ULTIMATE SPIDEY SPOILER ALERT
(that is, if you don’t read things on the interwebs)
There’s a lot of noise about the reveal of the new Spider-Man in the Ultimate universe. My initial shock was “Ok, seriously, who the fuck is this kid?” because I was sure it was going to be someone already established in the universe that takes on the mantle. I was hoping (like my good buddy Archie) that it’d be Flash Thompson. But then it was…some kid. Could’ve been anybody. And I was like, whatever. I’m not gonna read it anyway. But then all the ignorance started. People were just not having this new Spider-Man. It’s not that they were mourning their beloved Peter Parker (as I would if it were the regular universe) Oh no, they had another reason to hate on Miles Morales…
He’s half-black and half-Latino. See, to me his race was a non-issue: it was just some kid who wasn’t Peter Parker. But judging from the comments from USA Today’s August 1 reveal (as reported by bleedingcool.com) others in the fanboy community weren’t as blasé. Some of my “favorite” comments were…
Minorities are typically less than 18% of the population, but they seem to get nearly 100% of the history. Why should white children not have a comic book hero that they can identify with?
Since when did minorities get 100% of the (comic book) history when the vast majority of history goes to such iconic (white) super heroes as Captain America
What’s next,a muslim spiderman who enforces sharia law or perhaps a jewish one with webs that look like the star of david or the ultimate PC spiderman there could be.A homosexual spiderman that shoots rainbow webs and is basically an easy going spider unless you ruffle his feathers and then oh no girl,you didn’t go there.
Well, since German born Nightcrawler teleports in a cloud of beer foam and anti-Semitism, Captain America
Peter Parker could not be whiter. A black boy under the mask just don`t look right. This opens up a whole new story line with a whole new set of problems. Who is going to believe a black man in a mask is out for the good of man kind?
Sigh. The sheer ignorance in these (and many more) comments are maddening. People have blown this whole thing out of proportion:
What?! They never mentioned that he’d be gay! And so what if he is? Awesome! Thank god for Stephen Colbert
Why is it so hard to accept an ethnic minority as the lead of his own book? I applaud Marvel comics in their efforts to diversify. The fact that they do so with one of their (albeit alternative universe version) flagship character makes much more of an impact. A positive one in my opinion. Because the world isn’t just black and white. There are many shades in between. There will be a bi-racial kid who reads this book and finally be able to identify with a hero that’s just trying to make the right choices with his power and he himself will make the right choices. The same will probably be true for a white kid reading this book. Or an Asian American kid. I wasn’t particularly interested in reading a non-Peter Parker Spider-Man myself. But now, I am compelled to support this book. As long as it’s written and drawn well, I will read it. There is good to come from this, as evidenced in one of the positive comments to the USA Today post hidden amongst the ignorance:
Gotta admit, I love this. I’m not one of those race baiting liberals, but as a kid growing up with 0 major super heroes who looked anything like me, I’m glad that my kids will get to see this.
Also glad that there’s finally a black Disney princess…this is one of those things a non-minority just couldn’t understand. It doesn’t take kids long to realize that all the main characters look like someone else and all the sidekicks and extras look like you.
This is a good thing…not saying it’s going to change the world, but it will change some kid’s outlook on the world.
Til next time, true believers…
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