In 2015, comic book fans and commentators leveled a barrage of critiques at Marvel Comics for its lack of diversity among its creators. Eventually, in an interview, Axel Alonso, who was then the editor in chief of Marvel responded in an interview to the criticisms of the company.
Alonso acknowledged that Marvel was “experiencing a lull in African-American writers at this moment, but it is temporary.” He conceded that was a problem.
But not to worry, because Marvel would soon be announcing new contributors, including “one writer whose voice is heard round the world.”
You’re listening to Remarkable Receptions—a podcast about popular and critical responses to African American novels and more.
The interview where Alonso indicated that Marvel would address its lack of black writers took place in late July 2015. And fans were left wondering who the company hired and whether it would make a noticeable difference.
They had to wait nearly two months. On September 22, news stories began appearing about Marvel’s big announcement: the company had hired Ta-Nehisi Coates to write its comic book Black Panther, which would appear in April 2016.
The announcement that Coates would write a comic book for Marvel was a major news item. Often, comic book news stays in the world of comic books. But Coates had released his book Between the World and Me in July 2015, and the book quickly became a best-seller. Just as important, the coverage of the book and author had transformed Coates from a prominent journalist to one of the most well-known writers in America.
He and his book were written about in hundreds of publications and actively discussed on television programs and podcasts. And now, this popular author on race and racism was announced as the next writer for Black Panther.
Dozens of publications – The New York Times, Forbes, The Hollywood Reporter, CNN, Tech Insider, Essence, and more – published stories about Marvel hiring Coates to write Black Panther.
The good news was the widespread excitement about a prominent black author becoming a comic book writer and thus filling an important void at Marvel Comics. And this was more than six months before the publication of Coates’s first issue on Black Panther.
The other news, the not-so-good news was that this one hire seemed to overshadow the legit critiques that people had concerning Marvel’s lack of diversity. Sure, hiring Coates was a step in the right direction, but one hire certainly didn’t address all the problems associated with a lack of African American creators for Marvel.
That’s the thing about a remarkable reception: while shining the light in one direction, some important issues are relegated to the shadows.
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This episode was written by Howard Rambsy. The episode was edited by Elizabeth Cali.
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This podcast, Remarkable Receptions, is part of the Black Literature Network, a joint project from African American literary studies at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and the History of Black Writing at the University of Kansas. The project was made possible by the generous support of the Mellon Foundation. For more information, visit blacklitnetwork.org.