Exploring Ethnic and Racial Portrayals in Superhero Comic Books
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The University of Southern Mississippi The Aquila Digital Community Dissertations Fall 12-2010 The Secret Identity of Race: Exploring Ethnic and Racial Portrayals in Superhero Comic Books Lowery Anderson Woodall III University of Southern Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations Part of the Ethnic Studies Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, and the Sociology of Culture Commons Recommended Citation Woodall, Lowery Anderson III, "The Secret Identity of Race: Exploring Ethnic and Racial Portrayals in Superhero Comic Books" (2010). Dissertations. 478. https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations/478 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by The Aquila Digital Community. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of The Aquila Digital Community. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The University of Southern Mississippi THE SECRET IDENTITY OF RACE: EXPLORING ETHNIC AND RACIAL PORTRAYALS IN SUPERHERO COMIC BOOKS by Lowery Anderson Woodall, III Abstract of a Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Southern Mississippi in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2010 ABSTRACT THE SECRET IDENTITY OF RACE: EXPLORING ETHNIC AND RACIAL PORTRAYALS IN SUPERHERO COMIC BOOKS by Lowery Anderson Woodall, III December 2010 Does race exist in comics? And if so, what do those characters tell us about how one of the largest fiction producing industries in the country has explained minority relationships to its millions of readers? This study took a close look at three of the most successful comic book characters of all time (Batman, Superman, and The Black Panther) and examines how each exemplifies a position that the comic book industry has taken on race over the years. Using a counter-narrative analysis informed by the strategies of Critical Race Theory and post-modernist thought, the racial messages lying beneath the surface in the each of these character’s worlds was uncovered. The study took the provocative position that race is discussed in the most vivid and worthwhile terms by characters that are not openly ethnic. The dissertation provides three models of racialized behavior employed by comic book publishers to introduce race and ethnicity into their storylines. Hopefully, this study will act as a first step in shining a critical light on a section of the industry that has thus far been woefully ignored by many critics and scholars. ii COPYRIGHT BY LOWERY ANDERSON WOODALL, III 2010 The University of Southern Mississippi THE SECRET IDENTITY OF RACE: EXPLORING ETHNIC AND RACIAL PORTRAYALS IN SUPERHERO COMIC BOOKS by Lowery Anderson Woodall III A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School of The University of Southern Mississippi in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Approved: ___Dr. Christopher Campbell_________ Director ______Dr. Andrew P. Haley__________ ________Dr. Fei Xue_______________ ____Dr. Kimberly LeDuff___________ ____Dr. David R. Davies____________ _____Dr. Susan A. Siltanen____________ Dean of the Graduate School December 2010 DEDICATION This work is dedicated to my wife, Dana, for her constant love and support throughout this process. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to acknowledge the contributions of the following individuals without whose help this dissertation could not have been possible: Dr. Chris Campbell, Dr. Andrew Haley, Dr. David R. Davies, Dr. Fei Xue and Dr. Kim LeDuff.I would like to add a special thanks to my friends and family who have been so supportive throughout this process. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………………ii DEDICATION……………………………………………………………………………iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS………………………………………………………………iv CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION: EVERY GOOD HERO NEEDS AN ORIGIN STORY…………………………………………………………………………………... 1 Introduction Hypotheses Theoretical Foundation Methodology Dissertation Outline Comic Book Readership II. BACK ISSUES: A SHORT HISTORY OF THE COMIC BOOK IN AMERICAN CULTURE……………………………………………………………………………… 36 Origin Stories: Before There Were Heroes The Classic View of Race and Ethnicity in Comics III. LEARNING TO FLY: THE PEDAGOGY OF ETHNICITY IN SUPERMAN……………………………………………………………………………. 68 Creating Superman Superman in the 1940s Superman in the 1950s Superman in the 1960s Superman in the 1970s Superman in the 1980s Superman in the 1990s Superman in the New Millennium IV. DARK IS THE KNIGHT: RACIAL CODING OF THE CAPED CRUSADER…………………………………………………………………………... 102 Batman’s Split Personality Developing a Narrative Perspective: Bob Kane’s Early Life What Makes a Man Become a Bat?: Bruce Wayne’s Narrative Motivation Batman in the 1940s Batman in the 1950s Batman in the 1960s Batman in the 1970s Batman in the 1980s Batman in the 1990s Batman in the New Millennium V. PANTHER’S PRIDE: EXAMINING THE DEATH OF THE BLACK SUPERHERO IN AMERICAN COMIC BOOKS …………………………………………………… 150 Determining Blackness: Early Definitions of Race The Birth of the Black Panther: Early Publication History Defining Blackness: What it Meant to be a Black Panther The Black Panther in the 1960s The Black Panther in the 1970s The Black Panther in the 1990s The Black Panther in the New Millennium VI. CONCLUSION: UNTIL NEXT TIME…………………………………………... 199 Significance of Research Limitations Suggestions for Future Research BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………… 207 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION: EVERY GOOD HERO NEEDS AN ORIGIN STORY Introduction In April of 1970, the creative team of writer Denny O’Neil and artist Neal Adams helped usher in the dawning of the Golden Age of American comic books with their collaboration on Green Lantern/Green Arrow #76.1 Adams had previously helped revitalize interest in Marvel superhero series such as the X-Men and a short, but popular run of Avengers comics. O’Neil is largely credited with lifting the Batman series out of its campy 1960s quagmire, reacquainting the Dark Knight with his more macabre sensibilities. But, the Green Lantern/Green Arrow team-up represents the most complete expression of the comic book creators’ desire to tread into more socially conscious waters. Like their previous ventures, DC called O’Neil and Adams in to breathe life back into a series that was very close to being pulled from shelves for lack of sales. The duo began their transformation by stripping Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow of his trust fund wealth. An embittered Queen began to view the world much differently in his poverty stricken state. Slowly his eyes were opened to the deep-seeded sufferings of the working- class. He no longer merely saved an old woman from a mugging and considered his heroly duties complete. He bemoaned his inability to keep that same woman from having to return home that night to tenement housing. The Green Arrow became O’Neil and Adams organ by which to call into question the usefulness of a superhero whose powers 1 The Golden Age of comics in America runs from roughly 1970 to 1980 and is typified by a push towards more gritty storylines that did not shy away from the social upheavals occurring in the real-world environments that these superheroes inhabited. 2 cannot eradicate drug addiction, prejudice, and social inequity as easily as a Soviet missile or an errant asteroid. Queen’s ideological antithesis in these often heavy handed debates took the form of Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern. Unlike Queen, Jordan was forced to split much of his time defending Earth and a host of other intergalactic arenas beset with threats of war and famine. Jordan was further removed from his connection to humanity through his allegiance to The Guardians, the mythical council of immortals who bequeathed him the powers of the Green Lantern in the first place. These celestial quasi-deities demanded an un-flapping and unquestioning devotion to their methods of justice. O’Neil and Adams used this religious deference for the instruction of the Guardians as the springboard for quarrels between Arrow and Lantern that reshaped the framework within which the American comic superhero was to be cast, at least temporarily. Issue #76 introduces this new dynamic when Jordan begins defending the landlord of a broken-down, inner-city apartment complex who complains that his tenants have refused to pay their rent and are now considered squatters. Jordan arrives to assist in shaking the dead-beat residents down for the past due rent or otherwise evict them for breaking the law. He is flabbergasted, however, when his presence is greeted by a hail of refuse streaming down from the windows of the occupied apartments. Before Jordan can retaliate against what he considers the actions of “animals…[and]…anarchists” though, Queen interjects himself into the fray accusing the Green Lantern of being out of touch with the concerns of the disenfranchised.2 2 Denny O’Neil and Neil Adams, “No Evil Shall Escape My Sight,” in Green Lantern/Green Arrow, April 1970, DC Comics, New York, NY, 4. 3 Queen proceeds to guide Jordan along a tour of the housing complex and its inhabitants. He points out an old woman who had depended on the petty thefts of her grandson to help make ends meet. Still defensive of his rigid interpretation of justice, Jordan’s faith is shaken by an encounter with a homeless African American as he exits the apartments. The unnamed black man hobbles up to the crusader and presents him with the following moral dilemma: “I been reading about you…How you work for the blue skins…and how on a planet somewhere you helped out the orange skins…and you done a considerable [amount of] good for the purple skins! Only there’s skins you never bothered with…!...The black skins! I want to know how come?!”3 Jordan shrinks from this critique stammering “I…can’t.”4 This confrontation thus sets into motion the social responsibility allegory which threads through the remainder of the series’ run. Arrow and Lantern dedicate themselves to traveling cross-country to uncover the various maladies that threaten to delimit the American dream for those operating outside of the privileged classes.