I take issue with any story who's hero is white while the other characters described as "barbarians" are all people of color. I tried to explain this all to myself... tried to compare this to something that didn't echo complete racism and I remembered this Aztec myth. 16th centry conquistadores were greeted as gods by the Incas. Their god Viracocha was a white, pale skinned man with long flowing white hair. This belief was shared by many ancient cultures, each pale faced god with its own story and name. It was the first thing I thought of when I started reading this book. Then I finished the book... then I felt upset.
As with many science fiction books, the big reveal is at the end of the story. The plot twist was more of a sad punchline. American patriotism at its... finest? I mean the artist Bazal isn't American, he's Mexican but writer Kurt Busiek is most certainly American and very white. What the hell was he thinking ?
The worst part is that the book isn't yet released so I can't give away the ending which urked me the most! I read a few other reviews and apparently I'm the only person that had an issue with race in this book. Everyone else applauded the work Busiek. I guess once your responsible for some of peoples favorite Avengers' stories, people don't think to question your work and perhaps can't look as critically upon it.
The only thing I really enjoyed about the book was the art style but it wore on me as the book went on to reveal that each and every female character was impossibly shaped. I'm use to this in comics but this book is undoubtedly aimed at men from the story to the artwork. Not just men but hetero men.
Every female character merely existed to have sex, be saved or killed by the "hero" of the book. Who by the way, is not a hero or even a proper anti-hero. He's just the person we're forced to follow around for 120 pages. We're suppose to wonder who he is and where he came from when really, the only thing I was really wondering about was if anyone would put this self important jackass in his place. He literally razed a village to the ground (women and children) because it's elders and leaders plotted against him. UGH.
It's worth mentioning that I had a hard time getting through this book. I finished it simply because I had hoped the ending would ultimately make the book. It didn't make the book, it made the book worse. Sadly I can't explain why without spoiling the plot but do you even care? If so, you can of course grab Redhand on November 11th!
No comments:
Post a Comment