MLK Week Special: Black SUPER Power! Part 2 of 4

Welcome back for the second in my series of tributes to the best (and worst) black super heroes in comics. Today's installment could be subtitled "It's Electrifying!"

#8: Black Lightning (a.k.a. Jefferson Pierce)

For whatever reason, there's some law that requires a huge percentage of African American heroes to be former Olympic track and field medalists and Black Lightning is just one. Also fitting the bill...Amazing Man...and Mr. Terrific. Guess humility in name selection was NOT a requirement.

Also apparently fitting the bill for these heroes, falling from grace. Amazing Man went from winning a Gold Medal to being a janitor. Jefferson Pierce ended up as an inner-city high school teacher. (Beats janitor, I suppose.) Can you imagine Michael Phelps having to work as a janitor? The idea of an Olympian... a MEDAL winner!... falling that far down is more unrealistic to me than guys putting on spandex and flying through the air, to be honest.Steel never won a gold medal, but went from being a genius inventor to being a construction worker. What's up with that? Even worse, he was portrayed by Shaq in a movie. Arguably a worse fate than being played by Halle Berry.
But I digress. Black Lightning lives and battles crime in Metropolis... er, in a not-quite-as-nice neighborhood as Clark Kent's. Officially, BL's neighborhood is named "Southside" but is more popularly known as "Suicide Slum." Makes you want to move there right now, doesn't it? BL was DC Comics' first African American hero to headline his own comic book, but unlike a lot of white headliners, it seems some conspiracy was hatched to prevent him from blossoming into a real "icon."

He refused membership in the Justice League, the team made up of DC's biggest names. According to this cover, his reason was that the JL was a "jive bunch of turkeys." (This is what happens when you learn to write black characters from watching Good Times.) In the story, he explains that the Justice League's focus is too broad and he wants to stay focused on street level crime that threatens his community. Shenanigans, I say! That never stopped Batman, Green Arrow or Black Canary and they are also "street level" crime fighters! Shenanigans!

According to BL creator Tony Isabella, the character was also kept out of the animated Super Friends show, because Hanna Barbera would have had to pay him royalties. So instead, Black Lightning was replaced with an all-new character Black Vulcan, who coincidentally also possessed lightning abilities... and a killer pair of gams.
It appears that in DC has finally realized Black Lightning's potential and have started promoting him more. He's finally relented and joined the Justice League as well as a second team, The Outsiders. He's had several action figures and other licensed items and has finally popped up in animation, beginning with the recent Batman & Superman animated movie.

In addition, his two teenage daughters have also embarked on crime fighting careers as... Thunder:And Lightning:Looks like he's finally breaking out... 20+ years later. Better late than never, I suppose.

#7. Static (a.k.a. Virgil Hawkins)

NOT Black Lightning's son, surprisingly enough, is Static, teenager Virgil Hawkins, who possesses electrical powers and wore a black, blue and yellow costume. Positioned as a modern take on Spider-Man, Static was the breakout star of the multi-ethnic Milestone Media line of comics which launched in the mid-90s.
Despite possessing amazing abilities, (just like Spider-Man) he suffered from horrendous bad luck... such as having the tag line of your first comic book be "You don't start none, there won't be none." That, along with the Malcolm X ball cap probably sounded like a great idea at the time. Like if he were being made up today, he'd be wearing Ed Hardy.
The Milestone Media comics never really found an audience, despite some high-quality work and folded after just a few years. Nevertheless, Static went on to star in his own Saturday morning cartoon series (remember when those existed?) entitled Static Shock. Produced by Warner Brothers, the owners of DC Comics, this allowed Static to actually team up with the Justice League, even though they existed in two different comic book universes. Static later appeared on the Justice League's cartoon, as an adult in the future, in the time travel episode "The Once And Future Thing." In the current comics, Static and the rest of the Milestone characters have been revived and integrated into the DC Comics stable, something his cartoon series preceded. Static currently appears as a member of the Teen Titans.

Static Shock, as most cartoon series do, produced a wave of various licensed tie-ins, such as DVDs, clothing and even a video game. Strangely, there's never been a toy line, but I wouldn't rule an eventual Static action figure out, especially now that he is once again appearing regularly in the world of comics.

As for today's Worst...

#3: Tyroc

The token black member of the 30th Century's Legion of Super Heroes, Tyroc didn't even have a real code name. The Legion had the most self-explanatory names in comics: Lightning Lad, Invisible Kid, Matter-Eater Lad... NOT MADE UP! There really is a Matter-Eater Lad!!! But Tyroc... what does that mean? Nuthin'!

Like Static's X cap, it probably sounded like a good idea at the time, but in his debut, it was revealed that all the black people on Earth now lived on one island. Lovely to hear that segregation not only exists in the 30th Century but has surpassed any that previously existed in the real world. Nice. Also, ALL the black people on Earth fit on ONE island?! Ugh.
The thing I remember most about Tyroc is that he NEVER appeared in Legion stories. They introduced him and he joined the team, but then in every subsequent issue that I read, they went out of their way to explain that Tyroc was busy elsewhere and couldn't participate in whatever mission the rest of the team was about to embark upon. After several years, they just stopped explaining his absence and he was basically forgotten. He never even turned up in reunion stories where all the other former members dropped by for a visit. It's been a while since I read them, but I'm guessing Matter-Eater Lad probably explained, "Tyroc sends his regrets for not being here, but he was busy with... y'know... something else. I think a new Tyler Perry 3000 movie just opened."

The End for today! Check back tomorrow for two more greats and one more "jive turkey!"

MLK Week Special: Black SUPER Power - Part 1 of 4

Hey, tributes come in all types, okay? In honor of MLK Day, and, er a day late -- my bad-- I've decided to count down the Top 10 black comic book super heroes and the 5 worst. And I have to use the term "black" because it turns out a lot of these characters aren't American, so I can't call them African Americans. Someone wasn't thinking thoroughly enough when they coined that expression. And today, you get a double dose! Try not to O.D.!

#10: Mal Duncan (a.k.a. Hornblower, The Guardian, The Herald and Vox)

Mal Duncan is an oddity, I will admit. He was the first black character to be featured monthly in DC Comics as a member of the Teen Titans. However he really wasn't a super hero. He was simply "Mal" (short for Malcolm) and he wore a plain track suit.

Originally, the Titans writer and illustrator planned to introduce an actual black super hero, named Jericho, but the character came off as too "militant" and DC, scared crackers that they were, squelched him.
Mal was the center of controversy when in one issue, before going on a deadly mission, his white teammate Lilith gave him a hug. A freakin' HUG! But the censors went wild over the idea of a white girl hugging a black boy and the scene ended up being edited via the addition of dark shadows masking the scandalous behavior.

A few strikes against Mal...
Eventually, they tried to make him into an actual super hero, giving him the armored identity of The Guardian.
The Guardian was a white character from the 1940s. Nothing too terrible about making Mal the new Guardian, but it was just another example of a black character that was simply a dark-skinned version of an existing white character. (More examples to come.) But damn, it was better than what came next!
Sweet Jezus! Apparently, this costume was designed by a "fan" named Dave Elyda... perhaps the blind shouldn't be allowed to design clothing, ya think? Also, don't take fashion tips from Robin! Look what he's wearing! And I like Speedy's comment "One more new costume in this group and people are gonna need a scorecard to tell who's who." Trust me, Speedy, no one will need a scorecard to identify Mal in that getup! This time, Mal was given a magical device known as Gabriel's Horn that allowed him to open teleportation portals, and one of the worst code names ever, The Hornblower.In the '80s, DC Comics streamlined and updated their universe and Mal was given a retroactive makeover. In current continuity, he was never The Guardian OR The Hornblower. Instead, he was given the identity of The Herald.
It was as The Herald that he made his animation debut on Teen Titans on the Cartoon Network.

Now, instead of being magical, his Gabriel's Horn was a high-tech device. And most recently, the horn was integrated into his body and he was given yet another new codename, Vox. He, er, hasn't done much else since.

Honorable Mention: The Bumblebee

Mal's girlfriend Karen Beecher created a high-tech suit (which in comic book reality takes like an afternoon) and became The Bumblebee in order to spend more time with her beau. (Not exactly avenging the deaths of one's parents on the motivation-meter.) Her original powers were kind of silly. She shot a stinger out of her ass (no really!) and could squirt "honey" (from her wrists, thankfully) to entrap foes. Eventually, she was updated and given sonic vibrational powers instead.Interestingly, Bumblebee had a much bigger part on the Teen Titans cartoon than The Herald. She was given the additional power to shrink and two devices that shot electrical "stings." Bumblebee became the leader of spin-off team Titans East and on the series had a flirtation with Cyborg. Also, don't you LOVE her afropuffs?! And unlike The Herald, Bumblebee got her own action figure... and a vehicle!!! Unlike Batman, most characters never get their very own vehicle! You go girl!

#9: Captain Marvel (a.k.a. Monica Rambeau, Photon and Pulsar)

Oh sure, you have your Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Ms. Marvel... in the Legion of Super Heroes, you even have characters with names like Shadow Lass and Duo Damsel. But Monica Rambeau was never Marvel Woman or Girl Marvel... she was the first female character to rock out with Captain in her name!
Captain Marvel, with her energy powers, joined the Avengers and by the end of the 80s had become the leader, barking orders to the likes of Captain America and Thor!
At one point, it seemed that Marvel (who has historically never had a strong leading female character) attempted to position Captain Marvel as their leading lady, slapping her on the cover of their popular role-playing game alongside legends like Spider-Man, Cap and The Thing. She was even given two one-shot comics of her own (the comic equivalent of a TV pilot). Sadly, it doesn't appear that they were successful enough as they never led to further solo adventures.
Monica was actually Marvel's second Captain Marvel. The first, alien expat Mar-Vell (clever huh?) who enjoyed a long and somewhat successful career became the first super hero to die... not in combat with the forces of evil, but due to... cancer.

However, Monica as Captain Marvel never quite broke through as hugely as it seemed Marvel hoped, so she was stripped of the title and it was instead bestowed upon Mar-Vell's illegitimate son Genis-Vell.
Monica adopted the new codename Photon and continued her adventuring. Then, for WHATEVER reason, Marvel decided to change Genis-Vell's name from Captain Marvel to... PHOTON! WTF, MARVEL?!?! So once again, Monica was forced to change her name, this time to Pulsar. Then, Marvel realized that no matter what they did, NO ONE liked Genis-Vell, whatever codename he had, so they killed him off.
Rather than allowing Monica to reclaim the name Captain Marvel, which was rightly hers, they decided to make up yet another new Captain Marvel. Monica has since reverted to the name Photon.
Most recently, she co-starred in the series Marvel Divas alongside two of my other favorite Marvel characters, Firestar and Hellcat. In this series, perhaps defiantly, she is referred to as Captain Marvel and no one in editorial seems to have caught it. So HA! Since her Captain Marvel days, Monica's personality has been altered from stoic strength, to something of a smart ass. I kinda like it.

Keep ya head up, girl!

And now the Hall of Shame. Sigh! Not every black super hero can be a "credit to their people."

#5: Black Goliath (a.k.a. Bill Foster, Goliath, Giant Man)

This is the ONLY time I have ever seen a MAN wearing a top with a huge rectangle cut out to accentuate his abs. WHO designed this costume?! My guess, the same person who designed the Chippendales' collar and cuffs with no shirt look.

Another example of a black character simply being a black version of an existing white character, Bill Foster was a colleague of Hank Pym, a.k.a. Ant Man, Giant Man and Goliath. Hank Pym abandoned his growing abilities to become yet another new character, Yellowjacket, so he gave Bill the ability to grow into a giant and his now-abandoned identity of Goliath.
At least Hank Pym had the decency to cover himself! Bill Foster had two costumes and the preferable of the two was this one, with a deep disco v-neck:
Eventually, Marvel realized that calling a black character Black Goliath was silly and he went through phases as simply Goliath as well as Giant Man, another of Hank Pym's discarded identities.

No kidding, the MOST significant thing Goliath ever did was die as part of the recent miniseries Civil War.

Sad, huh?

#4: Spyke

Spyke, from the animated X-Men Evolution series, is the perfect example of what NOT to do when adapting a comic book into a cartoon series. #1-Do NOT introduce an all-new ethnic character to make the group more diverse. People can small a token a mile off. #2-Do NOT try and introduce a new character that is tied to some "current" fad. In this case, Spyke was the resident skateboarder of the X-Men. Because every super team needs an extreme sports enthusiast. #3-Do NOT allow the introduction of this new character to radically alter an existing fan favorite character. In this case, Spyke was introduced as Storm's nephew. Uhhhh... how is that possible? Storm was an only child, right? Guess not. On this show, she had a sister named Vi and Evan (Spyke) was her son. Which allowed Spyke to constantly refer to Storm as "Auntie O." Not completely annoying at all.
Poor Spyke was screwed from the start. He had the power to grow bone spikes and fire them at enemies. They even went the additional step of showing him constantly guzzling milk to build up the calcium to fuel this power, which was a nice touch. Eventually, he further mutated, growing an outer carapace (look it up) which forced him to leave the team (awwwwww... not really) and live underground with all the other mutants that were too ugly and revolting to live above ground like the X-Men. (So much for that whole message of equality, X-Folks!) No one was sad to see him go. They did bring him back for a tiny cameo in the final episode, which was a nice, if vaguely hollow, gesture.

So this is The End of part 1... tune in tomorrow for Part 2!

Catablog: JC Penney Christmas 1976 - The Fashions

I started my toy catalog blogs for Christmas, and I'd hoped to do more, but time ran out. I think I may continue them anyway, because they are pretty funny. I also decided to expand to cover more than toys, because these fashions are INSANE! However, I'm going to limit these to about ten pages each, just to cut down on the length. So this blog, I will be focusing on the Lady's Department of the JC Penney 1976 catalog. Buckle up... oh wait, no one did that back in the '70s. More like, crack open a Pabst's Blue Ribbon, light up a doobie and crank up the Doobies. (The Brothers that is, "What a fool beliiiieeeeeeves...") (You can click on the pics for larger views.)
Huh. I didn't realize drapes came in one- or two-piece. Or that they were garments. That Carol Burnett "Went With The Wind" skit was REALLY popular, apparently.
Sylvia forgot to bring her nightie to the slumber party and thus, hoped that Brenda wouldn't realize she'd fashioned one from her great-grandmother's heirloom quilt. Also, why does the pocket on the red nightie say "Cycling?" What does cycling have to do with sleeping? I mean, you can't ride a bicycle in that thing. You have to be quite an enthusiast to emblazon your hobby on every garment you own. In fact, my socks right now read, "Macrame."
Sooooo... if you were wearing a blouse-bodysuit, does that mean that when you're in the office with them tucked into your skirt or trousers, that technically, you're wearing underwear as outerwear? Someone may need to say something to HR.
That hat is perfect for Coneheads to disguise themselves while one Earth. "I'm from France!"
"Look how many aminals I killed just to look THIS ridiculous!" exclaimed Sylvia. Something about the two women on top screams SPY to me, even though they are the least covert agents ever. Maybe if they were undercover in Q-Tippia.

Susan would later regret inviting her Country Mouse cousin, Shawni to visit when she walked in to find her riding her lover Bruce like a prized stallion at the county fair. She dabbed the tears from her eyes with the stunning plaid elbow patches on her impeccably coordinated pantsuit.

In pics 1 and 4, Susan had that whole hair blowing in the wind in front of a back light thing going on. Pics 2 and 3? Not so much. "Like this?" said 3. "No, silly!" 4 replied with a laugh, "Like this!" Also, 4's pouch looks like it was made strictly to contain magic powders and elixirs. "Hu-za!" 1 looks like the gal at the roller rink that all the other women HATE.

It's like a Rainbow Brite outfit for grownups!

If you stare long enough, you'll see a sailboat.

Tawny bought one shirt with twenty different colors in the print and a pair of pants in EVERY ONE OF THOSE COLORS, thus never had to worry about what to wear each day, leaving more time for Spin Art and Tab cola.
Sylvia, never one to suffer from lack of confidence, paraded into the after-work mixer at Shenanigan's in her bright yellow two-piece ensemble, and declared that she was "packed with Vitamin C" before downing twelve shots of Rumple Minze.