Comics have come a long way since Milton Caniff could put a hideous Chinese stereotype in a family newspaper, or create a racist World War II guide to telling “Japs” from Chinese people — right? Well… but what about those papers today that only want one “black strip” — Candorville or Curtis, but not both? The top ranks of Marvel & DC heroes are overwhelmingly white — and, thanks to “regressive storytelling” at DC, they’re becoming more so. Black heroes, Hispanic heroes, seldom have their own titles. And, oh by the way — how about some characters with roots in India? Please? Tim, Kumar, and Mulele discuss the past history of racism — intentional and not — in American comics, and the present-day reality of most comics’ racial non-diversity. Also: Why Canadian-citizen Kumar never cared about Alpha Flight!
Links, links, and more links:
- A new beginning for the black superhero?
- Why we need minority heroes in superhero comics
- The five most unintentionally offensive comic book characters (featuring racial separatist Tyroc, black Lois Lane, and “pimp” Falcon)
- Yellowface: A Story in Pictures
- Why Ebony White isn’t Sassy
- Top 12 Latin Superheroes
- Black Racer
- Black Panther
- Is Mark Millar sexist and racist?
- Why does this insanely racist thing happen in Spider-Man: Fever?
- Idris Elba to play Heimdall in Thor movie
- EC’s controversial 1950s story “Judgement Day”
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Chris Bachlo’s art has long had a compelling style to it, and yet it was sometimes very difficult to decipher just what was happening on some of his pages. This was perhaps particularly pronounced in his work on Steam Punk with Joe Kelly, back at the turn of the millennium. But his recent work on such Marvel titles as Amazing Spider-Man and New Avengers has been completely clear and easy to understand. What did he change to clear things up? And, by the way — will Steam Punk ever be completed?!
Whether it’s Old Man Logan, Days of Future Past, or Dr. Doom’s recent hallucination of a utopian future, possible futures and alternate time-lines are fun for both creator and reader. Tim and Patrik talk about alternate timelines (is there one where Dark Reign is finally over?), plus un-rebooting books, and the lack of new heroes challenging the old guard for popularity.
STORM, the fourth (at least!) member of the San Francisco comics cooperative Writers Old Fashioned to appear on this podcast, talks about his comic 
In case you thought this podcast was getting too high-brow, we dispel that notion with some mainstream fanboy talk! Patrik W joins Tim to talk about Secret Invasion, Cable, Amazing Spider-Man, and more!
How can an artist, in any medium, manage the audience’s expectations, so that they enjoy change and evolution, rather than rejecting it as different from what they have come to expect?
