User:TmRichner/sandbox

History of Race in Comic Books
Many early iterations of black characters in comics "became variations on the 'single stereotypical image of Sambo'." Sambo was closely related to the coon stereotype but had some subtle differences. They are both a derogatory way of portraying black characters. "The name itself, an abbreviation of raccoon, is dehumanizing. As with Sambo, the coon was portrayed as a lazy, easily frightened, chronically idle, inarticulate, buffoon." This portrayal "was of course another attempt to solidify the intellectual inferiority of the black race through popular culture." However, in the 1940's there was a change in portrayal of black characters. "A cursory glance...might give the impression that situations had improved for African Americans in comics." In many comics being produced in this time there was a major push for tolerance between races. "These equality minded heroes began to spring to action just as African Americans were being asked to participate in the war effort." During this time, a government ran program, the Writers' War Board, became heavily involved in what would be published in comics. "The Writers' War Board used comic books to shape popular perceptions of race and ethnicity..." Not only were they using comic books as a means of recruiting all Americans, they were also using it as propaganda to, "[construct] a justification for race based hatred of America's foreign enemies." The Writers' War Board created comics books that were meant to "[promote] domestic racial harmony". However, "these pro-tolerance narratives struggled to overcome the popular and widely understood negative tropes used for decades in American mass culture..." However, they weren't accomplishing this agenda within all of their comics. In Captain Marvel Adventures, a character named steamboat was an amalgamation of some of the worst stereotypes of the time. The Writers' War Board did not ask for any change with this character. "Eliminating Steamboat required the determined efforts of a black youth group in New York City." Originally their request was refused by individuals working on the comic stating, "Captain Marvel Adventures included many kinds of caricatures 'for the sake of humor'." The black youth group responded with, "this is not the Negro race, but your one-and-a-half millions readers will think it so." Afterwards, Steamboat disappeared from the comics all together. There was a comic created about the 99th squadron, also known as the Tuskegee Airmen, an all black air force unit. Instead of making the comic about their story the comic the comic was about Hop Harrigan. A white pilot who captures a Nazi, shows him videos of the 99th squadron defeating his man and then reveals to the Nazi that his men were defeated by African Americans which infuriated him as he sees them as a less superior race and can't believe they bested his men."...[The] Tuskegee Airmen, and images of black aviators appear in just three of the fifty three panels...[the] pilots of the 99th squadron have no dialogue and interact with neither Hop Harrigan nor his Nazi captive." During this time, they also used black characters in comic books as a means to invalidate the militant black groups that were fighting for equality within America. "Spider-Man 'made it clear that militant black power was not the remedy for racial injustice'." "The Falcon openly criticized black behavior stating' maybe it's important fo[sic] us to cool things down-so we can protect the rights we been fightin' for'." This poor portrayal and character development of black characters can be partially blamed on the fact that, during this time, "there had rarely been a black artist or writer allowed in a major comics company"

Asian characters faced some of the same treatment in comics as black characters did. They were dehumanized and the narrative being pushed was that they were "incompetent and subhuman." "A 1944 issue of the United State Marines included a narrative entitled "The Smell of the Monkeymen...the story depicts Japanese soldiers as simian brutes whose sickening body odor betrays their concealed locations." Chinese characters received the same treatment. "By the time the United States entered WWII, negative perceptions of Chinese were an established part of mass culture..." However, concerned that the Japanese could use America's anti chinese material as propaganda they began "to present a more positive image of America's Chinese allies..." Just as they tried to show better representation for Black people in comics they did the same for Asian people. However, "Japanese and filipino characters [were] visually indistinguishable. Both groups have grotesque buckteeth, tattered clothing, and bright yellow skin." "publishers...depicted America's Asian allies through derogatory images and language honed over the preceding decades." Asian characters were previously portrayed as, "ghastly yellow demons" . During WWII, "[every] major superhero worth his spandex devoted himself to the eradication of asian invaders." There was "a constant relay race in which one asian culture merely handed off the baton of hatred to another with no perceptible changes in the manner in which the characters would be portrayed."

"The only specific depiction of a Hispanic superhero did not end well. In 1975 Marvel gave us Hector Ayala a.k.a The White Tiger." "Although he fought for several years alongside the likes of much more popular heroes such as Spider-Man and Daredevil, he only lasted six years before sales of comics featuring him got so bad that Marvel had him retire. The most famous Hispanic character is Bane, a villian from Batman.

The Native American representation in comic books "can be summed up in the noble savage stereotype" " a recurring theme...urg[ed] American indians to abandon their traditional hostility towards the United States. They were, tragically, the ones painted as intolerant and disrespectful of the dominant concerns of white America"