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A group of content creators is coming together to call for a boycott of all DC Comics after what they feel is a dearth of Black-led comic books in the company's primary continuity. A new organization called the Black Comic Alliance, led by comics content creator James Portis III, is calling for all fans, readers, and creators "to withhold financial support as well as cease content creation for DC Comics publishing initiatives until meaningful structural changes are made regarding Black representation in their mainline continuity."

This is the second stage of a planned #DCSoWhite project campaign that Portis has been pushing for in recent months to publicly force DC Comics to make changes using negative opinions about the company in social media (and media) coverage. The #DCBlackout boycott is called by the Black Comic Alliance to last until DC puts up for pre-order "a Black-led ongoing in mainline continuity" with retailers and that it has marketing efforts "on the levels that would show faith in the title and a desire for it to succeed."

Earlier this month, as part of the #DCSoWhite campaign, Portis individually also called for these new Black-led DC ongoings to run for 18-24 months "so that fresh data can be gathered on their sales from multiple avenues like digital and collected editions, not just single issue preorders."

Related: The definitive guide to Black superheroes

According to the DCSoWhite.com official webpage, the last ongoing DC Comics Black-led title in their main universe was I Am Batman, which ended in February 2023. This would overlook the ongoing Green Lantern Corps series that has been running since early 2025, written by noted Black author Morgan Hampton, a student of DC's Milestone Initiative. It is an ensemble book with two Black leads in John Stewart and Sojourner 'Jo' Mullein (as Portis points out himself in a recent essay on Comics Beat).

A key part of this for Portis and the Black Comic Alliance is that these Black-led ongoing series should specifically be in DC Comics' mainline continuity - so not in the Absolute Universe, the Milestone Universe, or other multiverses within DC Comics storylines.

What the #DCBlackout boycott is asking fans to do

"DC Comics chose to give a Confederate officer a series before a Black character. Not a good look," says Black Comics Alliance member and  content creator Ernie Carothers of Blerd Without Fear!, who references 1972's Weird Western Tales starring Jonah Hex, five years before DC's first black-led comic, 1977's Black Lightning. "Black people only have value to DC Comics during February."

As part of this #DCBlackout campaign, The Black Comic Alliance is asking those who support their efforts to make public calls on social media for "1-3 brand new ongoings for Black heroes in their mainline continuity with strong Black creative teams," to cancel all orders for DC Comics (including single issues and collections), ask for more transparency from DC, and to support Black creators and encourage industry-wide conversations surrounding equity, visibility, and sustainability.

In a press release, the Black Comic Alliance says this company-wide boycott is "not rooted in hostility toward fans, creators, or the DC Universe itself, but rather in frustration over what the organization describes as a repeated pattern of underinvestment in Black characters, inconsistent publishing support, and the marginalization of Black creative voices."

DC Comics has responded to public negative pressure before. In 2013, DC changed course in the hiring of sci-fi author Orson Scott Card for an Adventures of Superman issue after his anti-LGBTQIA stance became known and prompted a boycott that included comic retailers. Media attention to the issue led the announced artist to publicly quit the project, and DC ultimately did not publish Card's work.

Where DC Comics is at with superhero comics starring Black characters

It's true that there is unrealized potential in DC characters who are Black, including (but not limited to) Mr. Terrific, Amanda Waller,  Black Lightning, Vixen, the Signal, Marilyn Moonlight, Jackson Hyde (Aquaman), Black Manta, Steel, Nubia, Shilo Norman (Mister Miracle), Bloodsport, and Jace Fox (Batman). 

It's also true that DC Comics has two major ongoing comics led by Black characters: Green Lantern Corps led by John Stewart and  Jo Mullein, and Absolute Green Lantern led by a variant of Jo Mullein. In addition, the New Titans ongoing has an ensemble anchored by Cyborg, with the licensed hero Static joining the roster this summer. Portis overlooks the ongoing Green Lantern Corps comic for some reason, and flags Absolute Green Lantern (and all Absolute titles), but dismisses it due to it not being in what he calls the 'mainline continuity,' despite being part of a multiversal approach DC has been doing with its 'All In' publishing initiative. 

"It feels like a slap in the face to say 'go play over there. Go read those books' because it reads like 'you’re not good enough for mainline,'" Portis wrote, referring to the Absolute line.

Portis also says the Absolute Green Lantern title is benefiting from "a narrative that black characters need the cultural impact of 'Absolute' to be successful."

How DC's Next Level could foster the change #DCBlackout is demanding

“Now is the accepted time, not tomorrow, not some more convenient season. It is today that our best work can be done and not some future day or future year. It is today that we fit ourselves for the greater usefulness of tomorrow. Today is the seed time, now are the hours of work, and tomorrow comes the harvest and the playtime.” - Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois, sociologist/writer

While we can't change the past, we can change the future by being present in the present. From available data, DC Comics is the most successful it's ever been in the past 15 years - possibly longer. It is balancing the immense success of the Absolute DC titles by also taking chances on other lesser-known characters as part of its 'Next Level' initiative - which.... sounds a lot like the environment the #DCBlackout boycott is calling for.

"So for a long time now, for the last eight to nine months, we’ve been building a line of books that’s focused on some fan favorite characters. Everybody from Deathstroke to The Demon to Zatanna, characters that don’t often get quite the brightest spotlight that’s taken up by Batman and Superman and Wonder Woman, but characters that fans love and we love," writes DC writer/consultant Scott Snyder on his Substack back in October 2025.

And while not as popular as the Absolute titles, DC's 'Next Level' line is all squarely placed in DC's classic main continuity, which is something Portis and the Black Comic Alliance are asking for.

Snyder wrote, “It’s a really simple idea. It’s the idea that instead of going to creators and saying, ‘we have this slot and we need you to fill it’, or ‘we have this pitch that we made up and we need you to execute it,’ we go to creators that we love and say, ‘what character do you have a story for? What’s your passion project?’ That’s what we did with Absolute, and we want to replicate that in the main line while still being in continuity and a little bit closer to the model."

Noted Eisner Award-nominated Black creator Jamal Campbell pitched an ongoing Zatanna book as part of the 'Next Level' line, and that series is already underway. And according to Snyder, DC has 'Next Level' launches planned out through the end of 2027. 

From everything we know, DC's 'Next Level' could be the perfect place for the kinds of Black-led comics the #DCBlackout is calling for. But it doesn't have to be the only place.

The Access Guide to the Black Comic Book Community spotlights Black creators, Black-owned stores, and Black-run conventions.