Do you feel Marvel shows a negative depiction of certain races, or cultures?

[drwho]

I was doing a search than discovered an 8 page report about Arab's in comics. Anyone think they get a bad rap in them, or is there any other race or nationality that is always depicted in a negative manner?

http://www.ameu.org/page.asp?iid=142&aid=186&pg=1

I don't see a problem since most races are depicted as villains anyway just surprised they devoted an article to this subject.

[Young Avenger]

I don't see a problem since most races are depicted as villains anyway just surprised they devoted an article to this subject.

You sure about that? From what I seen, characters of different races are depicted as legacy characters.

[Uncensored]

u b tripin dawg

[JLarson]

Not a lot of respect is paid to the glorious Ninja and Zombie cultures.

People who use drugs are always unfairly depicted too.

[Your Imaginary Pal]

I'd say more uninformed than negative.


All though in the 60's if you were a Russian Marvel character it is likely that you were a commie bastard, hell bent on destroying the free world.

With the exception of the Black Panter, if you were a Black man, you were probably an Ex-Convict.
(Funny to me how even in Stan Lee's Just Imagine Batman, he managed to have that Black guy be an ex-con as well, though wrongfully accused)

[Kevinroc]

I understand that article is from 15 years ago and so some of those comics were still somewhat new but it's hard to say based on evidence from 20 year old comics how we should define Marvel or DC today in regards to other cultures.

[Agentum]

Well it is american comics, you know the greates country in the world, american comics is sometimes very patriotic.

And i can understan why the arabics is the villians now, they are the enemy as the comunists was or before that nazis and japs.
It's of course not anyway near what it was in those days.

[JLarson]

Well it is american comics, you know the greates country in the world, american comics is sometimes very patriotic.

And i can understan why the arabics is the villians now, they are the enemy as the comunists was or before that nazis and japs.
It's of course not anyway near what it was in those days.

The comics aren't as bad as the people... at least not until Chuck Dixon gets his way.

[Beast]

Sure some of those examples are bad. But Comics for the most part are "Equal Oppertunity Offenders". After all, you can throw a stone and hit a comic that is presenting the U.S. Government badly as well. ;)

[Agentum]

No i think the people is worse :D

And it's true that comics often makes american goverments look bad, but it's often non american writers that write those and it makes threads pop up on forums about why the writer hates america, you know either you are with them or against them:D

It can be intresting with some radical opinions in comics, i don't have to agree with the writer to like the book, i don't think that way, good comics is good comics to me.

And it's seems sane to me wit americans that questions their goverments actions, sometimes it can be to blindly patriotic and no thinking.

[Young Avenger]

People who use drugs are always unfairly depicted too.

That's not always the case. Cloak & Dagger got their powers from using drugs.

[Haunt]

That's not always the case. Cloak & Dagger got their powers from using drugs.


yeah but they don't appear very often because, off-panel, they're all strung out and crazy. they smoke rock.

[Kirk G]

I was doing a search than discovered an 8 page report about Arab's in comics. Anyone think they get a bad rap in them, or is there any other race or nationality that is always depicted in a negative manner?

http://www.ameu.org/page.asp?iid=142&aid=186&pg=1

I don't see a problem since most races are depicted as villains anyway just surprised they devoted an article to this subject.
This has been an issue in television programs since at least 1987. When I was at a PBS TV station, we heard a long presentation of stereotyping of the "bad arab" or "bad egyptian" in cartoons, tv shows, dramas, etc.
The examples were pretty clear. It was so bad, so frequent, that everytime a stereotype would come on, the professor's daughter would call through the house, "He's on TV again...."
The professor documented each appearance of this and wrote to each TV station and network. He got things changed. Not removed, but changed. Several cartoon series had individual episodes banned from airing again... and, he sensitized all of us that day (45+ TV officials) to the issue.

So, if "he" has reared his head again, I'm not surprised. It's almost too easy in cartoons and comics to make a characture in a stereotype role.
REMEMBER THE FREITO BANDITO! (When was the last time you every saw him???!!!):eek:

[Erebus]

Dust from the New X-Men is treated pretty respectfully. Besides that, I can't think of anyone.

[Laminator_X]

Rampart from Sovereign Seven (Claremont's post X-Men DC project) is probably the most positive depiction of an Arab in comics that I can think of.

Granted, that's a cancelled book from 10 years ago...

Black Adam is repping Middle Eastern these days too (again DC, obviously).


Latverians are of course the worst depicted culture in comics. They're all either peasants, gypsies, robots, or DOOM!

[Joey Deadcat]

Skrulls are still stereotyped as having very bad attitudes.

[Alman_2006]

Latveria isnt a real country. the skrulls are an alien race. how they are depicted has absolutely no effect or disrespect to anyone because nobody will be offended by it. Arabs or Afro-Americans etc however may be quite annoyed by the fact that 90% of arabian characters in comics are evil.

[Squaw Fish]

Uhhh....I think those were jokes...I think...

[ednemo]

Comics follow the times. And Arabs have a very different culture than most Americans. It is very easy to see them as evil. But, I would wager that there are more White American Super Villains than anything else. Since the MU mostly focuses on America we are not going to see many characters from other lands outside of the occasional baddy. And they are usually followed closely behind by a local good guy chasing them. The good guys just aren't as interesting as the bad guys. And dissapear back into the wood-work. Leaving the interesting bad guy to plague American Heroes. The Mandarin-Chinese, Apocolypse-Egyptian, Doom-Romi. All examples of different cultures with brilliant super-villains. Hardly horrible stereotypes.

[Joey Deadcat]

Uhhh....I think those were jokes...I think...


I was almost gonna ask him if he was a limbo dancer...:p

[overcomebyfumes]

Skrulls are still stereotyped as having very bad attitudes.

You think the Skrulls have it bad - I don't think there's EVER been a positive portrayal of the Badoon. Up with Badoon! Green is gorgeous!!

[overcomebyfumes]

Latveria isnt a real country. the skrulls are an alien race. how they are depicted has absolutely no effect or disrespect to anyone because nobody will be offended by it. Arabs or Afro-Americans etc however may be quite annoyed by the fact that 90% of arabian characters in comics are evil.

Despite the fact that Latveria the country is fictional, the portrayal of "Gypsies" (Romani) has always been horribly sterotypical and quite offensive. The horse-pulled carts, fiddlers, and pirate sashes are the equivalent of what watermelon and Aunt Jemima are to African-Americans. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible. "Stepnfetchit" portrayals of African-Americans became unacceptable decades ago, but we still occaisionally see equivalant portrayals of gypsies.


...and while we're on the topic of sterotypes - monks living in ancient hidden Himalayan temples... why are they so good at training white people and so crappy at training Asians? White people that train there become super-heroes* or villians**, while Asians become cannon fodder. WTF is up wit THAT? Can't these temples train a single decent Asian Ninja?

That really burns me. I'm starting the Foundation to Raise Awareness of Monks Living in Ancient Hidden Himalayan Temples (FRAMLAHHT). Please send money to me via Paypal. Thanks.

_______________________________________________

* Heroes (that I know of)- Dr. Strange, Iron-Fist, Bat Man. I'm not sure of Shang-Chi's origin. Did he train at an AHHT? That would make him the sole Asian hero to have done so...

** Villians (that I know of) - Baron Mordo, Dr. Doom, Raas-al-Ghul

Anyone know any more?

[Ikaris]

I want to go back to the old days when everybody made fun of the French people :)

[Gargus]

Depicting someone as they are is like a sterotype, its based on something. I mean sterotypes arent based off of nothing, everyone fits theirs to some extent.

At any rate you have to have differences both positive and negative because that is how the world works. I mean you dont hear any white people complaining that white people are always depicted as villians, drug dealers or corporate criminals do you? But we are in the comics and it doesnt upset me.

I mean honestly where do you draw a line? Is it ok to stereotype one type of people but not another? No, eithers it all ok or none of its ok.

Besides we are talking about fictional charcters here folks, this is a comic book, its not real.

But lets peek in reality for a moment even though it has nothing to do with comics. What do you expect to happen to people of the brown skinned culture in these times? For along time black people were the target and now with the whole bombing things and alqueda (spell that right?) thing and such now its brown peoples turn to be the whipping boy for all the worlds bad doings. Its not right but its how it works. Nothing bonds people together than their blind and stupid hatred for someone else. So when the masses hate brown people then companies will need to bank off that.

[ednemo]

But lets peek in reality for a moment even though it has nothing to do with comics. What do you expect to happen to people of the brown skinned culture in these times? For along time black people were the target and now with the whole bombing things and alqueda (spell that right?) thing and such now its brown peoples turn to be the whipping boy for all the worlds bad doings. Its not right but its how it works. Nothing bonds people together than their blind and stupid hatred for someone else. So when the masses hate brown people then companies will need to bank off that.

We're getting into the realm of politics and unpleasantness which is where I take my leave.

[mastaflan]

This is just me but I don't see anything wrong with certain stereotypical things about races in comics. To me its a matter of how its told especially since we can all argue that comics today are a lot more sophisticated.

For example the Arabian Knight of old could still be really cool if given character developement and a chance to demonstrate how wonderful a thing it is to have his skills in riding a magic carpet and wielding a Kopesh. Maybe artists could take there time in drawing more neat and inticate cultural clothing to make him look more fashionable. But thats just me. I would have made found a way to make him more powerful and cooler by giving him more magical artifacts to work with.

The problem I think is that he isn't very marketable like a lot of other (for lack of a better term) "ethnic" charcters. If I was a writer I would find a away to make a lot of characters cool. Unfortunately I don't think I'd get the funding.

[Eliseu Gouveia]

There´s over a bilion people in India, another bilion in China and almost the same in Pakhistan.
Kinda hard to believe such vast amounts of people would only spawn one or two metas.

[Captain Exaggeration]

Arabs are the easiest people for us to associate with terrorism. Its not nearly as bad as in the 40's and 60's when every foreign villain was either: Russian, Japanese, Chinese or Vietnamese. Besides, I hardly see Arabs at all in comics anyway.

[DDM]

Skrulls are still stereotyped as having very bad attitudes.

Originally, the Skrulls are the comic book versions that represent the Soviet Union.

[DDM]

Latveria isnt a real country. the skrulls are an alien race. how they are depicted has absolutely no effect or disrespect to anyone because nobody will be offended by it. Arabs or Afro-Americans etc however may be quite annoyed by the fact that 90% of arabian characters in comics are evil.

Well, according to the Islama-Fascists, the Wester world--United States of America, the United Kingdom & the rest of Europe--we are infidels who should be killed for simply living a "sinful life." The Islama-Fascists are evil. The Islama-Fascists are of Arabian origin. 2 plus 2 equals 4.

[DDM]

I want to go back to the old days when everybody made fun of the French people :)

Johnny Depp is looking to move out of France since the riots began. I suppose Depp will move to the moon next to seek peace & tranquility. :p

[Kevinroc]

Johnny Depp is looking to move out of France since the riots began. I suppose Depp will move to the moon next to seek peace & tranquility. :p

Well, he can be The Watcher's neighbor then.

[Smarty Jones]

Most racial minorities (for example, black, Asian and Hispanic) are rarely depicted in relationships with someone else of their racial background. It gives the impression that white creators and readers are interested in them only when they are in a relationship with a white person.