But somehow I suspect you know that.

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Speaking of the character Isaiah Bradley, I rcall Priest saying that when he was putting together the comic called The Crew for Marvel, he created an original black character called Joshua X with no connection to any other Marve character, but Marvel (specifically Quesada and Jemas) asked him to make that new character the son of Isaiah Bradley. So we now have a case of a stand alone new black character with his own stand alone origin now being tied to an existing character at the request of the editors.

I remember reading The Crew and was wondering why Joshua X couldn't just be any new black character, but had to be tied into Isaiah Bradley.  Not every character (of any race) HAS to be connected to someone else does he?

I think additional stories about Isaiah Bradley would have been great, especially since a black superhero during the 40s and 50s would have had to deal with issues not just pertaining to hitting badguys.  Unfortunately, the powers that be simply stuck him in prison after the war, which was definitely taking the easy way out, in my opinion.

"Then again, we could get into the fact that even though continuity wise, Isaiah Bradley came before Steve Rogers"

A small correction. Isaiah doesn't come before Steve, continuity wise. Steve was already active as Cap in the Invaders by the end of 1941 (that team came together in the days following Pearl Harbor). Isaiah didn't enlist until after Pearl Harbor. The Truth was intended as a What If? type story set outside regular Marvel continuity. However, once the decision was made to bring it into regular continuity, The Truth's own established timeline made Isaiah part of an experiment to recreate the lost formula, rather than a prototype for Steve.

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In the end, it was clarified that Isaiah Bradley was part of an experiment to recreate the Super-Soldier Serum after Erskine's death. So he was still second banana.

Speaking of Patriot, I really like the character, but his origin is ridiculous. He appears, claiming that he received his powers from a blood transfusion from his grandfather. But it turns out he was lying and was using illegal drugs to fake his powers. Then he comes clean, gets injured, gets a blood transfusion from his grandfather, and ends up with the same powers that he was faking through the scenario he originally lied about. Contrived.

Never under estimate white guilt. I can hear the cries in the halls of Marvel now " I made Spider-Man black. See how sensitive and tolerant I am."

 I totally agree with JB. Why not create a valid black character. I showed this news story to my friends Clay and Dominique. They both said basically the same thing..."That's fucking stupid."

Right.  And speaking of half black/half hispanic, we can't forget that there's a new Power Man out too.  Fits the exact same discussion we've been having.

I don't mind the idea. Peter is still there in Amazing, and Avengers, and New Avenegers, and FF, and however many other books that will come out that month featuring Spider-Man.

Ultimate is another universe. They definitely made that clear when they killed off Wolverine. Its a chance to play and experiment. Spider-Man was the everyman character for the basic comic reader, in either universe. This is an interesting chance to test that concept. There are have been racially diverse heroes, but audiences have left them as B or C listers at best. I am curious and interested how time will treat diversifying a A list hero with an already built in audience.