(who guest-starred in Fantastic Four, Tales of Suspense, and The Avengers, but didn't get his own series until 1973, or his own comic
until 1977), Lobo was the FIRST Black character with HIS OWN BOOK!(Other Black characters had their own series in anthology books, but Lobo was the first to have his name AS the comic's title!)
Lobo combined a couple of popular concepts...
Man on the Run for a Crime He Did NOT Commit
Exemplified by then-hit tv series The Fugitive, Lobo was framed, but couldn't prove his innocence.
Lone Western Hero
A loner wandering the Old West, righting wrongs was an especially popular genre in tv Westerns.
Variations on the theme included gamblers (Maverick
) and martial-arts experts (Kung Fu
)Note: the tv series Branded
also combined both the Loner and Man Framed themes!Prominent Black character
Black characters (except for sterotypes like Amos 'n Andy
) were few and far between on tv until the mid-1960s, and even then only as supporting characters (usually servants).1960s urban dramas like Naked City
and East Side, West Side, which dealt with current social themes had Black guest stars including James Earl Jones and Diana Sands, but no Black regulars.Star Trek
(1966) had both a Black regular (Lt. Nyota Uhura) and Black actors in prominent roles as scientists and high-placed officers/officials (admirals, etc,).But, at that point, there were no tv series with a Black lead or Black title character!
(Diahann Carroll's groundbreaking series Julia didn't debut until 1968!)
So, Lobo was, to say the least, a daring experiment, albeit one with as many popular themes as possible to maximize sales potential!
Unfortunately, it didn't work.
Lobo the comic only ran two issues.
Join us over the next few days as we relive The Saga of Lobo...
No comments:
Post a Comment