Monday, April 27, 2009

From the Cartoons and Comic Books blog "Lois Lane - I Am Curious (Black)!"

This is a great blog post. I discovered it on Twitter. Thanks to Questlove from The Roots for posting the link.

I won't comment too much on it as it brings the point home all on its own.

However, the point of it is what a lot of people simply refuse to get and acknowledge. It's flat out obvious when you're judged based on your skin color. It happened to me in South Korea, but it wasn't as negative there for me for some reason. I can't articulate the difference, but, for me, there is one.

What's interesting is when it happens to me here in the States. I'm nice and law-abiding. I'm educated and moderately multilingual (acknowledging that I'm not fluent in anything but English but can get by in a few languages at this stage.) I've traveled pretty far and wide and, in general, I'm simply not a threat to anyone. However, I'll be on mass transit and people will choose to stand rather than sit next to me. Sometimes that's because they're only going one stop, but other times, you can't help but notice how quickly they sit down somewhere else on the bus when a seat opens up.

I don't let it stress me, but I do notice it. It's not like it didn't happen when I lived here years ago. It's just that when it does happen, it's pretty obvious what's going on. I also think it's funny to see people reach for their bags when the fact is that I'm ore concerned about the contents of my bag being stolen than snatching someone's bag. I'm the one carrying the Blackberry, iPod and a laptop. It's interesting. Yes, the comic shows the judging comes from both sides. Neither side is 100% innocent in this.

I agree with Millsie, the person who posted it, that it's a goofy story. I'll add that is full of stereotypes. For example, Lois sounds white...um, okay. I know plenty of blacks that do too. However, the point remains.

There is progress, but it's nowhere near fast enough for my liking. Nowhere near.

BTW, it's best to click over to the Cartoons and Comic Books blog. Boo!

I had to reduce the size of the pictures significantly to get the full pages on my blog. So either you can click on each picture one by one or just click over and read them all. Plus, they deserve the traffic for this.

Lois Lane - I Am Curious (Black)!

Posted by Millsie on November 21, 2008

Comic books sometimes try to be important and make a statement about some social issue of the day. This sort of thing was all the rage in the earlier 70s when you had some very good stories such as those in Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams’ Green Lantern/Green Arrow series. This story that I featured is from Lois Lane 109 and was written by Robert Kanigher. It is a well meaning but very goofy story if I may say so myself.













BTW, I have to say that Lois looks hawt as a sista.

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4 comments:

  1. i would like to echo the sentiment that Lois does indeed look hawt as a sister.

    Great find! Somehow I doubt anything remotely like this, flaws and all, would be in a comic.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't know. I don't read comics. I'm assuming the post is correct when it says that comics do take on serious subjects from time to time. Why not?

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Green Lantern/Green Arrow books of the 70s pioneered this approach to comics.

    In general comics take on serious subjects about as often as any other pop art.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey Nathan,

    Thanks for your comment and a bit more history. I wasn't doubting what Millie posted. I think almost any genre is capable of tackling serious subjects. It's just as someone who doesn't read comics, I had no idea until I saw this ;)

    ReplyDelete

Hey there! Thanks for visiting my blog. It's my first blog, and I'm glad folks are still stopping by even though I'm no longer living in South Korea. Feel free to comment. If you want a personal answer, leave your email, and I won't publish the comment. Nasty comments and spam links will not be tolerated.