28 Black People Who Should Inspire You — Denys Cowan

Denys Cowan broke into an industry with very few black artists and paved a way for other black creators.

We’ve been fighting about representation in media for a while. The erasure of John Constantine’s bisexuality in the 2014 NBC series, the lack of female leads in Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films, the lack of minority actors in Hollywood, the depressing low numbers of female content creators in virtually every form of arts and entertainment. These are issues constantly at the forefront of our conversations.

1993, Dwayne McDuffie, a black comic book creator, created Milestone Comics. Milestone Comics created Static Shock, a character so popular, their entire company’s line was bought and integrated in DC Comics. McDuffie wasn’t alone at Milestone, though.

Denys Cowan (1960- ) began working for DC Comics at age 20 (when other aspiring comic book creators such as myself were writing self-indulgent stories and trying to find the nearest keg party). Cowan’s greatest accomplishment at DC Comics came about while he was working as penciller for Detective Comics (the comic featuring Batman). During his work as an artist on Detective Comics, the series introduced Henri Ducard. In Batman Begins (2005), Liam Neeson plays a version of Henri Ducard.

Cowan went on to work as an artist at Milestone Comics and as a producer for the animated series, Static Shock.

Rumors abound about a Static Shock movie, but considering that DC has released their lineup of upcoming films, the prospect seems unlikely.

As the month goes on, we’ll examine some more black representation and black firsts in arts and entertainment.

TL;DR

• Black comic book characters have historically been obnoxious stereotypes: African princes, jive-talking con artists, criminals, and all other kinds of one-dimensional.
• Milestone Comics didn’t break the color line in comic books, but they trampled all over it.
• Because of the work of creators like Denys Cowan, two of DC Comics’ upcoming ten films have black leads: Suicide Squad and Cyborg.

What You Should Do Now:

• Support a comic book or movie written by a woman, black person, or otherwise marginalized creator.
• Some recommendations: Bitch Planet, Ms. Marvel, Saga, Secret Six.

(Upon writing this, I realized that I don’t know of any black comic book creators working at Marvel, DC, or Image. Surely I’m missing someone? Let me know in the comments.)

28 Days of Inspirational Black People:

1. Ed Brooke
2. Blanche Bruce
3. Andrew Young

Photo – Flickr/Pat Loika