Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Imagining a Strange New World: Racial Integration and Social Justice Advocacy in Marvel Comics, 1966–1980

  • Chapter
Soul Thieves

Part of the book series: Contemporary Black History ((CBH))

Abstract

High above New York City, in a gleaming futuristic jet, three of members of the superhero team Fantastic Four head to their next adventure. As they start out, however, something is different. Benjamin Grimm whose codename is “Thing,” asks team leader, Mr. Fantastic, “When did you have time to dream up a jazzy flyin’ fastback like this baby?” “I didn’t Ben! It was an unexpected gift sent to me by an African chieftain called, ‘the Black Panther’!” Cynical, Grimm smirks, “Never heard of ‘im,” adding, “how does some refugee from a Tarzan movie lay his hands on this kinda gizmo?”1 Black characters were unknown in mainstream comics at the time. As part of a broad endorsement of racial integration, writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, two creators at upstart publisher Marvel Comics, determined it was “time to end that lunacy.” They set out to create “a new major character strong enough to stand on its own.”2 Thus, the July 1966 issue of the Fantastic Four (no. 52) presented a black character as a bona fide superhero for the first time ever in comics.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Notes

  1. Stan Lee (w), Jack Kirby (p), “The Black Panther,” Fantastic Four v. 1, n. 52 (Marvel Comics, July 1966).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Rob Steibel, “The Panther: Kirby Biography Excerpt by Stan Taylor,” Kirby Dynamics (blog), August 19, 2011, accessed Octber 19, 2011, http://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/ dynamics/?s=Black+Panther.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Jack Kirby (w,p), “Panther Postscripts” Black Panther v.1, n. 1 (Marvel Comics, January 1977).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Eds. to Henry B. Clay, III in “Klaw, the Murderous Master of Sound!,” Fantastic Four v.1, n. 56 (Marvel Comics, November 1966).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Henry B. Clay III to eds. in “Klaw, the Murderous Master of Sound!,” Fantastic Four v.1, n. 56 (Marvel Comics, November 1966).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Matthew J. Pustz, Comic Book Culture: Fanboys and True Believers (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1999), xi.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Heil to eds., Roy Thomas (w), Don Heck (p), “The Light That Failed,” Avengers, v. 1, n. 35 (Marvel Comics, December 1966);

    Google Scholar 

  8. Mortimer to eds., Roy Thomas (w), Don Heck (p), “The Light That Failed,” Avengers, v. 1, n. 35 (Marvel Comics, December 1966).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Matthew J. Pustz, Comic Book Culture: Fanboys and True Believers (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1999), 56

    Google Scholar 

  10. Bradford W. Wright, Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America (John Hopkins University Press 2001), 230–43.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Stan Lee, “Stan’s Soapbox,” Captain America, v. 1, n. 108 (Marvel Comics, December 1968);

    Google Scholar 

  12. Peter Sanderson and Matthew K. Manning, Marvel Chronicle: A Year by Year History, with a foreword by Stan Lee and afterword by Joe Quesada (New York: DK Publishing, 2008),128.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Car Wash (1976); and “Human Fly,” Comicbookdb.com: The Comic Book Database, http://www.comicbookdb.com/character.php?ID=5092.

  14. Wright, xvi; Matthew J. Costello, Secret Identity Crisis: Comic Books and the Unmasking of Cold War America (New York: Continuum Press, 2009).

    Google Scholar 

  15. Costello, 91.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Stan Lee (w), John Romita, Sr. (p), “Crisis On Campus,” Amazing Spider-Man, v. 1, n. 68 (Marvel Comics, January 1969);

    Google Scholar 

  17. Stan Lee (w), Gene Colan (p), “Crack-Up on Campus!” Captain America, v. 1, n. 120 (Marvel Comics, December 1969).

    Google Scholar 

  18. Jacobs to eds., Luke Cage, Power Man, v. 1, n. 42 (Marvel Comics, April 1977).

    Google Scholar 

  19. As quoted in Terry Eastland, “Redefining Civil Rights,” Wilson Quarterly 8, no. 2 (Spring, 1984), 70;

    Google Scholar 

  20. Terry Anderson, The Pursuit of Fairness: A History of Affirmative Action (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 65.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Eastland, 83.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Ibid., 70; Jennifer Delton, Racial Integration in Corporate America, 1940–1990 (Cambridge: Cambridge Press, 2009), 36–43.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  23. Anderson, 91–92.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Delton, 225 – 28; Anderson, 98.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Anderson, 90.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Delton, 38.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Ibid., 225–26.

    Google Scholar 

  28. As quoted in Anderson,119.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Ibid.,140–41.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Ibid.,159.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Ibid.,147.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Ibid.,160.

    Google Scholar 

  33. The case was even more positive for white women … [as] they quickly advanced into technical and skilled positions. See Eastland, 70–71; Anderson,159.

    Google Scholar 

  34. Delton, 227.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (w), John Severin and Kirby (p), “The Prize Is … Earth!” Strange Tales, v. 1, n. 137 (Marvel Comics, October 1965).

    Google Scholar 

  36. Stan Lee (w), Don Heck (p), “The Sign of the Serpent!” Avengers v. 1, n. 32 (Marvel Comics, September 1966)

    Google Scholar 

  37. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  38. Stan Lee (w), John Romita, Sr. (p), “In the Clutches of the Kingpin!” Amazing Spider-Man, v. 1, n. 51 (Marvel Comics, August 1967);

    Google Scholar 

  39. Stan Lee (w), John Romita, Sr. (p), “To Die a Hero!” Amazing Spider-Man v. 1, n. 52 (Marvel Comics, September 1967).

    Google Scholar 

  40. Interestingly, as the character was being developed, early iterations had him as a former boxer—with a cauliflower ear, no less—what then emerged had to been seen as a conscious effort to move beyond stereotypes of blacks as athletes. See Sanderson and Manning, 123. Also, in 1969, for the mildly successful Silver Surfer title, Marvel creators introduced a black civilian scientist, Al Harper, who helps save the day, but only by sacrificing his own life heroically. See Stan Lee (w), John Buscema (p), “ … And Who Shall Mourn For Him?” Silver Surfer, v. 1, n. 5 (Marvel Comics, April 1969).

    Google Scholar 

  41. Delton, 5, 12.

    Google Scholar 

  42. Stan Lee (w), Jack Kirby (p), “And So it Begins,” Tales of Suspense, v. 1, n. 97 (Marvel Comics, January 1968);

    Google Scholar 

  43. Lee (w), Kirby (p), “The Claws of the Panther!” Tales of Suspense, v. 1, n. 98 (Marvel Comics, February 1968);

    Google Scholar 

  44. Lee (w), Kirby (p), “The Man Who Lived Twice,” Tales of Suspense, v. 1, n. 99 (Marvel Comics, March 1968);

    Google Scholar 

  45. And Roy Thomas (w), John Buscema (p), “In the Clutches of … the Collector!” Avengers, v. 1, n. 51 (Marvel Comics, April 1968).

    Google Scholar 

  46. Thomas (w), Buscema (p), “Death Calls for the Arch-Heroes!”; Delton, 6.

    Google Scholar 

  47. Roger Slifer, “Len Wein” Comics Journal 78 (August 1979): 73–74; “Len Wein—Teen Titans (1966)—Writer,” Comicbookdb.com: The Comic Book Database, http://www.comicbookdb.com/creator_title.php?ID=2232&cID=322&pID=1;

    Google Scholar 

  48. And Neal Adams, Dick Giordano (w), Neal Adams, Sal Amendola (p), “Titans Fit the Battle of Jericho!” Teen Titans, v. 1, n.20 (DC Comics, April 1969).

    Google Scholar 

  49. Roy Thomas (w), John Buscema (p), “Death Calls for the Arch-Heroes,” Avengers, v. 1, n. 52 (Marvel Comics, May 1968).

    Google Scholar 

  50. Roy Thomas (w), John Buscema (p), “In Battle Joined!,” Avengers, v. 1, n. 53 (Marvel Comics, June 1968)

    Google Scholar 

  51. Delton, 27.

    Google Scholar 

  52. Fletcher to eds., “Avengers Assemble,” Avengers, v.1, n. 59 (Marvel Comics, December 1968).

    Google Scholar 

  53. See Hopkins to eds., and Lawhead to eds., “Avengers Assemble,” Avengers, v.1, n. 57 (Marvel Comics, August 1968);

    Google Scholar 

  54. Kowalski to eds., “Avengers Assemble,” Avengers, v. 1, n. 56 (Marvel Comics, September 1968).

    Google Scholar 

  55. Wright, 244.

    Google Scholar 

  56. Gorman to eds., “Let’s Rap with Cap,” Captain America and the Falcon, v. 1, n. 137 (Marvel Comics, May 1971);

    Google Scholar 

  57. Eds. to Gorman, “Let’s Rap with Cap,” Captain America and the Falcon, v. 1, n. 137 (Marvel Comics, May 1971).

    Google Scholar 

  58. A first for black superheroes, it debuted and that title in 1972, but later evolved to Luke Cage, Power Man (issue nos. 17 – 49), and later still Power Man and Iron Fist (issue nos. 50–125).

    Google Scholar 

  59. Denny O’Neil (w), Neal Adams (p), “No Evil Shall Escape My Sight!” Green Lantern, v. 2, n. 76 (DC Comics: April 1970);

    Google Scholar 

  60. Steve Englehart (w), George Tuska (p), “Don’t Mess with Black Mariah,” Luke Cage, Hero for Hire, v. 1, n. 5 (Marvel Comics, January 1973).

    Google Scholar 

  61. Some villains were little more than accomplished street thugs, heads of organized crime (chiefly Harlem-based), with no true superpower—as was the case with Stoneface, Boss Morgan, and Black Mariah. Others had only campy special powers, like the knife-throwing crime lord Diamondback, or Cottonmouth, the drug kingpin, who could unhinge his jaw to wield razor sharp teeth. Respective first appearances: Captain America #134 (February 1971); Captain America #152 (1972); Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #5 (1973); Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #1 (June 1972); and Luke Cage, Power Man #19 (June 1974).

    Google Scholar 

  62. For example, Noah Black, a renowned geneticist (and African American) becomes the villain, Centurius, and battles super spy, Nick Fury, in 1968. At about the same time Hobie Brown began his abortive criminal career, another man—one with absolutely no misgivings about the path he had chosen—plotted against the Black Panther. As such, M’Baku, the traitorous genius from the Panther’s home nation, Wakanda, transformed by the mystical power of the Great White Gorilla into the Man-Ape, takes on his king, T’Challa, the Black Panther, and his new teammates, the Avengers, in March 1969—just a few months after T’Challa joined the team. Jim Steranko (w,p), “So Shall Ye Reap … Death!” Nick Fury: Agent of Shield, v. 1, n. 2 (Marvel Comics, July 1968);

    Google Scholar 

  63. Stan Lee (w), John Buscema (p), “The Night of The Prowler!” Amazing Spider-Man v. 1, n 78 (November 1969);

    Google Scholar 

  64. Stan Lee (w), John Buscema (p), “To Prowl No More!” Amazing Spider-Man v. 1, n. 79 (December 1969);

    Google Scholar 

  65. Roy Thomas (w), John Buscema (p), “Lo! The Lethal Legion!” Avengers, v. 1, n. 79 (Marvel Comics, August 1970);

    Google Scholar 

  66. Roy Thomas (w), John Buscema (p), “The Monarch and the Man-Ape!” Avengers, v. 1, n. 62 (Marvel Comics, March 1969).

    Google Scholar 

  67. Lee (w), Buscema (p), “The Night of The Prowler!”; Steve Englehart (w), Alan Weiss (p), “Queen of the Werewolves,” Captain America and the Falcon, v. 1, n. 164 (Marvel Comics, August 1973);

    Google Scholar 

  68. Tom Field, “The Colan Mystique,” Comic Book Artist, May 2001, http://twomorrows.com/comicbookartist/articles/13colan.html;

    Google Scholar 

  69. Steve Englehart (w), George Tuska (p), “Chemistro!” Luke Cage, Hero for Hire, v. 1, n. 12 (Marvel Comics, August 1973);

    Google Scholar 

  70. Len Wein (w), Sal Buscema (p), “Power Play!” Defenders, v. 1, n. 17 (Marvel Comics, November 1974);

    Google Scholar 

  71. Gerry Conway (w), Ross Andru (p), “To Sow the Seeds of Death’s Day,” Giant-Size Spider-Man, v. 1, n. 4 (Marvel Comics, April 1975);

    Google Scholar 

  72. And Len Wein (w), Ross Andru (p), “The Fiend from the Fire,” Amazing Spider-Man, v. 1, n. 172 (Marvel Comics, September 1977).

    Google Scholar 

  73. Julius Lester, Look Out, Whitey! Black Power’s Gon’ Get Your Mama (New York: Dial Press, 1968), 91–92.

    Google Scholar 

  74. Lester, 93.

    Google Scholar 

  75. Amy Abugo Ongiri, Spectacular Blackness: The Cultural Politics of the Black Power Movement and the Search for a Black Aesthetic (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2010), 51–52.

    Google Scholar 

  76. Raymond S. Franklin, “The Political Economy of Black Power,” Social Problems 16, no. 3 (Winter 1969): 291.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  77. See Glamour, August 1968; Life, October 17, 1969; Playboy, October 1971; Guy Trebay, “On Fashion Runways, Racial Diversity Is Out,” New York Times, October 22, 2007; and Vogue, August 1974. The statement by the observer is probably exaggerated given the known obstacles faced by African American models at the time.

    Google Scholar 

  78. “$150 Million Spent Yearly By Blacks To See Movies,” Jet, Nov. 1, 1973.

    Google Scholar 

  79. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  80. The most important television series about fictional black characters, themes, and subject matter were: Sanford and Son (National Broadcasting Company, 1972–1977), Good Times (Columbia Broadcasting System, 1974–1979), That’s My Mama (American Broadcasting Company, 1974–1975), The Jeffersons (Columbia Broadcasting System, 1975–1985), What’s Happening!! (American Broadcasting Company, 1976–1979). Similarly, two important television events and miniseries were The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (Columbia Broadcasting System, 1974), and Roots: The Saga of An American Family (American Broadcasting Company, 1977).

    Google Scholar 

  81. Roy Thomas (w), John Buscema (p), “The Man Ape Always Strikes Twice!” Avengers, v. 1, n. 78 (Marvel Comics, July 1970);

    Google Scholar 

  82. Chris Claremont (w), Dave Cockrum (p), “Who Will Stop the Juggernaut,” X-Men, v. 1, n. 102 (December 1976);

    Google Scholar 

  83. And Pierre Comtois, Marvel Comics in the 1970s: An Issue by Issue Field Guide to a Pop Culture Phenomenon (Raliegh, NC: TwoMorrows Publishing, 2011), p. 73.

    Google Scholar 

  84. Eds. to Nocerino, “Let’s Rap with Cap.”

    Google Scholar 

  85. Lee (w), Colan (p), “Crack-Up on Campus”; Comtois, 35.

    Google Scholar 

  86. Eds. to Chavez, “Avengers Assemble,” Avengers v. 1, n. 78 (Marvel Comics, July 1970).

    Google Scholar 

  87. Thomas (w), Giacoia, Trimpe (p), “The Sting of the Serpent!”

    Google Scholar 

  88. “[T]he Panther’s little episode in an all-negro section of New York City was excellent.” See Marks to eds., “Avengers Assemble,” Avengers, v. 1, n. 61 (Marvel Comics, February 1969); Roy Thomas (w), John Buscema (p), “Behold … The Vision!” Avengers, v. 1, n. 57 (Marvel Comics, October 1968).

    Google Scholar 

  89. Thomas (w), Buscema (p), “Lo! The Lethal Legion!”; Josh Barbanel, “Cortines, Citing Litany of Failure, Plans to Close 2 Big High Schools,” New York Times, November 12, 1993;

    Google Scholar 

  90. And Michael Pezone, “School Segregation in Queens, New York: From Andrew Jackson to Law Government,” Social Science Docket (Summer 2011): 54–56. http://people.hofstra.edu/alan_j_singer/docket/docket/11.2.24_School_Segregation_in _Queens.pdf.

    Google Scholar 

  91. Roy Thomas (w), John Buscema (p), “Heroes for Hire!” Avengers, v. 1, n. 77 (Marvel Comics, June 1970).

    Google Scholar 

  92. Roy Thomas (w), John Buscema (p), “The Coming of Red Wolf!” Avengers, v. 1, n. 80 (Marvel Comics, September 1970).

    Google Scholar 

  93. Thomas (w), Buscema (p), “Heroes for Hire!”

    Google Scholar 

  94. Roy Thomas (w), Frank Giacoia (p), “The Sting of the Serpent,” Avengers v. 1, n. 73 (Marvel Comics, February 1970).

    Google Scholar 

  95. Chavez to eds., “Avengers Assemble,” Avengers v. 1, n. 78 (Marvel Comics, July 1970); Kuhne to eds., “Avengers Assemble,” Avengers v. 1, n. 78 (Marvel Comics, July 1970).

    Google Scholar 

  96. Stan Lee, “Stan Lee’s Soapbox,” Captain America and the Falcon, v. 1, n. 137 (Marvel Comics, May 1971).

    Google Scholar 

  97. Hayden to eds., “Avengers Assemble,” Avengers v. 1, n. 77 (Marvel Comics, June 1970); Eds. to Hayden, “Avengers Assemble,” Avengers v. 1, n. 77 (Marvel Comics, June 1970); Hayden to eds., “Avengers Assemble,” (Marvel Comics, June 1970); and Wright, 235.

    Google Scholar 

  98. Stan Lee (w), Gene Colan (p), “The Coming of … The Falcon!” Captain America, v. 1, n. 117 (Marvel Comics, September 1969);

    Google Scholar 

  99. Johnson to eds., “Let’s Rap with Cap,” Captain America v. 1, n. 124 (Marvel Comics, April 1970).

    Google Scholar 

  100. Oddly the two contemporaneous heroes in Harlem—the Black Panther, and the Falcon—never seem to cross paths in the 1970s; Stan Lee (w), Gene Colan (p), “To Stalk the Spider-Man,” Captain America and the Falcon v. 1, n. 137 (May 1971)

    Google Scholar 

  101. Stan Lee (w), Jack Kirby (p), “The Human Torch Meets … Captain America,” Strange Tales, v. 1, n. 114 (Marvel Comics, November 1963);

    Google Scholar 

  102. And Stan Lee (w), Jack Kirby (p), “The Coming of … Sub-Mariner!“ Fantastic Four, v. 1, n. 4 (Marvel Comics, May 1962).

    Google Scholar 

  103. Stan Lee (w), Gene Colan (p), “Madness in the Slums,” Captain America and the Falcon, v. 1, n. 133 (Marvel Comics, January 1971); Eds. to Nocerino, “Let’s Rap with Cap,” Captain America and the Falcon, v. 1, n. 137 (Marvel Comics, May 1971);

    Google Scholar 

  104. Stan Lee (w), John Romita, Sr. (p), “Mission: Crush The Kingpin!” Amazing Spider-Man v. 1 n. 69 (Marvel Comics, February 1969);

    Google Scholar 

  105. Roy Thomas (w), Gene Colan (p), “A Life on the Line,” Daredevil v. 1, n. 69 (Marvel Comics, October 1970);

    Google Scholar 

  106. And Gary Friedrich (w), John Romita, Sr. (p), “Power to the People!” Captain America and the Falcon v. 1, n. 143 (Marvel Comics, November 1971).

    Google Scholar 

  107. Wright, 235–37.

    Google Scholar 

  108. Ibid., 235; Lee (w), Romita, Sr. (p), “Crisis On Campus.”

    Google Scholar 

  109. Ruben-George Toyos, “Media Influence on Power Man,” Comics Journal 41 (October 1979): 22.

    Google Scholar 

  110. Eds. to Jenkins, “Comments to Cage,” Luke Cage, Power Man, v. 1, n. 20 (August 1974).

    Google Scholar 

  111. Peter Sanderson, The Marvel Comics Guide to New York City (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007), 74–75.

    Google Scholar 

  112. Hayden to eds., Luke Cage, Hero for Hire, v. 1, n. 8; Weibe to eds., Luke Cage, Hero for Hire, v. 1, n. 6; Gilbert to eds., “Comments to Cage,” Luke Cage, Power Man, v. 1, n. 19 (June 1974); Kanes to eds. Luke Cage, Power Man, v. 1, n. 24 (April 1975); and Len Wein (w), George Tuska (p), “Rich Man: Iron Man—Power Man: Thief!” Luke Cage, Power Man, v. 1, n. 17 (February 1974).

    Google Scholar 

  113. Sanderson and Manning, 78.

    Google Scholar 

  114. Marvel Premiere nos. 15–25 (May 1974–October 1975); Iron Fist nos. 1–15 (November 1975–September 1977); Power Man and Iron Fist nos. 50 – 125 (April 1978 – September 1986); and “Iron Fist (01–Daniel Rand)—Chronological Listing” Comicbookdb. com: The Comic Book Database, http://www.comicbookdb.com/character_chron. php?ID=1642.

  115. Gary Friedrich (w), John Romita, Sr. (p), “Power to the People!” Captain America and the Falcon v. 1, n. 143 (Marvel Comics, November 1971);

    Google Scholar 

  116. Steve Englehart (w), Sal Buscema (p), “Captain America—Hero or Hoax?” Captain America and the Falcon, v. 1, n. 153 (Marvel Comics, September 1972).

    Google Scholar 

  117. Stan Lee (w), John Romita, Sr. (p), “It Happens in Harlem,” Captain America and the Falcon v. 1, n. 138 (Marvel Comics, June 1971).

    Google Scholar 

  118. Ongiri, 19, 23.

    Google Scholar 

  119. Ralph Macchio, “Steve Englehart in Transition,” Comics Journal 63 (Spring 1981): 281.

    Google Scholar 

  120. Stan Lee (w), John Romita, Sr. (p), “In the Grip of the Gargoyle,” Captain America and the Falcon v. 1, n. 140 (Marvel Comics, August 1971).

    Google Scholar 

  121. Lee (w), Romita, Sr. (p), “Crisis On Campus”; and Lee (w), Romita, Sr. (p), “In the Grip of the Gargoyle.”

    Google Scholar 

  122. Toyos, 22; Tony Isabella (w), Arvell Jones (p), “Daughters of the Death-Goddess,” Marvel Premiere, v. 1, n. 21 (March 1975);

    Google Scholar 

  123. Roy Thomas (w), Ross Andru (p), “Have Yourself A Sandman Little Christmas!” Marvel Team-Up v. 1, n. 1 (March 1972);

    Google Scholar 

  124. And Donald Bogle, Prime Time Blues: African Americans on Network Television (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001), 219–20.

    Google Scholar 

  125. Cleopatra Jones was released in summer 1973 and its sequel, Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold, two years later. See Stephane Dunn, “Baad Bitches” & Sassy Supermamas: Black Power Action Films (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2008), 85.

    Google Scholar 

  126. Gerry Conway (w), Ross Andru (p), “ … And One Will Fall,” Amazing Spider-Man, v. 1, n. 140 (Marvel Comics, January 1975).

    Google Scholar 

  127. Englehart (w), Weiss (p), “Queen of the Werewolves.”

    Google Scholar 

  128. Steve Englehart (w), George Tuska (p), “Where Angels Fear to Tread,” Luke Cage, Hero for Hire, v. 1, n. 9 (Marvel Comics, May 1973); Klutey to eds., “Letters to the Living Legend,” Captain America and the Falcon, v. 1, n. 217 (Marvel Comics, January 1978);

    Google Scholar 

  129. And Steve Englehart (w), Don Heck (p), “The Measure of a Man!” Avengers, v. 1, n. 109 (Marvel Comics, March 1973).

    Google Scholar 

  130. “It was the habit in the Office,” according to one staffer, to refer to Captain America and the Falcon as “Captain America and the Fowl Coon—Black Goliath was frequently referred to as ‘The Big Nig’.” See Richard Arndt, “A 2005/2006 Interview with Don McGregor!” The Warren Magazines Interviews by Richard Arndt, February 3, 2010, http://www.enjolrasworld.com/Richard%20Arndt/The%20Warren%20Magazines%20 Interviews.htm; “The John Byrne Forum,” Topic, “OT: Jesus Christ: Super-Hero?” Byrne Robotics: The Official John Byrne Website, February 1, 2011, 11:00 am, accessed December 1, 2011, http://www.byrnerobotics.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID= 37691&PN=1&totPosts=24; Catron, et al, 59; and “The Last Time Priest Discussed Race in Comics” Adventures in the Funnybook Game: The Official Website of Christopher J. Priest, May 2002, accessed December 1, 2011, http://digitalpriest .com/legacy/comics/chips.html.

  131. Robinson to eds, “Comment to Cage,” Power Man and Iron Fist vol. 1, n. 50 (Marvel Comics, April 1978); Chris Claremont (w), John Byrne (p), “If Death Be My Destiny … ,” Marvel Team-Up, v. 1, n. 64 (Marvel Comics, December 1977); Don McGregor (w), P. Craig Russell (p), “The Day the Monuments Shattered,” Amazing Adventures, v. 1, n. 31 (Marvel Comics, July 1975); Arndt, “A 2005/2006 Interview with Don McGregor!”; Delores P. Aldridge, “Interracial Marriages: Empirical and Theoretical Considerations,” Journal of Black Studies 8, no. 3 (March, 1978): 357.; Michael J. Rosenfeld and Byung-Soo Kim, “The Independence of Young Adults and the Rise of Interracial and Same-Sex Unions,” Tables 1 and 2, American Sociological Review 70, no. 4 (Aug., 2005): 547; Richard Perry Loving, Mildred Jeter Loving v. Virginia 388 U.S. 1 87 S. Ct. 1817; 18 L. Ed. 2d 1010; 1967 U.S. LEXIS 1082; and Jonathan Zimmerman, “Crossing Oceans, Crossing Colors: Black Peace Corps Volunteers and Interracial Love in Africa, 1961–1971,” in Sex, Love, Race: Crossing Boundaries in North American History, ed. Martha Hodes (New York: NYU Press, 1999), 514–30.

    Google Scholar 

  132. J. Harvie Wilkinson, III, From Brown to Bakke: The Supreme Court and School Integration: 19541978 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1979),108–215;

    Google Scholar 

  133. See generally David Riddle, “Race and Reaction in Warren, Michigan, 1971 to 1974: Bradley v. Milliken and the Cross-District Busing Controversy,” Michigan Historical Review 26, no. 2 (Fall, 2000): 1–49;

    Article  Google Scholar 

  134. Richard A. Pride, “Public Opinion and the End of Busing: (Mis)Perceptions of Policy Failure,” Sociological Quarterly 41, no. 2 (Spring, 2000): 207–25;

    Article  Google Scholar 

  135. Donald Philip Green and Jonathan A. Cowden, “Who Protests: Self-Interest and White Opposition to Busing,” Journal of Politics 54, no. 2 (May 1992): 471–96;

    Article  Google Scholar 

  136. McKee J. McClendon, “Racism, Rational Choice, and White Opposition to Racial Change: A Case Study of Busing,” Public Opinion Quarterly 49, no. 2 (Summer 1985): 214–33;

    Article  Google Scholar 

  137. Bert Useem, “Trust in Government and the Boston Anti-Busing Movement,” Western Political Quarterly 35, no. 1 (March 1982): 81–91;

    Article  Google Scholar 

  138. and David O. Sears, Carl P. Hensler, Leslie K. Speer, “Whites’ Opposition to ‘Busing’: Self-Interest or Symbolic Politics?” The American Political Science Review 73, no. 2 (June 1979): 369–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  139. Green v. County School Board of New Kent County, 391 U.S. 430 (1968); Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, 402 U.S. 1 (1971); and Milliken v. Bradley, 418 U.S. 717 (1974).

    Google Scholar 

  140. Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265 (1978).

    Google Scholar 

  141. Derrick Bell, “The Politics of Desegregation,” Change 11, no. 7 (October 1979): 50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  142. Wilkinson, III, 180.

    Google Scholar 

  143. Reagan garnered 489 electoral and beat Carter by a margin of 10 to 1.

    Google Scholar 

  144. John Hope Franklin and Alfred A. Moss, Jr., From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans, 7th ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1994),535.

    Google Scholar 

  145. Ronald Reagan as quoted in Anderson,164

    Google Scholar 

  146. Ibid., 166.

    Google Scholar 

  147. Franklin and Moss, Jr.,535.

    Google Scholar 

  148. Gary Groth, “Black Lightning Strikes Out!” Comics Journal 32 (January 1977):12.

    Google Scholar 

  149. Roberson to eds., “Avengers Assemble,” Avengers, v. 1, n. 185 (Marvel Comics, July 1979).

    Google Scholar 

  150. Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio (w), John Byrne (p), “Giants In The Earth” Marvel Two-In-One (Marvel Comics, September 1979); “Giant-Man (02–Bill Foster)— Chronological Listing,” Comicbookdb.com: The Comic Book Database http://www.comicbookdb.com/character_chron.php?ID=11285.

    Google Scholar 

  151. Wright, 245.

    Google Scholar 

  152. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  153. Arndt, “A 2005/2006 Interview with Don McGregor!”

    Google Scholar 

  154. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  155. Kim Thompson, “An Interview with Marvel’s Head Honcho: Jim Shooter,” Comics Journal, no. 40 (June 1978): 39.

    Google Scholar 

  156. Jack Kirby, open letter, “Panther Post-Scripts,” Black Panther v.1, n. 6 (Marvel Comics, November 1977).

    Google Scholar 

  157. Kirby (w,p), “Panther Postscripts”; and Comtois, 7; 204.

    Google Scholar 

  158. Comtois, 7, 204; Carlisle to eds., “Panther Postscripts,” Black Panther v.1, n. 6 (Marvel Comics, November 1977); and Judge to eds., “Panther Postscripts,” Black Panther v.1, n. 7 (Marvel Comics, January 1978).

    Google Scholar 

  159. Jim Shooter, “Comics are Alive and Well at Marvel,” Comics Journal no. 52 (December 1979): 23.

    Google Scholar 

  160. Buchko, Jr., to eds., “Let’s Rap with Cap” Captain America and the Falcon v. 1, n. 206 (Marvel Comics, February 1977).

    Google Scholar 

  161. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  162. Gibson to eds., “Let’s Rap with Cap” Captain America and the Falcon v. 1, n. 210 (June 1977)

    Google Scholar 

  163. Eds. to Buchko, Jr., “Let’s Rap with Cap” Captain America and the Falcon v. 1, n. 206 (Marvel Comics, February 1977); Eds. to Haskell, “Letters to the Living Legend,” Captain America and the Falcon, v. 1, n. 214 (October 1977)

    Google Scholar 

  164. Ralph Macchio to eds, “Let’s Rap with Cap” Captain America and the Falcon v. 1, n. 197 (May 1976); Farr to eds., “Let’s Rap with Cap” Captain America and the Falcon v. 1, n. 203 (November 1976); McGreevy to eds. “Let’s Rap with Cap”; Klutey to eds., “Letters to the Living Legend,” Captain America and the Falcon, v. 1, n. 217 (January 1978); and Kaufman to eds., and eds. to Kaufman, “Letters to the Living Legend,” Captain America and the Falcon, v. 1, n. 221 (May 1978).

    Google Scholar 

  165. Don Glut (p), Sal Buscema (w), “On a Wing and A Prayer,” Captain America and the Falcon 220 (April 1978).

    Google Scholar 

  166. Bakke (1978);Tom DeFalco, “Introduction,” in Sanderson and Manning, 9.

    Google Scholar 

  167. Michelinie (w), Byrne and Day (p), “On the Matter of Heroes”; Stiles to eds., “Avengers Assemble,” Avengers, v. 1, n. 185 (Marvel Comics, July 1979); Weibe to eds., “Avengers Assemble,” Avengers, v. 1, n. 185 (Marvel Comics, July 1979); Banner to eds., “Avengers Assemble,” Avengers, v. 1, n. 185 (Marvel Comics, July 1979); Roberson to eds., “Avengers Assemble,” Avengers, v. 1, n. 185 (Marvel Comics, July 1979); Morrison to eds., “Avengers Assemble,” Avengers, v. 1, n. 185 (Marvel Comics, July 1979); and Farnham to eds., “Avengers Assemble,” Avengers, v. 1, n. 185 (Marvel Comics, July 1979).

    Google Scholar 

  168. David Michelinie (w), A[rvell] Jones and R. Villamonte (p), “Steel City Nightmare,” Avengers, v. 1, n. 192 (Marvel Comics, February, 1980);

    Google Scholar 

  169. David Michelinie (w), George Perez (p), “Interlude,” Avengers, v. 1, n. 194 (Marvel Comics, April, 1980); and Michelinie (w), Perez (p), “Interlude.”

    Google Scholar 

  170. Wolverine actually debuted in Incredible Hulk 181 (1974). Jon B. Cooke, “Dave ‘Blackhawk’ Cockrum: The Marvel Days of the Co-Creator of the New X-Men” [excerpted from Comic Book Artist #6], Twomorrows.com, http://twomorrows.com /comicbookartist/articles/06cockrum.html.

  171. Margaret O’Donnell, “Chris Claremont,” The Comics Journal, no 50 (October 1979): 50.

    Google Scholar 

  172. Ibid., 50.

    Google Scholar 

  173. Cooke, “Dave ‘Blackhawk’ Cockrum”; and Les Daniels, Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World’s Greatest Comics with an introduction by Stan Lee (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1993), 167–68.

    Google Scholar 

  174. Chris Claremont (w), Dave Cockrum (p), “Who Will Stop the Juggernaut.”

    Google Scholar 

  175. Carol B. Kalish and Richard E. Howell, “Life among the Mutants: The X-Men under Chris Claremont and John Byrne,” Comics Journal, no 49 (September 1979): 61.

    Google Scholar 

  176. Chris Claremont (w), John Byrne (p), “Cry for the Children!” X-Men, v. 1, n. 122 (Marvel Comics, June 1979).

    Google Scholar 

  177. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  178. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  179. Monica Rambeau, the new Captain Marvel, for example, debuted and joined the Avengers in 1982, though like Storm, more as woman than a black woman. Gender shapes her narrative attempts to achieve and succeed as a superhero. Her race is muted and, except for her appearance, her blackness receives little narrative exploration.

    Google Scholar 

  180. Claremont (w), Silvestri and Leialoha (p), “Storm Warnings,” Uncanny X-Men v. 1, n. 253 (Marvel Comics, Late November 1989)

    Google Scholar 

  181. Cheryl Lynn, “Trinity: The Black Fantasy,” Digital Femme, May 7, 2009, 03:08 p.m., http://digitalfemme.com/journal /index.php?itemid=1073.

    Google Scholar 

  182. Jacobs to eds., “Comments to Cage,” Luke Cage, Power Man, v. 1, n. 42 (Marvel Comics, April 1977).

    Google Scholar 

  183. Dr. Doom actually hired Cage for a job early-on in the series, but then attempted to renege on paying the fee, for which Cage confronted him directly. See Luke Cage, Hero for Hero, v. 1, nos. 7–9.

    Google Scholar 

  184. Jacobs to eds., “Comments to Cage.”

    Google Scholar 

  185. “First Inaugural Address of Ronald Reagan,” Tuesday, January 20, 1981, The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History, and Diplomacy, http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th _century/reagan1.asp, accessed March 27, 2010.

  186. Gary Groth, “Jack Kirby Interview,” Comics Journal, n. 134 (February 1990) http://www.tcj.com/jack-kirby-interview/.

    Google Scholar 

  187. Compiled from referencing of The Marvel Comics Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Characters of the Marvel Universe (New York: DK Publishing, 2009).

    Google Scholar 

  188. Before coming to work for Marvel in 1972, Graham spent his first few years in the industry working for Warren Comics, publisher of horror genre offerings. Of the two issues for which he received a writer credit, each is as a co-writer. See “Billy Graham,” Comicbookdb.com: The Comic Book Database, http://www.comicbookdb.com/creator.php?ID=589; Wright, 247.

  189. “Billy Graham,” Comicbookdb.com: The Comic Book Database.

    Google Scholar 

  190. Daniel Best, “Looking Back with Ron Wilson,” 20th Century Danny Boy, January 3, 2010, accessed April 22, 2011, http://ohdannyboy.blogspot.com/2010/01/looking -back-with-ron-wilson.html; “Billy Graham”; and “Ron Wilson,” Comicbookdb.com: The Comic Book Database, http://www.comicbookdb.com/creator.php?ID=907.

    Google Scholar 

  191. “Ron Wilson.”

    Google Scholar 

  192. Vince Moore, “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: Arvell Jones,” Comic Book Resources, February 22, 2006, http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=6492.

    Google Scholar 

  193. “Keith Pollard,” Comicbookdb.com: The Comic Book Database, http://www.comic-bookdb.com/creator.php?ID=358.

  194. Advertisement, Comics Journal, no. 49 (September 1979): 72.

    Google Scholar 

  195. For a useful and insightful view of black impressions through the 1980s and early 1990s of so-called fan-boy ascendency in the comics culture and industry, see Jeffery A. Brown, Black Superheroes, Milestone Comics, and Their Fans (Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 2001), especially chaps. 1–3.

    Google Scholar 

  196. The “Supernigger” routine was performed at least a few times live in the early 1970s, and was also included in the concert/film Wattstax (1973). However, as the result of a protracted legal battle over publishing rights, Pryor’s first record label, Laff Records, which lost the artist but continued to release his work from the 1960s and early 1970s as new material well into the 1980s—the routine did not appear on a comedy album until 1983’s Supernigger as Laff attempted to capitalize on Pryor’s costarring role in the motion picture, Superman III (1983). Much later, Pryor regained the rights to his earliest materials, and the “Supernigger” skit was re-released on the Evolution/Revolution: The Early Years (Rhino Records, 2005).

    Google Scholar 

  197. Toyos, 22.

    Google Scholar 

  198. Manley to eds., “Power/Fistfuls,” Power Man and Iron Fist, v. 1, n. 56 (Marvel Comics, April 1979).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. David Taft Terry
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Tamara Lizette Brown Baruti N. Kopano

Copyright information

© 2014 Tamara Lizette Brown and Baruti N. Kopano

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Terry, D.T. (2014). Imagining a Strange New World: Racial Integration and Social Justice Advocacy in Marvel Comics, 1966–1980. In: Brown, T.L., Kopano, B.N. (eds) Soul Thieves. Contemporary Black History. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137071392_9

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137071392_9

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-230-10897-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-07139-2

  • eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation