Black Manta- a brief, off-topic rant

Gee, I dunno. Maybe because Manta rays are black? Oh! And you're a pirate. Pirates like being called "Black" something. Like "Black Bart" Roberts. Also, I can't help but notice that your costume and manta-shaped submarine are black. I'm sensing a design motif here. Aquaman fought a high-tech pirate named Harry Black in the 60's... he was a white dude. Heck, I always thought maybe HE was Black Manta.

I can't believe that in a market flooded with blaxploitation heroes and villains who had black in their names for no obvious reason -I'm looking at you Black Lightning and Black Goliath- someone decided Black Manta should be a black guy. I mean, I couldn't care less what BM's ethnicity is, but "Or have you never wondered why I'm called Black Manta?" . No, I never have. I just assumed it was because of the aforementioned penchant you have for your whole noir ensemble. I didn't realize that someone out there felt there weren't enough black criminals in popular fiction.

"SWEET CHRISTMAS!" Luke Cage Hits The Streets. HARD!

If you thought the Falcon was fly, hold on to your afro pick! Luke Cage (aka Power Man) -Hero for Hire, was a new direction for Black superheros. Hip, streetwise and tossing out "jive" dialog like Shaft guest-starring on Sanford and Son, Luke Cage was an absolute, Blaxploitation badass.

Debuting in his own, self-titled comic in 1972, Lucas was a young, urban black man who was wrongly convicted of a crime. While in prison, he agreed to undergo a medical experiment which accidentally gave him tough-as-steel skin and dense, super-strong muscles. Breaking out of prison, he assumed the name of "Luke Cage" and started his own business as a sort of superhuman private eye.

Very dated, but a very fun read.