Written by Ho Che Anderson, Danny Lore, Nnedi Okorafor,
Tochi Onyebuchi, Stephanie Williams
Art by Natacha Bustos, Olivier Coipel, Chris Cross,
Valentine De Landro, Sean Hill, Ken Lashley
Published by Marvel Comics
Marvel’s Voices: Legacy shows up as the publisher’s Black History Month special. It says so right on the cover.
The comic book continues the brand name for Marvel’s podcast spotlighting comics creators of color, launched in 2018 by Angélique Roché. It then grew into a one-shot anthology in 2020. But this time we’ve got an anthology of short stories for Marvel’s legendary Black heroes, both old and new, by some of that same talent.
In of itself, that’s a damn cool concept and something the Big Two in the industry should and could do more of. And the foreword by Nic Stone and afterword by Roché add personal, impassioned testimony to how important seeing and reading diversity in superhero comics means.
In practice, I found this issue to be a good enough start, but not enough.
When it works, it really soars, though.
“Decompression” by writer Mohale Mashigo and artist Chris Allen glorifies self-care for its three teenage girl heroes of color, as Riri Williams/Ironheart meets up with Princess Shuri and Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel at a swanky Chicago suite. Imagine all the burdens they carry, besides, I don’t know, fighting crime and occasionally saving countries and worlds. (Yes, worlds, plural.)
So much of what people love about these characters is how human they get to be, and I’m always here for superheroes just chilling out from time to time. We get solid characterizations, and deliciously detailed art. Shuri’s pad is decked out in wall-sized portraits of Black female heroes: Monica Rambeau and Storm, plus I spied a copy of Octavia Butler’s Kindred and a bust of Black female composer Florence Price.
In the forward, Nic Stone relates a memory of racing her best friend so she could impersonate Storm on the X-Men cartoon episode they’d watch after school that day. Stone illustrates how important Storm was to her as a Black girl, a story I have seen again and again among my friends in these blerd streets.
Recording artist Saint Bodhi develops a Storm story, “Letting Go,” that dives at the heart of that self-identification with the mutant weather goddess. Because who else could hear the pain of a mutant Black girl, and swoop in with an outstretched hand to pull her from a rage that would swallow her up? Storm could. Storm would.
Alitha E. Martinez draws a Storm that’s as sweeping and majestic as you’d hope, in a story where Storm’s empathy and example are her greatest power.
This story reminded me of the Storm solo series from a few years back that spoke to real world issues going on in the African diaspora. Woefully, the book was canceled too soon.
“A Luta Continua” by Nnedi Okorafor and ChrisCross illuminates the End S.A.R.S. movement in Nigeria against police brutality and government corruption that gathered more steam in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Shifting to the Venomverse (apparently that’s a thing), we see protesters endowed with powers. A young woman wields her symbiote to shield her friends from a hail of police officers’ bullets, and it’s a glorious merging of fantasy and true life.
And that brings me back to where I think the anthology falters.
I’m glad Marvel’s Voices: Legacy is made as a celebration for Black History Month. However, the cover features heroes of color and not only Black heroes. If this is for Black History Month, then why are Jubilee, Ms. Marvel and America Chavez on the cover? I don’t think America is identified as Afro-Latina.
So it looks too much like the thing when people and companies don’t want things to be “too Black” as if Black is a bad thing. If we’re going to go Black, go all the way in with it.
Domino the mutant merc has a story in here. Are we saying once and for all that Domino is a Black woman, and that the chalk-white skin is a result of her mutation? Similar to Tombstone?
That’ll make the fanboys who squirmed over Zazie Beetz’s casting in Deadpool 2 go extra tight, and I’m here for that. But I can’t say Domino is ever drawn with anything that resembles Black features, even if she’s of multiracial heritage, so no wonder folks think she’s white anyhow.
In some ways, the anthology issue is too short, so the stories are very tightly written, at times to the point of heading out the door before I have time to get them a drink.
The Miles Morales-centered “Words Do Matter” boasts the superteam of John Ridley and Olivier Copiel, who currently are giving us a Black Batman. So I was expecting something lived-in and profound in the way Ridley tends to do, but we’re out as soon as we’re in. (Read Ridley’s Other History of the DC Universe, where he really gets to play around.)
“Panic At The Supermarket,” following Monica Rambeau, is a cute slice of life that also have gone longer, but it’s very cute as it is with cameos from Avengers teammates Thor and She-Hulk. And the Blade-fronted “Nighttime Bodega Run,” in which the Daywalker stops a vampire from attacking his nephew and a friend, has a few too many “mijo” uses that made me think of that Alternatino sketch.
However, this is a fine issue, and I want more of it, because there’s so much more to do.
