Quarter Bin #12 "Blue Marvel"

One of the pitfalls of being a comics reader is that you can sometimes develop impulses that don’t always pan out. As some of the previous editions of Quarter Bin have indicated, I have an instinct to embrace obscure characters, superheroes other fans have all but ignored or dismissed, or just plain forgotten about. I look at them with a mixture of nostalgia and potential, for both what they’ve accomplished and represented in the past, and what they might still have to offer in future stories.

Comics readers often like to connect with other comics readers, to share their passions and opinions, to discover things they’ve previously overlooked. I’ve been a registered member of the Comic Book Resources forums for more than a year now (though “Tekamthi” only has about 200 posts to show for it). Every now and then, there’s a topic that intrigues me, such as when Blue Marvel was brought up.

Wait, so who’s Blue Marvel? The topic of this column, actually:

ADAM: LEGEND OF THE BLUE MARVEL #1 (Marvel)
From January 2009.

Blue Marvel, as it turns out, is exactly the opposite of what I’ve been talking about. There certainly are a number of characters with great potential but very few comics to show for it, but Blue Marvel isn’t one of them. Maybe it’s the writing in the issue I tracked down, which seems to be written almost as a parody of generic comics, so bad you’re left to wonder if Kevin Grevioux weren’t in fact trying to establish a bold new hero but sabotage him.

Blue Marvel is a black superhero, and Lord knows there’s history enough with DC and Marvel struggling over how to do that. Most of the successes are variations on established characters. You also have someone like Black Panther, but I cannot for the life of me figure out why anyone would take him seriously. His name is “T’Challa,” and he hails from the African nation of “Wakanda.” If Marvel were to call do-over on any of its creations before seriously supporting them, Black Panther is that character. He’s as insulting as he’s supposed to be empowering. You also have Luke Cage, but the only way he’s ever been successful is either as a team-up buddy or as a member of Brian Michael Bendis’ Avengers (uh…one of them). I still don’t know exactly what his deal is, other than as the superhero equivalent of blaxploitation, Marvel’s Shaft. I’d take the company’s commitment to him more seriously if he’d at least had one ongoing series to his credit, just one attempt, or even an association slightly more positive than “Sweet Christmas!” Or maybe even a movie deal.

Hey, Blade had Marvel’s biggest success at the movies, to that point. Still doesn’t have his own series. Moon Knight gets more respect. Moon Knight!

Getting to the specifics of Blue Marvel is beyond the point. Not worth dignifying. At least DC has shown considerable support for its Milestone characters (Static might count as the most recent important new character for either DC or Marvel), despite apparent reader apathy. Mr. Terrific, who just about counts as the only version of that character worth mentioning, will be part of the big relaunch, with his first series. Very excited about that one.

Beyond the racial issues, which only compound the disappointment I have for Blue Marvel, I guess the point is, discovering the undiscovered can sometimes be more complicated than it seems. Sometimes a character is undiscovered for a reason, and for a creation like Blue Marvel, the reason is exceedingly obvious in hindsight. So for Comic Book Resources members, or for comics readers in general, let this one serve as a warning for this particular character. But keep the faith alive. Comics have plenty of treasures to discover.