Guys, it ain’t that complicated…

I’m not saying anything new here, but some things need to be repeated. If you’re an aspiring writer out there trying to create black characters and you’re wondering why a lot of them don’t get off the ground, I’m here to tell you — it has little to nothing to do with the fact that they are black.
I understand the reflex. When you hear someone being critical of a darker-skinned character, it’s easy to assume race is the reason they’re objecting. But by and large, especially in comics, gaming, and entertainment broadly, most people with those gripes aren’t complaining because the character is black. They probably have characters they know and love that are black. You’re just not hearing them out.
The issue is that too many creators go into the process thinking the character being black is going to carry them. So they hyper-emphasize race in the storyline. They lean on it during the promotional tour. They make it the defining feature of the character. And the result is a character that comes off cheap and superficial — not because they’re black, but because the creator didn’t bother to make anything else interesting about them. They were hoping race alone would push the character into prominence, and that’s simply not how it works.
The characters that have stood the test of time and existed for decades — many of them fairer in skin — had creators who didn’t have social narratives to fall back on. If the story didn’t work, the character died. That constraint is what forced them to create something genuinely compelling. That’s the advantage those characters have, and it has nothing to do with their race.
My advice is the same thing I tell every creator at the Rippaverse from an editorial perspective. Make a character that happens to be black. Their race should be the least interesting thing about them. Focus on their motivations. What’s the intent behind creating them? What part of the storyline are they driving? Are they a main character, a side character? How does their arc unfold over the course of the series? That’s the stuff you need to be thinking about first and foremost. Get that right and the character will resonate with just about anyone who’s interested in what you’re creating. It’s not complicated. Just get out there and create an awesome character. Start there.