So, everyone who isn't at San Diego Comic Con has two big
highlights in comics for the week. One of them was good, one of them was
bad....both of them were Mark Waid's doing. Unbreakable, the one digestible
film M. Night Shyamalan ever made, featured Bruce Willis as an invulnerable
shmuck and at the other end of the spectrum, Samuel L. Jackson as the entirely
TOO vulnerable intellectual. That's the first thing that comes to mind when I
think of Mark Waid's varying work this week: Archie #1 and Strange Fruit #1.
Archie turns out to be genuine, endearing and heroic in a way you didn't expect
like Bruce Willis' character while Strange Fruit is a brittle and
ill-constructed constellation of good intentions like Samuel L. Jackson's
character at the end of the movie screaming, "I am not a mistake!"
In other words, Strange Fruit is sort of terrible. Let's
start with the fact that it's an "African-American myth" created by
two white men. Don't get me wrong. I'm a fan of Mark Waid and up until this
week, had not read a single bad book from him. In fact, the fact that his name
was on this book is the sole reason I even considered picking this up was
because his name was on it. But even with that in mind, haven't we been down
this road before? Wait...what am I saying? We go down this road all the time.
We go down this road so often, we don't need GPS. We don't even street signs as
markers. We can just say, "Turn at the mailbox next to the Sit n Sleep
billboard." I would like to feel like we've entered a different era of
intellectual property where the need for two white creators coming up with
magic negro stories to make sure we're all on the same page about racism being
wrong would be long past. Then again, I would also like to think the need for
Jurassic Park movies would be long past as well....and yet here we are.
Jurassic World is in theaters and Strange Fruit exists.
The basic premise thus far is that there's a big flood
coming and the black people aren't working fast enough for the white folks'
liking because racism. On the other hand, the black folks would probably work a
lot faster if the white folks would actually help out but we know that won't
happen because racism. Oh, and some black guy may or may not have stolen from
his white employer, but he'll probably get hung somewhere throughout the series
whether he did it or not because racism. The names are unimportant and the
character development is even less important than that (I'm assuming this is
the case because there is virtually no character development) because it is
clear right away that the only character you're supposed to be focused on is
Racism. In the midst of all this, a naked black man falls from the sky. He's
super strong and takes no shit off of these white folks on horses. He then puts
on a Confederate flag because dem white folk ain't gonna take kindly ta him
walking around wit his swingin johnson all about. I want to be able to say that
that this is Waid refurbishing the old Jewish "golem" myth for the
Deep South, but we're not given any tangible indication that this story intends
to go that heavy. So, essentially, what we're left with is a 1920's remake of
The Brother From Another Planet or, as I like to call it, Not Another Magic
Negro Story.
But it's unfair to say that this is all Waid's fault. Artist
J.G. Jones is every bit as complicit in this constellation of condescension as
his colleague is. I wouldn't be able to accuse Issue #1's of trying too hard to
be Eisner bait were it not for the final image of Naked Alien Black Guy's junk
bulging through the Confederate flag, presumably symbolizing the white
supremacist's implied fear of black phallus or some shit. I dunno. I don't
really have any black dick jokes so, that's the best theory I can pry out of my
guesses at Jones' logic. Worse yet, there's the rendering of the people of
color in the book.
Note how the principal character (light skinned in this case
and a couple others) in the panel is rendered in an attempt at photorealism
while all the other people of color in the background are drawn in an
exaggerated blackface style that makes the mural in the opening credits of Good
Times look like the Sistine Chapel.
Now, let me stop here and say that I don't think this
necessarily qualifies as intentionally "racist" anymore than white
people who want to touch a black woman's hair without asking. However, the
intent doesn't always absolve the result or make the action any less offensive.
That said, intentions are basically the only thing this book has going for it,
but even that has it's limits. We're past the point where a book simply
pointing out that racism is wrong and giving us a splash page with a black
alien in the nude ain't gonna cut it.
It's not enough for comics to point out that racism happened
a long time ago anymore. Even if the endgame of Strange Fruit (fully realizing
that it's only the first of four issues) is to craft a old school superhero
myth along the lines of Truth: Red, White and Black, race relations and
society's understanding of race relations have to evolve past handing out pats
on the head for rehashing the basics. I could very well be speaking too soon
since there's three more issues to go. For all I know, this book could engage
us in twists and turns that question the way we look at the history of
systematic racism in America. But I seriously doubt it.
My reviews for this week's issues of Batman and Archie are
up and available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure. As always,
feel free to like, share, comment at your leisure. You know the drill.
