http://dwaynemcduffie.com.lamphost.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2286&start=0#p72511
What It Means to Be a Maestro I grew up in the age of B:TAS. I loved the show and so did everyone else my age. Needless to say, that show alone helped make me the Batfan I am today. It's important to note that I also grew up in a predominately white southern state, which for the purposes of this letter (and to avoid the embarrassment of actually having lived there) shall remain nameless. Because of this, or maybe for other reasons I couldn't totally comprehend as a child, there was only one African-American child at my entire school. When Batman hit the air, so did my obsession with super-heroes. I demanded comics for every occasion. If I got a shot, an issue of Batman would be a nice consolation. For Christmas, no stocking would look complete without the fanned pages of a Superman book sticking out. I couldn't get enough. I remember one day in 1994 I got a comic that changed everything about superheroes for me. The character was powerful, and his sidekick relatable. His city was like mine, not littered with ridiculous skyscrapers and futuristic technology, but humble, used and full of character. He was a role model, not a cheesy "American ideal." He was Icon, and I wanted to be Rocket. WellÂ… a male Rocket. The thing that made the Icon comics so important to me as a child was that the dream of being a sidekick seemed so easy and so plausible.
