Did you know that from the late 70’s to the early 80’s there have been several prominent African American super-powered cartoon characters?
No?
Well, read on, future cartoon connoisseur, and learn about those that came before Static Shock and Cyborg. Let’s start with the ladies. Astrea from Space Sentinels- Shapeshifter, flier, and arguably the brains of the team, Astrea was a unique voice in the cookie-cutter chorus of Saturday morning cartoons. Although this Filmation series aired on NBC for only one season, the fact that an African American woman was part of a trio of superheroes is embedded in pop, geek, and nerd culture.
Besides her shapeshifting ability, it is seen a few times in the series that Astrea is the thinker of the group, and helps her team get out of a few jams. Although not a part of every episode, we still get to see just what this lady can do.
Diana from Dungeons and Dragons- Although the foreign animators got it a little wrong, Diana, the acrobat, from the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon was always intended to be a young African American girl. Seen as co-leader to Hank, The Ranger, Diana was the voice of reason and at times the secret weapon for the team.
The influence of such a strong, powerful figure in an 80’s fantasy cartoon is still being felt as even current day cosplayers are inspired to take up Diana’s tiara and staff such as cosplayer, Norica, demonstrates in this video during one of her photoshoots.
Next, we have Super Stretch and Micro Woman. A married husband and wife crime-fighting duo, this couple quite often wound up in the middle of slightly comedic situations alongside their dog/sidekick, Trouble.
Loosely based on the Thin Man movie series, this cartoon was the first ever to feature an African-American superhero duo, let alone, a married couple on Saturday morning. Leaving a lot of ‘jive’ talk, and other stereotypical elements out of the series dialogue and behavior of our heroes, and let them speak like the intelligent married couple they were.
Last but not least, in our look at the forgotten super-stars of Saturday morning, we must now take a look at a weird, little, one-season offering, The Super Globetrotters.
Although considered troublesome by some cartoon historians, and groundbreaking by others, this show was helped developed by the then roster of the Harlem Globetrotters from 1979. The first major Hanna Barbera cartoon with an all Africa-American lead voice cast, this was also the first known cartoon series where two of the team members, Fluid Man and MultiMan, were updated versions of Caucasian characters of the same name.
This series despite some of its negative attributes was in fact on of the first-ever major animation studios attempts to create a heroic super series with a team of all black superheroes.
Although we take for granted the commonplace leads in both animated and live-action series of the idea of a leading African-American superhero, remember those that led the way.