PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — An event highlighting the history of Black female comic book superheroes was held at the National Liberty Museum this weekend, part of the museum’s Black History Month programming.
Ariell Johnson, owner of Amalgam Comics and Coffeehouse in Kensington, said comics are a great way to inspire children to read.
"What's cool about comic books is it's sequential art," she explained. "So in addition to being able to read and understand the words, you also have to be paying attention to the images, because some of the story is being told in that and I think that teaches kids to process different types of information."
Amalgam is the first Black woman-owned comic book store on the East Coast. At the museum's "Beyond Wakanda" event, she gave a presentation about the history of Black female superheroes.
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"Yes, these Black comic characters exist, but how have they been represented?" she asked, adding it's not enough to have Black female characters. The comic world needs Black female creators.
"When we're talking about being more representative and seeing more Black creators, Black faces in comics, I still feel like it tends to skew men," she said.
"Like how often Storm [of the X-Men] is naked in the comic books — like being covered up by a cloud or whatever. While she is a Black woman, all of the hands that had a part in creating her were white men and it's being written for white men."
Franchesca Williams, who was visiting the museum with her 6-year-old daughter, agreed, "Especially like watching Batman, you know Gotham, where it's just like, 'OK, say it without saying it. It's the ghetto, this is the hood and the only superhero is like a rich white guy playing dress up."
Williams said she sees in her daughter why representation is important.
"Now she wants to read the comic books and she's only been interested in heroes who look like her, and I've noticed since she's found those on her own, her reading and her speech have shot up," she said.
"My daughter's favorite hero right now is Miles Morales [the newest Spider-Man], and she sees the scenes like where he's interacting with his parents and that's her house! That's what her house looks like."