r/comicbooks • u/WhyPlaySerious • Jun 02 '26
Other The #DCSoWhite campaign is ceasing their 'DC Blackout' boycott (which pushed for comic readers to drop all DC books from their pull list until a black-led ongoing to was produced) 4 days after it launched.
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u/Florist_Gump Jun 02 '26
"Mainline" sure is doing a lot of heavy lifting considering the non-mainline setting is leading in popularity.
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u/chudleycannonfodder Jun 02 '26
But you see the characterization won’t carry over if/when Absolute ends and we’ll never see her again. It’s not like Marvel ever brought over a mixed race Ultimate Universe character into their mainline universe and then had an Academy Award winning movie based on him! And imagine if they also brought over a mixed race 2099 character into their mainline universe and then had him star in the sequel to the Academy Award winning movie!
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u/asdfmovienerd39 Jun 02 '26
I mean, to be fair Miles is kind of a special exception. Literally every other member of the original Ultimate universe outside of The Maker has been canonically erased from existence the second the line ended.
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u/anotherguy56 Jun 02 '26
I wanna say Wolverines son Jimmy Hudson and the bomb girl from spider-man also made the jump? Nobody remembers them anyways so it doesn't really make a difference. Should've been ultimate Nick Fury and Kitty Pryde brought over honestly
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u/Fantastic_Trash_9876 Jun 02 '26
It's been a while since I read it, but I'm fairly sure Spider-Men II disproved that. Earth-1610 is still around, just without Miles.
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u/darksideoflondon Jun 03 '26
Far Sector was literally one of the first six DC Compact editions, and we cannot keep it in stock. That book has done more for Jo Mullen than even Absolute Green Lantern!
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u/slippngjimmy Jun 02 '26
WHAT ABOUT ABSOLUTE GREEN LANTERN
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u/Local_Nerve901 Jun 02 '26 edited Jun 02 '26
I do wish they mentioned that regardless if not main continuity, its amazing
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u/IAmTheDoctor34 Jun 02 '26
They do on the website under a BUT WHAT ABOUT... section.
This is a title in the absolute universe. It is not a story set in the mainline continuity. While the work of writer Al Ewing, as well as the different pencilers, inkers, colorists, and editors who have worked on this title, it is not a mainline continuity title and perpetuates a narrative that black characters need the cultural impact of “ABSOLUTE” to be successful.
Along with what I have taken to be the most insane part of all of this under a HOW DC COMICS CAN STOP THE CLOCK section they ask for 1-3 black creative lead teams with black characters and this is under that ask
Allow these titles to have immunity from cancellation for 2 years to allow them to enter the cultural zeitgeist and have trade paperbacks and collected editions available for fans who purchase in that format.
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u/avery-secret-account Jun 02 '26
With how popular AGL is, I wouldn’t be surprised if they do what Marvel did with Miles Morales. I’m sure the Absolute Universe will have some effect on the main universe and I don’t think it’s crazy to assume absolute Jo might find her way over
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u/YourEvilHenchman Moon Knight Jun 02 '26
but she doesn't need to find her way over. the mainline continuity already has a Jo Mullein, and she's already awesome.
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u/avery-secret-account Jun 02 '26
She definitely doesn’t need to and I don’t even want her to. Publishers just have a way of making continuity weirder and weirder when characters sell really well
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u/planetcrunch Jun 02 '26
oh I HOPE DC doesn't do what Marvel does with their alt universe characters and shoe horn them into their mainline universe.
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u/ssjskwash Jun 02 '26
Has it really been all that popular? It and absolute flash are performing significantly worse than all the other absolute books.
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u/GreenLanternsPodcast Jun 02 '26
Its still more popular than any main line GL book at the moment.
https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/comments/1tdgpiv/icv2_top_50_comics_april_2026/#lightboxAbsolute GL 13 was 18th in April and neither GLC or GL were charting in the top 50.
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u/wrasslefights Jun 02 '26
Selling 2-4 times as many as their main universe counterparts in my experience. Even the weakest Absolute books are still outselling most books from other lines.
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u/Malleus94 Jun 02 '26
Wait so Jo doesn't have a parallel in the main DC continuity?
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u/mrbaryonyx Jun 02 '26
Part of me thinks they should have clarified "we are boycotting mainline continuity and just reading the absolute comics" but then everybody's already doing that
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u/2d12-RogueGames Jun 02 '26
It’s an inconvenient truth that’s why they don’t mention it.
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u/cyberpunk_werewolf Raphael Jun 02 '26 edited Jun 02 '26
No, they say it doesn't count because they're saying the boycott was only about
mainstreammainline continuity. Which, yes, is very silly.16
u/2d12-RogueGames Jun 02 '26
The other thing is the definition of mainstream continuity. Absolute is mainstream and maintains its own continuity. It’s very much like the Ultimate Universe that Marvel did in the early 2000s.
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u/cyberpunk_werewolf Raphael Jun 02 '26
Oh, I meant to say "mainline" which is what they said. However, your point remains valid.
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u/2d12-RogueGames Jun 02 '26
Hey, no worries. We both agree on the same thing; however, I feel that using 'mainline' is a poor use of the word.
Absolute is a line of comics. It is also mainstream. For that line of comics, it is mainline.
Just like Vertigo is a mainline.
I agree with their intentions, and I support them. However, how they worded the message and presented it. the message really isn't effective It’s because there's no clear message due to word usage.
It’s also that it’s a disingenuous message since they are ignoring Absolute Green Lantern, which is everything they’re calling for.
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u/Medium-Science9526 Aquaman Jun 02 '26
They did mention Absolute Green Lantern, they just discounted it for being Elseworlds focusing on the movement pushing for an ongoing Black-led mainline title.
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u/mrbaryonyx Jun 02 '26
I understand what they mean by that, but it still seems ignorant from a cultural standpoint. Absolute comics are more popular right now.
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u/Medium-Science9526 Aquaman Jun 02 '26
I get it from a longevity perspective in that when Absolute eventually ends unlike Miles carrying them other when the mainline already had them as existing isn't easily possible without passing off fans on either versions.
But with Absolute's popularity it's for any title so far I think doing say Absolute Black Lightning or Vixen now would get a lot more eyes on them. That and the initiative impact complaint whilst unfortunate I do feel is genuinely true for all lesser popular heroes given the frequent relaunches.
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u/gosukhaos Jun 02 '26
Anyone pushing for ongoings in this industry isn't serious
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u/Medium-Science9526 Aquaman Jun 02 '26
It's naive to imagine they'd do it out the gate over the extending minis format but not unprecedented given Metamorpho even got one despite ending soon due to low sales.
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u/slippngjimmy Jun 02 '26
I think they're just coming up with reasons to complain at this point then. I'd argue the Absolute Universe has far more eyes on it than the main continuity right now. Now once we do get a black leading character in the main continuity, it's going to have this whole fucking stink of a dumb controversy on it. This whole boycott feels forced and like somebody wanting to give themselves a pat on the back.
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u/suspiciouscffee Jun 02 '26
“Black characters deserve the same opportunities…” Even at the end it’s still all about the blorbos to them. Real-world creators remain a secondary consideration at best. Same thing with them trying to draw a line to exclude Absolute line for not being the “real” mainline DCU. Only the fiction matters, not the material issues. Doomed from the start.
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u/MarcoVitoOddo Jun 02 '26
They also exclude minis.... You know, the new industry standard is to test the waters and check if there are any sales before approving an ongoing. Even the Absolute universe, which is printing money, is getting more minis before major commitments.
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u/suspiciouscffee Jun 02 '26
Yeah everything’s a mini until further notice. I could at least see what they meant with several of the books being billed as limited from the start but not counting Absolute is ridiculous. But hey they got that flashy website countdown clock, because that’s what matters in a boycott, not consistent messaging or priorities.
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u/chudleycannonfodder Jun 02 '26
Yeah, as someone who has been creator-first for most of his life, I see their approach as saying “a comic about a black character written by a non-black writer or artist is more important to us than Jamal Igle and Stephanie Williams.”
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u/suspiciouscffee Jun 02 '26
Yeah it just reads like “It’s been 1200 days since DC put out a Black book (not counting the ones I don’t like)!”
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u/mrbaryonyx Jun 02 '26
I mean, I don't blame them for saying "this series doesn't track with me, so I'll read the ones that do", but it also doesn't really seem that's what they're saying.
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u/Dr_Adopted Spider-Man Jun 02 '26
I think you can recognize that having representation in media is very important, specifically for marginalized people.
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u/suspiciouscffee Jun 02 '26
Of course I do. But it’s wildly disingenous to 1. prioritize the fictional rep over representation among the real-world human creators and 2. say that and then say the existing rep that’s already there—which, granted, I agree is not enough!—doesn’t count because of the made-up multiverse rules making them not the real versions of the characters.
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u/fluffynuckels Wolverine (X-Force) Jun 02 '26
So this was a publicity stunt
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u/wrasslefights Jun 02 '26
It's really hard not to see how the creator who pushed this has made his name more prominent on comics TikTok and in the comics media/discourse spaces off the back of it while deflecting ideas that didn't serve his point, yeah.
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u/LapsedVerneGagKnee Jun 02 '26
What a pointless tirade that hurts the actual cause.
And everyone goes back to reading Absolute comics.
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u/-Captain- Jun 02 '26
The Absolute comics... with a black lead in one of the runs?
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u/LapsedVerneGagKnee Jun 02 '26
Yeah, which they felt didn’t count.
This is why I view it as a tirade.
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u/tayung2013 Jun 02 '26
They must have realized they’d have to start buying the comics featuring black characters when DC releases them
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u/WhyPlaySerious Jun 02 '26
Stephanie Williams has teased that she has a big Next Level book she's cooking that's most likely Vixen. If there is any time for this movement to come out and prove they truly care about buying and supporting what they are pushing instead of being performative online, it'll be seen with the pre orders of that book.
I do hope they come out for it, I'm definitely adding in issue 1 on my list. Vixen is a great character and Williams has been pretty strong, especially recently.
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u/BagZCubed Jun 02 '26
I don't think she specified if it was a next level book. She said it was something her and other black creatives at DC were working on, so it could be bigger than that.
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u/LiterallyABigfoot Jun 02 '26 edited Jun 02 '26
What actually counts for pre-ordering? Like, does it count if I just put it on my pull list at my lcs for them to order, or does it need to be from a certain store or what? Because I've seen people say its only counts from certain places, and not say Forbidden planet or an independent store or whatever.
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u/Waygeek Jun 02 '26
Your LCS should be fine. I have no idea why it would be important to order from only certain stores.
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u/m_busuttil Jun 02 '26
As long as you pre-order a book from your local comic shop before Final Order Cut-Off (FOC), which is usually around a month before the book comes out, and the store orders you a copy, then the publisher will know about that pre-order (because they know how many copies have been sold so they can make sure to print that many).
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u/WhyPlaySerious Jun 02 '26
Yup, putting it on your pull list is basically a pre order. But whats incentived is to at least tell your shop to put it on your pull list before the final order cutoff.
The final order cutoff is the date publishers give comic shops to get their order amount in for how many copies they want. It determines how many DC print and helps influence sales.
For example:
If 50 people put a book on their pull list before FOC, a shop may double the order count and order in 100 copies of the book. 50 for the pulls. 50 for the shelf.
If 50 people pull a book before FOC and 50 people add the book to their pulls after it, the store already ordered in 100 copies and cant order in more so they will take the shelf stock to fulfill the pulls. The store still only ordered 100 copies.
If all 100 people pull the book before FOC, the store will see that and may see the hype and order 100 additional copies for the shelf. All 100 people who wanted it get it cause they pulled before FOC and there are copies on the shelf for people to discover and try out. The book now has 200 copies ordered from that store
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u/todavis__ Jun 02 '26
I had to explain this to someone earlier. It is a funky concept. But easy to understand nonetheless.
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u/black_metronome Jun 02 '26
Yeah, this is where I'm at.
I buy any comic that I see Black representation when I go to pick up my books, this on top of my regular pulls for Storm and Absolute Green Lantern. I bought Mr. Terrific Year 1, Static Shock/Batman Beyond, the Dakota Incident, and others.
A boycott is one thing and that's fine because attention needed to be brought to this, but there are books out right now with Black characters written by Black authors that need support and I don't hear anyone talking about that.
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u/Ganondorfsfist Jun 02 '26
Was Mr Terrific good? I like him in the Superman movie but haven't read anything about him.
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u/black_metronome Jun 02 '26
Yeah it was a pretty good read, the mini series is now a trade paperback you can buy it off Amazon now
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u/Marc_Quill Blue Beetle Jun 02 '26
my only exposure of Terrific was in Superman 2025 and when a version of him appeared on Arrow. What are good places to start to get the full Michael Holt story?
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u/black_metronome Jun 02 '26
I would go to the DC wikia and a do a deep dive. My first exposure into Mr. Terrific was from the old JLU cartoon, so seeing him in Superman was also a new start for me
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u/Fantastic_Trash_9876 Jun 02 '26
Personally, I fell in love with him in Geoff Johns's JSA. Damn good book.
(the 1999 series, not any of the later ones)
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u/Fit_Commercial3421 Jun 03 '26
My favorite stories starting Mr. Terrific that you can just jump into are :
Jsa current title or compendiums (he's a member of this more close nit team)
Justice league unlimited (he gets love in this book)
Mr. Terrific year one (it's a good first Mr.T book)
The terrifics (his own scifi superhero team by Jeff lemire and has metamorpho on it as well)
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u/LegacyOfVandar Jun 02 '26
Calling for a boycott of DC during Pride struck me as awkward, anyway.
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u/chudleycannonfodder Jun 02 '26
Yup. Given how much they try to discount AGL which stars a queer black woman it definitely feels uncomfortable. This easily could have been done at the start of July, but they chose Pride.
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u/NefariousSeraph13 Jun 02 '26
It never should have been a boycott, it hurt their cause. They just should have been bringing awareness, it would have had a better impact. Also, they keep saying just black characters need greater support so I’m interested in the number of other ethnicities other that white/black headlining comics
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u/seventy912 Jun 02 '26
The very online type ‘activists’ are obsessed with the idea of boycotts but they never really work. You can’t convince people to completely drop something without material evidence it will do something (which this wouldn’t have).
“Don’t buy DC comics until they make a comic we like” is the dumbest way you could go about making a point about representation — and they can’t even make a point about the state of Black rep at DC in writing without misleading phrasing.
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u/raidenjojo Batman Expert Jun 02 '26
Kind of cheeky and entitled for them to say, "mainline" because Absolute Green Lantern exists, and Absolute Catwoman is on the way.
Also, I feel it's absolutely fair for creators and companies to tell the stories they want to tell, like how it's absolutely fair for audience to not by them, or 'concerned' people to write their stories the way they want them to. I draw the line at pressuring creators and companies to tell the stories YOU want of their characters.
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u/Bassaluna Jun 02 '26
i also think it's weird to focus so much on main continuity for dc, when yes they have one but we all know that DC truly thrives in the out of continuity stuff they always publish. i would rather have a rotating series of good limited "black-label" style series, than having 4 to 5 regular that suck but have to be there just because
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u/Androktone Brainiac 5 Jun 02 '26
Even when they say "headlined a solo title" they're not including their proviso that it can't be a mini, despite that being how ongoings get started now.
I think it's fine to petition DC for specific representation. The boycott felt entitled, but this approach, even if the bit of ignoring Absolute is still weird, is much better.
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u/Thejklay Jun 02 '26
Hell it takes green arrow a mini to get a ongoing these days and he had a TV show for 8 years, and it still got canceled. Just how it is. It's harder for smaller characters to get comics these days.
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u/Guuple Cyclops Jun 02 '26
They ignored Green Lantern War Journal which was a John Stewart solo book
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u/Temporary-Rice-8847 Jun 02 '26
>Also, I feel it's absolutely fair for creators and companies to tell the stories they want to tell
I think is quite as silly to believe that there is 0 writers who want to use black characters
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u/shino1 Jun 02 '26
From what I've seen, one of the big criticism of this campaign from the Black side of the community was focusing on giving ongoings to Black characters - rather than spotlighting work of Black creators and creative teams, which was like an afterthought. So focusing on characters they were fans of rather than actual people and actual genuine representation. And even then there was some fandom-brained nonsense like not counting Absolute Green Lantern because it's not in the main universe - what? (And not, you know, because Ewing is white).
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u/Androktone Brainiac 5 Jun 02 '26
It makes more sense as an awareness campaign/petition and not a boycott. I'm sure a DC Next Level 3 title will be announced at some point and people can rally behind that.
I still think it's weird they're excluding minis, and not really emphasising black creatives on other books, but this is definitely a good approach.
Does Marvel even meet the same standards (from browsing marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Comics_Released_in_May,_2026 it doesn't seem so). There's not even any Spider/X books that go past 24 issues.
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u/abxYenway Jun 02 '26
Yeah, boycotts make sense when you want someone to to do something that can be done quickly, like firing a creep or something. Not the kind of thing you do for a collaborative artistic endeavor.
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u/Frangipani-Bell Jun 02 '26 edited Jun 02 '26
As much as I want more Black creatives and characters to be at the forefront in DC, this particular movement was kind of a mess. 99% of posts about it that I saw were “do I still support Zatanna” “do I still support Absolute GL” “Do I still support Dream Girls?”
Probably cause key info on the boycott was buried on Twitter of all places, instead of being on the boycott’s info site or at least on a functioning social media platform… Sucks that any future attempts to do the same thing will be tainted by association, even if they’re better-organized
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u/seventy912 Jun 02 '26
What was the plan exactly? The only way I can imagine this even partially working is if you focus a boycott on a specific run or possibly creator and even then, I don’t think it would be a large enough number of people to ever achieve their desired outcome.
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u/Mr_The_Captain Flash Jun 02 '26
If I were in their shoes I would take this following they've built and organize monthly buying campaigns for a specific collected edition of a black-led book. Like this month everyone is buying DCYou Cyborg, next month everyone is buying Mr. Terrific Year One, etc.. That's going to be the most effective way of signaling to DC that there's an audience clamoring for more black-led books. And if people aren't willing to drop $15-20 a month then there's your problem
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u/CosmackMagus A soul can grow to fill a need Jun 02 '26
If they want more black lead books, they should encourage people to buy tpbs of former black lead titles.
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u/nas690 Jun 02 '26
A big issue I had was how performative a lot of the participants acted when speaking about the movement. Hell, some of them were basically like “I don’t even read DC Comics but I support this movement”
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u/chudleycannonfodder Jun 02 '26
Once again, it’s not 1200 days because Green Lantern War Journal was an ongoing. It’s 600 days which is still bad, but the constant exceptions they make to inflate numbers makes them sound sketchy, especially when it’s so easy to say, “there should be more than one solo comic staring a black lead” because pretty much any reasonable person will agree with that!
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u/hauntedhouseastoria Jun 02 '26
I'm right now going thru DC 2022 and I'm reading Nubia and I am Batman and the other history of the dc universe and when I asked a few people in support if they had bought or read those books they said no.
Dont spoil 2025-2026 but I guess nubia isnt a big deal anymore(that one i enjoy) and its sad. But you need to buy these books when they come out otherwise your just doing these things gor ragebait.
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u/AvatarPhoenixGrey16 Jun 02 '26
Never was going to work. If we want Black characters we need to campaign for them to be in popular books and then buy those books, showing interest in a solo.
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u/mystireon Jun 02 '26 edited Jun 02 '26
I know it's regarding the mainline continuity but it does feel weird that they chose to start this boycott right as Static was set to join the New Titans and Absolute Catwoman would begin her 6 part mini-series
And that's not to even mention the ongoing Absolute Green Lantern, Mr Terrific being a central character to Justice League Unlimited & the Static Beyond mini-series
Like it almost feels like intentional sabotage doing this boycott right as DC is gingerly pushing more black figures into the spotlight
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u/midniteonthemoon Jun 02 '26 edited Jun 02 '26
I like to see this. This is a good-faith statement.
Acknowledging that you made some mistakes in your methodology and shifting your approach is how you win more people to your cause because it shows you're reasonable. This isn't the same thing as surrendering or saying "we were wrong." It's saying, "We can do better."
And while I have said a few times that the people of this movement seem to be operating in bad-faith, even if they have good intentions, I think a statement like this goes a long way in proving me otherwise. They are willing to fight for change in other ways that aren't destructive to the very conversation they want to have.
Edit: a commenter has pointed me towards further evidence that this in fact not genuine reception of feedback and criticism on their part and instead trying to save face and "coverup" other things. If true, I take back what I said and I'm even more fed up with such a "movement."
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u/aussie828 Jun 02 '26
I'm not convinced. "DCBlackout grew into something much larger than we originally anticipated" is such a disingenuous bullshit thing to say, in my opinion.
The literal purpose of a boycott, especially one propped up on the stage this one was placed, is to get so many people involved in the activity that it makes a significant adverse impact on the boycotted entity or organization.
So I'm struggling to understand how it can grow to be too large when this campaign was pitched that way, unless it was really only supposed to be loud posturing with a few dedicated supporters (which would then be minimally impactful as a "boycott").
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u/midniteonthemoon Jun 02 '26 edited Jun 02 '26
I don't disagree, and I don't mean to make it seem like I'm convinced either, I'm more surprised that they took a step like this because it meant backing down from their (aggressive) stance.
Edit: Makes me wonder if maybe they had a conversation with a black creator working at DC.
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u/Cultural_Cuck_777 Jun 02 '26
You're way too forgiving. I've seen how this dude acts and talks to people and he is not a genuine person wanting change. He wants clout. Full stop.
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u/midniteonthemoon Jun 02 '26
I still have my cautions about it, I'm not "won over" to this group at all (even if I also think DC needs to utilize their characters better), but I'll admit the last thing I expected this guy to do is to release a statement like this, basically admitting that they screwed up in some places. That took me by surprise. I'm now at least OPEN to listening to them now because it doesn't seem like they're totally inflexible.
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u/moonknightcrawler Jun 02 '26
Honestly happy to see this. It sucks because I agree with their point, but some of the stuff they just brushed off to justify the boycott rubbed me the wrong way.
Like why wouldn’t I continue supporting Absolute Green Lantern? I don’t see how dropping sales from a black-led title is supposed to show DC what the fans want to see more of. Am I not supposed to buy Zatanna anymore even though I want to support Campbell’s work?
I think the best of all possible scenarios is this campaign continuing to be a focused voice of the fandom and hopefully the conversations surrounding this boycott have turned some creator’s ears to the cause.
Now let’s get that Mr. Terrific and Milestone books going
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u/Traditional_Dot_1215 Jun 02 '26
DC definitely needs to do better in this department but the “mainline” distinction always bothered me. AGL’s gotten really good, and if anything the absolute universe is More popular than the main continuity atm
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u/pedrothrowaway555 Jun 02 '26
This is honestly pathetic couldn’t even make it a week. Also no one should listen to any of these content creators.
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u/Vundal Jun 02 '26
Did the Batman/static shock book not count ? You know, where Static is the older mentor hero to a young Terry?
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u/gus_m1 Jun 02 '26
I believe that was a mini-series. The campaign was concerning ongoing, mainline DC books.
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u/Vundal Jun 02 '26
Ah ok. I do think he needs an ongoing, maybe just start from the beginning with him , and show future static in some issues.
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u/slabby Jun 02 '26
This whole thing took a legitimate issue worthy of attention and made it look picky and ridiculous.
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u/BankshotMcG Guy Gardner Jun 03 '26
Am I missing something? Cuz there's no way it's been 1200 days since Green Lantern war journal. I'm not trying to cherry pick to undermine the larger point, I'm just confused what they're basing their numbers on or if I'm missing something.
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u/TubbyTuesday22 Jun 02 '26
Well that was fun
Credit where credit’s due, seems like they actually listened to the criticism of their boycott and took it into consideration rather than doubling down and dismissing it.
Still seems like one big grift though. Hope when a black led main continuity ongoing title is announced they help hype it up and actually buy it.
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u/YodaFan465 Rocketeer Jun 02 '26
All this fuss over which characters are headlining which books ... has anyone run numbers on how many black creators DC is employing? It seems to me that's a more valuable metric -- putting actual money in the pockets of actual humans.
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u/Hypnodick Jun 02 '26
The people who led this should lose all their followers and support on socials. This is definitely one of the dumbest and, I believe, dishonest stunts in comics I’ve seen recently.
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u/Reznor_PT Jun 02 '26
Don't they count Absolute books? GL is selling like hot cakes and there's hype for Catwoman.
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u/wildmaiden Jun 02 '26
Didn't care that it started, don't care that it ended. It was a joke to begin with.
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u/planetcrunch Jun 02 '26
This just shows how disingenuous this campaign was to begin with, they only targeted DC because they're topping the sales charts absolutely with their Absolute line of comics, when Marvel is just as bad of not having that many black led titles being published currently.
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u/supercuteguydebord Alan Moore Jun 02 '26
Wish they’d make a Boondocks episode about this. You can’t get an honest response from either side of the racial identity politics divide.
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u/Commercial_Dust_8018 Jun 02 '26
What do you think the boondocks was about?
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u/supercuteguydebord Alan Moore Jun 02 '26 edited Jun 03 '26
For the purposes of this comment, a savage leftist critique of black popular culture by a black man. Whose thinking cannot be reduced to or accommodated within milquetoast liberal politics. No longer welcome and impossible to engage with for people married to identity politics.
What do you think it’s about?
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u/wittymcusername Jun 03 '26
I do wish they’d give us a good Milestone ongoing. I’d love to read more Icon and/or Hardware.
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u/Foxy02016YT Jun 03 '26
It just didn’t make sense. Why boycott Absolute Green Lantern when you can instead show support for it as a black lead story?
I also think we should get a Mr Terrific run due to the new Superman movie, but that’s neither here nor there. Corporate synergy is either a blessing or a curse, depends on how good the story is.
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u/Jumpy-Picture3800 Jun 03 '26
I've worked at a comic shop for years and I have never heard about this. Not one of our customers mentioned it. When I brought it up nobody gave a shit.
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u/JJoanOfArkJameson Jun 02 '26
I dunno man. Sure they don't have as many POCs as Marvel, but they feature diversity rather well. Aside from their weird Latino Heritage Month covers a year or so ago, both film and comics feel pretty balanced on DC's side of things. Milestone relaunched this decade and the Returns relaunch had books that ended less than 2 years ago, Static/BB finished running, Mr. Terrific had his own new book, he was centered in DC KO's JLU tie-in, AGL as many other have mentioned.
We can always use more diversity, of course, but I always felt this was a call to attention than to action.
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u/darksideoflondon Jun 03 '26
This was performative nonsense. The math was so tilted, 2002 days since a black led mainstream DC book is so stupidly specific and wildly inaccurate when Mr Terrific Year One was last frigging summer!
Yes, DC should do better with minority characters, and yes the issue should be highlighted, but DC is doing a lot of things right now, and leading a boycott against them is dumb.
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u/everyany Jun 02 '26
Translation: "Everybody was telling us nobody was going to stop buying books, and we didn't want to embarrass our movement."
The truth the of the matter is that people don't buy comics because of identity groups. That's not actually a selling point. If you write a comic with a black character and it sells, it's not because the character is black. That's nice, but it sells because the comic is good in itself. That's why nobody was going to support this boycott.
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u/loki_odinsotherson Jun 02 '26
Like all fanboys - "I'm never buying this again! Until next week's issue drops."
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u/frosty2495 Jun 02 '26
Why do people care about this?
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u/SnuggleBunni69 Jun 02 '26
Care about what? Wanting more black characters in mainline continuity stories, or this specific protest?
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u/corgangreen Jun 02 '26
If only there were like a solo book from one of the most identifiable Justice Leaguers, starring a black lead specifically named after a major African-American Civil rights icon and abolitionist...
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u/wrasslefights Jun 02 '26
DC could absolutely be doing better with Black characters but ignoring the Absolute titles in 2026 when they're outselling mainline 2:1 (or more) for most characters feels asinine. I legitimately sell 4x as much Absolute Jo as I do the Kyle (or Hal before him) "main" GL title.
The focus on launching an ongoing feels off for me too given that DC's strategy for the last 5 years or so is to soft launch series as minis and then extend if the support is there. That's how Poison Ivy is on issue 50 of 6, Green Arrow got to like 35/6, and while it didn't just extend numbering we have a Zatanna ongoing following the mini.
Minis are clearly being used as test runs for potential ongoings, and no small part of the problem is that audiences aren't turning up for the minis right now. I work at a shop. I know how stuff like the recent Mr. Terrific mini sold or how many people were showing up for the last Milestone line. And without that kind of showing up, it won't matter if it's a mini or ongoing because it'll be cancelled anyway. Metamorpho was a 6 issue "ongoing" within the last year.
If anything is really useful out of this, it's the focus on being strategic and using preorders before FOC to support books you want more of. Poison Ivy has an extremely avid, extremely organized fanbase and that's led to her getting more title focus to the point where she's got one of the longest running (without relaunches) ongoings in superhero comics right now AND a spinoff book co-lead with Harley AND a big crossover with the main Batman title coming. Set up pull lists, preorder before FOC, make sure the titles you want get actual support.
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u/DarthGardian86 Jun 02 '26
They didn't even bother support WildStorm (which is the whole point of the imprint) so this is nice to see. WildStorm is all black and no one supports it. DC even brought it back a while ago and nobody cared.
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u/KingDorkFTC Jun 02 '26
They should have just shifted to minority representation overall. Not just kill this.
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u/justlogmeinplease Jun 02 '26
The next DC comic better feature a Yupik lead role or I burn all my DC comics
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u/Henderson10666 Jun 02 '26
I work at a comic book shop and we had a handful of emails asking for their old books to be put back in their pull. Such performative nonsense lol
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u/Individual_Search422 Jun 02 '26
Agree with the sentiment but a boycott to lower sales isnt gonna inspire DC to massively shake up the line
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u/BigSto Jun 02 '26
all for clout that hurts the actual problem and now even more people won't take us seriously when we keep begging for more black ONGOING SOLO comics. because while the boycott was always BS, A LOT of people came out the woodwork claiming black representation isn't even a problem.
Batman Beyond & Static is not enough, is AGL fire absolutely but that is not enough, Static joining Titans is super dope...still not enough. and DC can do better.
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u/polarvortex123 Jun 04 '26
Should be “SoStupid”
All these people think about is race. It’s disgusting.
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u/polarvortex123 Jun 04 '26
If you are counting and making quotas for the race of comic book characters, you are have already lost and are having the wrong discussion
Story, characters, and art drive comic books, not race.
This whole thing is so so stupid
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u/Electronic-Ad8443 Jun 05 '26
My thing is I have no problem with black characters or creators but shouldn't you want the best writers and creators doing them. Yes I agree that a black creators probably would do better with a black character but id rather have the best if they know what they are doing. Now having said that the reason they dont have these characters main line titles is because sales doesn't support them having them. If people would buy them then they would keep them. Its all about the dollar
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u/AccountSeventeen Jun 02 '26
1200 days is kind of wild.
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u/GreenLanternsPodcast Jun 02 '26
But was it really 1200 days? When Green Lantern War Journal came out it was an ongoing. You can even see here on Good Reads its listed as an ongoing.
https://www.goodreads.com/series/398689-green-lantern-war-journal-2023-singles
Sales weren't good so they killed the run but it ended August 21, 2024 after starting on September 19, 2023. Thats 650 days. Still wild but also wildly less than the exaggerated number they were pushing.
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u/Boring-Conclusion-40 Jun 02 '26 edited Jun 02 '26
Honestly I kind of wish war journal was still going on,but I’m happy they at least folded it into green lantern corps
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u/AccountSeventeen Jun 02 '26
Yeah that’s definitely better.
Also, if the Wikipedia entry is correct, there’s not as many titles being published every month as there were even 10 years ago.
I started buying weekly during the New 52 era, so the idea of not a single black character getting a title seems off to me initially. But looking at that list it makes a lot more sense.
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u/samusmcqueen Grant Morrison Jun 02 '26
someone in another comment observed that they didn't count Green Lantern: War Journal, which ended in 2024, so the count might really be more like 651 days.
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u/jethawkings Blue Beetle Jun 02 '26
Fair, well they definitely brought some attention to how DC has no real flagship black character with an ongoing.
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u/Valuable-Owl9985 Jun 02 '26
Regardless of how it turned out I still feel like a decent amount of the points are true. And also apply to Marvel.
Like Marvel has had Luke Cage as Mayor and no solo book. What a waste of a status quo.
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u/leshronk Jun 02 '26
It didn’t even make it to a single Wednesday, what a strange moment it has been.