Tyroc

Tyroc
Tyroc, art by James Sherman and Jack Abel
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Superboy #216 (April 1976)
Created by	Cary Bates (writer) Mike Grell (artist)
In-story information
Alter ego	Troy Stewart
Species	Metahuman
Place of origin	Earth
Team affiliations	Legion of Super-Heroes
Abilities	Reality warping scream

Tyroc is a fictional character in the DC Universe, a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 30th and 31st centuries. He first appeared in Superboy #216 (April 1976), and was created by Cary Bates and Mike Grell. Debuting a year before Black Lightning, he is one of DC's first black costumed superheroes.

Jim Shooter, who had been prevented from introducing black characters into the Legion in the 1960s, objected to the characterization of Tyroc: "...I always wanted to have a character who was African-American, and years later, when they did that, they did it in the worst way possible....instead of just incidentally having a character who happens to be black...they made a big fuss about it. He's a racial separatist....I just found it pathetic and appalling."

According to Mike Grell, who co-created Tyroc with Cary Bates, the character of Tyroc was "sort of a sore spot with me." He had previously tried to introduce black characters into the series, but had been prevented by then-editor Murray Boltinoff. "I kept getting stalled off...and finally comes Tyroc. They might as well have named him Tyrone. Their explanation for why there were no black people [in the Legion] was that all the black people had gone to live on an island. It's possibly the most racist concept I've ever heard in my life...I mean, it's a segregationist's dream, right? So they named him Tyroc, and gave him the world's stupidest super-power."

Grell's dislike of Tyroc was strong enough that he deliberately made him look ridiculous, saying, "I gave him a silly costume. It was somewhere between Elvis' Las Vegas costume and something you would imagine a pimp on the street corner wearing."

Grell notes that physically, Tyroc is based on the football player Fred Williamson. "I modeled him somewhat on Fred "The Hammer" Williamson, who was a movie star at the time...and gave him this "Elvis Presley goes to Las Vegas" kind of a costume, and that's pretty much it. That was the extent of my contribution to Tyroc."