Oh...oh dear...
You know it's not like Haime Reyes as the Blue Beetle where he was a fully realized character and in a setting that matched. I'm not saying that there's no Black-Hispanics out there; there are plenty. It just sounds like Marvel Comics is overcompensating.
"Hey! We just realized that Latinos are a demographic, too! Let's put in a token Latino in there! But we can't make him full Latino, since that would alienate our majority Caucasian demographic! And we can't make him half-White since that would alienate both Latinos and Whites! Let's make him half-Black! He'll be Black, But Not Too Black! And we get PC points by putting in a double-minority! And we appeal to more than one demographic at the same time!" That's what I'm getting from Marvel.
And given the track reccord, I'm not too excited. At best, Morales will be a Token double-minority and at worst, an annoying stereotype that dispenses earthly wisdom. Hey, this is comic books we're talking about. Black characters have gotten their due, but a double-minority? Yeah, we're going into "Captain Stereotype" here.
As a Mexican-American, I'm more offended by the implications than the actual character. Most likely, Miles Moralles will be a stereotype and nothing more. Then they'll bring back Peter Parker as "Spiderman-Classic". I want to give Marvel the benefit of the doubt, but again, we're talking about a double-minority Spiderman. Two strikes already against Miles and Marvel, given the track record of how both are portrayed in Marvel and the Media in general.
edited 2nd Aug '11 11:35:54 AM by EnglishMajor
With blood and rage of crimson red ripped from a corpse so freshly dead together with our hellish hate we'll burn you all that is your fateIs it impossible to hope for the best? I understand being upset that Peter's dead, but why get mad before you've even given the character a chance?
@English Major: Yeah, as a Hispanic myself, I'm kinda getting a token-y vibe. But I still think he can be his own character, if given good stories.
edited 2nd Aug '11 11:34:00 AM by 11Numb
Hey, I could care less that Pete's dead. I'm not a fan of Marvel: I'm a staunch DC Comics supporter.
Weird. I didn't know there was even going to be a new Ultimate Spider-Man, but when I saw the thread title, the first thought that popped into my head for some reason was "he'll be black".
Anyway, I dropped Ultimate Spider-Man ages ago for being too similar to 616, so while I'm impressed that they actually went through with killing Parker, I'm afraid it's too little, too late. Bendis has already wasted Spider-Man's rogues and supporting cast.
edited 2nd Aug '11 11:49:33 AM by Tongpu
Here's a list of minority characters done wrong
couretsy of Cracked. I posted on that forum
and someone said I came off as indignant. Context is important, isn't it?
I really like that Ultimate Spiderman is a legacy caracter now. It also is gonna help people tell the difference between the two continuities. I know it sounds stupid but I have friends who read comics who don't know, and don't care, that Ultimates is not the same are regular Marvel. They just read it as if it's one same world.
edited 2nd Aug '11 12:50:19 PM by Gvzbgul
"I don't just read comics because of the name that's on them. I form an attachment to characters, and when that character's gone, I no longer care about their world at large."
This is an approach I blame for the fact that no good series can do well in the market but people'll buy shit with Wolverine's name on it. People follow characters they like even if their comics suck balls and don't buy comics about people they don't know, even if it has decent creative team they know and like. And creators are enforcing the same status quo over and over because fans grew attached to it so they won't buy story that changes anything, no matter how good it is, but will buy hunderds of shittty "Batman fights Joker again" comics every month over and over.
I don't mind the Affirmative-Action Legacy concept at all, but it does seem strange to introduce a totally new character with no prior history in the story, although I suppose it's likely he'll be shown to have some connection to the previously established characters.
HodorFirst of all, thanks for being subtlely condescending.
Secondly, I don't buy comics that suck. I've dropped Nightwing, Captain America, Superboy, Superman, Captain Marvel, She-Hulk, Nova, Gambit, and Spider-man before, and I love each of these characters. I read comics to experience things through their eyes because I'm attached to them. But, if the book sucks, I drop it. So that pretentious garbage you just said doesn't apply to me.
In fact, the really insulting thing about that insinuation is that it ignores the fact that rebooting a series with an "All New, All Different" direction is just as much as marketing gimmick as, "Here's Joker vs Batman #43,019!" It's the reason why "milestone issues" (like #1's) tend to spike sales, even if the comic itself is utter trash.
I follow the characters I like and I drop them when their stories start to suck. Frankly, I consider that the best message to send. Namely, "Take care of this character and treat them with respect. Otherwise, you've lost my dollar."
Do people have so little confidence in Bendis' abilities to assume that he'll just write a stereotypical character? He's the guy who made Luke Cage the friggin' star of the Avengers book.
We Are The Wyrecats Needs Tropes!"In fact, the really insulting thing about that insinuation is that it ignores the fact that rebooting a series with an "All New, All Different" direction is just as much as marketing gimmick as, "Here's Joker vs Batman #43, 019!" It's the reason why "milestone issues" (like #1's) tend to spike sales, even if the comic itself is utter trash."
If this what you think I meant when I critisized mantaining status quo? If so, then you couldn't be more wrong, as both of those gimmics are attemts to create an illusion of progressive change, while in fact they don't really change anything. I'm talking about organically growth change not writers making everything back to how it was in their childhoods or adding cheap drama to boost sales. I mean good change like in Incredible Hercules, once it shifted to Herc, or post Annihilation Cosmic Marvel.
I could have sworn that Crisis Crossovers (which are pretty much considered "gimmicks") started both of those changes.
edited 2nd Aug '11 2:38:41 PM by KingZeal
I won't read it for a while but I'm liking it just because of that.
I really like Ultimate Marvel universe, sure ultimates 3, ultimatum and the last issues of ultimate x-men sucked bad but frankly most of the other stories where well done, tought out and consistent that I can forgive a few wall bangers considering 616 marvel is, mostly, much worse in number of sucky things and number of average stories that don't justify those wall bangers.
And these kinds of thing help me enjoy those comics more, characters change, die, get replaced, I think that is fun and exciting and if it weren't for those things there'd be no reason to read UM instead of the regular universe.
My only problem is that he's an original character, it's a stupid thing but I think it'd be better if they had used any other character from 616 even if he looked and acted nothing like the original self.
:)As a Hispanic myself, I have no problem with the replacement. However after Ultimatum I'm not touching an Ultimate Comic if my life depended of it. Sorry.
Bendis oughta read Their Eyes Were Watching God. I hope the narrative will rub off of him.
With blood and rage of crimson red ripped from a corpse so freshly dead together with our hellish hate we'll burn you all that is your fateI'm black myself and I'm on the fence on whether or not this is just Marvel trying too hard to seem PC. If they actually go through in making him gay as well, like the interview implied, then it'd be blindingly obvious that this is some cynical attempt to draw in as many minorities as possible in a single character.
That said, I think this could work so long as the character is written as Spider-Man first and whatever ethnicity a veeerrry distant second (or third, or fourth, or forty ninth). It could work, but most likely, they'll find some convoluted way to bring Peter back without technically bringing him back from the dead in a year or so. Ultimate or not, Spider-man is Marvel's flagship character. Any alteration to him is a massive risk.
Hopefully they'll avoid the trend of horrible darker and edgier jerkassness that has always dragged the Ultimate universe down.
edited 2nd Aug '11 7:01:48 PM by Geostomp
"When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all" Futurama, Godfellas

Miles Morales!
In the Mighty Marvel Manner, they handed the news to USA Today a day early. While I like me an ethnically diverse universe, I can't help but feel like they're piggybacking off a certain other Latino Teenage Bug-Themed Superhero... Oh well, at least the costume looks pretty nice. Will definitely be checking out come September.
edited 2nd Aug '11 10:45:50 AM by 11Numb