Facepalming moments in nerd history: Tyroc

World of Black Heroes

Inspired by this strip from ComicsCritics, let's talk about one of the most facepalm worthy moments in comics: Tyroc. Yeah, that's him on the left. You see, back in the day, several writers and artists for The Legion of Super-Heroes wanted to add a black character to the otherwise Caucasian cast. DC's powers-that-be cockblocked every attempt until 1976 when in Superboy #216 they introduced Tyroc. I'll let Mike Grell explain the creation of this character:

According to Mike Grell, who co-created Tyroc with Cary Bates, the character of Tyroc was "sort of a sore spot with me." He had previously tried to introduce black characters into the series, but had been prevented by then-editor Murray Boltinoff. "I kept getting stalled off...and finally comes Tyroc. They might as well have named him Tyrone. Their explanation for why there were no black people [in the Legion] was that all the black people had gone to live on an island. It's possibly the most racist concept I've ever heard in my life...I mean, it's a segregationist's dream, right? So they named him Tyroc, and gave him the world's stupidest super-power."

DC Comics wiki

The whole "all the black people live on an island by themselves" is true, for the most part. Tyroc and his people are the descendants of a group of slaves who rebelled while being transported to wherever a thousand or so years prior and ended up settling on an island off the coast of Africa that whatever reason, fades in and out of reality ever so often. Jim Shooter, who originally advocated for a black character when he wrote for the series back in the 60s, didn't like the idea of DC making a big deal about Tyroc being black, feeling that they should have treated him like any other character. He really didn't like his origin. Did I mention Tyroc's civilization are racial separatists and Superboy #216 was basically a "blacks shouldn't be racist against whites" "moral"? At this point, if you've probably facepalmed so many times, you're face hurts. Take a moment.

On the bright side, Tyroc eventually became President of Earth and months later, Zero Hour wiped that continuity out of existence. On the other hand, this was his last real appearance until 2007 when a form of the old continuity was reformed and he was brought back as a Legionnaire.  The period he was missing was due to the fact that Paul Levitz, who took over writing duties did not like Tyroc. Fortunately, they changed his costume when he returned, so he doesn't look like a joke anymore.

The thing that bugs me is that it took until the late 70s before DC created black characters. True, Mal Duncan, a member of the Teen Titans who went by the names Hornblower and Herald, first appeared in 1970, which would make him the first black DC hero, but apparently he didn't start superheroing until 1976. Meanwhile, Marvel had several, including Black Panther, Luke Cage, Falcon, and I believe Blade. Talk about fail.