{"id":28091,"date":"2019-02-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-02-18T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.oafe.net\/blog\/?p=28091"},"modified":"2019-02-17T20:39:58","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T01:39:58","slug":"night-thrasher-addendum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.oafe.net\/blog\/2019\/02\/night-thrasher-addendum\/","title":{"rendered":"Night Thrasher addendum"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today we reviewed Night Thrasher<\/a>, leader of the New Warriors. But did you know that's not the only team he was ever a part of?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Night Thrasher was introduced, along with the rest of the New Warriors, in 1989's Thor<\/i> #411 (and on the cover of the next issue<\/a>). However, an old Spider-Man villain known as The Rocket Racer<\/a> had just been brought back as something of an ally a few months before, meaning that there were now two nearly identical characters running around: Marvel's entire list of black heroes was, like, Luke Cage, Storm, Black Panther, Monica Rambeau, Falcon, Battlestar... and then two unrelated guys with skateboards.<\/p>\n

Editor Dwayne McDuffie (the same dude who had to explain why it wasn't a great idea to keep calling Captain America's new black sidekick \"Bucky\") took issue with this, and found a way to smartly deal with it: by pitching a new book.<\/p>\n

Dwayne McDuffie
\nProposal for a New Series
\n\"Teenage Negro Ninja Thrashers\"
\nFirst Draft, 12\/13\/89<\/p>\n

In the past year, 25% of all African-American super-heroes appearing the Marvel Universe possessed skateboard-based super powers. In an attempt to remain on the cutting edge of comics, I hereby propose a new series that will fully exploit this exciting new trend...<\/p>\n

Teenage Negro Ninja<\/font>
\nTHRASHERS<\/font><\/center><\/p>\n

  When a group of teen-aged negroes find cosmic-powered skateboards, their lives are forever changed! A team of distinct characters join together, swearing an oath to use their powers for good.<\/p>\n

ROCKET RACER: A black guy on a skateboard.
\nNIGHT THRASHER: A black guy on a skateboard.
\nDARK WHEELIE: A black guy on a skateboard.
\n And their leader, the mysterious black guy on a skateboard known only as \"that mysterious black guy on a skateboard.\"<\/p>\n

This is a sure-fire hit as it contains all<\/b> of these popular elements:<\/center><\/p>\n
    \n
  • Circa 1974 clothing and hair-styles<\/li>\n
  • Bizzare speech patterns, unrecognisable by any member of any culture on the planet<\/li>\n
  • A smart white friend to help them out of the trouble they get into<\/li>\n
  • They're heroes who could be you (if you were black, I mean...)<\/li>\n
  • They're on Skateboards!<\/li>\n
  • They have an attractive, white female friend to calm them down when they get too excited.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Face it Pilgrim, this one's got it all!!!!<\/p>\n

    Have I made my point?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    If nothing else, he at least made enough of a point that Marvel didn't introduce any more black guys with skateboards. And for his part, McDuffie launched Milestone Comics a few years later, an imprint which introduced only one<\/b> character who did anything that looked like skateboarding.<\/p>\n