Modern Day Black Comic Heroes: On the Big & Small Screens
There's definitely a trend going on in Hollywood. Recycle the good stuff, tweak
it, and present it to the next generation of viewers! This has been done by
taking original material...be it a comic book, a literary work, or even an old
TV show or movie and turning it into an updated version for the kids of today.
It's a great idea and proves the old saying that "everything old is new
again." Rappers do it, fashion designers do it, Aaron Carter, Hillary
Duff, and other
teeny-bopper bands are doing it! So it only makes sense that in this era of
recyclable-pop, even our superheroes are being reborn.
Joseph Campbell's explanation of "A Hero's Journey" is essentially the same
formula that storytellers and animators follow today. It seems to work very well, it's
just now, the "packaging" is different.
I asked my son why he thinks comics and cartoons are becoming more popular
these days. He thought about it and then we both came to the same conclusion: It
has to be this recycling trend that is making these old comic heroes popular. We
both agreed that the
people who are remaking these characters for TV and the movies are the kids who
enjoyed them during my childhood.
It's true about the writers over at Nickelodeon. Many of them have said in
interviews that they want to share the cartoons/comics from their childhood with
their children. Hence, the creation of
- Boomerang TV, the all-retro cartoon channel (on cable),
- Nick at Nite, the retro-comedy channel (cable),
- TV Land, another retro-TV show channel (cable),
- Noggin--the channel that teamed up with the Children's Television Network (creators of Sesame Street) to bring back The Electric Company and the original 3-2-1 Contact (both educational kid's shows) (cable).
The same can be seen in cartoons that are running now that have characters
who got their start in old comic books. My son currently enjoys these
new-and-improved cartoons based on comics:
- Static Shock (on Kids WB)
- Teen Titans (on Cartoon Network)
- The Justice League (on Cartoon Network)
All of those listed have black characters in their casts.
Static Shock
Cyborg from Teen Titans
Justice League featuring The Green Lantern
Each of those cartoons' characters were once comic book characters.
- Static Shock was from Milestone/DC. He is now a teenager who became a superhero for the fun of it, however, his one redeeming quality is that he does his best to use his brain instead of his brawn. He is very smart and
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Kim Martin's Single Parent Activities topic, please visit the Discussions page.