View source for Robert Morales

{{Short description|American comic book writer}}
{{confused|Robert Morales (footballer)}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Robert Morales
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1958|2|3|}}
| birth_place = [[New York City]], U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2013|4|18|1958|2|3|}}
| death_place = [[Brooklyn]], New York
| occupation = Comic book writer, journalist, and editor
| nationality = American
| notableworks = ''[[Truth: Red, White, and Black]]''<br />''[[Captain America (comic book)|Captain America]]''
}}
'''Robert Morales''' (February 3, 1958 – April 18, 2013) was an American [[comic book]] writer, editor, and journalist known for creating ''[[Truth: Red, White & Black]]'', which featured his original character [[Isaiah Bradley]]. In addition to creating comics for [[Marvel Comics]], Morales was an editor at [[Vibe (magazine)|''Vibe Magazine'']] and ''Reflex'' magazine throughout the 1990s and 2000s.

== Life and career ==
Robert Morales was born in [[New York City]] on February 3, 1958.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://locusmag.com/2013/04/robert-morales-1958-2013/|title=Robert Morales (1958-2013)|last=admin|date=2013-04-18|website=Locus Online|language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-17}}</ref> He was of [[Afro-Puerto Rican]] descent.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://bostonreview.net/literature-culture/junot-d%C3%ADaz-samuel-r-delany-radicalism-begins-body|title=Radicalism Begins in the Body|last=Junot Díaz|first=Samuel R. Delany|date=2017-05-09|website=Boston Review|language=en|access-date=2020-02-17}}</ref>

=== Journalism and editorial career ===
Morales wrote short review pieces for the ''Dossier'' section of ''[[Heavy Metal (magazine)|Heavy Metal]]'' magazine in the period 1982 to 1985.

He was the executive editor of ''Reflex'' magazine in the early 1990s, where he brought author [[Neil Gaiman]] onto the editorial team as consulting editor.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Jones|first=Stephen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zk3oBAAAQBAJ&q=samuel+r+delany+robert+morales&pg=PT394|title=The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 25|date=2014-10-16|publisher=Little, Brown Book Group|isbn=978-1-4721-1871-4|language=en}}</ref>

He was senior editor for the music and entertainment magazine ''[[Vibe (magazine)|Vibe]]'' from 1994 to 2007. He was the editor and literary executor for science fiction author [[Samuel R. Delany]], and assisted in the publication of Delany's graphic novel ''Bread & Wine: An Erotic Tale of New York''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.comicmix.com/2013/04/26/martha-thomases-robert-morales/|title=Martha Thomases: Robert Morales|date=2013-04-26|website=ComicMix|language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-17}}</ref> Delany reflected that Morales had originally introduced him to author [[Kathy Acker]], with whom he later collaborated.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mhpbooks.com/samuel-delany-to-kathy-acker-basically-i-think-most-talk-of-both-conscious-and-unconsious-approaches-to-writing-generally-more-mystificational-than-not/|title=Samuel Delany to Kathy Acker: "Basically I think most talk of both conscious and unconscious approaches to writing generally more mystificational than not" » MobyLives|last=Dreiblatt|first=Ian|website=Melville House Books|language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-17}}</ref>

Over the course of his career as a journalist, Morales wrote for publications such as ''[[Publishers Weekly]]''.<ref name=":0" />

=== Comics ===
Morales was also a comic book writer, known mostly for his work on the [[Marvel Comics]] series ''[[Captain America (comic book)|Captain America]]''. While working on ''Captain America'', Morales was known for writing story-arcs which tackled ongoing political issues and topics.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Keren|first1=Michael|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Jflr2aTmMAC&q=morales&pg=PA132|title=War Memory and Popular Culture: Essays on Modes of Remembrance and Commemoration|last2=Herwig|first2=Holger H.|date=2014-01-10|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-5277-4|pages=132|language=en}}</ref>

Morales pitched the idea for a black [[Captain America]] at a meeting with [[Joe Quesada]], Marvel's editor-in-chief. Morales later reflected that he was surprised that he was given the assignment, commenting that "I wrote a proposal that was so staggeringly depressing I was certain they’d turn it down. But they didn’t".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ew.com/article/2002/11/22/marvel-imagines-darker-origins-captain-america/|title=Marvel imagines darker origins for Captain America|website=EW.com|language=EN|access-date=2020-02-17}}</ref> The concept was developed into the hero [[Isaiah Bradley]] in the series ''[[Truth: Red, White & Black]]''. Morales co-created the series with illustrator [[Kyle Baker]], with whom he had previously worked on satirical cartoons for ''Vibe Magazine''.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gavaler|first=Chris|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SF4zDwAAQBAJ&q=robert+morales+marvel&pg=PA284|title=Superhero Comics|date=2017-10-05|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-4742-2636-3|pages=284|language=en}}</ref> ''Truth'' reimagined the origins of Captain America, by following the stories of four African-American soldiers used involuntarily as test subjects by the US government to develop [[Steve Rogers (comics)|Steve Rogers]]' super serum.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fawaz|first=Ramzi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n-IWCgAAQBAJ&q=robert+morales&pg=PA272|title=The New Mutants: Superheroes and the Radical Imagination of American Comics|date=2016-01-22|publisher=NYU Press|isbn=978-1-4798-1433-6|pages=272–283|language=en}}</ref> The series explicitly linked the Captain American mythos with the real world history of [[unethical human experimentation in the United States]], [[white supremacy]] and [[Eugenics in the United States|eugenics]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Weinstein|first=Matthew|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NVrpGKMgVqgC&q=robert+morales&pg=PA126|title=Bodies Out of Control: Rethinking Science Texts|date=2010|publisher=Peter Lang|isbn=978-1-4331-0515-9|pages=125–126|language=en}}</ref> Much of the series was informed by Morales' studies of [[African-American history]] at the [[Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture]].<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Gateward|first1=Frances|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_U0DCgAAQBAJ&q=robert+morales+axel+alonso&pg=PT110|title=The Blacker the Ink: Constructions of Black Identity in Comics and Sequential Art|last2=Jennings|first2=John|date=2015-07-16|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0-8135-7235-2|language=en}}</ref>

The series faced Internet backlash ahead of its release from fans who worried that it would tarnish the legacy of fictional character Steve Rogers. Many critics, however, later recanted their criticism after the series was published.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbr.com/axels-early-years/|title=Axel's Early Years {{!}} CBR|website=www.cbr.com|date=30 September 2011 |access-date=2020-02-17}}</ref> Morales rejected criticism that he made Captain America a party to racism, stating that "It's a book where every single person is complicit, one way or another".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://prospect.org/api/content/b2e11505-9581-5a7f-8df7-c2a67079672f/|title=Masked Identity Politics|last=Demby|first=Gene|date=2011-05-10|website=The American Prospect|language=en-us|access-date=2020-02-17}}</ref>

The trade paperback version of ''Truth'' contained an afterword by Morales in which he clarified that myth, history and imagination, and provides sources for his story.<ref>{{cite book|first=Matthew|last=Weinstein|title=Bodies Out of Control: Rethinking Science Texts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NVrpGKMgVqgC&pg=PA130|year=2010|publisher=Peter Lang|isbn=978-1-4331-0515-9|page=126}}</ref>

After writing ''Truth'', Morales was brought on to write the main ''[[Captain America (comic book)|Captain America]]'' series, after the departure of [[Dave Gibbons]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://insidepulse.com/2016/07/01/retro-reviews-captain-america-vol-4-21-32-by-robert-morales-chris-bachalo-robert-kirkman-others-marvel-comics-captain-america-disassembled/|title=Retro Reviews: Captain America Vol. 4 # 21-32 By Robert Morales, Chris Bachalo, Robert Kirkman & Others! Marvel Comics' Captain America Disassembled! {{!}} Inside Pulse|date=July 2016 |language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-17}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://allaboutbooksandcomics.com/wp/it-came-from-the-back-room-27/|title=It Came From the Back Room #27 {{!}} All About Books and Comics|last=Phil|language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-17}}</ref> Morales wrote ''Captain America'' volume 4, issues #21–28 in 2004. In an attempt to humanize Steve Rogers, Morales' managed to split fans' opinions fairly resoundingly,{{citation needed|date=July 2020}} with Morales eventually leaving the title ten issues short of his intended contract for the series.<ref>{{cite web|author=Safi, Omar A.|title=Morales 'Caps' Off|date=2004-04-27|work=Comixfans Forums|url=http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=27156|access-date=2007-11-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050221150121/http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=27156|archive-date=2005-02-21|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Death ==
Morales died in his home in [[Brooklyn]] on April 18, 2013.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbr.com/truth-writer-robert-morales-passes-away/|title='Truth' writer Robert Morales passes away {{!}} CBR|website=www.cbr.com|date=18 April 2013 |access-date=2020-02-17}}</ref><ref>MacDonald, Heidi. [https://www.comicsbeat.com/rip-robert-morales/ "RIP: Robert Morales,"] ''The Beat'' (04/18/2013).</ref><ref>Hughes, Joseph. [https://comicsalliance.com/robert-morales-passes-away-truth-red-white-and-black-marvel/ "Robert Morales, Writer Of Marvel's 'Truth: Red, White And Black,' Passes Away,"] ''Comics Alliance'' (April 18, 2013).</ref>

== Selected bibliography ==
* ''[[Truth: Red, White & Black]]'' #1–7 (Jan.–July 2003)
* ''[[Captain America (comic book)|Captain America]]'' #21–28 (Feb. 2004–Aug. 2004)
<!-- * ''Captain America: [[Marvel Knights]] Vol. 2''. [[Marvel Entertainment]]. 2002.
* ''[[Truth: Red, White & Black]]''. Marvel Entertainment. 2003.
* ''Captain America: Homeland''. Marvel Entertainment. 2004.
* ''Decades: Marvel in The '00s - Hitting the Headlines''. Marvel Entertainment. 2019. -->

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morales, Robert}}
[[Category:African-American comics creators]]
[[Category:American people of Puerto Rican descent]]
[[Category:American male writers]]
[[Category:Puerto Rican writers]]
[[Category:American comics writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American writers]]
[[Category:1958 births]]
[[Category:2013 deaths]]
[[Category:American editors]]
[[Category:African-American journalists]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American writers]]
[[Category:21st-century African-American writers]]