Bishop was introduced in the pages of X-Men in 1991, into a comic industry that really did not have many black male characters to speak of. Luke Cage and Black Panther were virtually unknown to comic goers at the time. X-Men was riding a wave of sudden popularity around the time Bishop first appeared and joined the team making him the most visible black male superhero in the 90’s.
I’ll assert here that Marvel has made a concentrated effort to de-emphasize the character in the past few years. Slowly but steadily, Bishop was written out of the books starting in the late 90’s, early 2000’s. He appeared here and there but was not as much of a regular recurring X-Men team member. The final nail in the coffin was Marvel’s “Civil War” and “Messiah Complex” which essentially vilified the character.
Anyone who’s followed the character’s history knows that the story Marvel’s created to turn him into a villain is specious. The only way they’re able to get away with it is because comic readers today did not read X-Men in the early 90’s. Also, Marvel’s not worried about its responsibility to include positive black male characters because it’s pushed Luke Cage and Black Panther to the forefront as of late.
Too bad for Bishop fans though. You’ll have to just suck it up and accept that no one cares about one of the most culturally important characters of a generation. WELL, I still care about him! I care enough to draw him sexy and naked! Roll over the above image!
