188355, DC didn't handle it much at all in the 1960s Posted by AFKAP_of_Darkness, Tue Jun-06-06 03:09 AM
i think it was in 1970 or 1969 that they really made the leap, though... Teen Titans became a really socially conscious comic as the characters stopped wearing their costumes (and even using their powers) and roamed the country dealing with the kind of issues that teens of the day dealt with. they also had two black characters during that period: Mal and Bumblebee.
they also introduced Black Lightning. actually, that reminds me of something: one thing about about DC's black characters i preferred to Marvel's was the fact that they were not ex-criminals and pimps and they mostly didn't speak jive (and in Black Lightning's case, he wore and afro wig and spoke jive in order to disguise his true identity as a schoolteacher)
oh crap, how could i forget... there was also the seminal Denny O'Neill/Neal Adams run on Green Lantern/Green Arrow. reading it today it's really preachy and ultra-liberal, but it was revolutionary, challenging stuff at the time.
also,like Brother Afron said, i agree that DC has made much bolder initiatives than Marvel in not just creating new minority characters to act as second-string characters, they've recast many of their established and/or headline characters as minorities (Green Lantern, Blue Beetle, Spectre, Mr. Terrific, Crimson Avenger etc)
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