Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, entertainment

Retailers Admit To Not Ordering Any Motor Crush #1 Because It Has A Black Female Lead

Last week, Bleeding Cool ran a story that comic book retailers may be underordering the new comic by popular Batgirl team Cameron Stewart, Babs Tarr and Brenden Fletcher, Motor Crush from Image Comics. We pointed out how Image were making the first three issues returnable, how it will contain a back up strip, a prelude story to another new comic, Isola, launching later in 2017. And we ran previews pages that had been shown off at Thought Bubble. I was expecting the piece to increase advance reorders of the comic from retailers and it did, it really did. And that was the story I was expecting to be writing today – you can read it here.

But what I didn't expect to hear was the admission from some retailers that they didn't order the comic at all because the character has a black female lead.

Now the explanation given isn't that the retailers in question is racist, no, of course not, it's just that all their customers are. Or at least won't buy a comic with a female black lead character.

It doesn't seem to stop them selling The Walking Dead, with the popularity of Michonne. But do they really not order any copies of Ms Marvel? Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur? Invincible Iron Man? Green Lanterns? Those books have legacy aspects which might give them a second look in such stores but… man.

There is an argument made by some people asking why Marvel recreates classic characters in different racial, sexual or gender aspects rather than creating a character from new cloth and letting them stand on their own two feet.

This, right now, is the answer.

Motor Crush has a brand new character in a brand new comic from a major publisher from a well regarded and award winning superhero creative team. And there are American retailers who won't order a single issue, even if returnable, because it stars a black woman. In 2016.

I somehow don't think we're done with this, do you?

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