Awesome Black Female Characters
I decided to copy one of my Martha Jones (of Doctor Who) icons from my fandom journal to this one, because I'm completely smitten with this character to a degree I was not anticipating. Martha is the kind of character I'm all about - she's intelligent; she's brave; she loves, but doesn't let it control her; she's funny; she's imperfect. And she's well-loved within the show because of these qualities!

I'm often on the prowl for great female characters, but in the midst of my Martha love-fest, I realized how few great black female characters there are. In fact, I couldn't think of any off the top of my head. With more thought, I recalled Michelle Landau (Nip/Tuck) and Agent 355 (Y: The Last Man). But that's still quite a short list.

In all honesty, I never thought about race as much as gender, and I still don't, but I realize that, when I was little, I was always on the look out for black women and girls to...identify with, I suppose. I can definitely say that's why I latched on to Scary Spice (yes, yes, I just outed myself there) - that, and her glasses. I think, even now, I do that; and now I can see why.

This made me go through my works and works-in-progress; I already know I create female characters of all kinds of races and ethnicities, but now I wondered how many leads were black. One novel, The Assembly Line, is narrated by a black character. The comic series I'm working on now, Idle Spirits, there's Derica - and I can't forget her mother, Adelle. Then there's Complementary Colors, a back burner comic, led by Toni, who is biracial. All of them touch on racial issues, specifically ones relating to black women, from time-to-time, and I didn't even do it consciously. This is all honestly surprising and interesting to me!

I'm also now considering starting an InsaneJournal Asylum about the topic, even though I know the traffic will be slow here (or maybe because, since I secretly I hate moderating).

Thank you, Martha Jones, for making me think!