"I was in college when the Milestone line debuted, gobsmacked by the idea that there was going to be a whole universe of non-white superheroes. My excitement led me to do a project on the imprint for a cultural journalism class taught by the late, trailblazing pop music critic Ellen Willis. I remember a dismissive classmate sniffing at Icon, saying “So, he’s basically like a black Superman, then?” I didn’t always speak up a lot in college, the confidence that I have now in my faculties was still a long time coming. (I’m forever haunted by an asshole TA in a PoliSci class who ranted that “crack was a black drug” because it was years before I realized I could’ve retorted by asking him how crack got to the inner cities.) But when that classmate made his shallow remark about Icon, I said “No, he’s not a black Superman. And the book is about exactly why he can’t be.” I didn’t know I could say something like that until I actually said it. Something was waking up in me...
Superman is as alien as Icon. In fact, if you factor in the fact that Icon’s lived on Earth and in America for 150 years compared to Superman’s 30-something age, you could argue that Augustus Freeman is even more American than Clark Kent. But Kal-El enjoys a privilege that Icon doesn’t. The privilege is in being able to be thought of as fully human, to have your mind, body, wants, and needs be deemed of equal worth to those of the folks in power. The privilege is being able to be something more than three-fifths of a man, more than a tool, a foil or a means to an end."
~the realization that you can actually say things like that~
Related: Asian hulk
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