I'm joining this discussion late, so forgive me, but wasn't Mike Carey originally suppose to be doing the new Firestorm book?
I only remembered it because I thought he was an odd choice, given his current resume(Vertigo books, mainly).
I think generally the problem with black characters is that, as said earlier, they tend to be merely plugged in to satisfy diversity quotas. Occasionally, however, you see a writer do some good work with one, though. I really enjoyed Steel's portrayal under Grant Morrison during his JLA run. I also liked what Geoff Johns did with the new Mr. Terrific.
