Why aren't there more black comic creators?

[Shanny8]

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.

[ThunderChicken]

Not sure how you came to the conclusion that I don’t want to support black creators. I do not care what race a creator is, and usually don’t even know. Similarly, a creator’s gender, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, etc does not matter to me. If I like a comic or novel I will read it. If I don’t like it I won’t.
It’s that simple.

I will not actively seek out black creators for the same reason that I won’t seek out white (or Indian, or Asian, or Latino) creators. Race means nothing to me. I’m there for the story.

As for being passed over, I think you’ll find that just about every creator in this forum is being passed over. As I’ve said in other threads, being recognized is 95% luck. No matter how good your story may be, you need the right set of eyeballs to fall on it. Unless that happens you will remain a hopeful if disappointed tiny fish in a shoal of tens of thousands of tiny fish.

[Shanny8]

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.

[Calculus_Homework]

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/
Will is into superheroes and WWE as well: https://www.instagram.com/suicidal_assassin/

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.com OR https://artcorner.net

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

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

[BoomerZ]

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.

[Calculus_Homework]

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.

[NickRowler]

Comics is not in the black culture at large and never has been.

Comics may not be part of "black culture" but they are a part of American culture. And Black Americans are American. They consume a lot of the same media white people consume. They are part of a lot of the same fandom and fan communities that white people are part of.

I'm sorry but your whole statement comes out very tone deaf.

[BoomerZ]

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.

[NickRowler]

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.

[Leyelle]

that's the only drawback to a lot of aspiring creators nowdays...they're being told that tablets and programs are needed.

@Shanny8 that's a fair point, but if you don't have a scanner you can use (like i don't) then there's still no way to share the comics that you made with pen and paper with the world unless you intend to draw a thousand copies by hand and sell hard copies. the internet is currently the best way for people without much budget to share their work, and it still requires a certain amount of tools. Analog is still definitely a good way to practice though, and it's what i did for years before I got the tools needed to put my comics out

And there are a lot of setbacks besides needing tools keeping aspiring artists from pursuing their dreams, this is just one of many.

[Tubacabra]

And to the person who threw out a percentage of what the Black population is in the US, that's not really the issue.

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.

[NickRowler]

I personally don’t like when people hyperfocus on percentages because that number is pulling from the whole US. The demographics of regions vary.

If a company only wanted artists who were in LA, that number drops to 8%.
If they were only wanted people from the DC/MD area, that number goes up to 44%.

If anything, you could make an argument that companies just don’t post art jobs in regions where black artists live. A lot of these people don’t have the means to just move to LA.

I also don’t like when people hyperfocus on percentage because I have seen that used by racists to criticize media for having “too many black characters”. Yet a lot of these same people don’t point out how shows in DC should have more black characters if you want to make it realistic.

[TAMAnnoying]

Short answer:
have you even tried Google yet before making this thread?

https://rippaverse.com/

Here's a dude that made his own company. Seriously Google is your friend if these things actually matter to you

Long answer:
Because they don't want to. These people are not "black creators" they are individuals who have their own hobbies, likes, lives, prob children they're raising, they may prefer reading over creating or maybe they're way more interested in playing video games or table tops then bothering with a financially unstable hobby. They don't have to be comic creators to fit your "need" for there to be more. They don't need to fill some kind of quota to make some randos online happy. Enjoy stories because they are good, not because of someone's skin color.

[thepenmonster]

Here's a dude that made his own company.

Footnote;

Eric July is one of those Comicsgate shitbags so he and his company can fuck all the way off.

[IndigoShirtProd]

why aren't there more black creators in the business

Well, whether or not your actively seeking out people from a marginalized community is the crux of your question here. Does it matter to you, no like, does it really matter to you the race/background of the creators of the media you consume? If it doesn't, than this question come off as you implying that black people aren't doing enough for themselves to make it in the industry, even though I assume that wasn't your intention.

I have to give my applause to @Shanny8 @Calculus_Homework and @DokiDokiTsuna for explaining the reasonings behind the how things are in the space right now (better that I ever could).

And while I can't say I have the right to condemn any of you, some of you are talking really loud without really considering all the factors that bleed into a lack of representation. You can point to numbers, you can point to luck, you can even point to access, and you can say it's probably not racism. But those are each shortsighted in their conclusion and should be considered plus many more factors. And also it is racism, always has been.

[PapaDom]

Short answer: have you even tried Google yet before making this thread?

OP doesn't do that. He rather goes here and ask his questions hoping for an answer.

Btw, OP just changed his account but still manages to stir the pot here most of the time when he posts. And you guys gobble it up. But whatever gives something to talk about rather than to look at pointless promo threads.

---

Also, when I'm in a "Being a total ass and a negative sally" competition and my opponent is @thepenmonster:

[thepenmonster]

Feel free to shove that personal attack up whichever of your orifices you find convenient.

[KevinReijnders]

Meanwhile, my buddy who plays music in random bars has a way bigger social circle than I can even dream of. And he's not that good looking either so... it's his musical talent that explains it.

You know, it's not his looks or his musicism that gave him a social circle right? I wager he just... you know... talked to people.

All of that red pill, black pill, incel nonsense is just that, nonsense. It's nothing more but insecurity that preys on insecurity to create more insecurity. There's no such thing as chads or stacies, there's nothing fundamental about a person that limits them from making friends. All it takes is talking to another human like an actual person.

[joannekwan]

I think this thread has had enough quality responses. Time to close before things turn further

[joannekwan]