Handling Racism in Comics

One better-than-average modern example -- and one that is execrably bad.

The "representation" crusade that has taken over the mainstream comic book industry is, in my view, a blundering, incompetent attempt to "fix" a "problem" that wasn't especially pressing (and probably would've resolved itself organically given enough time if publishers continued to hire people on merit). Strong non-majority heroes have existed for decades -- and they've existed in enormously popular books (like the X-Men series) at that. If anything, what today's writers and artists have done is strip said non-majority characters of their dimension by excessively hammering present-day politics and forgetting about the fun. Got a comic featuring a black character? Inevitably, it has to bring up police brutality and Black Lives Matter. Got a comic featuring a Hispanic character? Nine times out of ten, it'll be about illegal immigration. Got a comic featuring a LGBT+ character? Well, is he/she/they even queer if it isn't mentioned in some awkward and ham-fisted way? It's boring and predictable, this relentless no-escapism, and in many cases, it trashes the visions of these characters' original creators, who sought to create inspiring and complex role-models for their diverse audience.

Once upon a time, characters like Nubia, Static, and T'Challa were written as intelligent, powerful, and emotionally rich. They weren't forced to serve as constant avatars of racial grievance. (Click to embiggen.)

Now, having said all that, I do think it's possible to, every once in a while, write an okay - or even good - comic that tackles a controversial social issue. As a matter of fact, I read just such a book earlier this week: Superman Smashes the Klan, an all-ages graphic novel by Gene Leun Yang and Gurihiru. 

The message of Superman Smashes the Klan is not especially subtle -- but unlike most other books in its niche, it avoids Manichaean demonization - or sacralization - of entire subgroups of people in favor of treating its characters as individuals. Roberta, the lead, resents the pressure she feels to assimilate -- but her older brother Tommy is more easy-going and willing to joke about his Chinese heritage, and her father (also eager to fit in) repeatedly demands her mother refrain from speaking her native Cantonese. I strongly suspect the author favors Roberta's point of view -- yet at no point are Tommy and Dr. Lee portrayed as anything but sympathetic. In other words, Yang reveals that Chinese-American views on assimilation are not monolithic, and he does so without unfairly vilifying approaches with which he does not agree. 

"But what about Yang's white characters?" you may ask next. Well, they too vary in their beliefs. The clergymen who founded the Unity House are clearly racially progressive, and the white kids who hang out there are also well-meaning (if occasionally insensitive). And then you have Chuck; his family members are mixed up in the activities of the local Klan, but even he is depicted as a confused, misguided boy who fundamentally wants to do the right thing. The upshot? Yes, there are over-the-top Klansmen here, but they are definitely outnumbered by the white characters who are principled, moral, and/or capable of redeeming themselves. 

In every way, Superman Smashes the Klan outclasses the recently released Nubia: Real One, another graphic novel targeted to young audiences that attempts to address racism in the US. Yang's work allows for layers and nuance; L.L. McKinney's hateful book, on the other hand, does not. 

In Nubia: Real One, every white character is racist and evil -- and every black character is a saintly victim. According to McKinney, white society would largely reject a young black woman with superhuman abilities -- even though, once again, Storm (just to take one example) has been a central X-Man since Claremont (who, by the way, is white -- as was Jack Kirby, who created T'Challa). According to McKinney, BLM-associated riots are the fault of white outside agitators -- even though plenty of real-world cases demonstrate that this is not wholly the truth. According to McKinney, a black girl would obviously be blamed for a convenience store robbery regardless of the surveillance footage or the many witnesses who could provide evidence in her defense -- a contention even black reviewers have challenged as patently ridiculous. According to McKinney, there's nothing a black girl needs to do to develop herself and become a better person -- even though wise people would say that self-improvement is an obligation for every human being.

Advice like this is bound to breed terrible people who are simultaneously helpless and narcissistic. Even if you are "oppressed," you still have moral responsibilities. Victimhood does not make you infallible, and rejecting personal responsibility until the entire world has been perfected in your eyes is unconscionably lazy. By all means, agitate for justice where it's needed and achievable -- but in the end, God helps those who help themselves. (Click to embiggen.)

In short, Nubia: Real One insults the reader's intelligence with flat caricatures and nonsense premises that fail the test of verisimilitude, whereas Superman Smashes the Klan gives us, for the most part, actual human beings. Moreover, while Superman Smashes the Klan is blessed with visually appealing art, Nubia: Real One assaults our eyes with atrocious Tumblr-style drawings that make Diana Prince look like a pug-nosed hag and similarly rob Nubia of her beauty and femininity. No one should be satisfied with such a deliberate destruction of the heroic. The entire point of a superhero comic is to give the reader something to aspire to -- not to wallow in the base and prosaic.

As long as comics like Nubia: Real One continue to be churned out by open racists and segregationists, people will continue to chafe at the idea that we should talk about race in our comic books. It's an infinitely better choice to produce books like Superman Smashes the Klan. It's an infinitely better choice to hire people with actual talent and hold everyone to the same exacting editorial standards. 

Edited to add a related video:

Yeah, I imagine that is how they be. No-escapism infests all media.