Blogathon: Eighteenth Hour


And for slightly lighter fare, that doesn’t require quite as much brain power, here’s a list of every good guy metahuman, non-powered superhero, and human agent or operative with metahuman organizations, agencies or teams or whatever, in the DCnU:

  1. Superman
  2. Batman
  3. Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)
  4. Wonder Woman
  5. Cyborg
  6. Aquaman
  7. The Flash
  8. Green Arrow
  9. Batwoman
  10. Batgirl
  11. Robin
  12. Red Robin
  13. Red Hood
  14. Nightwing
  15. Knight
  16. The Hood
  17. El Gaucho
  18. Nightrunner
  19. Batwing
  20. Black Canary
  21. Starling
  22. Poison Ivy
  23. Katana
  24. Catwoman
  25. Huntress
  26. Superboy
  27. Supergirl
  28. Power Girl
  29. Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner)
  30. Green Lantern (Guy Gardner)
  31. Green Lantern (John Stewart)
  32. Star Sapphire (Carol Ferris)
  33. Apollo
  34. Midnighter
  35. Jack Hawksmoor
  36. Martian Manhunter
  37. Adam One
  38. Jenny Quantum
  39. The Projectionist
  40. The Engineer
  41. Harry Tanner
  42. Bunker
  43. Skitter
  44. Wonder Girl
  45. Kid Flash
  46. Danny The Street
  47. Solstice
  48. Ridge
  49. Terra
  50. Fairchild
  51. Lightning
  52. Thunder
  53. Beast Boy
  54. Blue Beetle
  55. Static
  56. Miss Martian
  57. Raven
  58. Starfire
  59. Arsenal
  60. Dawnstar
  61. Wildfire
  62. Tyroc
  63. Timber Wolf
  64. Tellus
  65. Firestorm 1
  66. Firestorm 2
  67. Captain Atom
  68. Fire
  69. Ice
  70. Red Rocket
  71. August General in Iron
  72. Booster Gold
  73. Godiva
  74. Vixen
  75. Mr. Terrific
  76. Steve Trevor
  77. Etta Candy
  78. Hawk
  79. Dove
  80. Hawkman
  81. Silver Banshee
  82. Voodoo
  83. Grifter
  84. Father Time
  85. Frankenstein
  86. Bride Of Frankenstein
  87. Dr. Ray Palmer
  88. Nina Mazursky
  89. Vincent Valero
  90. Warren Griffith
  91. Khalis
  92. John Constantine
  93. Black Orchid
  94. Shade The Changing Man
  95. Deadman
  96. Mind Warp
  97. Andrew Bennett
  98. Zatanna
  99. Madame Xanadu
  100. Etrigan / Jason Blood
  101. The Shining Knight
  102. Vandal Savage
  103. The Phantom Stranger
  104. The Question
  105. Amanda Waller
  106. El Diablo
  107. Black Spider
  108. Deadshot
  109. King Shark
  110. Pied Piper
  111. Amethyst
  112. Resurrection Man
  113. Swamp Thing
  114. Animal Man
  115. Lennox
  116. OMAC
  117. Enchantress

A few points to make: Earth 2 characters aren’t included because that’s a parallel universe, gods aren’t included because they’re gods, I’m only counting people we can reasonably assume to be alive in the “present day”, and sadly, in light of The Question’s new “Trinity Of Sin” origin, I have to assume Renee Montoya is just a regular GCPD detective in the New 52… albeit an extremely badass one.

Anyway…

There are a total of 11 queer characters, assuming that sexual identities established as canonical in previous iterations of the characters are still true (and there’s so far no reason to suspect otherwise)

Pied Piper (gay)

Apollo (gay)

Midnighter (gay)

Bunker (gay)

John Constantine (bisexual)

Madame Xanadu (bisexual)

Batwoman (lesbian)

Starling (lesbian)

Danny The Street (drag queen / cross-dresser)

Father Time (male identified but presently occupying a female body)

The Shining Knight (trans man)

There’s also still a bit of a chance that Poison Ivy might also be kinda-sorta bi too.

There are also 23 PoC:

Tyroc

Mr. Terrific

Etta Candy

Blue Beetle

Cyborg

Static

Vixen

Solstice

Skitter

Bunker

August General in Iron

Fire

Lightning

Katana

Amanda Waller

El Diablo

Black Spider (I think?)

Batwing

Green Lantern (John Stewart)

One of the two Firestorms

Voodoo

El Gaucho

Jenny Quantum

The thing is, percentage wise, this isn’t actually all that far off from real North American demographics.

I mean, there are a few noticeable issues. Like the fact that women account for noticeably less than half the total number of heroes, and that there are only two black women for some ten black men.

But honestly? I think it says some good things about the possibility that we’re heading in the right direction.

Now if just characters like Static, Cyborg, Vixen and Mr. Terrific could be given the creative teams and support they deserve in order to reach their potential… none of those characters are intrinsically limited, boring, or “just tokens”. Almost all the queer and PoC characters have potential to be really interesting characters. All they need is the right writers and artists, and to be given a chance. I mean… think about Batman of the silver age. Was he REALLY a “better character” than Static? Seriously? Fuck no. He became an interesting character because talented writers took him and found interesting things in his potential. And that can just as readily be done for female and minority characters as well, if the industry is just willing to put aside their ridiculous skepticism and cynical, self-fulfilling prophecies about “what the fans want” and let it happen.

Comments

  1. says

    I should point out that several of those characters are non-humans, which throws off the racial percentages. Superman is technically not a white guy, just an alien who happens to look like a white guy for a reason that’s had several contradictory explanations. I think it’s fair to count him as white. Starfire and Martian Manhunter don’t closely resemble any human race, though. I’m not saying they should count as people of color, but just remember to exclude them from the total when you are figuring out what portion is white.

    • says

      Well, he was raised by a white family since infancy, being treated like a white guy, and granted white privilege, so… for every sense of “white” that has any real significance, yeah, he’s totally fucking white. It’s not like the meaningful distinction between white and other racial categories is genetic, after all. It’s sociological.

  2. jamesmathurin says

    Interesting points, but I find that the very things that you suggest (better creative teams and support for minority characters) are exactly the things DC has shown itself to be utterly unwilling to do, both before and after the New 52 event. That’s why I’m pretty much done with DC, I’m just getting tired of it (plus none of the stories at the moment are really interesting me).

  3. says

    “But honestly? I think it says some good things about the possibility that we’re heading in the right direction.”

    Headed in the right direction? Based on what? You list that they have a bunch of gay and POC characters and that, in itself, is supposed to prove something? They’ve always had POC characters, but what have they done with them in the past 60 years? HISTORY is the guide here. I don’t know how old you are, but I’ve been reading comics for over 30 years. After awhile, a clear pattern becomes obvious.

    “Now if just characters like Static, Cyborg, Vixen and Mr. Terrific could be given the creative teams and support they deserve in order to reach their potential…”

    And we saw what happened with the Static and Mr. Terrific series’, didn’t we? With the cancellation of Mr. Terrific, DC lost its ONE Black writer who, so far, has not gotten another job, while Rob Liefeld got control of 3 three new series, to replace the canceled one that he was working on. And, oh, now Scott Lobdell, who was already writing 3 books is now getting Superman. Proving the It’s Who You Know Boys Club is firmly in effect @ DC.

    I’m sorry, but I see absolutely no reason for optimism regarding DC’s future. Again, this is based on HISTORY, and their current plans. The Big “NEW DC 52” was their chance to be really daring and to diversify their line-up, and instead we got a few half-arsed POC solo series, which got no real promotion and were destined for quick cancellation. And if they were serious about GBLT characters, it would be HAL JORDAN who is gay now instead of “Earth 2 Alan Scott”.

    Not that Hal Jordan (or Barry Allen) should have ever been brought back in the first place. After a new generation of fans had become accustomed to John Stewart as THE Green Lantern via the cartoons, the smart thing would have been to raise him to prominence in the comics but, no, first chance they got, they had to bring back the “real” GL, so all the old fans could be happy.

    I think when a company’s big major event for this year is a bunch of prequels to a 25-year old miniseries, it’s impossible to argue that the future looks better. They are continuing to cater to their target demographic of thirtysomething-year old Straight White Males, and anyone who isn’t in that demographic but is still supporting DC in the hope that it will someday, eventually, hopefully, get more diverse is fooling themselves.

    Just my opinion.

    • says

      I mostly agree with your sentiment and most everything you said, but you know the “right direction” comment was in reference to the demographic percentages, right? Not just that they happen to HAVE PoC, female and queer characters. And “possibility that we’re heading in the right direction” does not mean REMOTELY the same thing as “everything is totally fine and dandy right now, and just keeps getting better and better”.

      Though really, take a look at Marvel. Have you noticed they don’t even have a single female-centered title right now?

      And yes I know about the upcoming Captain Marvel, recently cancelled X-23 and various female characters in relative positions of alleged power on male-dominated teams. Hurray. That doesn’t really say much.

      • says

        I didn’t say anything about Marvel, since this post wasn’t about Marvel. But I don’t think they’re much better, either, when their major event is “Avengers vs. X-Men”, that’s not exactly a testament to their creativity.

        The bottom line is that the real creativity happening now is in the indies, like creator-owned books from Image, and Dark Horse. POC and GBLT readers need to stop looking to the so-called Big Two as the be all and end all, and look for those creators who are struggling to do it themselves, and support them.

    • says

      There are. Bunker is latino, Batwoman is jewish, and Father Time is currently occupying an asian body. And she’s not a superhero, but of course we can’t forget about Renee Montoya!

  4. geoffrey thorne says

    your list is generous to say the least- including Milestone characters, for instance, which while currently in use by DC (sort of) are not owned by DC and were not created by DC but as a reaction to the omission of POC and homosexuals by DC and, to a lesser degree, Marvel.

    for some actual perspective on this that doesn’t omit the editorial bent towards not only omitting these characters from play (them just being in the DCU doesn’t mean much if they’re only shown in token performances. see what i did there? “token” performances. because it’s funny.) please check out a blog entry I wrote on this subject several months ago.

    http://redjacket.blogspot.com/2011/09/everything-old-is-new-again.html

    It’s not enough to say the characters exist. To actually discuss this one has to examine how they’re treated editorially which, in DC’s case, is like crap.

    Instead of figuring ways to soft peddle the crap depictions or their absence altogether, perhaps, just perhaps, more of us should hold DC’s feet to the fire.

    • says

      It’s not Milestone characters. Not really. Just the ONE Milestone character who was given a role of any prominence in the New 52 universe (which lasted all of eight issues before the title was cancelled).

      This list would look VERY different if I could include Milestone characters. For one thing, we’d be able to have a transsexual woman on the list. A non-op transsexual lesbian, at that.

      • says

        And the fate of the Static series was entirely predictably to anyone who paid attention to the history of DC comics. I knew the title would be canceled before the first issue was even published. Same with their other minority-lead books, just like I also knew Batwing would last the longest, due to it’s connection to Batman. If they were serious about promoting Static they would have tried to publish a new series years ago when the Static Shock cartoon was a hit on TV. Then we saw how Dwayne McDuffie was treated while he was on JLA, and how he was constantly undercut, including when he tried to reintroduce the Milestone characters in that book. So why the heck would anyone expect anything better from DC now?

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