News about artist Dave Brown

For Black History Month, Mid-Michigan Now/Fox 25 gave a report about how comics artist Dave Brown built up his career:

Detroit artist Dave Brown has transformed his lifelong passion for art into a successful independent comic book career. Growing up in a creative family, Brown was inspired by his father, an artist who specialized in landscapes and portraits. "I always wanted to draw," Brown said. "I started drawing Ninja Turtles... I had the love for it and kept going."

Brown honed his skills at Wayne State University and through years of experience on the convention circuit. His wife encouraged him to showcase his work at conventions, which led to collaborations with local writers and creators. "I can start doing this myself really," Brown said.

As an independent artist, Brown writes, illustrates, and self-publishes his own comic books, covering genres from family stories to horror and sci-fi. He emphasizes the importance of representation, especially for his sons. "I never really seen a black superhero that stood out," he said.

On this, I would like to make a crucial point that, without building on merit, of course nothing's going to stand out, and today, after all the damage done to Marvel/DC by cynical editors and publishers, even white superheroes don't stand out anymore, because almost nobody cares about the whole genre anymore. And if representation matters, how come nobody seems to go by nationality? Don't countries like Cameroon have what to draw inspiration from?

So good luck to Mr. Brown with his career, and he's doing the right thing by staying close to the indie world, but once again, we have an example of somebody who's not building an argument or vision based on the importance of merit. And seriously, I think it's a shame if he's working in the horror genre, because there's far too much of that these days. The sci-fi and family genres are what matter more.