Why aren’t there more black comic creators?

I think @Shanny8 pretty much hit the nail on the head, and @NickRowler has a point too-- you don't always know what race a comic artist is, especially when it comes to webcomics. ^^; We don't all write about 'black issues' or black leads...and when we do, and don't immediately break sales records, it's really easy for publishers and distributors to decide that our blackness is the problem, and something to be avoided in the future. Which only makes it harder to be seen as 'normal' and break into the mainstream...and so the vicious cycle continues...

But to counter the title question, I would ask: what black comic creators do you know and support? Because we do exist; lots of us do-- we just need eyes on our work and word-of-mouth from fans in order to grow.
So if you do know some, why not bring them into the thread and show 'em a little love? And if you don't know any...well, you kinda answered your own question. You have to seek out an underrepresented demographic in order to see them; that is the nature of being underrepresented...wondering why doesn't help them, but putting in that effort does.

Truth be told, I have no idea what races 99% of the creators that I follow are. And, to carry that truth a little further, I don't really care what race they are. Sometimes there will be signs that English is not the creators' first language (misspellings, grammar errors, etc) and sometimes it will be obvious in the story that the creator is not "white" (or, to narrow it down, Caucasian Canadian or American), but I don't fret that stuff. I follow series because I like the series. I don't seek out Black (or Hispanic, or Indian, or Korean, or Japanese, or whatever) artists, nor do I avoid them. I just see a series, and if I like it, I like it.

Something to keep in mind, though, is the demographics of the site you are reading your comics/novels on. Tapas, for example, is skewed heavily toward Manga/Manhwa, and a very large percentage of the artists (and readers) on this site is going to be Southeast Asian for that reason. This is probably one of the few forms of social media that isn't dominated by Americans.

I'm black, but like... I don't really make it the main point of my story or writing.

I also know a few other black creators, but once again they don't make it their main focus of their craft.

I think there are A LOT more than you think it's just that they don't really put it in their bio, which makes sense. I'd hope people would read my story for its own merits.

Now if you are talking about MAJOR or mainstream stuff and not indie. There are probably a lot of reasons.

THIS. I dont even know why that was mentioned...and if a person knew the truth about that, you'd have a better chance at being a comic artist/creator than becoming a rapper.

@thepenmonster I could've went deeper, but that would be peeling layers...

Twitter/X and a lot of other social media have just really turned artists/creators away with trying to use their work for AI content, so I pretty much get being only on Bluesky...although Chuck [Collins] hasnt left Instagram yet; I bought the first 2 volumes of his Bounce comic back around 2017.

Another creator is Black Metronome, formerly known as The Starlight City Project...he's the creator/writer of R:IL PERSONA- a webcomic that USED TO BE here on Tapas(that's how I discovered it). I bought the 3 volumes of R:IL PERSONA from his kickstarters over the years...the series is currently on hiatus while he's doing other works, but word is he'll be back. He's also on Bluesky...

@ThunderChicken I try not to put much stock in it, BUT the more I take that type of stance, the more this narrative and the stereotypes surrounding it continue to perpetuate...and that makes me mad because besides myself, I know people who are trying to do everything they can because they love making comics as much as I do- only to be passed over, written off, and become part of some bullshit statistic like "most of them are concerned with the bottom half" of a CHART...also when I see people take that stance, it sometimes translates to what I stated earlier: they dont want to invest in Black comics/creators.

@Tubacabra WHAT does Africa have to do with "African Americans being comic creators"..? Make it make sense...

@Leyelle you can create a comic with pencil/pen and paper- you dont really need a tablet from the jump. A lot of comic creators do black & white or greyscale/tone comics; that's the only drawback to a lot of aspiring creators nowdays...they're being told that tablets and programs are needed. If there was ANY aspect of digital creation that I stressed the most when I started out making comics it was LETTERING coz I felt I really sucked at hand lettering but I created comics with blue line pencil and ink for years before I went digital; once I did, a lot of stuff came easy because I had sat back and created pages traditionally...but then I still had some obstacles to learn going digital.

Now the TIME part- I can definitely agree with. I've seen a number of creators tap out because they had to sacrifice their creation time so that they could survive in real life...I'm no exception to the rule; I work a RL job, and when I do need more money I wind down my art/comic creating time so that I can work for extra money...some folks have the luxury of having a significant other who can help them, or still live at home- I dont have either of those.

I'm not yelling at or trying to come down on folks, but as a Black comic creator I felt some of the comments were off the mark(and in some cases, WAY off the mark). As an indie creator, I try to pay attention to stories that I think I would like- regardless who the creator is...but I do also pay extra attention to Black creators to see if they are putting out something that might resonate with me.

@Shanny8 The original post was referring to black people as comic creators. Not specifically African Americans. Maybe read the thread before you try and correct people? Or are you saying that Africa does not have black people? 🤭

You're right...my bad.

But then there is Roye Okupe, founder of You Neek Studios- that makes African superhero & fantasy comics. His comics are doing pretty well over the past decade that he's been out.

I never said or implied that you didnt. I only said that when some people take a stance in that manner, it sometimes translates to that they dont want to invest in Black characters- just a generalized statement explaining...not about you specifically.

A lot of good and bad things being said in here... and a lot of out-of-left-field remarks.
I'm going to assume that OP lives in North America.

I know people don't want to get into the whole systemic racism conversation, but it's a huge part of why Black representation in the US is not more prominent. And to the person who threw out a percentage of what the Black population is in the US, that's not really the issue. The issue is the racial history of the country, its persistent negligence and oppression of Black communities, and the constant bombardment of white capitalism. It's tough to break a cycle that feeds into itself--that's why Black representation is so important to have in a patchwork country like the USA. (Same goes for all other representations here in the states.)

With representation in the media, it tends to stick to the status quo to maximize profits (capitalism is about what is sellable. Period.) They've sold white heroes/stories to Black audiences--because for a VERY LONG time, that's all that was being made and marketed. Thankfully, overtime, there has been some growth happening to have more Black heroes/stories being marketed. It doesn't reach a large mainstream audience a lot of the time. That's usually due to the smaller funding that goes into marketing Black voices, as well as many other factors that are from the racial tension in the country and with comics being a dying industry. (History of comics has many factors leading to its low point; only to recently make a SMALL come-back with webcomics, but that's non-print. Still isn't as popular a form of media as film.)
Not to mention, many Black communities are discouraged from doing a lot of things--and are also intentionally held back from doing them at all. People in general are discouraged from doing the arts as a career path, so that comes into play here.

If you wanna see more comics by Black creators, you gotta LOOK for them. You'll find them! :}

Below are links to a few friends of mine who are Black independent artists. And although they are not published comic artists in the bigger sense, their work still exists:

These two are my buddies where I live now. They do local expos, and market themselves online:
Adam is inspired by manga and WWE: https://www.instagram.com/halosapien/2
Will is into superheroes and WWE as well: https://www.instagram.com/suicidal_assassin/1

Jean used to work at a studio in my hometown, and he works on the MetaSabian comic series as well as still teaching classes: https://metasabian.com1 OR https://artcorner.net1

Steffi is an illustrator I met at school, and has done loads of book covers: https://www.steffiwalthallart.com1

If you want to see more work by Black creators, they're out there. You do need to look for them.

I hear a lot of people saying stuff like systematic racism and the like in this thread. That sounds good and helps explain the problem... unless you look at the numbers. To be a successful artist in comics is luck and skill. But it's also a numbers game. Comics is not in the black culture at large and never has been. Now is the time where someone pops in and says "I know a guy...", that is meaningless. You can always find the exception to the rule. I'm talking about the mass of readers. In animation school almost all my classmates were white woman. We has 2 black people in the entire school (man and a woman). Couple Asians. I go to cons and it's a sea of white and asian people walking around. I go to fine art displays, same thing. If a small percentage of the population has an even smaller percentage of people that want to make art, the problem is a numbers game, not a racism thing. Those smaller numbers now have to be lucky to be picked by the general audience to be popular. Most artist of all skin tone fail at this. Now, why aren't blacks represented in the art community? It's because the black community as a whole doesn't care to be artist, and that is their right. Communities can have different interest, whether through upbringing or having more important stuff they like. Black people dominate music and way out perform others in movies and TV based on the percent of the population. And sports??? Please, they own sports. So it's not racism, it's interest that makes black creators a small part of art.

So what do you do to help black creators? Nothing. Like what you find entertaining. If the comics is well done and brings something to the table you like, that is the end of it. That is love of art/storytelling, in it's pure form. Don't dilute it by putting rules in place to support only certain people for something that has no bearing on the creation itself.

It IS racism. Numbers plays a part, but not as significant as you're spinning it. To say that it has nothing to do with racism is very ignorant, as well as contributing to the problem by being complacent.
The sentiment, "Black people just aren't into the comic scene as much. Let's continue on like there's nothing wrong here." is hugely problematic. Please understand that what you just wrote out here in this forum is quite harmful.

Maybe where you are, there are predominantly white people, with things marketed with white people for white people. Where I am in the states, predominantly Black. Go to any city big or small in the US and being white becomes a minority. I've been to cons as well--Black, Latino, Asian, etc. Definitely not a sea of white people where I go. Just because you don't see it, doesn't make it unreal.

Skill and luck is definitely a thing in many careers, especially for the entertainment arts industries. Do you think they have the same opportunities as white people in the US? They certainly do not. Black people are at a disadvantage from the get-go in this country. That's why I brought up systemic racism, because it permeates everything in life for many marginalized groups. Of course it will heavily affect their education, ability to learn skills, and opportunities for careers. It reduces options and takes away autonomy. That's why it is important to share Black creators whose work you enjoy, because that support helps create opportunity.

When did I call them not American??? And you are the person I just talked about "but I know a guy". There are black comics fans. There are black artist in the field. But to say that black culture is a comic reading culture is not real. They have other interest in general. They are allowed to have other interest. I would say more black people are normie comics fans only, they like the movies. Are we going to pretend this is not true? This is like saying soccer is not part of american culture. Yes there are soccer fans, lots of them. But in general, soccer is not part of american culture. Stop acting like generalities are evil or bad. They explain things on the macro level.

No one here is trying to argue whether comics are part of black culture or not. That is like completely off topic.

I just feel like your statements come off as tone-deaf.

Debatable. Let's do some quick math. As of the 2023 census, the population of the United States of America was 334.9 million people. 13.6% of that is 45,546,400. This means that there are 289,353,600 people from other ethnicities currently living in the United States. 13.6% in fraction form is 17/125. For every 17 African Americans, there are 125 people of other races. Consider those numbers for a moment, and then tell me how accurately African Americans are represented. I am not denying the fact that racism exists; if it didn't, we wouldn't have people demanding reparations for things they never experienced and frankly, know nothing about. We also would not have supremacist groups like the KKK, Nazis, or the Chinese Communist Party. To reiterate, there is racism in the world, but it is an overgeneralization to say that because some people are racist, the whole system must be.