Dark Reign: The Hood #1 - now with 75% more racism!

[kali921.insanejournal.com]

Ever since it was announced that Jeff Parker would be scribing the Dark Reign: The Hood mini I've been wondering -- wondering with a sense of terrorized fascination, I should add -- what it was going to be like. Would Parker be able to make the Dormammu!Hood actually seem like a worthy and viable contender to be the Sorcerer Supreme?

CBR has an eight-page preview up.

I now have my answer, and it's a resounding silence fraught with puzzlement and horror.

Because you know what I didn't expect from Jeff Parker's work on this mini?

Straight up racial stereotyping that slides down the slippery slope straight into the ditch of racist tropes.

Set up: we're in New York City. The Wrecker and Thunderball have been hired to take down a truck carrying a ton of cash belonging to a wealthy Arab from Brunei, that specifically being the nephew of the Sultan himself (it's like Parker wants us to count the stereotyping!). Meanwhile, the Sultan's nephew is preparing to go home, and his staff have thoughtfully stocked his limo with what appears to be a nubile young woman.

Four pages from Dark Reign: The Hood #1. Now with 75% more racefail!




No, your eyes do not deceive you. We actually get a heavyset, hairy, hook-nosed AND lecherous Arab with bad teeth.





Artfail on this page, because what is up with Thunderball's legs? It takes away from the good visual of T-Ball annihilating the truck.





...And apparently we're back to Thunderball, who has a goddamn Ph.D. in physics, talking like what Parker obviously thinks is a low-level street thug.

...Wow. You know what? Kyle Hotz's art only makes this worse.

I can't even believe that Parker wrote this. I love Parker's choice of characters for this; the liberal use of cracky B- and C-listers is very much appreciated. But I really do think that he's made some poor choices as a writer in this particular sequence.

Comments

[colonel_green.insanejournal.com]

I don't see the issue. It's a pretty generic part (lecherous fat foreign ruler to blackmail) that could be used for anyone; in this case, he's an Arab.

[kali921.insanejournal.com]

On that we'll have to disagree completely. I see a very big issue that constitutes an elephant the size of Texas sitting in a small living room. In the larger real world context where Arabs are subject to really perverse and racist stereotyping as villains, I think that this just wasn't a particularly good choice for Parker to make.

[schmevil.insanejournal.com]

No, he's not depicted as a generic villain. The character design draws on a history of racist caricatures of Arabs. The hooked nose. The teeth. The moustache. Even his lecherous behaviour.

I was looking for a caricature to illustrate this, but couldn't find one. I hate to quote Wikipedia at you, but have a look at the anti-Arbism article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Arabism).

Parts of Hollywood are regarded as using a disproportionate number of Arabs as villains and of depicting Arabs negatively and stereotypically. According to Godfrey Cheshire, a critic on the New York Press, "the only vicious racial stereotype that's not only still permitted but actively endorsed by Hollywood" is that of Arabs as crazed terrorists.[86]

Like the image projected of Jews in Nazi Germany, the image of Arabs projected by western movies is often that of "money-grubbing caricatures that sought world domination, worshipped a different God, killed innocents, and lusted after blond virgins. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Arabism#Western_media)

[neuhallidae.insanejournal.com]

Leaving aside the unfortunate, unfortunate art (Holy shit, that last panel), zuh? Isn't Masque supposed to be off beating the hell out of Tony, or is that next month?

[colonel_green.insanejournal.com]

MM can be used in two places at once (much like the Hood himself).

[jlbarnett.insanejournal.com]

everybody in this book looks like they should be going duh, duh, duh

[thanekos.insanejournal.com]

somehow, OOH WE HAVE LEARNED THE WESTERN KINKY is just hilarious.

[kali921.insanejournal.com]

Out of context, yeah, it's a totally funny line. :-) In context? I personally find it creepy (like kink doesn't exist outside the First World?).

[taggerung301.insanejournal.com]

hmmm
yeah i can definitely see how this can be called racism

but still, we can't really call it racism unless we know exactly what Parker was thinking when he wrote this - it seems obvious that there is some prejudice here, but you never know what goes on in another person's head

if every Arabic character he draws starts looking like those guys, and if he uses a pretty obvious stereotype in his comics, then you can safely call this racist

until then, we can only really speculate

afterall, I'm pretty sure that there are indeed fat, lustful, and rich Arabian men in this world with buck-toothed bodyguards
there are also black, white, and asian guys like that too

[schmevil.insanejournal.com]

I'm going to direct you to Wikipedia's anti-Arbism article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Arabism). (There are better resources obvs, but this was easy to find). This isn't simply a case of depicting a character of X background negatively. The above depiction is drawing on a history of racist caricature.

Parts of Hollywood are regarded as using a disproportionate number of Arabs as villains and of depicting Arabs negatively and stereotypically. According to Godfrey Cheshire, a critic on the New York Press, "the only vicious racial stereotype that's not only still permitted but actively endorsed by Hollywood" is that of Arabs as crazed terrorists.[86]

Like the image projected of Jews in Nazi Germany, the image of Arabs projected by western movies is often that of "money-grubbing caricatures that sought world domination, worshipped a different God, killed innocents, and lusted after blond virgins. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Arabism#Western_media)

[(Anonymous)]

"We have learned the Western kinky."

We have learned the Western kinky.

[kagome654.insanejournal.com]

Wow, I need to flip through The Hood: Blood From Stones again, I don't remember Kyle Hotz's art being this bad.

[kali921.insanejournal.com]

The size ratio of torso:leg is just OFF. I also don't think that this art style, which might be acceptable (still sloppy but acceptable) and appropriate for a lighthearted story, suits anything to do with the Dark Reign titles.

[arilou_skiff.insanejournal.com]

Holy shit, that's bad.

There's also this... Thing when dealing with Dark Reign characters, that you somehow need to ahve villians more villainous than the normally villainous people, right?

This kind of reads "The only thing worse than psycho mass-murderers who barters with demons is arabs." And that's not okay. Not okay at all.

[kali921.insanejournal.com]

That is exactly what I took away from this preview, along with "all Arabs come to America for the Western kinky" and "all rich Arabs carry their wealth in cash rather than offshore bank accounts."

Wow

[tpsreports.insanejournal.com]

The saddest part???? People from Brunei aren't Arab, they're southeast Asians. They can't even get their racism right.

Re: Wow

[darklorelei.insanejournal.com]

Duh, EVERY Muslim is an Arab! There aren't any indigenous languages, either.

[ian_karkull.insanejournal.com]

I'm on the fence about the racism issue.. On the one hand, the character does look an awful lot like a cartoon from the turn of the century.
On the other hand, all of the other characters have highly exaggerated features as well, so I can't really decide whether it's intentional or a style thing.

I am, however, annoyed by Thunderball's speech patterns. I always liked that he was a smart guy who somehow got stuck hanging out with common thugs.

[kali921.insanejournal.com]

I hear you, but look at the last panel of the fourth page. Hook noses (compared to the rest of the characters, the emphasis on the hook noses approaches grotesque), evil!sourcil action, dark brown skin, malevolent intent. Take that in the context of 50% of American mainstream films where the villainous, violent, and smexually predatory Arab is a rampant stereotype, and it's Parker putting a racist trope into this story. Did he mean it to be racist? Was his intent to convey antipathy towards the brown hordes threatening the American way of life? I don't know. I certainly don't like to think of Parker as a racist. But do I think his end product reads as racist regardless of his intent? Absolutely.

[darklorelei.insanejournal.com]

Good lord, the art in the last panel. Just...wow.

[stolisomancer.insanejournal.com]

He's indulging in the use of a deeply unfortunate stereotype and he's helped along that road by bad art.

In order for it to be actively racist, Parker would have to be espousing the idea that everyone from Brunei is a lecherous, hedonistic sot with a hooked nose and bad skin, and that ain't what's here. This looks more like he tried to come up with a generically unlikable rich douchebag and did it poorly.

Calling something racist when it's just stupid does no one any favors.

[galateus.insanejournal.com]

I think a "deeply unfortunate stereotype" still qualifies as racist. It's purely unintentional racism (and it's not just one person working on this, like you say), but still.

[jlroberson.insanejournal.com]

I freaking hate this artwork. And it's not the only thing about this that reminds me of Barry Blair's infamous "Ripper."

[geoffsebesta.insanejournal.com]

Racism? I don't know. Giant evil arab stereotype? Absolutely. Can't really argue about that one.

I would only disagree about the teeth, since teeth all look bad when you draw them, and every person in this comic has weird evil teeth.

[rabican.insanejournal.com]

How can a giant evil arab stereotype ... not be racist? You've lost me there.

[rotty0079.insanejournal.com]

I don't see what the problem is. It's pretty much of a piece with Marxist imagery of rich white guys. So what that it's similar to century-old stereotypical images of Muslim Arabs[1]?

[1] It's not actually racism unless we have bigotry against Lebanese Christians too.

[foxhack.insanejournal.com]

...

They kinda look like Mexicans to me

[foxhack.insanejournal.com]

Also, I forget his name, but I'm pretty sure that black guy from The Wrecking Crew is supposed to be pretty educated. Why the hell is he speaking like a Dave Chapelle character?

[rabican.insanejournal.com]

This does not surprise me at all, sadly. The original Agents of Atlas miniseries had some rather screwed up colonialist issues - warring black tribes in Africa brought to peace through the wisdom and love of a white goddess? Why, it's a classic! And there were bonus black natives speaking English badly even though, get this, they were actually having their words translated by a Wakandan doohickey.

Then, just last night I was catching up on the new ongoing version of the series and noticed that Luke Cage has a similar problem as Thunderball, though not as extreme, thank god.

[kali921.insanejournal.com]

That was actually a huge sticking point with me for the first AoA mini. Like Wakandan technology would work anything less than perfectly for something so mundane as translating mere language. (Seriously. Any kinks in a Wakandan language interface would have been worked out within five hours of its creation.)

[geoffsebesta.insanejournal.com]

goddamn it's good to see an old-school scans_daily comment thread.

Hey, I like the art. Actually, I like it a lot. It's not firing on all cylinders and it's absolutely unsuited for superhero work, but Hotz throws down some dark areas and some pleasing compositions. It reminds me of Kelly Jones, but with stronger storytelling.

Awkward: hand placement in page one panel three
awesome: last panel. with a better background it could be iconic. (note to colorist: gradient plus smear is no better than gradient. just draw a fucking background. Use a big wide blurry brush. I know you're busy, but sixty seconds drawing makes a huge difference over twenty seconds gradient-and-smudge.

[seawolf10.insanejournal.com]

I'll agree with you 100% on the characterization/dialogue of the head honcho being a complete stereotype.

It might be unconscious stereotyping, since Parker wrote the security guys as being smart enough to come armed with weaponry capable of taking down supervillains, but it's still stereotyping, and completely Parker's fault.

As for the stereotyping in the art...

I'd really like to see how Parker describes this guy and the truck security team in the original script. That would let us know how much of the artistic stereotyping is Hotz's own doing.

[kali921.insanejournal.com]

I'd really like to see how Parker describes this guy and the truck security team in the original script. That would let us know how much of the artistic stereotyping is Hotz's own doing.

I would too. Because the ratio of writerfail to artistfail isn't at all clear. Together they've produced something that I find skeevy. But it would be helpful to be able to tease out the artistic synergy, so to speak, and figure out how much Parker did or did not specify and how much Hotz ran with it with artistic mad libs.

[zechs27.insanejournal.com]

Whose the dude with the two members of the Wrecking Crew? I don't recognize him.

[kagome654.insanejournal.com]

I'm assuming it's John King, The Hood's cousin and partner in crime.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm with you on Thunderball's portrayal -- TPTB need to remember that T-Ball has a doctorate in physics. It actually makes him a more interesting character, rather than just Evil!StrongGuy #243.

But, IMHO, that's ContinuityFail rather than RaceFail -- and most likely b/c the last time the W-Crew were considered A or B-list baddies was...hmmm...the Roger Stern-era Avengers?

As for the Arab, well the 'hook nosed' bit is probably Hotz's call/mistake rather than Parker's...I can't really imagine the script specifying that level of facial detail in an ancillary character like one way or the other. I suppose the editor could/should have caught it as well, and asked Hotz to tone it down a bit.

That said, I'm inclined to cut Parker and Hotz both a certain amount of slack regarding the rest of the portrayal due to the fact that the Sultan of Brunei (and certain of his male relatives) have been guilty of some pretty skeevy stuff when it comes to the many women they've 'invited' to their abodes over the years. Google Shannon Marketic and/or Paula Bradbury for more details.

So, if dude was simply some Arab slave trafficker of unspecified origin, I think one could argue that he was standing in for all Arabs, and that could be seen as prmblematic. But since he is explicitly labeled as a nephew of the Sultan of Brunei, that seems less like stereotyping and more like...reasonable dramatic license a la a the Law & Order 'ripped from the headlines' approach.

[kali921.insanejournal.com]

That said, I'm inclined to cut Parker and Hotz both a certain amount of slack regarding the rest of the portrayal due to the fact that the Sultan of Brunei (and certain of his male relatives) have been guilty of some pretty skeevy stuff when it comes to the many women they've 'invited' to their abodes over the years. Google Shannon Marketic and/or Paula Bradbury for more details.

Except for the fact that they apparently got the racial stereotyping of the royal family of Brunei wrong? Even if this is commentary on how exploitative the Brunei royal family can be, the fact that Parker seems to be treating this is a joke almost makes it worse for me. No one is denying that this kind of behavior exists, but for Parker to make light of it as a plot point almost skeeves me out a bit more, if that makes sense.

[lieut_kettch.insanejournal.com]

Ummm... Brunei's in Southeast Asia. Same racial stock as Malaysians and Filipinos. If they needed a life model on how someone from Brunei looks like, they need not look further than Whilce Portacio or Carlo Pagulayan or Francis Yu.

[kali921.insanejournal.com]

Or simply deployed Google in the usual manner. (http://lmgtfy.com/?q=sultan+of+brunei)

Agree/Disagree

[proteus_lives.insanejournal.com]

The body design is racist, way too early century pulp fiction.

But the behavior? I have read some freaky shit about Sultans and royal types from SA and Brunei. Unlimited money and personal power do weird things to people. I read about some internet zillionare in California who got busted because he built an underground sex club beneath his mansion.

Re: Agree/Disagree

[rotty0079.insanejournal.com]

But the behavior? I have read some freaky shit about Sultans and royal types from SA and Brunei. Unlimited money and personal power do weird things to people.

This. Seriously, what has the Left evolved into if artists get raked over the coals for using ugly caricatures of the rich unless the target is of European Christian descent?