Would a white audience read a comic where the main character is black?

Okay, so, I wanted to write a comic about this guy who's a Mage and also a werewolf and stuff, right, and the main character of the story is black (like me). I've worked on it quite a bit, to the point that I've merged other stories into this one. I wanted to explore some social issues in it (werewolves are discriminated in a way that mirrors racism/homophobia, the prejudice between the magical races, issues such as freedom versus peace, etc.). I really wanna make it, but, considering the main character is black, and a lot of the issues I wanna tackle, do you think white audiences would read it?

If the story is good, it shouldn't matter. I'm not much of a comics-reader, but I follow pop culture enough to know that one character to fill the Spider-Man suit — Milo Morales — is black, and that he's really popular.

And just a warning: Hollywood has worried about this question WAY too much in the past. Don't fall into their pseudo-racist trap; go for the stories you're excited about. The more you're excited by the subject matter, the better it'll be and, ultimately, the more excited your readers will be for your story.

Thanks, I know Hollywood does that a lot, and it sickens me. As a black teen (I'm 16) I would prefer not to act as they would, but, I'm still a bit nervous.

Seconded. I love a lot of black characters. If he is a good character there is no need to worry.

Fun fact Joh Steward the "black green lantern" is the most popular lantern to non comic fans (due to the cartoon). People to this say are surprised there are white green lanterns.

If a black main character fails it is because he is a bad character not because he is black.

I'm no expert, but I can tell that several household names of Marvel and DC are, in fact, black superheroes.

Miles Morales is a recent example, but we've had succeful black comic characters for a while now: Black Panther (1968), a classic member of the Avengers and one of the big names of Marvel, Luke Cage (1972), one of the most famous street-level superheroes, Blade (1973), the superhero whose film planted the seed for the current comic book film boom, The Falcon, a superhero popular enough to take up the mantle of Captain America at one point, e.t.c

So yes, comics headlined by black characters can be a success to white audiences.

edited 13th Dec '14 3:55:56 PM by Gaon

Okay, yeah, me, I love Miles Morales, it's funny, he actually kind of looks like me (and not cuz we're both black, people have flat out said he looks like me). I hope it's good, I keep trying to make myself start, but I get distracted (school, social stuff). I kinda based the main character off of my own life and experiences, and his personality is similar to mine (and Naruto's, but, I dunno, I guess cuz my personality is like that).

Don't forget static shock.

I can say that I have no problems.

I know because I really love the Black Dynamite cartoon. Also Black Dynamite has a comicbook series.

Let's hope it makes a videogame next.

Since you brought up games I think it's fair to say that your character's race would not matter nearly as much as your character's personality and attitude. We were discussing this in games and it is my belief that quite a few black women (Purna of Dead Island acting up to the Unfortunate Implications hidden game code as a feminist whore, Ashley in Mass Effect having a overly abrasive attitude that made her The Scrappy though she is hispanic, Cobra from Wing Commander very much the same but she actually is African,) are stereotyped as the Angry Black Woman.

My advice? Look at some examples of Ethnic Scrappy and see what the pitfalls are to avoid.

There will always be racists out there. People wrote tweets complaining that they cast a black actress for Rue in The Hunger Games as if they didn't realize that the character in the book was described as having dark brown skin and eyes. Don't cater to the racists.

Well,the character's race, for me, isn't actually important, it doesn't factor into his personality, and I only made him black because I have a tendency to design protagonists based from me.

Yeah, suppose I shouldn't.

Sure, no problem with that. The point is are they going to be hated? With some of the examples I listed they are, not because of the color of their skin but the content of their character to quote MLK. They're hated because they're bad characters. Hence why seeing where they went wrong might be a very good idea.

Yup, if the character is written well it won't matter the color of their skin. As long as you don't go for the full "fried-chicken, let's-shoot-some-hoop-dawg, drive-by-time!" stereotypical depiction you'll be fine. Sure there will be some whiners but you'll find whiners for literally anything in the world so don't let it discourage you.

For my part, I find it alien that anyone would give a damn what colour of skin the MC has so long as the character, plot, writing (and artwork in the case of a comic book) good.

I know Hollywood and TV Studio executives think people care about it but they're so paranoid about losing one penny of revenue that they've been driven insane from lying awake at nights dreaming up new and ever more bizarre reasons people might not watch the movie/series.

Perhaps the most successful new comic character of the year is the new Ms. Marvel, a Muslim girl, the daughter of immigrants from Pakistan. It sells about 30 000 physical copies per issue, which is pretty decent, and reportedly has digital sales about equal to that.

So, yeah, there are plenty of white readers who will read comics starring non-white characters.

We need more protagonists... of African descent? What's the PC term these days? I'd say it'd be a nice change from all the pure-snowy-white protagonists.

I made the MC of my comic Ambiguously Brown.

Yes.

The ones who wouldn't are the ones you don't want as fans anyway.

edited 28th Dec '14 1:20:43 PM by Wheezy

That's for certain.

@OP: Write/draw what you want and if anyone doesn't want to read it, it's their problem, not yours. Don't limit yourself for the sake of prejudiced people.

I hope this doesn't come across as confrontational, but I am curious.

If your only readers were black, Asian and other non-white readers, would you consider the creation of your comic a waste of effort? Isn't it still worth it as long as you have an audience that is enthusiastic about your work?

I sympathise with your hope that something you've worked hard on finds a broad audience, but niche works can be successful too - The Boondocks has made Aaron McGruder more successful than many creators churning out mainstream-targeted mediocrity.

Whoever ends up being your audience, I agree with Aw Sam Weston:

edited 28th Dec '14 5:21:54 PM by editerguy

I see no reason why they wouldn't so long as you told a good story. My little bitty white girl self was pretty much in love with the Static Shock cartoon.

Not a waste of effort, it's just that I'd be missing out on a large audience.

If that was your audience, there's no guarantee changing the race of your protagonist will enlarge it. Unless you do actual focus group testing to see how people react.

I mean, unless you're writing the next Harry Potter your audience will be limited in some fashion anyway, so is it really worth worrying about?

edited 29th Dec '14 7:58:26 PM by editerguy

I made you a diagram.◊

edited 29th Dec '14 8:26:50 PM by Wheezy