How the Village Failed David Walker

So, recently, David Walker announced on Facebook that Marvel had left his Nighthawk series out of the November solicitations….meaning it was being canceled. Walker went on to soothe his savage fans (this includes myself), being as candid and classy about the whole thing as he could. After all, he still has his Luke Cage and Iron Fist series as well as the upcoming Occupy Avengers, so I'm sure he's not crying himself to sleep. Honestly, this is why I don’t take the complaints about blackwashing characters seriously.

Fans will whine and cry and moan about how the Big Two should focus on building up existing characters of color or creating new characters instead of having them take up the monikers of white heroes. And sure, this is valid but the problem here is that when the industry listens to the audience and gives us what we want, nobody buys it. This has been the case with Static Shock, Mister Terrific, Deathlok, Black Panther: Man Without Fear (though that last one was probably canceled more because it was meh) and the list goes on.

Nighthawk was essentially every single thing the audience has been calling for. Walker delivered an honest, upfront, challenging book that dusted off a black character that people really enjoyed from Supreme Power/Squadron Supreme. I mean, a Batman analog beating the shit out of corrupt cops in Chicago? That’s worth its weight in vibranium. And David Walker is a solid, prolific writer, so you can’t really say that Marvel didn’t put quality talent into it. We let books go to the wayside and then complain that we’re not getting what we want. We can’t have it both ways. At some point, a company (because it’s not unreasonable for Marvel to want to make money) is eventually going to go with what makes money and if that means the Falcon gets to be Captain America (which makes more sense than detractors are willing to admit) or that Kamala Khan gets to take Carol Danvers’ old name (in an Eisner award winning book, by the way), so be it. Meanwhile, if you want to whine about Marvel not being original, sure, that argument can be had. But if you’re going to complain, you have to at least meet the industry half way when they actually make a consorted effort to give you what you want. It takes a village to raise our own heroes up, but when we let decent material pass us by after complaining that it doesn't exist, I wonder if there was ever a village to begin with. Just thinking out loud. My review on the finale of Tokyo Ghost is available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing enjoyment. And don't forget about my webcomic collaboration with Katie Coats, Neverland: The Untold as well