Brightest Day and Racism

[kingrockwell]

Brightest Day #1 is out this week, and while the jokes have already been made about the White Power rings supposedly shipped with it, the book itself displays some very troubling racial politics.

This is about four pages out of thirty.
Writers are Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi.
These scenes are, I think, penciled by Ivan Reis and Patrick Gleason (they don't really credit any of the beats individually).

The second beat picks up off the coast of Somalia, where Deadman's found himself on a boat of slavers herding abducted children. But let's take a look here.


Now isn't that nice? The slavers are all black while every one of their captives is white. What is that supposed to say?
The children are saved by the mighty-whitey team of Aquaman and Mera, as has been posted already, but a scene from the aftermath is also worth examining.


Can you guess who this guy is?


If you hadn't figured it out yet, this guy returns to the ocean to resume his criminal career as Black Manta at the end of the issue. Now, the Aquaman/Black Manta relationship is problematic on its own, but Black Manta's history only makes it moreso (especially given that he doesn't even get a real name). Bringing him back in a book called Brightest Day that already has a mark against it is just...inadvisable.

Also, note the black woman among the victims. So far, if you're black in this comic, you can only be a villain or a victim. And what if you try to be a hero?

Well, dear readers, that's where Jason Rusch comes in.
If you'll recall, in Brightest Day #0, Jason tried punching Ronnie Raymond (who's apparently a complete tool now, thanks Geoff Johns!), only to have the two of them merge into Firestorm.
I don't even have to tell you which one's the floating head.


"Someone like you"? And just what is that supposed to mean, Ronnie?


So, Jason's not only had his role stolen by the white guy who used to have it (which is already a disturbing trend throughout the DCU, especially in Johns' work, as Chris Sims at Comics Alliance has also observed), but now he's trapped in that guy's head? Classy!

Any one of these would be problematic in itself, but all three together in the same issue adds up to a tone deaf and racist mess. A kick-off like this does not bode well for where Brightest Day is going.

Ookay, technically there was one black guy who got to be the hero in BD 1.
...The guy in the Colgate ad. He aced it!

Comments

[crabby_lioness]

These aren't the only examples of race-based problems with this comic. More are listed here: http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/05/06/the-racial-politics-of-regressive-storytelling

I agree with the longer list. A high degree of racial insensitivity is on display in DC's recent decisions, probably unintended but still present.

[kingrockwell]

That isn't so much a longer list of problems in this particular comic so much as an expansion on the point I was making about Jason and how it's a company-wide trend. I actually linked that article in the OP.

[jaybee3]

Not to mention the fact that with the replacement of the Eurasian bi-racial Batgirl with another WASPy Blonde, all three members of the sacred DC Trinity have white blonde Jessica Simpson clones as their girl sidekicks (Wonder Girl, Supergirl. Batgirl). Add that to Powergirl, Jessie Quick and Stargirl and you get Didio's DC - Profiles in Diversity (aka the differing shades of white and blonde).

[junipepper]

Yeah. That is kind of depressing. And boring.

[halloweenjack]

The current Legion, however, doesn't have a whole lot of non-white faces:

Aww, c'mon! They've got a blue gal and a green guy and that orange feller who can be any gosh-darn color he wants!

[cleome45]

It's about on par with where Threeboot was. [sigh]

I hate that I disappeared from fandom for two decades, and all that changed permanently in my absence was cover prices. :(