Congo native creates Scotland's first black superhero
STV News tells of a Congo native who moved to Scotland, and created a black superhero who represents the latter country:
Congratulations to the guy for producing a comic paying tribute to 2 countries. But the way the MSM continues to fudge up the medium's history is insulting to the intellect, and does nothing to improve the status of a collapsing industry.
Beats of War tells the story of Scotland’s first black comic book superhero, DJ E.T, and pays homage to the two countries his creator calls home.Again, great when people decide to create their own superheroes. But what much is 15,000 in sales? Even in Europe, that's nothing big. And then, the author brings up something that's become a much too common cliche:
Filmmaker and DJ Etienne Kubwabo began writing the comic in 2018 – seven years after moving to Glasgow from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
[...] Beats of War sees DJ E.T take on gangs and features references to Scotland and African culture, including real landmarks from both Glasgow and Congo.
The comic has sold more than 15,000 copies since it launched last year and has seen Etienne host workshops in school classrooms around the country.
Etienne recalled his lifelong love of superheroes, but didn’t feel represented in the pages of Marvel and DC.Wait a minute. He watched - not read - them? I guess the movies and TV shows he watched didn't even feature Robbie Robertson, who was the first significant African-American cast member of Spidey in the late 60s. Or, how strange he never looked through Marvel and DC's whole line, since he'd discover they have Black Panther, Black Lightning, Storm, Luke Cage, Vixen and Falcon to offer, and the stories produced up to the turn of the century were worth reading. What this implies is that Beats of War's creator was informed far more by TV and movies than by comics per se. And that's a shame. As a result, it's no wonder this article comes across absurdly, since there has been representation for POC in the past, even in indie creations, yet the mainstream press only gives us these hazy reports obscuring key creations from the comic medium's history, the production of the Black Panther movie notwithstanding. That's exactly what makes these articles frustrating.
“I grew up watching Spiderman and Superman, but they didn’t look like me,” he said. “I wanted to inspire other kids who could see themselves in this character.
“I feel like I’ve helped kids of colour around the world who don’t feel represented.
Congratulations to the guy for producing a comic paying tribute to 2 countries. But the way the MSM continues to fudge up the medium's history is insulting to the intellect, and does nothing to improve the status of a collapsing industry.
Labels: Africa, dc comics, Europe and Asia, history, indie publishers, marvel comics, msm propaganda, sales
