Soon I'll Be 60 Years Old
Once I was 7 years old… My Nana told me, “Boy if you don’t put down that damn comic book, and straighten up this room…” And I did, quickly. After, I went right on reading, such was my love for the Amazing Spider-Man. In the story, he was battling the Prowler. Imagine my shock when Spidey unmasked the villain and he was a black kid. A teenager named Hobie Brown with a chip on his shoulder who’d turned to a life of crime. The backstory for this turn, to me, was wax paper flimsy. He’d been fired from his job at the —wait for it— car wash and jumped the tracks into a life of crime to make a name for himself. Compared to the origin stories of Norman Osborn, Eddie Brock, Adrian Toomes, and others in the Web-Slingers rogue gallery, Brown’s left much to be desired. But Spidey convinced the kid to go straight and narrow, The Prowler became a hero, and for the next 28 years I saw most black superheroes my eyes came across with similar back stories. Luke Cage, the first Bla...