Tag Archives: characters of color

Chromatic Comics and TV Shows

Debbie says:

I’m not so much of a comics fan, though I delve in here and there. That makes it a little harder for me to fully appreciate the fun people are having recasting basically white comics with actors and actresses of color. You can find some of the high points here, with links to lots of others.

Even comics semi-illiterates like me know Spider-Man, of course. I don’t know Danny Pudi’s work, but this pic by st_aurafina makes me want to.

Danny Pudi as Spider-Man

And since this kind of meme never stays in one place, Marion, who blogs as entwashian did a casting of most of the major characters from Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, a show I do know reasonably well:

Among lots of others, we have Gabrielle Union as Buffy:

Gabrielle Union as Buffy

and Rosario Dawson as Faith:

Rosario Dawson as Faith

But I like my choice for Rupert Giles. This is Michael Potts, who plays Brother Mouzone on The Wire.

Michael Potts as Giles

Obviously, this game is lots of fun, and the possibilities are endless. Poke around on the links: you’ll find everything from Star Trek to Harry Potter.

I wish we could have the fun without the message behind the fun, but the two are inextricably intertwined. Most of this work is done by people of color who are damned hungry to see themselves in the fiction, comics, TV, and movies they love. Laurie and I talk all the time about making the invisible visible: this is a new medium for doing that. Here’s to the day that it’s completely unnecessary!