What do you mean by that? How was a multicultural aspect “always there” during decades of Spider-Man being white?
When you become the writer of Spider-Man, all of a sudden, every day, every week, every month, someone of color — all different races — comes up to you and tells you, “Spider-Man was my favorite and this is why,” and then I hear a version of this story: “My friends, when I was a kid, wouldn’t let me be Superman, wouldn’t let me be Batman, because of my skin color. But I could always be Spider-Man, and Spider-Man became my favorite. As a little kid, I didn’t even understand why he was my favorite, but it was because anybody could be Spider-Man under that costume, because it was head-to-toe.” That’s not why we created a Spider-Man who’s a person of color, but afterwards, I was like, “Oh man, this was subconsciously why we did it.”
This Brian Bendis Vulture interview really bugs the hell out of me. I mean, I find his whole “we created a new Spider-Man who just happened to be half Black half Latino” explanation to be ridiculous but the idea that people of color connected with Spider-Man because he could be anybody under the mask ridiculous and sad. I was lucky enough to attend a diverse elementary school when I was a kid so I never had to deal with the kind of racism Bendis describes but I was also never under the impression that Spider-Man was anything other than white, because you know, I knew who Spider-Man was.
I think it’s a pretty sad commentary on the mainstream comics industry that people of color identified with Spider-Man because his design allowed for the possibility that he wasn’t just another White guy. Maybe if Luke Cage, Sunfire, Thunderbird, Night Thrasher, Prowler, Vibe, Bishop, Shang Chi, Rage, Simon Baz, White Tiger and so many other non-White characters had defining traits other than Not White and Angry all those poor White and non-White children would’ve felt that they had a place in Marvel and DC’s fictional universes.
(As an aside, contrast the characters listed above with characters created by people of color like the Blue Marvel, the entire Milestone stable and Isiah Bradley. You’ll generally find that the origins don’t involve the hero getting their powers through vaguely criminal circumstances and race is only one facet of the character’s existence as opposed to their sole reason for existing.)
It’s embarrassing that Big Two creators get media attention for presenting somewhat dignified portrayals of non-male, non-White or non-heteronormative characters in 2014 but those creators, most of which are freelancers, do deserve some credit for going against the grain especially when not doing so has no consequences and giving the people exactly what they want can be incredibly lucrative.
On the other hand, Miles Morales, the half Latino half Black Spider-Man created by Brian Bendis and Sara Pichelli, is not a good character.
One major problem is that Miles isn’t an original character; he’s a legacy, inspired by Peter Parker’s example to take up the Spider-Man mantel after the original died. In and of itself, that not a fatal flaw. Though Barry Allen and Hal Jordan were not the first heroes to called the Flash and Green Lantern, they have become so popular they have all but eclipsed their predecessors. Even though Miles has only appeared in comic book form and owners of the Spider-Man movie rights seem determined to keep it that way, there exists a chance, however small that Miles might one day be thought of as the default Spider-Man. But because the character doesn’t seem to have a future in other media and exists in an alternate universe that sits outside the regular Marvel publishing line, it is much more likely that he’ll always be the Black Spider-Man while Peter Parker will remain the real Spider-Man.
Additionally, the character has yet to really stand on his own two feet. Throughout the 28 issue run of Ultimate Comics Spider-Man and its attendant spin-offs, Miles has mostly battled Peter Parker’s old foes and Peter’s friends and family have slowly become Miles’ supporting cast despite having no connection to Miles other than the fact that he’s now Spider-Man. Miles didn’t make his costume like Peter did, it was made for him by Peter’s clone and his best friend makes his web fluid from Peter’s old recipe. Miles is overshadowed by Peter, and frankly, doesn’t have much of a personality or any cultural signifiers to that a Black Latino teenager living in Queens might have. He’s a legacy character who won’t leave one.
The more problematic aspect of Miles’ characterization lies in the ways in which he’s different from Peter Parker. When Miles began to headline the Ultimate Spider-Man series, he had two parents loving parents and an uncle with whom he shared a deep bond. As of the first issue of the new Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man series, he has none of the above. His uncle was revealed to be a thief who died as the result of trying to force Miles into a life of crime. Miles’ mother was killed by a monster that was created by Peter’s father. And most recently, Miles’ father, a former criminal with the improbable name Jefferson Davis, abandoned his underage son after finding out that he was the new Spider-Man whose actions inadvertently led to his wife and brother’s deaths.
I can’t imagine any child in the world who would want to be a character that mired in misery and Black pathology. This isn’t like Batman where the tragedy is some distant event that character has long since overcome or even like the original Spider-Man where the occasional tragedy reinforces the character’s commitment to acting responsibly, whatever the personal cost. Bad, suspiciously stereotypical shit just happens to Miles.
I don’t blame Marvel Comics for creating a weak character, I blame myself for supporting a company that presents itself a bastion of diversity while it largely employes only White straight men. I don’t blame Brian Bendis, I blame myself for believing that someone outside my culture would depict it with any sort nuance or consideration. But I am annoyed that they receive praise for creating a character that could barely be described as being better than nothing.
(via apkr)
So worth reading.
