Ok.

You’ve probably gathered that I have a thing for the comic book medium.

And I keep on about superhero comic book iconic characters.

What I want to talk about now are black comic book iconic characters in the mainstream titles.

Or the lack of.

By this I mean characters with their own titles, ongoing or mini-series.

As a keen comic book collector and industry watcher I feel that there is a lack of visibility of these characters and this needs to be addressed as there are some great stories waiting to be told.

At the time of writing (2004) Marvel Comics have Black Panther, Storm, Luke Cage, the Falcon, Photon and Blade as their flagship black superheroes.

DC Comics have recently added Firestorm joining Steel, Mr Terrific and Black Lighting and Green Lantern John Stewart.

Click here to check out X-Men: Worlds Apart TPB (Featuring Storm) (Marvel Comics) by Christopher Yost

The Milestone line had some great stories among it's many titles and I feel it's high time that the entire back catalogue was collected into trades for reader consumption.

Only Firestorm and Black Panther have their own series at present.

Photon (Monica Rambeau) will be leading Warren Ellis's Nextwave team drawn by Stuart Immonen.

Both Photon and Storm could easily hold a series of mini-series as each character has a wealth of history.

Writer Roger Stern and John Romita Jr created Photon (previously known as Captain Marvel) while Storm was created by Len Wein and Dave Cockrum but her character was fleshed out by Chris Claremont.

The market has changed immensely from it's humble beginnings in the 1930's where the target audience was teenaged males.

Comic book readership cuts across all cultural and racial lines and have mass appeal as, generally, they deliver excellent, well-written stories which everybody appreciates.

Click here to check out Firestorm the Nuclear Man: Reborn TPB by Stuart Moore and Jamal Igle (DC Comics)

Also, the assumption that comic books based on a black protagonist will automatically not sell is also fundamentally wrong.

Spawn was a top ten seller for years and is still going strong. It's creators who sell books.

If Alan Moore wrote Black Panther, it would be a top 10 hit.

More accurate market research is needed to produce relevant, engaging characters and stories.

After all, the market, or the fans who buy the comic books are the industry.

The audience is changing all the time, it's not static.

What was needed ten years ago is different to what's needed now.

We need to know exactly who the market is and work from there.

Remember what everyone wants? Great stories and great artwork?

Click here to check out Black Superheroes, Milestone Comics, and Their Fans (Studies in Popular Culture) by Jeffrey Brown

Penning some great, powerful, stories he has his voice and others are needed. Most recently he penned 'Captain America and the Falcon'.

Also Reginald Hudlin, director of the films House Party and Boomerang, is writing for Marvel Comics penning Black Panther and Spider-Man.

Writer/artist Kyle Baker recently had a great run on DC Comics' Plastic man. All these authors works are available in trade paperback format.

Conversely, there are many black artists (compared to writers) working in the mainstream industry.

Including Clayton Henry, Doug Braithwaite and Brian Stelfreeze.

Superhero comic books are inherently supernatural science fiction and fantasy.

Click here to check out Black Panther: Civil War TPB by Reginald Hudlin (Marvel Comics)  

The Matrix Trilogy really broke the mould in this respect and showed what could be achieved with a fantastic story.

There should be a healthy balance to the majority, urban-only based stories and the only limit is the imagination.

With more and more independent publishers and studios setting up, the playing field levelling out faster than you can say ‘T’Challa’ (the secret identity of Marvel's Black Panther character).

Creators are no longer reliant to get their first break from the big two (Marvel and DC) and the best way to make a name for yourself is to ‘go it alone’.

Is there a relationship between the lack of black writers and the lack of black lead characters in the industry? I really don't know, but more of both can only be a good thing in my opinion.

Click here to check out the Essential Luke Cage Power Man: Volume 1 (Marvel Comics)

And this success will bring the keys to the stable of diverse characters in the Marvel and DC Universe or from any other publisher.

Creator owned characters and comic books however are the pinnacle of achievement in the industry.

Characters that will appeal to all. Alternatives to Batman, Superman and Spiderman.

Not to replace, but to compliment and provide more choice across all media.

Maybe it's time for a round table discussion on how to improve this situation between all the stakeholders involved, the fans, the retailers, the creators and the publishers.

Things are changing but a casual look at the monthly Diamond Top 100 shows there is still some way to go.

The comic book titles Firestorm and Black Panther holding the fort for the time being.

Click here to check out Storm TPB (Marvel Comics) by Eric Jerome Dickey