Editing Comic book (section)

===History of race in American comic books===
{{Cleanup section|reason=re-write to make less reliant on quotes, better fit WP's style|date=July 2019}}
Many early iterations of black characters in comics "became variations on the 'single stereotypical image of Sambo'."<ref name=":02">{{Cite thesis|last=Woodall|first=Lowery Anderson|date=2010|title=The Secret Identity of Race: Exploring Ethnic and Racial Portrayals in Superhero Comic Books |type=PhD dissertation |publisher=University of Southern Mississippi |url=http://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations/478}}</ref> Sambo was closely related to the coon stereotype but had some subtle differences. They are both a derogatory way of portraying black characters. "The name itself, an abbreviation of raccoon, is dehumanizing. As with Sambo, the coon was portrayed as a lazy, easily frightened, chronically idle, inarticulate, buffoon."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/coon/|title=The Coon Caricature - Anti-black Imagery - Jim Crow Museum - Ferris State University|website=www.ferris.edu|access-date=2019-06-30}}</ref> This portrayal "was of course another attempt to solidify the intellectual inferiority of the black race through popular culture."<ref name=":02" /> However, in the 1940s there was a change in portrayal of black characters. "A cursory glance...might give the impression that situations had improved for African Americans in comics."<ref name=":02" /> In many comics being produced in this time there was a major push for tolerance between races. "These equality minded heroes began to spring to action just as African Americans were being asked to participate in the war effort."<ref name=":02" />

During this time, a government ran program, the Writers' War Board, became heavily involved in what would be published in comics. "The Writers' War Board used comic books to shape popular perceptions of race and ethnicity..."<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Hirsch|first=Paul|date=2014|title="This Is Our Enemy": The Writers' War Board and Representations of Race in Comic Books, 1942–1945|journal=Pacific Historical Review|volume=83|issue=3|pages=448–486|doi=10.1525/phr.2014.83.3.448|issn=0030-8684|jstor=10.1525/phr.2014.83.3.448}}</ref> Not only were they using comic books as a means of recruiting all Americans, they were also using it as propaganda to "[construct] a justification for race-based hatred of America's foreign enemies."<ref name=":1" /> The Writers' War Board created comics books that were meant to "[promote] domestic racial harmony".<ref name=":1" /> However, "these pro-tolerance narratives struggled to overcome the popular and widely understood negative tropes used for decades in American mass culture...".<ref name=":1" /> However, they were not accomplishing this agenda within all of their comics.

In the comic series ''Captain Marvel Adventures'', there was a character named Steamboat who embodied a collection of highly negative stereotypes prevalent during that period. The Writers' War Board did not request any alterations to this character despite the problematic portrayal. The removal of Steamboat from the series only came about due to the persistent advocacy of a black youth group based in New York City."<ref name=":1" /> Originally their request was refused by individuals working on the comic stating, "''Captain Marvel Adventures'' included many kinds of caricatures 'for the sake of humor'."<ref name=":1" /> The black youth group responded with "this is not the Negro race, but your one-and-a-half millions readers will think it so."<ref name=":1" /> Afterwards, Steamboat disappeared from the comics all together. There was a comic created about the 99th Squadron, also known as the [[Tuskegee Airmen]], an all-black air force unit. Instead of making the comic about their story, the comic was about Hop Harrigan. A white pilot who captures a Nazi, shows him videos of the 99th Squadron defeating his men and then reveals to the Nazi that his men were defeated by African Americans which infuriated him as he sees them as a less superior race and cannot believe they bested his men."The Tuskegee Airmen, and images of black aviators appear in just three of the fifty three panels... the pilots of the 99th Squadron have no dialogue and interact with neither Hop Harrigan nor his Nazi captive."<ref name=":1" /> During this time, they also used black characters in comic books as a means to invalidate the militant black groups that were fighting for equality within the U.S. "Spider-Man 'made it clear that militant black power was not the remedy for racial injustice'."<ref name=":02" /> "The Falcon openly criticized black behavior stating' maybe it's important {{sic|fo}} us to cool things down-so we can protect the rights we been fightin' for'."<ref name=":02" /> This portrayal and character development of black characters can be partially blamed on the fact that, during this time, "there had rarely been a black artist or writer allowed in a major comics company."<ref name=":02" />

Asian characters within comic books encountered similar prejudiced treatment as black characters did. They were subjected to dehumanizing depictions, with narratives often portraying them as "incompetent and subhuman."<ref name=":1" /> In a 1944 edition of the publication ''United States Marines'', there was a story titled ''The Smell of the Monkeymen''. This narrative portrayed Japanese soldiers as brutish simians, and it depicted their concealed positions being betrayed by their repugnant body odor.<ref name=":1" /> Chinese characters received the same treatment. "By the time the United States entered WWII, negative perceptions of Chinese were an established part of mass culture...."<ref name=":1" /> However, concerned that the Japanese could use America's anti-Chinese material as propaganda they began "to present a more positive image of America's Chinese allies..."<ref name=":1" /> Just as they tried to show better representation for Black people in comics they did the same for Asian people. However, "Japanese and Filipino characters were visually indistinguishable. Both groups have grotesque buckteeth, tattered clothing, and bright yellow skin."<ref name=":1" /> "Publishers depicted America's Asian allies through derogatory images and language honed over the preceding decades."<ref name=":1" /> Asian characters were previously portrayed as, "ghastly yellow demons".<ref name=":02" /> During WWII, "[every] major superhero worth his spandex devoted himself to the eradication of Asian invaders."<ref name=":02" /> There was "a constant relay race in which one Asian culture merely handed off the baton of hatred to another with no perceptible changes in the manner in which the characters would be portrayed."<ref name=":02" />

"The only specific depiction of a Hispanic superhero{{dubious|date=October 2020|reason=Living Lighting was a Hispanic Avenger from 1990...}} did not end well. In 1975, Marvel gave us Hector Ayala (a.k.a. The White Tiger)."<ref name=":02" /> "Although he fought for several years alongside the likes of much more popular heroes such as Spider-Man and Daredevil, he only lasted six years before sales of comics featuring him got so bad that Marvel had him retire.<ref name=":02" /> The most famous Hispanic character is Bane, a villain from Batman."<ref name=":02" />

The Native American representation in comic books "can be summed up in the noble savage stereotype"<ref name=":02" /> " a recurring theme...urged American indians to abandon their traditional hostility towards the United States. They were the ones painted as intolerant and disrespectful of the dominant concerns of white America".<ref name=":02" />