Black April

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Weird thing is Zendaya is now old enough to play an adult April. I hope they don't do it, especially since she is too associated with Spider-Man now.

I like her, but she's no April.

Alright, who agrees that Zendaya should be the next April? If for no other reason than that Cubed wouldn't like it despite bringing it up?

[ToTheNines]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Weird thing is Zendaya is now old enough to play an adult April. I hope they don't do it, especially since she is too associated with Spider-Man now.

I like her, but she's no April.

Well you don’t have to worry about that. She’s way too big of a star to be cast in a TMNT movie.

[Xav]

Originally Posted by Galactus

Kevin Eastman: I have always seen the original comic April as black or mixed race.

When did Kevin say this? I keep seeing people claiming that Kevin said April was originally black but never any quotes from the man himself.

[ToTheNines]

Originally Posted by Xav

When did Kevin say this? I keep seeing people claiming that Kevin said April was originally black but never any quotes from the man himself.

He didn’t. People misconstrued this quote from his Artobiography book.



They can’t comprehend the concept of a white character being named after or loosely based on someone of a different ethnicity.

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

He didn’t. People misconstrued this quote from his Artobiography book.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.co...obiography.jpg

They can’t comprehend the concept of a white character being named after or loosely based on someone of a different ethnicity.

Hm... That reminds me, if she was considered to be asian in Laird's notes, how come nobody has insisted to make her asian?

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

He didn’t. People misconstrued this quote from his Artobiography book.

They can’t comprehend the concept of a white character being named after or loosely based on someone of a different ethnicity.

C'mon bro, have some sympathy for these guys...

Imagine being an angry-gay-white-guy boppin' around like one of the flailing cheese-body Titans from "Attack On Titan" while being super dug-in on defending some strawman point about April O'Neil originally being "black".

[CyberCubed]

Originally Posted by neatoman

Hm... That reminds me, if she was considered to be asian in Laird's notes, how come nobody has insisted to make her asian?

Because with all the Foot Clan being Asian, like Shredder, Karai, etc, making April be Asian too would be a little too much? You need some diversity there. Also Peter/Kevin barely know anything about Asians, they only watched Bruce Lee films in the 70's and this was before the anime boom so they don't anything about Japanese culture.

It's actually kind of funny when you think about how TMNT is influenced by Japanese backstory yet its written by two white guys who have no real idea about Japan.

[mikey22]

I've heard of read comics online for some harder comics to read that aren't on Kindle/Comixology/Hoopla (digital library reading)

Was curious if theres a place that has scans of older tmnt magazines from the 80s/90s or the books from that time era as well like Code Name Chameleon.. Something Fishy.. Etc

thanks

[TylerD]

Originally Posted by mikey22

I've heard of read comics online for some harder comics to read that aren't on Kindle/Comixology/Hoopla (digital library reading)

Was curious if theres a place that has scans of older tmnt magazines from the 80s/90s or the books from that time era as well like Code Name Chameleon.. Something Fishy.. Etc

thanks

Read comics online and readallcomics used to both have almost any ninja turtle comic magazine you could get. But both have been shut down since they are
Illegal

I found a site to read the current Batman comics, but those sites are getting t harder and harder to find

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by mikey22

I've heard of read comics online for some harder comics to read that aren't on Kindle/Comixology/Hoopla (digital library reading)

Was curious if theres a place that has scans of older tmnt magazines from the 80s/90s or the books from that time era as well like Code Name Chameleon.. Something Fishy.. Etc

thanks

They are all pretty readily available online using "Comic Rack" reader. I have the entire Archie run digitally that way as well. Great for traveling-reading on a tablet, etc.

[CyberCubed]

Also a black April is problematic for other reasons. Even aside from the Rise/Mayhem April's being bad stereotypes in themselves. Rise April was loud and obnoxious, Mayhem April is just fat and ugly and vomits.

But even besides all that, it creates a problem. Since the Turtles live in the sewers when a black April goes down there to hang with them, it essentially implies black people like the "ghetto" as they're hanging out in slimy disgusting sewers. A black April also hanging out with "4 brothers" also has a nasty implication, like a black girl hanging with 4 brothers all the time and you know what that implies.

Likewise a black April can't just be April, she needs to have a "gimmick" which we already saw with the two previous black April's. Because otherwise you're just changing her skin color, so she has to be either "loud and proud," or "throw her weight around as she speaks," which we've seen both figuratively, and quite literally.

I just want to see April O'Neil again, not Shoshana O'Neil.

[sdp]

Originally Posted by neatoman

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M1fwrc4ah-...+Tan+April.jpg

So wanna talk about it?

See every time I bring up the depictions of April O'Neil as a black woman on the internet someone always pops up snarling, insisting that she never has been depicted as a black woman outside of fanfics and when I give concrete evidence like this they make up some excuse like non-canonicity or that's it's just a colorised version and does not count or something else like.

Now I know these arguments usually come from rather unpleasant people and I'm not one of the people who claim she was always intended to be black (the details behind her creation are fuzzy) and thus she should always be depicted as black.
But I still find it a bit confusing why it would ever really be a big enough deal to either rage against or demand everything else to correct itself after it.

April O'Neil is a fictional character and nothing about her suggests that she'd have to belong to one racial group or another so what's the problem?

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

The world isn't ready for a black April.

Neato man and CC dropping some facts in 2014

[ToTheNines]

One more random little detail is that Lonae from Fugitoid #1 looks exactly like April from her first couple of appearances and predates her by about a year. Does anyone think Lonae was black space-lady?

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

One more random little detail is that Lonae from Fugitoid #1 looks exactly like April from her first couple of appearances and predates her by about a year. Does anyone think Lonae was black space-lady?

The only ways in which I have thought the slightest bit about Lonae are:

1. That the 4Kids show changed her bribe from drugs to money for obvious reasons.
2. That the Mutant Mayhem comic used her name because they needed to use some characters that fit the Fugitoid's reimagined earth-centric origin but might otherwise have been a new character.

Beyond that I hardly think about her because she really just exists to betray Blanque.

[ticktack]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Also a black April is problematic for other reasons. Even aside from the Rise/Mayhem April's being bad stereotypes in themselves. Rise April was loud and obnoxious, Mayhem April is just fat and ugly and vomits.

But even besides all that, it creates a problem. Since the Turtles live in the sewers when a black April goes down there to hang with them, it essentially implies black people like the "ghetto" as they're hanging out in slimy disgusting sewers. A black April also hanging out with "4 brothers" also has a nasty implication, like a black girl hanging with 4 brothers all the time and you know what that implies.

Likewise a black April can't just be April, she needs to have a "gimmick" which we already saw with the two previous black April's. Because otherwise you're just changing her skin color, so she has to be either "loud and proud," or "throw her weight around as she speaks," which we've seen both figuratively, and quite literally.

I just want to see April O'Neil again, not Shoshana O'Neil.

I legit read these all with an altered voice in my mind. Idk what voice comes close. A Goof voice???

No offense. Forumians are rude here is what I've learnt. So I guess esp newcomers need to adapt and have a ticker skin. Haha. :'D