News about the premier academic journal devoted to all aspects of cartooning and comics -- the International Journal of Comic Art (ISSN 1531-6793) published and edited by John Lent.

Wednesday, August 18, 2021

Book Review: Mixed-Race Superheroes, edited by Sika A. Dagbovie-Mullins and Eric L. Berlatsky

 Mixed-Race Superheroes. Sika A. Dagbovie-Mullins and Eric L. Berlatsky, editors. Rutgers University Press, 2021. https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/mixed-race-superheroes/9781978814592

 reviewed by James Willetts

Dagbovie-Mullins and Berlatsky’s ambitious anthology is a wide-ranging addition to the emerging literature covering race in comic books, which explores examples of what it means to for characters to be mixed-race in comic book universes filled with superheroic aliens, demi-Gods, and cyborgs. Contributors cover superheroes from within the pages of comic books; characters adapted to animation, live-action film, and television; and those who emerged first on screen. This adds up to a tumult of mediums, sources, and ideas, and ultimately proves both the book’s greatest asset and weakness.

            Mixed-Race Superheroes divides its twelve essays into three sections - “Superheroes in Black and White,” “Metaphors of/and Mixedness,” and “Multiethnic Mixedness (or Mixed-Race Intersections).” Per the book’s theme, each division addresses aspects of racial mixing, whether by examining characters who are textually described as mixed, or those who can be viewed through this lens. These sections are intended to serve as a way of demonstrating different methodologies and angles for contributors to explore the topic.

The book’s first third – the four essays in “Superheroes in Black and White” – concentrates primarily on ways in which originally white characters can be given mixed-race characterization, either through adaptational casting of actors (as with Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie in Thor: Ragnarok, or Jason Momoa’s Aquaman, both of whom identify as mixed race), or by ‘rebooting’ characters (as with DC’s Rebirth’s Flash, Wallace West). While there is significant overlap between some of the essays contained within this part, others – the introduction of African American poet Gary Jackson’s DC Comics-inspired poetry -- appear deliberately detached from any over-arching thematic commentary.

The second section is “devoted to the ways in which superhero narratives treat the idea of racial mixing metaphorically,” before the final third returns to addressing “more specific categories of racial mixing” (p. 17).  This means that the book deliberately breaks up the first and third sections, which are positioned as exploring similar themes, with the more distinct approach of “Metaphors of/and Mixedness.” This division is confusingly structured and appears largely arbitrary. There is little clear rationale for the reader behind the distinctions being drawn here. Although the introduction recognizes that the first and third parts are interlinked, the book separates them, distinguishing between these sections without explanation. Even when separate essays examine the same character across two mediums, differences in presentation between each goes largely unremarked upon, to the detriment of the subject matter.

            The overlap and divergence between the different subject matter and mediums examined can create genuinely fascinating interplays, as competing interpretations of mixedness surface. Yet too often, these connections go uncommented on. Beyond a fascinating introduction which serves both to set out the contents of the essays and foreground larger issues of representation and imagery within comic-book movies, the hands of the editors are often too light. Perhaps more vigorous scaffolding would have rewarded the reader, particularly in setting out an argument about the ways in which different mediums and stories deal with broader issues of race and racial identity. Had Dagbovie-Mullins and Berlatsky provided commentary between the essays, for instance, they could have established a more cohesive argument about who, or what, they view as mixed-race, and how different approaches and methodologies can address different presentations of mixed characters. Miles Morales, for example, is the subject of a pair of essays, one focusing on his initial appearance in the comic book Ultimate Spider-Man, and another on his character’s adaptation in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse animated movie, and yet neither of the essays address one another, or is linked through methodology or approach. Likewise, Venom is discussed in the context of the 2018 film, and in a wider examination of Peter Parker’s black suit phase. An editorial intervention might have helped to helped to expand on the idea that the very nature of the symbiote means that Eddie Brock and Peter Parker develop a liminal state of mixedness when they bond with an alien being, which introduces a further complication to defining who counts as mixed race.

By widening the criteria of mixedness, from characters who are specifically written as mixed-race (such as Miles Morales) to those who meet any symbolic or metaphorical standard of being mixed, Mixed-Race Superheroes expands the concept of mixedness and examine characters from a wide range of backgrounds. This is in line with Dagbovie-Mullins and Berlatsky’s stated aim, to showcase and increase mixed-race representation.

The collected essays, and book as whole, fails to clarify exactly what racial mixedness is, however. Dagbovie-Mullins’s essay on the MCU’s Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man’s alien costume saga ties together 1980’s comic-book lore with the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s treatment of its mixed-race characters, M.J. and Liz (both transformed from white characters introduced in the 1960s comic book). These show Peter Parker as an interlocutor in textual conversation around race, interacting with mixedness from the outside. Kwasu David Tembo addresses Superman, and his essay poses important questions about who counts as mixed-race in universes where many characters have origins in two-worlds but are written as white. Here, Tembo follows the book’s overall lead in largely approaching race and species as interchangeable terms. As a Kryptonian raised on Earth, Superman has a position of liminality similar to mixed-race characters. Is Superman a mixed-race character, or is he simply being examined through the lens of Mixed-Race studies? Nowhere is this made clear.

Other essays cover topics and characters as diverse as Jason Momoa’s Maori-inspired cinematic turn as the half-Atlantean Aquaman, Marjoie Liu and Sana Takeda’s Monstress, and DC’s post-Arab Spring reimagining of Dr. Fate. Corinne E. Collins and Jasmine Mitchell’s introduce a degree of intersectionality by examining concepts of gender mixedness via queer-coded non-white characters such as the Crystal Gems of Cartoon’s Network’s tv series, Steven Universe, and Thor: Ragnarok’s Valkyrie. These introduce larger conversations about the ways in which mixed-race characters are distinguished, defined and used.

Despite the individual quality of each of these pieces, Mixed-Race Superheroes can sometimes end up feeling less than the sum of its parts. While each essay is well-argued and presents a fascinating angle for approaching the issue of mixed-race superheroes, at no point do these cohere into a whole with a larger narrative to tell, other than that now superheroes come in more shades than the four colors of classical comic books.

 A version of this review will appear in print in a future issue of IJOCA.



Tuesday, July 6, 2021

The Vault of Culture: a home for cultural criticism (with a comics bibliography!)

The study of comics has become too big for any one journal, even IJOCA, to cover, and other venues may be of interest to our readers. I was in an online conference recently with Shawn, and asked him to let IJOCA's readers know about his e-journal.

 by Shawn Gilmore

I edit a cultural criticism site, The Vault of Culture, “an edited, semi-scholarly space devoted to publishing a wide range of approaches to a variety of cultural objects, from comics to film to novels to video games and everything in between.” We aim to be a home for public scholarship, and while we publish on a variety of media, we have a strong tradition of presenting comics criticism, and I'd like to invite members of the IJOCA community to contribute.

 

The Vault of Culture publishes writing aimed at a broad audience that takes a scholarly (or semi-scholarly) stance on one or more aesthetic/cultural objects, giving those writings some editorial guidance, a nice visual presentation, and a home beyond individual conference presentations, blogs, facebook posts, twitter, etc. We’re quite open to the kind of work you may already be doing, including previously-written/-presented or new work, one piece at a time or in series.

 

To give a sense of the range of works we've published on comics, here are some highlights from the last year or so:

 

Feel free to take a look at the site and poke around. Or, like the facebook page to see new entries as they go up or follow along on twitter: @vaultofculture. If you are at all interested in participating, you can see ways to get started on the “about” page, including inquiring about one-off pieces or recurring series. Or, email vaultofculture@gmail.com and let us know what you’re working on.

 

Feel free to prompt those far and wide that might be interested in contributing—we always hope that VoC can include a wide range of voices and approaches.

 

Thanks for your time and attention.


Shawn Gilmore

Editor, The Vault of Culture

 

Here are the articles and features on comics that have appeared in The Vault of Culture through June 2021.

Akhauri, Aki. 2021. “on Kay Sohini’s ‘Pandemic Precarities’.” In Gilmore, Shawn (ed.). “On Comics: a U-C Comics Colloquium introduction to COVID Chronicles (2021).” The Vault of Culture (24 May 2021): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/oncomics/covidchronicles

Ash, Evan. 2019. “Don't Know Much About Comic History: The Early Anti-Comic Book Movement, 1940-1944.” The Vault of Culture (29 September 2019): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/feature/ash/earlyanticomicsmovement

Babb, Tiffany. 2020. “The (Illusion of) Safety in Little Nemo’s Walking Bed.” The Vault of Culture (6 November 2020): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/slumberland/babbsafety

Bryan, Peter Cullen. 2020. “The Endless Media Adaptations of Little Nemo’s Walking Bed.” The Vault of Culture (6 November 2020): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/slumberland/bryanmedia

Gilmore, Shawn. 2019. “On Comics: Cole Pauls, Dakwäkãda Warriors (2016-19).” The Vault of Culture (11 November 2019): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/oncomics/paulsdakwakada

Gilmore, Shawn. 2019. “On Comics: Emil Ferris, My Favorite Thing is Monsters (2017).” The Vault of Culture (16 September 2019): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/oncomics/ferrismonsters

Gilmore, Shawn. 2019. “On Comics: Fiona Smyth, ‘Skin of Fate,’ in Nocturnal Emissions #3 (1991) & #4 (1992).” The Vault of Culture (9 August 2019): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/oncomics/smythskinoffate

Gilmore, Shawn. 2019. “On Comics: Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, Red: A Haida Manga (2009) and Alan Moore & JH Williams III, Promethea #32 (2005).” The Vault of Culture (26 August 2019): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/oncomics/yahgulanaasmoore

Gilmore, Shawn. 2019. “On Comics: Jillian Tamaki, ‘SexCoven,’ in Frontier #7 (2015).” The Vault of Culture (4 October 2019): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/oncomics/tamakisexcoven

Gilmore, Shawn. 2020. “‘Drake Waller’ (Arnold Drake & Leslie Waller), Matt Baker, and Ray Osrin, It Rhymes with Lust (1950).” The Vault of Culture (8 May 2020): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/graphicnovels/itrhymeswithlust  

Gilmore, Shawn. 2020. “Don Freeman, It Shouldn’t Happen— (To a Dog) (1945).” The Vault of Culture (24 April 2020): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/graphicnovels/itshouldnthappen

Gilmore, Shawn. 2020. “Jules Feiffer, The Great Comic Book Heroes (1965).” The Vault of Culture (25 June 2020): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/graphicnovels/greatcomicbookheroes

Gilmore, Shawn. 2020. “Mike Butterworth and Don Lawrence, The Trigan Empire (1978).” The Vault of Culture (20 April 2020): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/graphicnovels/triganempire

Gilmore, Shawn. 2020. “On Comics: Chris Ware, ‘Rusty Brown’ in The ACME Novelty Library #19 (Fall/Winter 2008, collected 2019).” The Vault of Culture (28 January 2020): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/oncomics/warerustybrown

Gilmore, Shawn. 2020. “Otto Nückel, Destiny: A Novel in Pictures (1926, 1930).” The Vault of Culture (6 May 2020): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/graphicnovels/destiny

Gilmore, Shawn. 2020. “Scale and Formal Presentation of Little Nemo’s Walking Bed.” The Vault of Culture (6 November 2020): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/slumberland/gilmorescale

Gilmore, Shawn (ed.). 2021. “On Comics: a U-C Comics Colloquium introduction to COVID Chronicles (2021).” The Vault of Culture (24 May 2021): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/oncomics/covidchronicles

Gilmore, Shaw. 2021. “on Zack Davisson and Lili Chin’s Yōkai Parade Presents Amabie!’” In Gilmore, Shawn (ed.). “On Comics: a U-C Comics Colloquium introduction to COVID Chronicles (2021).” The Vault of Culture (24 May 2021): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/oncomics/covidchronicles

Peppard, Anna F. 2020. “‘Til Death Do We Part, at Least for a While: My Undying Love Affair with Undying Superheroes.” The Vault of Culture (9 March 2020): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/feature/peppard/undying

Rondinelli, Zachary J.A. 2020. “On Comics: Even Batman Has (K)nightmares: An Analysis of Form and Communication in Tom King’s ‘Knightmare’ Arc (Batman #61-63, 66-69).” The Vault of Culture (17 March 2020): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/oncomics/kingknightmare

Rondinelli, Zachary J.A. 2020. “Sunken Treasure: Transformation, Mysticism, and the Father in Jeff Lemire’s The Underwater Welder (2012).” The Vault of Culture (1 May 2020): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/feature/rondinelli/underwaterwelder

Rondinelli, Zachary J.A. 2020. “Trippin’ on a Prayer: Masonic and Anticlerical Readings of Little Nemo's Walking Bed.” The Vault of Culture (6 November 2020): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/slumberland/rondinellitrippin

Rondinelli, Zachary J.A. 2020. “The #WalkingBedWeek Roundtable at the #WelcomeToSlumberland Social Media Research Project.” The Vault of Culture (6 November 2020): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/slumberland/rondinelliintro

Smith, Axlan. 2021. “on Rivi Handler-Spitz’s ‘We made faces instead.’” In Gilmore, Shawn (ed.). “On Comics: a U-C Comics Colloquium introduction to COVID Chronicles (2021).” The Vault of Culture (24 May 2021): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/oncomics/covidchronicles

Thacker, Mara. 2021. “on Mike Heinrich’s ‘Two Weeks’ Notice’.” In Gilmore, Shawn (ed.). “On Comics: a U-C Comics Colloquium introduction to COVID Chronicles (2021).” The Vault of Culture (24 May 2021): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/oncomics/covidchronicles

Totten, Chris. 2020. “The Animated Legacy of Little Nemo’s Walking Bed.” The Vault of Culture (6 November 2020): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/slumberland/tottenanimated

VanCalbergh, Michael. 2020. “On Comics: The Universe is Watching: Backgrounds in Tillie Walden’s On a Sunbeam (2018).” The Vault of Culture (23 June 2020): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/oncomics/waldenonasunbeam

Wigard, Justin. 2021. “Ludocomics: Play and Interactivity in Comics, Games, and You are Deadpool (2018).” The Vault of Culture. (12 April 2021): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/feature/wigard/youaredeadpool

Williams, Kelly. 2019. “Female Readership and Corruption in The Dark Phoenix Saga (1980) and Dark Phoenix (2019). The Vault of Culture (23 May 2019): https://www.vaultofculture.com/vault/feature/williams/darkphoenix