10 Most Inappropriate DC Comics Storylines Ever

Mike Grell had been drawing the Superboy comic for some time, when he noticed something strange about it. Although it was set in 30th Century, the cast and supporting characters were made up almost entirely of white people. Unless they were a blue-skinned alien like the Legion of Superheroes' Shadow Lass, the citizens of the 2900s were not exactly very diverse.

Grell made several attempts to introduce black characters, but his editor, Murray Boltinoff, expressly forbid it. When Grell asked why, Boltinoff would state that he had a plan for a story that would explain the lack of black people, but he'd just have to wait and see what it was. Grell hated this so much that he would draw black characters anyway, which Boltinoff would make sure were coloured in to have white skin.

Eventually, Boltionoff would reveal his master plan: in his story, every black person on Earth had moved to Marzal, an isolationist island-city that was cut off from all civilisation. The people of Marzal, especially their leader Tyroc, were violently opposed to living or working alongside anyone who was not also black. This was supposed to be an analogy for... something? Whatever it was, Mike Grell absolutely hated it, referring to it as "the most racist concept I've ever heard in my life." He made sure to draw Tyroc in the most ridiculous costume possible as a small revenge on his editor.