I had refused to make much commentary about the death of James Rhodes in the recent Civil War II series because I recognize a truth about being Black in America that comics merely reflect what People of Color already know to be true:
White people don’t care about effective representation of People of Color. They just don’t give a fukk. Why should I bother to have any feelings at all about something I know doesn’t make a difference wherever the hell @Marvel is headquartered these days?
And I was perfectly prepared to let James Rhodes go of into comic oblivion where Black heroes go and rarely ever return. Until I remembered this:
Bill Foster (Giant Man) dies at the hands of a genetically-engineered Thor in the first Civil War series.
If you’re Black, you know this image and it sits poorly with you. I know it did with me.
I didn’t say anything when the first Civil War had this travesty. I wasn’t happy with it, but I figured Marvel wasn’t doing anything good with the character so it was only a matter of time before his ticket got punched. I accepted this travesty and seethed inside, quietly.
Then when they killed Rhodes, I could not let it happen a second time without speaking my True Mind. Then I hesitated. What if I ever wanted to work in comics or at Marvel in the future? How could they let someone who was going to be as critical of them in the next few minutes ever be a part of their bullpen?
Before I could close the window and just seethe again on the inside, repressing more unhealthy rage, a news article posted this right in my Twitter feed:
:
Third-party congressional candidate for Tennessee’s 3rd District, Rick Tyler tells WTVC that he erected the sign to provoke thought and to get people thinking about pre-1960s America when whites were a “super-majority.”
Yep, ‘Make America White Again’ Is This Guy’s Actual Campaign For Congress
So, without further ado:
A couple of quotes from an interview with Brian Michael Bendis
From the io9 interview
The one hurdle I had was the idea that [Iron Man and Captain Marvel] are both smart, good people and they’ve been through Civil War. What would make [these characters] throw the gauntlet down again? It was really what other writers had gifted me — that Rhodey was Tony’s best friend and also romantically connected to Carol — and then I said out loud [his death] is something they would fight for.
Bendis: The fear is that there won’t be any drama. Like if nothing bad is going to happen to Miles Morales, then why would you buy Miles Morales? You’re buying it for the events and the drama and for stuff to happen. I used to get crap like this when I was writing Daredevil.
They said, “Man you hate Daredevil. You never give him a break.” I said, “You wouldn’t buy the ‘I’m giving him a break book?’” You wouldn’t buy it. I know you wouldn’t. So that went into the equation when thinking about it. If the story is going this way… cannot do something. Any other reason just seemed false and bullshytty.
My biggest problem was, after losing Bill in the first one, it’s such a well-worn annoying trope when it comes to black characters in pop culture and genre fiction. It’s like, “Okay, yeah, we can lose him because whatever imagined numbers for our audience won’t care about him.”
None of these black characters are actually created by black people...soooo...
