Ok, disclaimer: I never watched this show. I was just a hair too old when it came out to pay attention to it.
BUT I had the incredible opportunity to get a comics portfolio interview with the shows creator- Dwayne McDuffie, a few years before his death. He gave me well over an hour of his time, in a display of incredible generosity.
I suspect part of his decision to give me so much of his time at a busy convention (aside from the fact that he just seems to have been a very giving person) was that the portfolio I showed him showcased an all-POC cast and 2 female leads. After he’d looked it over, and asked me a few questions there was a tense, sad moment before he said “You understand, this will be very difficult to ever get published.”
When I told him I had a non-comics career and could afford to make and self-published whatever I like, he was immediately enthusiastic. He told me comics needed people like me, to tell the stories the big publishers won’t touch, to showcase the characters big publishers keep in the background, if they’re there at all. My portfolio wasn’t even very good. I wish I’d had stronger work to show him.
He told me about his experience with Static Shock in particular- that it was ranked only after Pokemon in it’s targeted demographic and had run 4 seasons, but had never had any toy line at all because toymakers insisted it was “niche” because the lead character was black. Obviously, they insisted, white kids wouldn’t buy a black characters toy. No matter how many white kids were watching the show. No mention of a black market for the toys at all.
You could tell, talking to him, that years later, that still stung. It pissed me the hell off, and I barely remembered the show existing. Mr McDuffie had spent years on this property, which came originally out of Milestone, a small publishing company he and 3 other partners created in the early 90s with the express goal of creating diverse comics. He was a writer and story editor for the cartoon show.
Basically, the show was highly successful, but had 0 toys and 1 DVD, because of racism. Because the old “people won’t spend money on stories not about white straight men with no disabilities” has been making the rounds for a very long time, regardless of evidence to the contrary.
And I really wish the Eisners would add a McDuffie award for people working to expand the voices present in US comics.