can romanticize, politic, and protest for leeches in the Black community? Before they became beloved, they victimized people that look like them. Alas, Black death is a fetish in America and it rewards the victimizers by making them billionaires, celebrities, podcasters and mainstays in the pop culture atmosphere.

So while Moses is a dirtbag out the gate; We see that he improved his lot in life by invading Canaan. In doing so, he gets diplomatic immunity and makes Canaan his base of operations. He is villian, not a politician and since villians gotta villian he steals from Wakanda. You can read this great story in Deathlok by Dwanye McDuffie in issues 22 through 25. It is in this story that he proclaims that Canaan was for African-Americans. Yep, Black villians need PR too. So while we can get all misty eyed behind the thought of Africa's lost children returning to their homelands, let us not forget that all of that was a smoke screen. The oppression of our people have always played a role in the politics of the motherland. While good gestures and sympathy matter, it is propaganda at the end of the day. It is propaganda to get the people on your side. It doesn't matter what side it is because both sides are not on our side. Like the old saying goes when it comes to justice, it really is "just us". Yet, that's another story for another day. Zora Neale Hurston is credited largely with the phrase "all skinfolk aint kinfolk". However, as Solomon reminds us in the bible. There is nothing new under the sun, we have to take it with a grain of salt. Why? While the phrase in and of itself is true. It has a bitter taste. It's one of those things where, you just wish it wasn't true. So while the Killmongers and Moses Magnums of life gain sympathy, traction, and credibility because of where we reside in Babylon. Let us remember to not ride with the devil because trust and believe, he is going to want to drive. Either way, he is going to steal, kill and destroy because villians gotta villian baby! -Richard J Wright

"A Black Guy Walks Into a Comic Shop..."

"A Black guy walks into a comic shop, right?" Sounds like the beginning a bad joke. Yet, everyday this happens. Why even talk about it? Good and bad question. Here's the deal. Black people like comic books. Black people like manga. Black people like board games. Black people like anime. Here's a little secret. *whispering* "Black people like everything people like". I have a book in my library called "I Wonder Why..." by Shirley Burden. It is a small book filled with pictures and words set in a poetry fashion. The first page of this book is only eight words. "I wonder why some people don't like me". The writer goes on to list a number of things she likes and yet she's faced with this unfortunate reality.The book also ends with these same words.

In comic book fandom, Black people have always been apart. When the comic book stores had nearly nothing featuring Black superheroes, we were there. We was there when the images of Black characters were less than favorable. Now, times have changed. Or have they? Pay that no mind, I was just messing with you to see if you was still paying attention. Yes, there are lots of Black characters in the comic shop now. But... where are the lots of Black people? It is almost odd to see more than one Black person in a comic shop. Let me be honest, for years. I was that only Black guy. Now this isn't to say Black folks do not frequent said establishment. I just know they haven't been there, when I was there. However, we know that the presence of Black characters generally mean the presence of Black dollars. We not stupid over here. We are thankful for the beautiful covers featuring Black characters. Yes, and I'm sure Boom! Studios, Image, Scout, Marvel and DC are thankful too. Their thankfulness lies in our coin. Sure, some are there to promote diversity and all that but we know at the end of the day. It is all about the money.

Now, the funny thing is there are different types of Black folks in these spaces. You have the lone wolf, who just observes and buys what's on the wall. He or she doesn't engage the shop personnel, they just quietly go about their business grabbing Black books. Then you have the Black guy who doesn't want to be known as the Black guy. This bamma goes out of his way to not buy Black. He's the guy that will buy a book but he wants to know if the story or the art is any good first. After all, color doesn't matter even though it matters to the "civilized" world. Then you have the hokey dopey guy. The one Black guy at the shop always playing board games who basically is there like all day. He is comfortable, sometimes too comfortable. Dude needs an afro pick and new T-shirt because the charcoal gray shirt he is wearing used to be black. Come on bruh, step it up a notch. What's weird about all these guys is that its a literally a chore to strike up conversations and talk about Black characters. Sure, Bobby the guy behind the counter is game to talk Black comic characters but sometimes that conversation has parameters and is surface level. Yet, you kind of want to chop it up with someone who looks like you. Sometimes though, you just have put yourself out there and initiate conversation. Sometimes it goes somewhere, sometimes it doesn't. Either way there is no etiquette or protocol for seeing people who look like you in a comic shop. As Black people many of us have all had that experience of going into a restaurant you are not familiar with. You go in hoping to have a good meal but before that, your eyes search the establishment. You survey the landscape and as William H Foster alludes to, I am looking for a face like mine. Thank God for the internet. I have meaningful conversations about Black comic books and characters all the time now. Yet, God made us social beings. We need face to face interaction. Maybe I can the get the lone wolf to look up from the long box, or the sell out to grab Killadelphia by Rodney Barnes or chat up the dopey guy and recommend a dope T shirt. Maybe its just wishful thinking. -Richard J Wright