Okay, I want to tell a quick Dwayne McDuffie story, it's relevant to what we are doing.

Because this auction thing has been SO much about generosity and optimism, I want to have at least some mention of what we have to overcome, too.

1/

All right, I've told parts of this story before but not the important part. Dwayne McDuffie was my first black friend in comics, from before I was a pro. But 'friend' isn't the right word, he was my hero and mentor and supporter.

It's kind of a cute story...

My son, as a very young kid, was a huge fan of the Static animated show. We got him a dog, a sheltie, and the dog had a black ruff with a white lightning bolt design, so my son named him 'Static.'

I thought Dwayne might be interested, so I sent a photo to his message board.

Dwayne wrote back and was tickled, he said he read and enjoyed my column, and that was a BIG deal for me because I loved his work so much.

He sent my son a bunch of signed Static comics, just to be nice. But he also said I should write comics.

Now, he and a very few other pros had been encouraging because of the column. But Dwayne did more than encourage. He gave advice, he sent scripts. He helped. He didn't have to. He just did it.

Later, he hired me for my first animation job.

He did all of this and never asked anything, he'd barely let me thank him. I asked him why, and he said that he thought the industry needed good writers and I was a good writer.

It meant a lot.

Now, here's the thing about Dwayne...

...he outwrote everybody. He just was that good.

I didn't know how the industry worked but for the LIFE of me (naïve sheltered me) I could not figure out how Joe Shmoe was writing Spider-man when Dwayne was doing fill-ins and smaller titles. It made no sense.

Remember Milestone? Remember Damage Control? The Justice League and JLU animated shows?

Dwayne was in all of that, he was fuel. He just was that goddamned talented.

Why wasn't he writing Superman?

I got in comics, and went from one great opportunity to another. I'm not going to say it was easy, it wasn't. I'm not going to say I didn't encounter horseshit, because I did. But I was happy.

And I asked Dwayne once, at a convention, if he thought things were 'getting better.'

Now, I get asked this all the time. And sometimes it's a legit question but often it's just a thing people ask when they don't want to really hear that there's still a problem.

'Getting better' does not equal 'good.'

And we were talking about race in comics, and he said...

"There still has never been a black writer doing an ongoing run on an iconic title at Marvel or DC."

And all my little illusions shattered because it was true, no Dwayne writing Superman, no Priest writing Avengers, not ongoing, anyway.

(This was very early in my career).

Now again, did I have to deal with nonsense and outdated opinions?

Yes, sure.

But did I get an ongoing gig to write ACTION COMICS, DC's flagship book, before Dwayne got to write an ongoing iconic title?

Yep.

YEARS of experience, die-hard fanbase, impeccable resume.

Quite frankly, he had absolutely everything you need to write the flagship titles.

But he didn't get asked.

He eventually got those gigs.

But telling the truth LOST him those same gigs.

That's just the truth.

The last time I saw Dwayne in person, at SDCC, we were at a party and we aren't party people so we just sat and talked (which was good because he was eighty feet tall to me). And we joked about how I was always being asked to write SUPERMOM or FEMALE WOMAN or whatever...

And he joked, but with some pain, "I'm always getting asked to do dvd commentary about Black Lightning or Black Panther, anything black.

I KNOW EVERYTHING about Spider-man, and they NEVER ask me for that!"

That was the last time I saw him, and it hit me much later, when he passed (it still hurts even to type his NAME), that that meant he was still being put in a box up until the end of his life.

All his accomplishments, all his gifts.

He should have been WRITING those movies.

The upside of this is that people who stand tall cast a big shadow and he did that. He taught a LOT of people to climb a ladder that he didn't necessarily have access to.

And we remember him, we remember his stories.

So what is this about, Gail.

It's about this.

It is not enough to 'celebrate' black creativity.

We have to SUPPORT it.

We have to sometimes scooch over so there's room at the table.

And most of all, we have to HIRE black creativity.

I know this always upsets a certain type of person, they think it's some 'unfair advantage.'

Well let me divest you of that. For any single fair shot, there's a LOT of unseen and unheard unfair BLOCKS.

One person getting a plate doesn't mean a lot didn't go hungry.

So, yes, celebrate.

But SUPPORT.

And HIRE.

The talent is out there, we all know it.

Right now is the nominating time for the awards in Dwayne's honor, and his partner (who is wonderful in her own right) asked me to mention it.

Dwayne inspiring excellence to this day makes me happy. https://www.comicsbeat.com/dwayne-mcduffie-award-nominations-2020-open-now/

Thanks everyone. These auctions come to a close this week.

But we're not done, keep watching.

And read more Dwayne McDuffie books!

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