This Sorta Sums Up Why Gail Rocks (IMO)

[Gail Simone]

Maybe, but it's also a product of the times...most of the beloved stuff at DC came from the Silver Age in some way, or even the Golden Age. The DCUA doesn't have to follow those concepts.

[shrike]

Heh. She only has a LITTLE scene, but it's kind of cute!

Was there some element about her you like in particular?

Not that Bumblebee's character has ever really been MAJORLY fleshed out, but here is what I've always liked about her that we have kinda seen via various writers:

She has been written as a very humble person. She also is a genius, and as a teenager created a suit that enabled her to do numerous things, like fly, be super strong and have sonic powers. Karen is capable of so much, on a technical level, that writers fail to take advantage of. I like that Bumblebee is also very 'grounded', and often has been a person first and a hero second, not that she won't step up to plate whenever needed.

I guess I see a ton of potential there for Karen. Potential that writers often overlook. I'd love to see her embrace a position as a real ass kicker and a scientific/ technological authority in the DCU.

[Gail Simone]

Rats...now I wish I had more room to write all that!

[shrike]

Rats...now I wish I had more room to write all that!

Also, she was in charge of a part of STAR Labs that was responsible for creating non lethal weaponry. I mean, the woman obviously would be able to supply others with a host of neato gadgets. Like I said, she could even be the 'Q' of the Birds of Prey.

[Thequeerjock]

Well, I think the most interesting bit from the secret is the ending line about how it's very easy for people in white privilege to look at calls for diversity with disdain and say "Why is race a big deal? I don't like the Birds because they're white. They just happen to all be white". And specifically, the point that it's easy because there has never been any sort of shortage of white heroes in any medium, and therefore chances are that the white readers defending the lack of color do so becase seeing a hero who looked like them (at least racially) was never a problem for them.

Again, I don't think it's a grand racial conspiracy, but it's just interesting.

[sonofbaldwin]

Well, I think the most interesting bit from the secret is the ending line about how it's very easy for people in white privilege to look at calls for diversity with disdain and say "Why is race a big deal? I don't like the Birds because they're white. They just happen to all be white). And specifically, the point that it's easy because there has never been any sort of shortage of white heroes in any medium, and therefore chances are that the white readers defending the lack of color do so becase seeing a hero who looked like them (at least racially) was never a problem for them.

Again, I don't think it's a grand racial conspiracy, but it's just interes

At the very least, it's not a secret conspiracy. But I do believe that all of us, including people of color, have been conditioned to regard "white" as the default race. Toni Morrison once said, "In this country, 'American' means white. Everybody else has to hyphenate." And I believe that holds true to this day.

[Gail Simone]

Tqj, I agree, and if the situation were that all the Birds were black, that would be all anyone ever talked about.

It's hard to put aside dumbass cultural conditioning sometimes.

[Teal_Lantern]

At the very least, it's not a secret conspiracy. But I do believe that all of us, including people of color, have been conditioned to regard "white" as the default race. Toni Morrison once said, "In this country, 'American' means white. Everybody else has to hyphenate." And I believe that holds true to this day.

Definitely. Even to this day a straight white male is still thought of as a "normal" person while almost everyone else is thought of as different from that in some way.

[zemo]

Here's a thing I always see as a problem, at least in DC: If you have a black character (or any minority character) that takes over from an iconic character, their days are already numbered. It's, in a way, collateral damage that the minority legacy character has to bite it to make room for the iconic character which, sign of their times, all are white. On the other side, if you have an original black character, they have this habbit of staying around. Can't get rid of them (Steel, Vixen, Black Lightning).

I think the solution would be to create more original minority characters then. HOWEVER, this is where the problem comes in: DC is already sitting on a metric ton of iconic characters. So those (white, mostly male) iconic characters will always get the push before a completely new one is being created, because new stuff has to be established to make money, old and famous stuff makes money anyway.

Alas, I think something that could help there is a more modern approach to team books. Meaning, the writers, instead of picking a mixture of their favourites and editorially dictated characters (I'm looking at you, Hawk and Dove!) could, when writing a team, always try to introduce at least one novel character. Obviously there would be bitching and moaning by fans (don't try to deny it, if Gail had brought in a completely new character instead of Zinda in the reboot, then most of you would have shook their fists until carpal tunnel hit), but I think this is still the best way to, on the one side, diversify, but also, on the other side, rejuvinate the comic universes.

[Treacle]

I also suspect that POCs are inundated with white characters and white media portrayals since they come out of the womb, where the reverse is much less true for white readers. To them, a POC hero is still partly 'exotic,' or some other nonsense.

I agree with this.

White is the default in our society, and so people of color are kind of acculturated to it. Not only that, but white is consistently defined as "better" in our culture, and so that creates even more disconnect. And then when there are popular characters of color (I'm thinking of Storm, one of the first Black female superheroes I remember seeing and still one of my favorites), she's so exoticized that people of color still don't really see any of themselves in her.

It kind of reminds me of those social science experiments when black children were given a white dollbaby and a black dollbaby, and even though they recognized the black dollbaby more closely resembled them, they still preferred the white one.