Raje: A Superhero

Raje: A Superhero, The Bold Beginning of a New Era. You won't find this Black Superheroine in a comic book or animated series. That's because her depiction is a series of artworks by photography artist Renée Cox. In this case, the artist is the work as each depiction of Raje  is a photo of herself. Ms Cox is an accomplished artist and her work, which speaks for itself, has seen the inside of many galleries across the nation. Raje is only a portion of her artistic contributions and I celebrate both the work and the woman who brought it into being. You can view more images of Raje and more of the bold work of Renée Cox on her official website.

Astrea

In the 70's there was a cartoon show called The Freedom Force that had five different heroes and unfortunately only five episodes. The members of that group were Isis, Hercules, Sinbad, Super Samurai, and Merlin. I remember the series well but I only just found out about the predecessor to that show, called Space Sentinels which actually lasted for a full season. In this series, there were only three heroes, each of a different race, Hercules (the well known White guy), Mercury (an Asian super speedster), and Astrea.

Astrea had the power to turn into nearly any living creature which, in this series, meant she could morph into any animal. Apparently she could fly too which makes her that much better than Jayna of the Wonder Twins. Apparently all three of the main characters could fly and had been granted eternal youth as well. I've had a chance to check out a few of the episodes and it seems that Astrea was the most level-headed of the group and with her ability to get into and out of tight places, she usually got to the bottom of things first. Mercury was a bit of a Joker and Hercules always seemed to encounter things that were stronger than him.

This series was noteworthy for its multicultural cast. It's also great to see a Black super heroine with a major role in an animated series, especially in the 70's. Regardless of how great she was, she didn't make the cut when the doomed series changed to become the even more doomed series, The Freedom Force. Still, Astrea is a part of history and apparently available on video. Both series are contained in one DVD set available here. How did this Black woman become Astrea? The brief origin of the trio is explained in the opening narration of the series.

Chick Premier

The first webisode of Chick is finally up. If you missed the trailer, whick is actually longer than the first webisode, you can see it here. I can't tell if there are any actual superpowers in it yet or if this is a costume wearing version of The PuNanny Dairies. Time will tell. Either way the series looks good so far and I think it has potential. Check out the first episode below then head on over to WhoIsChick.com to find out more.

Who Is This Chick?

Chick is an upcoming web series that chronicles the adventures of a young woman on her quest to become a superhero. That's all I can find out so far. Check out the trailer below.

CHICK Trailer from CHICKSPIRIT on Vimeo.

Monet St. Croix - The Black Mutant Supergirl

Monet Yvette Clarisse Maria Therese St. Croix or "M" as she is often called is a super powered mutant in the Marvel Comics universe. She has so many powers and such potential that her sheer arrogance is almost forgivable. She has super strength, speed, hearing, and the ability to fly. In addition to that she has the power of telepathy, is nigh-invulnerable, and even has a healing factor, oh and she's really smart too.

READ MORE...

Monet was born into a wealthy family. She is the oldest of a group of siblings that all seem to have a variety of powers. In fact, most of her story involves the trials and tribulations of her unique family dynamic. Her brother is a vampiric sorcerer and her younger twin siblings have demonstrated the power to merge into a single being that duplicated Monet mentally and physically. Monet had been magically transformed into a being called Penance by her brother and was replaced by the being her twin younger siblings became and all that drama brought her in the world of the X-Men. After working through all that, she eventually joined Generation X and later various other X-Groups before she ended up a member of X-Factor Investigations, a mutant detective agency where here multitude of abilities come in handy.

To say that Monet is an arrogant bitch might just hit the nail on the head but the thing is it's not entirely unjustified. With her amazing assortment of powers and abilities, she is definitely more capable than most in addition to being drop dead georgous. She does sort of lord over everybody, so much so that I don't like her much as a character. The thing is, she could an should be so much more. She's like a Supergirl with a super brain and she never rises above arrogant teammate status. I blame the writers. This is yet another Black character with amazing potential that never seems to rise above a member of the "Gossip Girls" cast. Maybe some writer else will realize this and elevate her to the level of her potential.

Monet did make it to the small screen in the Generation X pilot/TV movie that aired on Fox. The movie was terrible, Monet's part wasn't very big though they did kind of nail her, and the Jubilee character wasn't even cast as an Asian.

Ant

I originally ran across the comic book character Ant while she was at Image comics. I was fascinated so I went out to find out more about the her. What I found out is that the story about Ant's creator is interesting in it's own right. According to his myspace page, Mario Gully came up with the idea for Ant while he was incarcerated. While he was in the cell, an ant crawled in and gave him inspiration. When he got out he started as an Independent comic book creator. The character has since been through three comic book companies.READ MORE...

Ant is an African-American girl with bulletproof red skin, super strength, speed and agility as well as various sensory abilities. Her origin is unclear and much of her story is about her searching for clues to her unknown past. I read somewhere that Ant is like the girl next door that can kick your ass. She's no nonsense and relatively down to earth. She's also one of those few Black female Superheroes that is actually shaped like a Black woman.
Mario Gully is the African-American owner and creator of Ant who's arrival in comics began at Arcana Studios. The series told the story of a little girl who dreamed that she was the world's greatest hero. The book exceeded expectations and proved to be quite a success. The first issue sold out. The series ran for four issues and it's success brought it to the attention of Image Comics.
Ant moved over to Image Comics and right away began interacting with superheroes like Savage Dragon, and Spawn. The art and story seemed to feel right at home with Image and the series seemed poised to do quite well. Distinct from the previous volume published by Arcana, the story took place years after but acknowledged the previous story. The little girl had grown up and more of her mystery was revealed. Problems began to develop behind the scenes and despite compelling story and artwork the series ended after the 11th issue.
Mario Gully's talent enabled him to work on other projects. After some time he decided to bring Ant back to the public and did so through Big City Comics. This latest series is entitled Ant Unleashed and is a more mature comic in imagery and theme. Again it is kept distinct from previous volumes as the story takes place after the others while acknowledging what transpired in them. The last issue seems to be #6 which was published back in 2008.
Publishing challenges aside, each time Ant shows up she commands the room and each series has surpassed the previous in both art and story. I don't know where and when she'll show up again but I'm looking forward to checking her out when she does.

The Former Captain Marvel

It just doesn't pay to be a flawless hero. If you don't have any flaws then the writers must visit misfortune upon you frequently to keep you interesting. I think that's what happened to Monica Rambeau, formerly Captain Marvel and formerly Photon. I think her code name is now Pulsar. We'll see if that sticks. This is one character that deserves so much more than she has received over the years.
READ MORE...

She first debuted in 1982 in Marvel's Amazing Spider-Man Annual #16. Monica was all about community service and leadership even before she got her powers. She didn't pick the name "Captain Marvel," the media gave it to her. She was a Lieutenant in the New Orleans Harbor Patrol when a family friend, who happened to be a scientist came to her for help. She helped and in the process was bombarded with extra-dimensional energies. She gained the power to convert herself into any kind of energy with all it's properties enabling her to move at the speed of light, pass through solid objects, and blast people with any energy she could come up with. She was awesome. She trained with the Avengers, became a full member and was ultimately voted to team leader. She provided exemplary service. I guess it was all too good to be true.

Monica began to have problems when Dr. Druid, a new recruit, began undermining her leadership. Can you say prejudice? It got worse from here. She later lost her powers when she came in contact with the ocean in energy form. I guess energy and sea water don't mix. She had to step down from the Avengers and when she finally did get her powers back they were greatly reduced. She never did regain her full Avengers status.
With help she finally got her powers back to normal but then had to fight over the name "Captain Marvel" with Genis, the son of the hero who had the name originally. Even though she's earned the right to keep it, she gave it up and started calling herself Photon. Then the same guy came back later and ask for the name Photon because the name Captain Marvel was too much for him to live up to. Monica gave it up again and took the name Pulsar but no one seems to call her that, opting instead to call her by her real name.
She never regained the status she held since the day she first lost her powers. While still an amazing character, Monica never regained her popularity. Recently in the Nextwave miniseries readers got a chance to see her power and attitude clearly. Yet in the Black Panther comic, she was easily trapped and held and I think she may even have committed murder. Maybe she's pissed at the way she's been treated. She definitely deserves better.

Black Female Superheroes

This blog is dedicated to Black Superheroes but I have been reminded of its lack of female representation. Over time I'll be making an effort to correct that. In the meantime I'd like to give credit to a woman who has put some thought and energy into supporting them. Her name is Becca and as we are both fans and she took the time to come by and visit me here I thought I'd return the favor. I don't know her personally but I like what she has to say. Below is a montage she put together celebrating 60 Black Female Superheroes. Enjoy!


60+ Black Female Superheroes! from Becca on Vimeo.