Bahlactus finds much of the artistic depiction of black characters in mainstream comics lacking:
Many Black characters in Comics artistically have no flavor or presence; it’s the 90’s all over again. Aside from John Paul Leon masterfully laying down lead to paper on Static, the prominent Blacks in Comics had no solid artists breathing life into them. Why isn’t the A-list talent getting tasked with providing the necessary artistic hustle for the big-house Black characters? Do Marvel and DC hate Black people so much they have to assign us the Z-list brand artist?With cats like Leinil Yu, and JR JR, there is hope. I recognize myself in their Black faces. That’s a crucial element to any story. When I look at a Black character, I need to be able to recognize myself to some degree. I can’t get down and appreciate a Michael Turner spin on John Stewart, when he looks like Bruce Wayne in Blackface. On the flipside, I can subscribe to an interpretation of Firestorm by Khary Randolph, or Steel if Jock was pencilling. I’m not on board with Jamal Igle — all his characters lack presence, and often feel short.
April 5th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
It’s a problem with the weaker artists not being able to make characters look different without veering off in caricature territory. There’s times when the only thing separating characters is hair style and skin colour.
April 5th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
You know, if someone’s not on board with a black man drawing black characters, especially if they give strange reasons like the characters “feel short” (what does that even mean?), I think that someone is perhaps being a little picky. (For the record, I think Jamal is of average height. Perhaps he, like other artists, uses himself as a model for some aspects of what he draws.)
April 5th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
I think ChrisCross, the aforementioned JRJR, and many of the X-artists (thanks to team diversity) do an excellent job with black characters.
I think it’s a bit much to throw out that Marvel or DC hates black people, even if in jest, which I don’t think it is.
And I don’t know who is considered “z-list” talent. There’s artwork I prefer more than others, but I can’t think of anyone being that category.
April 5th, 2007 at 6:03 pm
Elayne, lets keep our eyes on the prize here. Jamal is still an artistic rookie looking to find his legs in the medium. I’m sure his format hustle will continue to evolve with every project he’s tagged for. His personal stature is not an issue here, nor the focus.
It’s evident my claim is a criticism of the stature and presence of the characters he pencils. It’s a valid point, if you’re someone who expects characters with superhero flavor to have more presence than what was represented.
Do you agree that A-list talent with clue about how to effectively pencil Blacks should be tagged for the books that feature them? Hopefully you can get down with feedback regarding that, since it’s the focus of the post.
April 5th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
I think Kon-gone is spot-on, and that this is not so much an issue of racism (even unintentional racism) as much as it is one of simple incompetence. If Jim Lee had made millions by drawing a “black face” as his default face for every single one of his characters (in much the same way that he seems to have used a department store mannequin version of a “white face” as his default face for all of his characters), then I don’t doubt that a significant number of the legions of imitators who followed in Lee’s wake would be drawing lifeless and inept versions of Lee’s own lifeless and inept version of a “black face” as the default face for all of their characters.
I’m not arguing with anyone’s right to be offended by the lack of skills that many artists demonstrate in conveying credibly “black faces,” but I think we’re ignoring the larger issue, which is that guys like Michael Turner and Greg Land, whose work is among the most popular in the industry, can’t even draw three-dimensional human anatomy.
April 5th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
I don’t see how “feels short” sounds any stranger than saying a piece of art is “devoid of substance” or something like that. Just a different idiom, both mean that the art could be more than it is.
April 5th, 2007 at 9:42 pm
“Feels short” I take to mean lacking in punch or impact. I can see where B is coming from, but we agreed to disagree.
Kon-gone and K-box have it dead on. Lesser artists (and I would actually lump a lot of X-artists in here, the first time Storm actually looked black to me was under Scot Eaton’s pencil in Panther, though Bachalo did a great job) draw generic figures and faces without taking into account ethnic differences.
This is even prevalent among artists I like and who I consider good. I love Jim Lee, have since I was a kid, but he’s only recently started to work with different faces.
What we need are more Quitelys, Romitas, Joe Kuberts, Leons, and the other guys who do absolutely stellar work and draw believeable black characters. I’m really digging Freddie Williams II over on Robin, too. He did a bang-up job on Mr Miracle.