NATIVE AMERICANS IN COMICS
by Emmett Furey
<http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/contact.cgi?authorid=79> , Staff
Writer
www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=9484<http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=9484>
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ericans/indians01.jpg> The portrayal of Native Americans in American
popular media has undergone a number of changes over the past several
hundred years. With that in mind, CBR News interviewed eight
professionals in and around the comics
<http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=9484#> industry
to learn more about their perspectives on the portrayal of Native
Americans in comics, past and present. Our participants include:
* Jason Aaron ("The Other Side," "Scalped") * David Mack
("Daredevil," "Kabuki") * Jeff Mariotte ("Desperadoes") * Jay
Odjick ("The Raven") * Robert Schmidt ("Peace Party") * Michael
Sheyahshe ("Native Americans in Comics") * Tim Truman ("Scout,"
"Turok: Dinosaur Hunter") * Mark Waid ("Brave and the Bold
<http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=9058> ," "52")
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<http://ads.comicbookresources.com/adclick.php?n=ad0fb9f2> Some of
the earliest depictions of Native Americans in American fiction were in
the dime novels that were popular in the late 19th and early 20th
century. To the frontiersmen marching ever westward, the indigenous
peoples of the United States were little more than savage heathens, an
obstacle to be overcome on their path to manifest destiny. And it was in
these dime novels that the groundwork was laid for what would become the
prevailing image of Native Americans for decades to come. With the
advent of the motion picture in the early 20th century, the medium that
would one day supplant literature as the primary mode of American
escapism, adopted a similarly skewed view of Native Americans. The
Western genre was as popular in the action-adventure serials as it was
in dime novels, and the serialized storytelling from which the weekly
installments got their name, as well as the cliffhanger plot device that
the serial pioneered, were just a few of the ways that early film
influenced the burgeoning medium of comics when the comic book
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penetrated the public consciousness in the 1930s. JASON AARON
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"Scalped" #3, Page 12 Writer Jason Aaron
<http://jasoneaaron.blogspot.com/> first made a name for himself in
2002 when he won the Marvel Comics Talent Search, but has since found a
home at DC's Vertigo. January 2007 saw the release of the fourth issue
of Aaron's critically acclaimed Vietnam War drama "The Other Side
<http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=6769> ," and the
first issue of his Native American crime series "Scalped
<http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=8078> ."
"Scalped" takes place on a fictional Reservation called Prairie Rose,
patterned after the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, one of the
poorest Reservations in the nation. Undercover FBI agent Dashiel Bad
Horse returns to the Reservation where he grew up to combat the culture
of corruption that has settled over it by infiltrating the organization
of a local crime boss named Red Crow, who also happens to hold the title
of Sheriff. Aaron admitted that the notion of writing a comic with an
exclusively Native cast was more than a little daunting. "It requires a
lot of research, and you have to constantly be aware that you're writing
about real people and a real location, as opposed to the Mighty Thor in
the realm of Asgard," Aaron said. "It's definitely a challenge as a
writer, but it's a challenge I welcome." "Depicting the drama of rez
life is certainly one of the things we're trying to do with 'Scalped,'
but at the same time, it's a fictional crime book, so in a sense we're
also exploiting the setting," Aaron said. "But I've approached the
project from the get-go with a tremendous amount of respect. I'm not
nearly pretentious enough to think my little comic is going to make any
sort of difference for the average Native on the average American rez,
but I still think it's important to try."
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"Scalped" #4, Pages 12 & 13 Comics, too, were quick to jump on the
Western bandwagon (pun intended), and in the earliest days of the
medium, Native peoples were, for the most part, portrayed in a less than
favorable light. Then a curious thing happened: the concept of the noble
savage began to take hold, as epitomized by the Lone Ranger's
traditionally simple-minded Native sidekick, Tonto. "For a long time,
the Western mythology was about the tough white man standing tall
against the red savages," writer Jeff Mariotte said. "That was
eventually replaced, or at least joined, by the idea of the noble
savage. Western comics grew out of those same contradictory mythologies
- more the former than the latter, since the creators and readers were
white, or were presumed to be, and because the stories were relatively
simplistic good vs. evil tales of heroism." "In terms of heroic
fiction, I think, sadly, everything we know about Native Americans was
defined by Tonto," veteran comic-book scribe Mark Waid said. "And that's
really sort of unfortunate and it's a very narrow definition. And I
think that as Native Americans started to really find their own voice in
pop culture in the '70s and '80s, shamanism and mysticism became a
little more prominent in the nation's culture, and that helped comics
writers and adventure writers find new and interesting things to do with
Native American characters. But there's still probably a long way to
go." Indeed, as Waid attested, as the years wore on, the noble-savage
sidekick eventually rode off into the sunset. But the stereotype that so
stubbornly stood the test of time had all but become the Native
archetype, and Native American characterization to this day, in comics
and elsewhere, remains mired in a laundry list of misrepresentative
stereotypes. The image of the stoic Native shaman sporting an ensemble
of leather and feathers has been so ingrained in North America's
collective unconscious that even Natives themselves have difficulty
divesting themselves of this self-image. As cultural identity is at
once informed by both one's own people's perceptions as well as those of
others, it becomes difficult for Native peoples to reconcile the
cultural construct that has been imposed upon them by America's dominant
race with the often-contradictory messages that are imparted to them
through their people's oral traditions. Author Timothy Truman admitted
that he himself has, at times, been guilty of leaning on the tired
stereotype of the Native shaman. "With my stories, however, I tried to
strike a balance and base things on research," Truman said. In Truman's
eyes, there are three reasons that writers fall back on this kind of
characterization: Because magic and mysticism is "cool and mysterious,"
it is an iconic tool, and because it's a way of superficially applying
Native traits to a character saving the writer the burden of more
thorough research. DAVID MACK
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Echo from "Daredevil" by Mack Writer/artist David Mack
<http://www.davidmack.com/> is perhaps best known for his creator owned
series "Kabuki" (Image/Icon), but has also lent his talents to more
mainstream fare, like Marvel's "Alias" and "Daredevil." It was during
his stint on the latter with artist Joe Quesada that Mack created the
character of Maya Lopez (a.k.a. Echo) as a love interest for the man
without fear. Maya is a Latina Native American who was born deaf, and,
like Matt Murdock, her remaining senses pick up the slack. She boasts a
form of photographic reflexes that allow her to mimic any simple or
complex actions she has ever seen another perform. "I saw Daredevil as
this man sort of isolated from the world in general, because he views it
in such a different way because he's blind," Mack said. "And I thought,
'Well, it would be interesting if there was a woman in his life that had
kind of a disengagement from the rest of the world in a certain way too
that he could kind of relate to, but in a different way from his own.'"
Mack, for his part, was deliberately vague when it came to the specifics
of Maya's background. His own interest in Native Americans sparked by
the tales his Cherokee uncle would tell him when he was a boy, Mack's
art imitated his life in the pages of "Daredevil" when a young Maya
Lopez listened to her father recount the Native Trail of Tears that
brought him to the Reservation where he grew up. "What I wanted to do
was not disassociate her so much, I tried to find as much integration as
possible," Mack said. "When her father was telling her the Echo story
about their history, he was talking about all these different tribes
being rounded up from different places and then put into this one area.
So it's this idea that she has all of these stories from all these
different tribes passed down that she's the living embodiment of now, so
I thought that's a way to make it as inclusive as possible, a way to see
similarities instead of differences." Comic-book writer Jason Aaron
("Scalped") was of the same mind. "Once upon a time, I'm sure it seemed
like a novel way to portray Native Americans and was probably a real
advance over the 'savage redskin' portrayal," he said. "But these days,
it's usually just a bland, watered-down way of touching upon traditional
Native American religions without really containing any substance."
"There are many elements that are over-used when telling stories that
include Native American people," Michael Sheyahshe said. So many, in
fact, that Sheyahshe wrote a book about it. "I go into more detail about
what these stereotypes are, what they mean, where they come from, and
how they stack up to reality in 'Native Americans in Comic Books.' Even
those stories created with the best intentions fall into these
stereotypical traps. Thus, it becomes important that we not only
identify these issues, but devise ways to overcome these negative
elements." "It's somewhat natural to think of Indians and the
supernatural," said Blue Corn Comics publisher Robert Schmidt. "The
traditional Indian talks of being in harmony with or linked to nature,
the universe, the Great Spirit. If you want to do a pro-Indian comic,
you want to reflect these values, so your heroes tend to have some
connection to mystical forces. The question is not so much whether
creators do it, but whether they overdo it," Schmidt explained. "For
your first few Native characters, it's understandable to give them a
connection with the natural and supernatural worlds. But for the 10th or
100th Native character, it's time to do something new." Mariotte
doesn't necessarily agree that the mystical aspects of Native culture
have been overused. "Probably certain aspects have been, but others have
barely been touched on, and I think most readers don't know much about
them," Mariotte said. "Most Americans, for instance, think of Geronimo
as a war chief of the Apache. In fact, he was a shaman who believed
himself magically protected from the bullets of the Europeans. He
remained unwounded through the longest war in America's history, so
who's to say he wasn't right? I would love to see more serious attention
paid to the culture and beliefs of the First Americans in comics."
There is also an argument to be made that elements like Native mysticism
are simply congruent with that mainstay of the mainstream marketplace,
the superhero story. As a child, getting an earful of Native American
stories from his Cherokee uncle on the one hand, and more than his
recommended daily requirement of comic books on the other, a young David
Mack recognized that the two shared many a common theme. "Native
American stories were very similar and congruent with our superhero
stories, these incredible archetype stories where, basically, it's a
morality play, where someone learns to use whatever their unique thing
is, even if it's using a handicap as a strength, that ends up saving the
tribe, or helping the good of their tribe or their area," Mack said.
Sheyahshe said that he has frequent conversations with his wife, a
fiction writer in her own right, about myth and heroism and their place
in stories. "Some of these more overused elements are endemic to the
idea of hero in general. However, it is the vehicle by which these
powers or heroism presents itself that sometimes push the story over to
the stereotypic side of the scale." Dr. Strange's mysticism and Storm's
weather control powers do not stem from their cultural identity, for
example, whereas characters like Shaman and Sarah Rainmaker "both have
super-power due in large part to them being Native American."
JEFF MARIOTTE
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"Desperadoes: Buffalo Dreams"
Issues #1 and #2 From a young age, writer Jeff Mariotte
<http://www.jeffmariotte.com/> had a love affair with both the Western
and the Horror genre. It was only natural, then, that he would find a
way to marry the two genres, and that he did (and does) in his
critically acclaimed Weird West comic "Desperadoes
<http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=8762> ." The
writer currently resides in Arizona desert, and it is in and around
there that many of his Western tales are set. And "Desperadoes"
certainly has no dearth of Native American characters and themes.
"Desperadoes" is an ensemble piece, and the story of the first
installment, "A Moment's Sunlight," is kicked off with the murder of
Gideon Brood's Native American wife and child. The former Texas Ranger
and stock detective sets out on a mission of vengeance in pursuit of the
killer, a part-white, part-Indian named Peik so filled with
self-loathing that he preys on other so called "half-breeds" like
Brood's late son. And the ritualistic way in which Peik skinned his
victims temporarily endowed the killer with the powers of invisibility
and enhanced strength. This ability was not rooted in actual Native
American legend, but was rather an invention of Mariotte himself. "There
are lots of weird things out there, in First American myths and in
Judeo-Christian myths and every other belief system you can name,"
Mariotte said. "But it's usually more fun for me to make up my own than
to rely on the existing beliefs. "I've used several historical Native
figures in 'Desperadoes': Nana, Lozen, and Geronimo, for instance,"
Mariotte continued. "I treat them as accurately as I can, while
obviously involving them in fictional situations." Mariotte admitted
that in period Western stories there is a delicate balance between
portraying Natives in a way that modern Americans would call politically
correct and keeping in mind the mindset of people who actually lived in
that era. "When Race Kennedy meets his first Indians in 'A Moment's
Sunlight,' he believes what he's read about them in dime novels. But
Jerome Alexander Betts, who has fought them as a buffalo soldier, also
knows and respects them, as the greatest 'Indian fighters' did,"
Mariotte said. "I treat them with the respect they deserve while
maintaining historical authenticity." So there would seem to be a fine
line to walk in the portrayal of Native American characters. Characters
who are Native American in name alone may invite charges of tokenism,
but superficial, stereotypical portrayals are just as culturally
insensitive. "To me, it's always more interesting when characters
reflect their heritage and background in real and significant ways,"
Mariotte said. And this seems to get to the heart of the matter: Those
overused aspects of Native life and culture aren't offensive in and of
themselves, it's how they are portrayed that makes or breaks a
stereotype. Portraying shamanism as an easily and arbitrarily attainable
superpower is in effect trivializing that important aspect of Native
culture. "Native people aren't really all natural trackers, for
example," said Jay Odjick, the Native American creator of "The Raven."
"If you have a character in a book or movie who knows how to track
animals because he grew up learning how, and it makes logical sense,
then I don't have an issue with it." Even though creators in the comic
book medium have certainly been guilty of perpetuating the
misrepresentative Eurocentric construct of Native Americans, the
question becomes, is today's comics landscape a viable platform for
counter-appropriating said myths by portraying this continent's
indigenous people in a more accurate light? Furthermore, can the medium
of comics be used to raise awareness about the problems that haunt
Native peoples to this day? One such problem is the living conditions
on Reservations. "Someone once asked me, to my surprise, what the answer
was to problems like alcoholism, drug addiction, unemployment,
illiteracy etc. on reserves, and the only real answer is that there is
no answer, rather, there are answers; you have to look at things on a
case by case basis," Odjick said. "The answers involve education,
engineering, counseling, economic development, awareness, crime
prevention as opposed to reaction, health care, etc. In a lot of cases,
awareness needs to be raised as to living conditions on reservations
both in Canada and the US, and I think if handled properly, comics, as
well as other forms of entertainment, are a great way to help create
that awareness." "Comics can be, and have been, used to address social
issues in a variety of settings," Mariotte said. "They could be used to
talk to Native Americans themselves, about the necessity of preserving
their own heritage and overcoming the problems thrust upon them by
poverty, discrimination, substance abuse and so on. They could also be
used to inform a more general audience about those issues. As always,
one has to be careful of didacticism, and to couch any lessons inside
entertaining stories, but comics are an ideal medium for that sort of
thing. Cheaper to produce than a movie, more likely to be read than a
textbook or a news article, and involving because of the way they tell
stories. I'd love to see it happen, and I'd love to see a movement of
Native American comics storytellers telling their own stories."
JAY ODJICK
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"The Raven" #1 and Kagagi Jay Odjick
<http://www.darkwingproductions.ca/> is a relative newcomer to the
comics profession. The 28-year-old artist/writer hails from the
Algonquin tribe, and currently resides in the Kitigan Zibi reservation
in Canada. His biggest claim to fame to date has been creating "The
Raven," a Native themed book that he self-published through Darkwing
Productions, and is returning next year in a miniseries under the banner
of Arcana Studios. "I grew up in the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg (Garden
River people, translated literally) community, which is where my father
is from. He's an Algonquin, while my mother is Italian / German American
from Rochester, New York," Odjick said. "I was born in Rochester, but we
moved to my father's reservation when I was about five. So, I grew up in
Kitigan Zibi, attended college off the reserve and worked outside for
awhile, and came back a few years before I started my studio." Odjick
described "The Raven" as "a series about a young guy put in the position
of finding his place in the world; his path. Through the course of the
series, he learns that he can't really grow into a complete well-rounded
individual without some knowledge of his culture and background."
Serendipity struck two years ago at the Paradise Comics Toronto Comicon
when Odjick, who was not even looking for a publisher at the time,
happened to be assigned a booth next to that of Arcana Studios. "Over
the course of the weekend, I ended up talking about my book with Arcana
owner Sean O'Reilly, as we just talked about our experiences in comics,
etcetera, and eventually the topic of me bringing my book to Arcana came
up," Odjick explained. "A few weeks after the con, we set up a deal to
do a new mini-series through Arcana, the one coming out in '07, called
'Kagagi,' which is the Algonquin translation of raven." "The most
important thing, and why it was so appealing to me, and still is, is
because this is the kind of thing I would've liked to have seen as a
kid," Odjick said. "A story about a Native hero where the emphasis is as
equally placed on 'hero' as it is on 'Native.'" While admittedly the
current comics landscape is largely bereft of Native stories told by
Native creators, this is not the case in other media. "There's actually
been really good films about that sort of thing these days by Native
American filmmakers, there's one called 'Smoke Signals,' there are a few
other ones," Mack said. "That stuff is probably best learned from some
of the stories or films about Native American reservations by Native
Americans." While Sheyahshe certainly agreed that there are many and
varied problems facing Natives of today that do need to be addressed, it
is just as important in his eyes to tell stories that promote the
positive aspects of Native American culture. "In my opinion, there are
far too many stories that demonstrate the problems we face, as a people
and race. Everyone figures the only story we have to offer is a
sob-story about the wrongs and injustices we endured over time. What is
distinctly lacking, not only from comic books but from film, television,
cartoons, video games, are stories that go beyond the drama toward
celebration of what it means to be Indigenous. " Another pervading
problem is the disconnect between young Native Americans and their
Native roots, which is due in no small part to the legacy of the
so-called boarding schools that the U.S. government forced Native
children to attend with an eye towards cultural assimilation. "It's
been true for more than a century, since the U.S. government ripped
Native kids away from their families and forcibly educated them in
government schools," Truman said. Native children were forced to cut
their hair, and admonished if they said their own prayers or tried to
practice their religious beliefs. "So much for freedoms of religion and
self-expression." Odjick explained that the "assimilation agenda" was
as prevalent in Canada as it was in the U.S. "Especially the Residential
school system, in which the speaking of Native languages (as well as
other cultural practices) was strictly forbidden. Given the amount of
people who attended those schools (often against their will, or the will
of their parents), it isn't surprising that many people became
disassociated with language, culture and heritage." "A lot of tribes
began losing their cultural distinctiveness in the 20th century, ranging
from the boarding school era in the early 1900s to the assimilation and
termination phase in the 1950s and 1960s," Schmidt said. "The people
were simply too poor to succeed in their reduced circumstances, so they
gave up and left. Since the 'Indian pride' era of the 1970s through
today's gaming explosion, I'd say they've stemmed the tide of
adaptation. While some tribes are selling out and becoming pure
capitalists, others are using their newfound income to revitalize the
languages and cultures they began losing decades ago." ROB
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