"Back in Black"

So the big buzz going around the internet comic book-wise is a certain number of people complaining that Spider-Man is now black. Wait, what?

No, you read that last one correctly, Spider-Man is back and he's black....the Ultimate Spider-Man anyways not the current one. Huh? Apparently, fresh off the big "Death of Spider-Man" storyline that ran through the Marvel Ultimate line of books, where Peter Parker died heroically while saving lives, there was immediate plans to debut a new Spider-Man. Clues were posted throughout the internet and the USA Today, and eventually series writer Brian Bendis decided to reveal who the new Spider-Man was going to be.

His name is Miles Morales, and he's black.

Well this has caused a complete firestorm of controversy and bitching, mostly from people who probably think the main Spider-Man's being replaced by a black guy. Well that isn't the case people, so you can all calm down now.

You can head on over to Bleedingcool.com to get just a taste of the hate that's flying towards Bendis and Marvel because of this. Stuff like "What’s next? A Spiderman who is half black, half Cuban gay vegetarian who works as a Community organizer and drives a Prius that practices Tai Chi?" Is being said or "That’s just dangerous. With spider powers, just think how much stuff he could steal, if he was not so lazy." or even "Just heard Bill Cosby is going to turn Fat Albert and his gang into a skinny half WHITE and half ASIAN dudes and move him to a small Southern town that is only 3% BLACK."

Some people just love to complain about anything don't they. And that's just some of the things the website could print. Like I said, if you to the website, you'll see more. I personally like these two comments:

"What some people will do for money.It has nothing to do with the storyline as much as padding the wallet.What’s next,a muslim spiderman who enforces sharia law or perhaps a jewish one with webs that look like the star of david or the ultimate PC spiderman there could be.A homosexual spiderman that shoots rainbow webs and is basically an easy going spider unless you ruffle his feathers and then oh no girl,you didn’t go there."
                                                                      And
"Maybe Bruce Banner should have turned black when he “Hulked Out” as a symbol of African American rage for centuries of oppression. Then he could rampage through suburban America wreaking havoc in Starbucks and The Gap and Old Navy stores. Go get ‘em Bro-Hulk!!!!!!"

It's all crazy I tell you.

According to CBR, comicbookresources.com, Bendis may have gotten inspired by actor Donald Glover(star of NBC's hit show Community, which is pretty damn funny actually). It seems he petitioned and auditioned to play Spider-Man in the new movie reboot, but of course the role ultimately went to Andrew Garfield. Well this seemed to inspire Bendis, and there you go. Donald Glover finally got to be Spider-Man after all....just in the comics instead.

I wonder just how much crap DC got from fans when they introduced John Stewart as the new GL? Or Marvel, when Jim Rhodes(War Machine) temporarily took over the role of Iron Man while his boss Tony Stark battled Alcoholism?  I guess these people forgot all about those characters, despite the fact that the world didn't end just because someone of color filled in traditionally white roles.

I believe Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee said it best when talking about the the universal appeal of Spider-Man, and I'm paraphrasing here "Under that mask, he could be anyone. You, me, anyone. It doesn't matter because with that mask on he could be anyone be it of they're black, white, asian or any other color."

Yeah, let's keep that in mind huh?