For better or for worse, there has been an increased effort to diversify the comic book realms of Marvel Comics and DC Comics over the past five years. Superheroes, many of whom have spent decades being household names, have been reinterpreted and transformed in ways that many have celebrated, while others have criticized. In essence, many of our favorite heroes have been changed from being ethnically Caucasian to becoming ethnically African-American.

But African-American comic book fans are just like any other comic book fan in that we feel it is a mortal sin to alter or change a character without it being absolutely necessary to do so. In addition, we're also aware that race is often used as a method to boost sales and attract interest to titles and characters that have become stale or to take advantage of a racially charged atmosphere in the general society to sell comic books.

With the recent recoloring of several very popular, and formerly white, characters at Marvel and DC, these publishers are bringing new energy to several of their signature characters. Captain America's garb and guise have been passed on to his longtime friend and former sidekick, Falcon, because Steve Rogers is rapidly aging due to the removal of the vaunted super soldier serum. That new day of superhero-dom began in All-New Captain America 1. And Thor has been rebranded as female.

Despite the consternation of many comic book purists, ethnic or female versions of our favorite characters will continue to be a device utilized by all comic book publishers. However, this measure ultimately appears to be little more than filler. Black characters written by mostly white writers sometimes come off as disingenuous, artificial and straight up racist.

Not that anyone ever intends to write a character of African descent as a stereotypical boob, but when the new, black Wally West is a troubled street kid with a love for vandalizing, and when a black character once was proud to be called Bucky, we see that cultural awareness would have made all the difference.

When one studies characters like the black superhero Icon, we can clearly see that he was originally created by someone who was intimate with the culture that spawned that hero; in this case it was creator Dwayne McDuffie and M.D. Bright in 1993.

But this is often lacking when a character is simply reimagined as black in midstream. No, it doesn't matter who's writing these characters once they've got their legs underneath them. However, it would make a great deal of sense for them to be written and penned by individuals with an intimate understanding of not only the character's powers, but also the culture that makes them special, in the short term.

Otherwise, these reimaginings come off as little more than a publicity stunt that should be ignored by comic book fans and not celebrated. Perhaps creating credible, powerful and original black characters that stand on their on merits would be the best way to go in the near future.