Thursday, April 14, 2016

Finding The Balance of Diversity in Comics

Diversity is one of the hot button issues plaguing modern comic books. Not so much in that Diversity is a bad thing, but the way people are going about calling for it, declaring it, and the way companies are adhering to these requests is having a negative impact on the movement. Having talked and written about this myself, I understand that there are people who aren't like me. That can't see themselves in characters like Superman, Batman, and Iron Man because they are from too different worlds to ever be able to relate to them.

Today, mainstream and even some independent comic book companies are approaching the idea of racial and gender diversity in comic books in a way that makes it more a media thing than diversity for the sake of representation. Marvel has been particularly bad about this, with characters like Jane Foster and Sam Wilson taking over the roles of Thor and Captain Falcon respectively. Putting aside the writing that put these events into place aside, what this does is undercut real attempts at diversity. Neither Steve Rogers nor the man actually known as Thor Odinson is gone, but instead they've been placed on the sidelines while Sam and Jane are touted as great heroes.

Sam Wilson and Jane Foster as Captain America and Thor respectively.

And while I do think that Sam and even Jane in her own way, can be effective heroes, the problem is that they do so while working under the name of a more well-known hero. Meanwhile, Marvel has solid characters such as Miles Morales (the "Ultimate" Spider-Man) and Sam Alexander, the newest member of the Nova Corps. Racially diverse characters who were introduced and given legitimate reasons to exist, without any undue attention brought to their race (save for the more shocking revelations of their identities which only affected the more widely known Spider-Man, as opposed to Nova, a relative unknown). In his universe, Peter Parker died, with Miles becoming his successor as Spider-Man. Sam became a member of the Nova Corps when his father's helmet, imbued with the celestial energy, was given to him.

The comic book companies though, aren't totally to blame here. The urge to have more and more media attention can be difficult and sometimes foolish to pass-up. However, the Independent comics scene has been delivering a variety of comics, with minimal fanfare from the media, but critical acclaim from fans--the ones that really matter. Titles like Boom Studios Lumberjanes, and the upcoming creator-owned title Hyper Force Neo are prime examples of what the public is interested in reading about.

A page from Hyper Force Neo

Now of course, there are those who would disagree. They will make claims that demands for inclusiveness are unduly hurting the comic book industry, by asking that they cater to a minority of the people who buy comics. While many of the comments made by such people will be seen as immature and not worth noting, their criticism that instead of changing established characters, comic book companies and creators should focus on creating and marketing newer heroes of various ethnic, spiritual, sexual, and geographical diversity. Or perhaps more correctly, "use the heroes you do have that are diverse better."

These are sentiments that are worth noting and given the popularity of some racially diverse characters, and the lack of attention given to them, it's a valid complaint. Still, these types of people are becoming the minority with women and "traditional minorities" getting more and more involved in what has typically been the hobby of straight, white males.


While I can agree with this theory, I do think it is important to also acknowledge that there are correct and incorrect ways to go about diversity. We can and we are doing better as a community in asking for it, but learning to differentiate is the issue. Tokenism and pandering are not what we want. Heroes and villains who are people who just happen to be (insert anything) are what we need. There's not enough of that yet. But we'll get there. We'll get better.
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