What's Killer Croc's ethnicity?

[maczero]

I was thumbing through a Solomon Grundy book and I noticed that Killer Croc referred to Grundy as "white boy". Now I know it was a shot at Grundy's chalk white skin but it sounded as if there was a racial vibe to it. Just seems like an odd insult from Croc who I assume is white (or at least has white parents).

[HaroldAllnut]

If I remember correctly, Waylon Jones was a white dude from the South.

[Greg Anderson]

Wait... wha? I thought Croc was black? :confused:

[pressdarlings]

Wait... wha? I thought Croc was black? :confused:

That's what I figured.

How'd he get so croc-ish?

[Vidocq]

Wait... wha? I thought Croc was black? :confused:
So did I, maybe is a retcon.

That's what I figured.

How'd he get so croc-ish?

He was born with a rare skin condition called Epidermolytic hyperkeratosis (Real Life skin Condition). In some cases it can cause scalling hands and feet (particulary the palms) and in extreme cases the scalling can cover a good part of the body, the scalling dosen't occur in every case however. After a while Writters started to make him more Lizard than man, and a guy with a skin condition might as well be called Mutated Lizard.


Edit A Quick search in Wikipedia showed me that some times it can come with an infection called Palmoplantar keratoderma that ''It is characterized by thickening of the palms and the soles of individuals who are affected'' So that and an acute case of Epidermolytic hyperkeratosis can make a foot look like this.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e5/Plantarkeratosis-01.jpg

In such cases an aputation is needed though.

BTW I'm no doctor and just looked up the conditon out geek curiousity, so some of the information over there might be wrong.

[nepenthes]

for some reason i was under the impression that he was black from the very beginning.

[jgiannantoni05]

His first appearance arc has him as black.
________
Volcano Vaporizer Reviews (http://vaporizer.org/reviews/volcano)

[mgs]

So that and an acute case of Epidermolytic hyperkeratosis can make a foot look like this.
GAH!!!!!!! :eek: *puke*

Warn a person before posting something like that!!!!!! That's disgusting!!!!!!!! *feels sick*

[Lester C.]

Wait... wha? I thought Croc was black? :confused:

I think that was only in the out of continuity stories by Brian Azzarello.

[Vidocq]

GAH!!!!!!! :eek: *puke*

Warn a person before posting something like that!!!!!! That's disgusting!!!!!!!! *feels sick*

:evilsmile: :tongue: Sorry I'll edit it. :biggrin:

[celticguy]

Wait... wha? I thought Croc was black? :confused:

a black super vilian not many of those.

[OverMaster]

IIRC, Waylon Jones has been portayed as green scaled since his childhood, when other kids were picking on him (Penguin, Scarecrow, Croc, Freeze, even Riddler in a Year One annual.... were *all* Batvillains bullied on when they were children?).

So that doesn't offer many hints. But ISTR a flashback once showing the aunt who raised him (his mother died when he was born), and she was white, if memory doesn't fail me.

And yes, he came from the deep swampy South.

[Retro315]

Killer Croc ... Waylon Jones ... is black.

I mean ... he's gray/green ... and scaly ... but he's an African-American. As far as I know, he ALWAYS has been.

I wonder why Black Manta has never hired him as a hired-gun ... (Black Manta only hires black henchmen ... then surgically gives them gills or mutates them into "Manta-Men" ...).

[nepenthes]

I just read the first arc again. great issues! the squid, gene colan, Todd family circus, Croc as a scheming threat to Gotham crime families, batman destroying his home...but no mention of being black. it must have come later. also Croc hides under a police car and breaks into their headquarters, awesome

[Captain Jim]

I just read the first arc again. great issues! the squid, gene colan, Todd family circus, Croc as a scheming threat to Gotham crime families, batman destroying his home...but no mention of being black. it must have come later. also Croc hides under a police car and breaks into their headquarters, awesome

I used to have that (and following issues) too and I don't have any recollection of him being black either.

[Redem]

Maybe its like Black Mask people no longer remember

[nepenthes]

^ what do people no longer remember about the black mask?

[JCAll]

Killer Croc ... Waylon Jones ... is black.

I mean ... he's gray/green ... and scaly ... but he's an African-American. As far as I know, he ALWAYS has been.

I wonder why Black Manta has never hired him as a hired-gun ... (Black Manta only hires black henchmen ... then surgically gives them gills or mutates them into "Manta-Men" ...).

Perhaps he's not a saltwater croc :tongue:

[Captain Librarian]

It's only a matter of time until he's retconned to be reptiloid (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Icke#Reptilian_humanoids). :wink:

And I'm probably the only person who will actually like it.

Edit: To stay on topic, I guess I always saw him as a cajun.

[mgs]

Edit: To stay on topic, I guess I always saw him as a cajun.
which, ethnically, speaking, has historically been a mix of white, black, native american, spanish and who knows what else. Them native louisiana folk got it on with everyone.

So, while everyone is thinking, one race ONLY!!, *coughObamacough* Maybe he's a mix?

[OverMaster]

I just read the first arc again. great issues! the squid, gene colan, Todd family circus, Croc as a scheming threat to Gotham crime families, batman destroying his home...but no mention of being black. it must have come later. also Croc hides under a police car and breaks into their headquarters, awesome

Ah, Pre-Crisis Croc. Why did the Crisis have to take his brains away?

[carabas]

Ah, Pre-Crisis Croc. Why did the Crisis have to take his brains away?A chunk of Earth G5 fell on his head.

As far as I can recall, I have heard Croc being refered to as black by fans (and I can recall a lot further back than Azarello's stories). But I've never actually seen anyhting in any comic to either prove or disprove it (although the Grundy scene would definitely indicate him being black).

[Kaos]

He's a brotha.

[DonC]

I don't recall ever reading about him being any color other than green. He's obviously a Martian. That would also explain his apparent shape-changing abilities.

[taozen]

Of course he would be black and you cannot tell. Maybe he should get into a fight with Spawn.:rolleyes:

[Redem]

^ what do people no longer remember about the black mask?

The face behind the mask

[Greg Anderson]

Of course he would be black and you cannot tell. Maybe he should get into a fight with Spawn.:rolleyes:

Huh? What is that suppose to mean? :confused:

[nepenthes]

The face behind the mask

His face was actually burnt off a while ago though .maybe i'm just misunderstanding an offhand comment. no matter

It's only a matter of time until he's retconned to be reptiloid (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Icke#Reptilian_humanoids). :wink:

He almost is right now, unfortunately. Though he's de-evolved rather than an advanced species like Icke's reptiles are. I think the excuse is that latent ancestral genes that are hidden within all of us are reawoken in him due to mutation. "Avastistic" mutation means going backwards. Very lame. Happened in Hush.

Ah, Pre-Crisis Croc. Why did the Crisis have to take his brains away?

Agreed Croc is definitively one character who got bent over after Crisis.

To my mind Croc should have always been in Black Masks position.

[carabas]

Huh? What is that suppose to mean? :confused:Al Simmons used to be a black guy, but he no longer has a skin, wears a full face mask, and the devil made it so that when he uses his magic to appear human, he looks like a blond, blue-eyed guy.

[Redem]

His face was actually burnt off a while ago though .maybe i'm just misunderstanding an offhand comment. no matter


Well I was mostly saying that maybe people just forget it and the canon never quite bothered to solve that issues

But I think he was wearing the mask before having it burn off and people just don't recall what he used to look like before either wearing the mask 24/7 or having it burn off

[OverMaster]

Well I was mostly saying that maybe people just forget it and the canon never quite bothered to solve that issues

But I think he was wearing the mask before having it burn off and people just don't recall what he used to look like before either wearing the mask 24/7 or having it burn off

At first, his scars weren't that serious or hideous. Look at Batman 400, where he appears unmasked and looking almost like a totally normal guy, and compare him to his final appearances.

[Greg Anderson]

Al Simmons used to be a black guy, but he no longer has a skin, wears a full face mask, and the devil made it so that when he uses his magic to appear human, he looks like a blond, blue-eyed guy.

That was one issue. Later on he was able to turn back into Al Simmons and after #100 he was able to go back and forth. Him turning into a white guy was a one issue thing and wasn't that big of a deal.

[carabas]

"Spawn isn't nearly good enough to hold my attention for 100 issues. Dropped it way before that.

But he's mostly know for having no face and a full-face mask, not for being a black superhero.

[Greg Anderson]

"Spawn isn't nearly good enough to hold my attention for 100 issues. Dropped it way before that.

But he's mostly know for having no face and a full-face mask, not for being a black superhero.

Well when Hine started writing, it got really damn good. If anyone's interested in checking out Spawn, it'd be recommended to try Hine's run on it. And Spawn being a black superhero wasn't driven throughout the stories but you knew he was black when you'd see flashbacks, when he fought the KKK and you'd see his family, etc. And I wouldn't say having no face and a full-mask is what he's known for. That's really odd to say that. But whatever.

[mgs]

But he's mostly know for having no face and a full-face mask, not for being a black superhero.
whaaaa???? :confused:

I admit, i haven't gotten the comic in a while, but his 'black' heritage is as key to the story as batman's parents being killed, imo. His kid, his wife, etc...

I always liked how his being black was simply something that was not called out on in the comic and it was simply, a given, no questions.