Conventional vs. Unconventional : Black Comic Characters Find the Going Is Tough

When the San Diego Comic Convention opens at the Convention Center today, Brother Man won’t be there. The Dictator of Discipline and his creators instead will be at a promotional event in New Jersey, where they believe they will find more acceptance for an independent comic book that features a black super-hero than they would at a mainstream comic convention.

“It seems like the (traditional) comic system is very closed” to new things, said Jason Sims, who developed Brother Man with his brothers, David and Guy.

In many ways, “Brother Man, Dictator of Discipline” is unique in the world of comic books. Unlike conventional super-heroes, Brother Man, who made his debut last year, doesn’t have superpowers; he fights social apathy with attitude, courage and perseverance. The format of the comic book, slightly larger than most, and the black and white printing also make the Brother Man series stand out.

But, more than anything else, among super-heroes Brother Man is different because he is black and is the product of an all-black creative team. In the world of comics, that is still a rarity.

“You can count the number of major black protagonists on one hand,” said Rochon Perry, a member of the board of directors of the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco. At noon Friday, Perry will participate in a panel discussion at the San Diego convention titled “Have Comics Moved Beyond the Stereotypes to Present Positive Images or Fully Rounded Minority Characters?”

Perry’s answer to the title’s question is, in a word, “No.” The major comic book companies “still have a long way to go,” she said.

But the Sims brothers, publishers of Big City Comics, have no desire to participate in the traditional comic book world, the domain of Spiderman, Captain America and the Hulk. They developed and financed Brother Man--who has appeared in three comic books since his debut last year--on their own, in addition to putting together their own distribution system.

“Sure, you can say blacks have needed this for a long time, and it’s true,” said Guy Sims, who lives in Chula Vista (Jason and David are based in Texas). “But . . . my thing is you have to create your own. You can’t depend on people to create it for you.”

The debut issue of Brother Man, which first circulated in April, 1990, has sold more than 10,000 copies and is in its second printing. The second issue, released in September, sold about 10,000 copies, and the Sims already have sold about 5,000 copies of the third and most recent issue, released in March.

The Sims emphasize that Brother Man is not targeted for any one audience. They hope the character will appeal to all types of people. Yet they are aware of the social context, that a comic book with only black characters is something of a novelty.

With that in mind, they strive to find a balance, to present all types of black characters in order to avoid stereotyping. Brother Man is a lawyer, as is his frequent partner, a woman. Even the bad guys tend to talk like real people, they’re not cliche representations of street people.

“There is no mention of ethnicity in the comic book,” said Guy Sims. “If there is anything we do purposely, it is that we do is real life. People don’t talk every day about ethnicity, and that’s what these people do (in the books). They go about their lives.”

Mainstream comic book companies have made attempts at featuring black heroes, but none have caught on. The best known is the continuing Black Panther character, which Marvel Comics introduced in the mid-’60s.

Pamela Rutt, a spokeswoman for Marvel Comics, said that Marvel doesn’t target any one market segment with its comic books. But she would not comment on the roles of minorities in their comics.

“Except for Brother Man, you get an occasional comic, an occasional character” that portrays minority in something other than stereotypical terms, “but that’s it,” said Michael Davis, a black illustrator who also is scheduled to talk on the convention panel.

David Sims says past efforts by the major comic companies to portray blacks failed because they invariably were a contrived effort by mostly white companies trying to find a black audience. He speaks from personal experience, having bought comic books featuring black heroes when he was growing up.

“I bought them, but I didn’t feel like they were my heroes,” David Sims said. “They were really white characters in black face. The way the characters talked and the things they did were so contrived.”

Perry agrees. “Maybe it goes back to the premise that you write what you know,” she said, refering to the fact that comic book companies have tended to be predominantly white. Most comic books “don’t pertain to a lot of minorities, there’s no frame or focus.”

Things could be changing.

“I just got back from (a comic convention in) Chicago and I was offered at least 10 things that were black,” said Davis, who is helping to develop a new series for D.C. Comics. However, “black artists as a whole don’t promote themselves like I do.”

The concept for Brother Man grew out of the Sims brothers’ custom airbrushing operation, which originally was based in New Jersey. They wanted to do a comic book to advertise the store, and the concept grew into Brother Man.

Fighting injustice in “Big City, U.S.A.,” Brother Man “represents the unsung heroes of neighborhoods all around the country,” Guy Sims said. He’s the type of guy who stands up at Neighborhood Watch meetings and rallies people to fight back and then disappears into the crowd, unthanked and unknown.

The current story line, “Y’all Hail the King,” started in the last book, revolves around a young man who fulfills his dream of becoming a king by taking over the crime-ridden territory ruled by the evil duo, “the Twin Terrors.” Brother Man is trying to recapture the territory, using his wits and courage to rally the community.

“What makes him special is his attitude,” said Guy Sims, who has a masters in education leadership and hopes one day to be president of a college.

In a sense, the Sims brothers are a perfect team to market a comic book. Jason, 27, who has a background in computers and film, handles much of the business end. David, 26, is the artist; and Guy, 30, is the writer. Guy usually stays at home, while Jason and Dave travel around the country promoting the series. Their mother, a schoolteacher, often travels with them during the summer, providing help in a wide variety of areas.

Beyond their constant work to promote the series, Jason Sims says the key to Brother Man’s success is distribution. In the last year, the Brothers Sims have developed a network of 125 shops and individuals around the country that sell Brother Man.

It’s not a perfect system, yet by bypassing traditional distribution companies, they’ve been able to maintain creative and quality control, as well as preserving the ability to directly service customers. But at the same time, the lack of regular publication dates is the biggest complaint about the series.

“To me, if you have a minority publication as good and as excellent as Brother Man you can’t afford to keep readers waiting,” Davis said. “I have a problem with their ‘get it out when we can’ attitude.”

Locally, Brother Man is available at scattered stores, including Pyramid Bookstores in National City.

Brother Man sells “pretty good,” said Michael Willis, manager of Comics, Etc. in Mira Mesa, who noted that “for a black and white independent it’s a hard sell overall.” But he added that he thought “it was a good thing for black kids to have a super-hero to look up to.”

Yet the Sims brothers tell anybody who asks that breaking down racial barriers is not their primary goal. They just want to do a comic book that people enjoy.

“We’re not saying that we’re not trying to break down any barriers,” Jason Sims said. “But we don’t have to announce that we are out to break barriers. We’re just trying to give some recognition to an industry that has put out so many negative images.”

Those who observe the comic book scene, and the role that minorities have played in the books over the years, see Brother Man as something more.

“I get all my comics for free but I pay for Brother Man, because I have to support what they are doing,” Davis said. “I insist that my students--black and white--find it and buy it.”

The Comic Convention (which will not feature works by the Sims) opens today at the San Diego Convention Center, 111 W. Harbor Drive, downtown. Guests include Dave Stevens, creator of “The Rocketeer,” Rick Sternback, technical illustrator for “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” Jim Lee, artist of Marvel’s “X-Men” and others. Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. today through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.