Exotic black people part four: Not like us white people

I remember somewhere in a book called From Krakow to Krypton where Chris Claremont said that he couldn’t relate to black people that well but to the point where it does risk othering them a lot, especially black Africans like Storm that it does communicate a certain message or idea about them. It may not be done with contempt, but an element of othering is present on some level. To give you an idea, animal rights movements and the like other Easterners a lot, presuming them to hate dogs even when many or even most of them really don’t. It should be noted that ancient China did use dogs for rodent control, that both Indonesia and Vietnam still do this to the present day suggests some regard for and good use of dogs in a way westerners understand and recognise it as.

Like they’re seen as so different they may not register as human in any way, whether if it’s the othering of Africans in Claremont’s case, or the othering of Easterners among animal rights activists and their ilk. It kind of communicates a certain message that these people, though not always distrusted, aren’t seen as one of us (read: westerners) in any way. It kind of does explain why Storm tends to be fairly othered in a good number of X-Men stories, like she’s this exotic black woman who’s not like other black women to the point where she has naturally light hair and blue eyes. Chris Claremont isn’t just apparently disinterested in African cultures, let alone Kenyan culture at that, he’s also not that exposed to African and more specifically Kenyan media.

He’s never been to Kenya, let alone stay there for quite a while. As opposed to his holiday in Israel which greatly informed the way he wrote certain characters like Kate Pryde and Magneto, the latter whom he admitted he based off after Zionist terrorist Menachem Begin. It’s not much of a stretch to assume that he could’ve been inevitably exposed to Israeli media, given this was before the Internet came into being in the form we expect it to be. That Charles Xavier met him in Israel does tell you that his stay in that country had any real bearing on his body of work, over him never staying at all in Kenya. Since Claremont never had holiday in Kenya, he would’ve never been exposed to Kenyan media either. Actually even with the advent of the World Wide Web, I don’t think Claremont’s that interested in Kenya enough to bother perusing Kenyan media in any way.

So Claremont’s never this exposed to Kenyan media because he never was to begin with, along with his inability to relate to black people in general, could explain why Storm’s so divorced from blackness and more specifically Kenyanness. Storm often plays the part of the exotic black woman in the X-Men canon, despite the addition of Temper in some subsequent stories. She is the weather goddess as venerated in Kenya, despite the way that in reality in those years this country was on its way to becoming Christian majority. At this point it even has a substantial number of Christian radio stations (Family Radio, Hope FM, Truth FM and Radio Maria Kenya), because Kenya has this many practising Christians. Conversely speaking as Scotland’s now a deeply secular country, the way Rahne Sinclair’s written is painfully outdated in this regard.

It’s not hard to see how and why Storm has been portrayed in the X-Men stories not only reflects Chris Claremont’s own indifference to and disinterest in Kenya (not that he dislikes it, he never seemed that interested in it to begin with), but also influences how people would come to see Kenya and other African countries as. Unless if they bothered to expose themselves to African media a lot, which is what I ended up doing in a way. But I don’t think Chris Claremont’s that sincerely interested in African cultures enough to bother exposing himself to African media, even if it gives a better idea of how Africans see themselves as. I don’t think Chris Claremont’s this exposed to Kenyan media either in whatever permutation they appear in (newspapers, magazines, books, academia, social media and radio stations).

Even if this would’ve made Storm authentically Kenyan, despite getting some details wrong. Despite the Internet being a thing, it’s another to actually expose oneself to another culture in some way if/when travelling to another country is pretty pricey. It’s one thing to know about Kenya through western media, it’s another to know the same through its own media. This is something that a good number of anime fans have him beat in some odd way, in the sense that they bother to expose themselves to Japanese media enough to even bother knowing what’s going on in the Japanese animation industry. Some of them even have stayed in Japan for a time being really, giving them an advantage of knowing what Japanese fans are into and enjoy themselves.

Whilst it’s true that Kenya may not have been thus urbanised in the first half of the 20th century, but as of late it’s on its way to getting really urbanised and some African countries like Ghana are this urbanised. I feel if there’s ever a way to modernise Storm whilst taking these into consideration, they should make her a deeply traumatised resident from Kibera who greatly fears preachers because they want to exorcise her or something (I’m saying this as a Christian). Kibera being this slum in Nairobi, though it doesn’t sound as glamourous as making her the daughter of a princess. The idea that Kenya wasn’t that urbanised had some salience in the 1980s, but not so much in the 2020s where the way Storm’s written is painfully outdated by now. The way Storm’s portrayed in the X-Men stories is really out of touch with Kenya.

Not just at present but also in the past where she was initially written (mid 70s up to the 1980s), Kenya was on its way to getting urbanised. Nairobi was a thing in the 1980s, even if it didn’t take on the shape its citizens now know it to be. But even then people watched television and played video games in those days, something that’s never reflected much in the X-Men stories had Storm bothered going to back to Kenya at any point. I could be wrong about that but it’s telling how Africans and especially Kenyans are othered in the X-Men canon, made worse by that Chris Claremont didn’t find black people particularly relatable. No surprise why Storm got really weirded out by going to an American city, even though if she was portrayed realistically she would’ve expected black Americans to act like the Kenyans she knew.

This may not be true for other African countries but given how African Americans are so indistinguishable from black Africans that not only do they go undetected in African countries, they’re even expected to act like black Africans too. One would only wonder why there aren’t any stories involving Storm cooking quintessentially Kenyan dishes like ugali and sukuma wiki both for herself and her colleagues at the greater X-Men organisation (since it encompasses a detective agency, a school and a black ops group in addition to the main group itself), or more shockingly (to non-Kenyans) listen to country music. Though rock music does have a following in some African countries like Botswana and Kenya, country music is much more popular in most African countries.

There are African radio stations that play country music from time to time, it shouldn’t be surprising if Storm’s shown listening to this sort of sound because it would’ve been something she was exposed to growing up. This only reinforces my belief that Chris Claremont’s never this exposed to African media enough to know what Africans listen to, since I believe radio’s a good barometer of what people listen to if they don’t listen to music on their own accord. Though this would mean that Africans are in some regards very ordinary people, or for another matter Easterners (both West and East Asians). Ordinary in the sense that we have Africans watching television and listening to the radio, or East Asians caring for dogs and using them in ways westerners would see in themselves (but refuse to, due to racism).

It seems the way Storm’s portrayed in the X-Men stories kind of reflects how somebody like Chris Claremont doesn’t find black people and especially black Africans relatable, not that he dislikes black people, but it’s not just that he’s disinterested in black people he’s never particularly this exposed to nonwestern media as well. Even with the Internet, I don’t think he’s in the habit of perusing nonwestern media often. This could explain why his takes on nonwestern cultures and countries is pretty dodgy.

When Amazons get attacked

When it comes to the character of Supergirl, no matter the age, a blonde woman in a feminised Superman outfit (and also with many of his powers) will often be recognised as her anyways. Supergirl falls into a strange limbo where she’s a viable enough character to make frequent appearances in the DC comics canon, but practically unable to sustain her own magazine series for long. She’s one of those characters that largely work in theory, conceptually speaking a female Superman is intriguing. But depicting a female Superman in practise, let alone a recurring one, is something of a narrative headache.

Given how complicated her backstory is, like having to explain how are Kryptonians able to survive the destruction of their planet enough to send another one to Earth, along with being adopted by Earthlings as a minor makes it harder for writers to make her stand out from Superman without making her too unrecognisable. Supergirl isn’t so much a bad character as much as she’s an unsustainable one at that, as her own magazine series (despite DC’s best attempts at pushing it) don’t last this long. Even Jimmy Olsen’s and Lois Lane’s own magazine series outlasted her own, if we restrict this to the 1950s up to 1980s half of the DC comics canon.

That’s not to say that Supergirl is inviable as a character but that there is a way to differentiate her characterisation whilst keeping her mostly intact, though I feel part of the problem lies with the way the superhero school is structured with the way female characters are written. In the sense that the average superheroine is barely if ever like the average woman and becomes less so over time, especially with Marvel’s Kate Pryde. She started out as a fairly ordinary young woman, evidently into some of the things girls would be into like ballet. But over time writers and especially her creator Chris Claremont made her more outlandish, like giving her a pet dragon and the like. At times she seemed more like an idealised teen boy than a realistic teen girl.

There is a line between a woman with masculine hobbies and interests, and a female character that would’ve easily been a man, though it’s easy to confuse and conflate the two. The way Kate Pryde came to be characterised, especially under Chris Claremont’s pen, seems like a grab-bag of what young lads would find cool or intriguing. Especially once she received ninja training when she got brainwashed or possessed by Ogun, gained a pet dragon and the like, which all scream young boy ideals. That’s not to say teen girls can’t enjoy these things, but when many of them identify more with Hermione Granger than they do with Harry Potter, this should tell you about the things that a teen girl might relate to more or aspire to be, pardon if it sounds kind of sexist.

Aside from Superman and Wonder Woman, the one other character Supergirl could be analogised to would be Nancy Drew. Much like her, Nancy Drew has been characterised by different authors over time, albeit all of them taking up the name ‘Carolyn Keene’, and also has a pet cat called Snowball (as encountered in ‘Mystery Of The Brass-Bound Trunk’) and a dog named Togo. Both of them are also the same age or same age range (emerging adulthood), except that Nancy Drew’s far more successful among female readers than Supergirl is. While there are some nonviolent Supergirl stories out there, it’s much commoner to find her beating up bad guys in some way.

Whereas Nancy Drew spends her time investigating cases, even if she has time for certain hobbies like playing tennis and hanging out with a consistent set of friends called Bess and George. Supergirl does have friends but a number of them tend to be also derivative of other male characters, like what Batgirl is to Batman generally speaking. There are stories where Supergirl does investigate cases of some sort, but like I said it’s more common to find Supergirl actually fight people. Not that women can’t get into fights and sports, just as Nancy Drew is into tennis herself. But it’s kind of hard to make Supergirl more than a female Superman if writers don’t bother delving deeper into her characterisation, whether if she’s way more into STEM than he is.

We have no idea what her hobbies are, moreso if they’re not frequently and deeply portrayed even in her own stories, like she could be big into stargazing and learning more about European wildlife, though these are my interests (but I actually do more ‘moongazing’ really). Since she’s more of an outsider to Earth than Superman is, it should be natural for her to become curious about Earth fauna as these are unfamiliar to her in their home planet. In the same way that European wildlife is largely unfamiliar to Southeast Asians, like they’re the ones who’d take time knowing what polecats and hedgehogs are. There’s a way to make Supergirl into more than a female Superman without reinventing her so much, but this involves digging deeper into her characterisation.

What are her interests and hobbies outside of crimefighting? If so, do they differ from Superman’s? These do exist but sadly not very often to the point where Supergirl comes off as rather half-realised, where it would be this easy to reinvent her every time. But this might not be unique to her as it’s shared with other characters, even other female counterparts to preexisting male characters. Cassandra Cain is one of many female counterparts to Batman and she does have hobbies and interests than differ from his, like drawing and dancing, but she also spends a good chunk of her fighting just the same. To be fair, certain hobbies and responsibilities can make it harder to focus more on your hobbies, so being a superhero is no different.

But since superheroing’s not an officially recognised job, one wonders what they actually do for a living. Even if something’s part of the informal economy, one would wonder how are people like Batgirl and Supergirl actually getting paid for what they do. Even professional martial artists and combat athletes get paid for a living, but for some reason we have little idea of what Supergirl and Batgirl earn in their second jobs, if they’re doing so to earn more money than what they’re getting from their other jobs. It’s not hard to get the idea that the superhero school’s more of a boy’s power fantasy, in the sense that we know boys like to play fight. So the superhero’s tendency to go into fights with others plays into this, but I suppose if Supergirl gets into crimefighting because she wants to get paid more would ruin the whole fantasy of it.

Even if this is something anybody would reasonably do if they’re not earning enough in their other jobs, though it makes too human and far less escapist, not that female readers don’t enjoy escapism at all. But I feel the way Supergirl’s been characterised, especially in some stories, makes it harder for her to not only appeal to more female readers, but also make her more than a female Superman. Especially in terms of characterisation with regards to her hobbies and personal interests, that whatever time she has for them is cut short because she has to beat up bad guys time and time again. She’s not necessarily a bad character, but it can be hard getting more of her when writers don’t bother to dig deeper into her personality.

Perhaps this is likely one reason why we don’t see this many blatant female counterparts to existing male characters in other fiction schools, like crime fiction even if Nancy Drew could arguably be seen as a one-woman army equivalent to the Hardy Boys. Even if Nancy Drew does share some characteristics with Supergirl, despite being intended as a kind of female readers’ very own Hardy Boys she still manages to be recognisably her own character early on. That’s not to say Supergirl lacks female fans at all, but it’s hard getting more of her when writers don’t bother further developing her characterisation. That and the limiting nature of superhero stories make it harder to further flesh out certain characters, if because people are expected to fight.

We have little idea of what Supergirl actually does in her spare time, not necessarily of the pervy variety, but that we barely ever get to witness her stargaze, learn more about Earth animals and stuff despite being a newcomer to this planet. She even barely has her own recurring supporting cast, let alone something that’s not too contingent on Superman’s at times. One would wonder if she actually works much better as a supporting character, given any attempts to make her star in her own magazine series don’t last long. Nancy Drew held onto hers much longer and more often than she did, that you get a sense of her being a more fully realised protagonist.

Even if this isn’t always the case for other female sleuths but it’s kind of telling how they still manage to captivate female readers a lot more than their superheroic counterparts do, original or not, that it makes one wonder if most superheroines barely actually captivate women and girls for long. Like the latter find themselves undermined in some way or another, or perhaps they’re so underrealised that their own magazine series don’t last long, despite repeated attempts. Even original superheroines like Black Canary and Wonder Woman have this problem from time to time, like if they’re not insulting to women they might as well be half-baked heroines at that.

Not that Supergirl is a bad character but it’s not hard to get the feeling that she’s not particularly fully realised compared to Nancy Drew, a character who manages to not only be a viable lead character longer but also has more female readers to boot. A Supergirl like character could work, though she has to become more than that without reinventing her so much. Something like giving Supergirl a habit of stargazing and a burning desire to learn more about Earth wildlife, as befitting for a newcomer trying to adjust to our world. These are based on the things I’m into, but this is to give you an idea of doing more with her without reinventing her so often.

Cecilia, You’re Breaking My Heart (Exotic Black People Part Three)

If Aboriginal Australians are terribly underrepresented in the American comics canon, this would be just as true for African-Caribbeans. Let alone an African-Caribbean working in STEMM professions like medicine, as it is with Cecilia Reyes who’s a black Puerto Rican doctor. That’s not to say African-Caribbeans lack any presence in American culture, be they real or fictional, but when more Americans are familiar with African Americans than they are with African-Caribbeans that it’s really going to feel this way. Real-world African-Caribbeans that influenced American culture a lot include the Barbadian Rihanna, Jamaicans Harry Belafonte and Bob Marey, and in hip-hop we have DJ Kool Herc and Notorious BIG, who are both of Jamaican descent.

But since most Americans aren’t this deeply familiar with African-Caribbean cultures and countries, the way they do with African American people and culture, so African-Caribbeans will also register as exotic black people to them just the same. Whilst Britain’s not any better regarding black people, but when it comes to its relationship with Caribbean countries that it’s going to be far more direct than it is in America. For a good while in British culture, not only was it influenced by African-Caribbean cultures, but also how Britons were so familiar with African-Caribbeans (the prototypical black people there) that in the British literary and comics canon, characters like Cecilia Reyes would’ve been the norm there. Most of the older black Britons alive today have relatives who came from the Windrush ship.

Lately there’s been some talk about the African-Caribbean community disappearing in Britain, but as what somebody said on Reddit, that’s also due to the Caribbean populations being smaller than their African counterparts to begin with. So African-Caribbeans were bound to be outnumbered by their African counterparts, whereas it’s not like that in America despite the growing influx of African immigrants there. But when it comes to Cecilia Reyes’s lack of popularity with X-Men fans, she’s not necessarily without her own fans at all, as much as she doesn’t fall into the common American ideas about what black people are and ought to be. She’s a black woman who works in a scientifically orientated profession (medicine), as opposed to being an exotic black person that Storm’s often written to be/depicted as.

She comes from an actual American protectorate that is Puerto Rico, instead of somewhere else as it is with Storm hailing from Kenya or more recently Temper from Nigeria. There is an African American mutant known as Bling, but she’s not particularly that popular either. There’s a book called Black Women In Sequence on why American writers seem more fixated on making black superheroines come straight from Africa rather than America itself has to do with offering the illusion of multiracial diversity, whilst absolving white American culture’s role in continuing and enabling discrimination against African Americans. Or that Africans are seen as preferable and more subservient to white American interests, this could explain why there aren’t a lot of African American mutants in the X-Men canon.

Let alone those who are as popular as Storm is, despite mutants being something of a minority not trusted by many that an African American mutant would help make it clearer. It’s possible that there’s not a lot of prominent African American mutants that are as popular as Storm is that may not have a lot to do with nostalgia and the like has to do with how they’ll make the link between the two much more explicit, like how African Americans are more likely to be targeted by the police and be accused of any wrongdoing. An African mutant or an Aboriginal Australian mutant (Shard, Bishop) puts this at a safe distance, diverse enough to not be too western and white, but enough of a model minority (in a way) to not challenge white readers and writers a lot about their own racism towards homegrown black communities.

This may not always be the case but it does risk feeling this way at times, regarding how white Americans seem to see black people from other countries versus those from their territory. If characters like Storm represent the exotic, nonwesternised black person in the American mind, a character like Cecilia Reyes comes closer to home as Puerto Rico is an American protectorate. Although it’s nice getting African-Caribbean representation in international comics, I don’t think Cecilia Reyes is as popular as Storm is (it could be due to nostalgia or something). Not to mention it’s already kind of rare to encounter an African-Caribbean person who’s also into STEMM in any way in the world of superhero comics, as far as I know about it, I could be wrong about this.

Maybe not necessarily as close as that of African Americans in America, but it does feel this way given the position Puerto Rico is in. If I’m not mistaken, Puerto Rico used to be Spanish territory that got bought by and conquered by America. Puerto Ricans are immediately American citizens, so Cecilia Reyes counts in a way. But I also feel black Puerto Ricans occupy a position that although they are technically black Americans, they’re not necessarily the same as African Americans. So Cecilia Reyes as a character occupies a strange position between somebody who’s technically an American citizen and also different from African Americans, but one where her own country is also an American protectorate. I’m not too well-versed in Puerto Rico to know this.

But Cecilia Reyes occupies a striking place in the X-Men canon as one of the earliest Afro-Latino characters there, as one of a number of African-Caribbean characters in those stories as well. As X-Men stories are written by Americans, they often reflect an American view of foreigners especially towards people like Storm and sometimes an American view of black people. If Storm’s the exotic black person par excellence in the X-Men canon, with Bishop being more often than not remembered more as an African American than as the Australian Aboriginal he’s supposed to be. Cecilia Reyes doesn’t fit into either category and belongs to a rarer type of black character in the American comics tradition, the African-Caribbean.

I suspect that if the prototypical black person in the American mind is an African American, then African-Caribbeans are exotic black people to them just the same as black Africans. If black Africans are stereotyped as living in huts or poverty, or being kind of behind the (westernised) times in some way, then I suspect that African-Caribbeans are stereotyped as being into reggae, marijuana, Rastafarianism or some such. From what I’ve seen of her, Cecilia doesn’t fall into those cliches. But if it’s kind of rare to find black people who’re into STEMM in American fiction, it’s much rarer to find an African-Caribbean character doing the same there. True, African-Caribbeans don’t constitute that large a number compared to black Africans. But it does matter to have more characters like her.

The number of recurring black characters in X-Men is already pretty small, despite the two figureheads (Professor Xavier and Magneto) being often compared to Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. Even rarer still is a black character who’s into STEMM as well as a non-stereotypical African-Caribbean and also an Afro-Latino to boot, I kind of said here before that characters like Cecilia Reyes are more commonplace in British fiction (in a way) due to Britain’s close relationships with its Caribbean ex-colonies. But in America it’s different because the prototypical black person there is more often than not an African American, both African-Caribbeans and black Africans count as exotic black people.

Likewise the American conception of a Latin American sometimes runs counter to its conception of a black person, the Latin American in the Anglo-American mind has somewhat darker skin than that of gringos, but not as dark as that of most black people (since albinism and vitiligo exist among them). Though Afro-Latinos do exist in the X-Men canon, the first one being Sunspot, but due to the prevailing conceptions of what a Latino ought to be that over time Sunspot stopped looking black. This has changed for the better alongside with the inclusion of an Afro-Latino who apparently remains the way he’s introduced as, but I feel Cecilia Reyes differs from Sunspot in that from what I’ve seen, she has recognisably black hairstyles from the start.

She had an Afro in her earliest entry to the X-Men canon and eventually got her hair dreaded, she is among the earliest Afro-Latinos in the X-Men stories. Angel Salvadore could count as well, but the main focus is on Cecilia Reyes. Cecilia Reyes embodies many things rare in the American comics canon, she is a black woman working in STEMM, a notable example of a rather non-stereotypical African-Caribbean woman, one of a number of Afro-Latino characters in the US superhero comics canon and an Afro-Puerto Rican woman. The only other black female comics character that I can think of who works in medicine is Marcy Armstrong from the Jumpstart cartoons, which again goes to show you that it’s rather rare finding black female characters working in medicine there.

There could be more of those but I feel the X-Men canon kind of testifies how vanishingly rare it is to find non-stereotypical depictions of African-Caribbeans and Afro-Latinos, the later being present if Miles Morales is any indication however Cecilia Reyes doesn’t have a higher profile, despite being one of the earliest black Puerto Rican characters in Marvel Comics.

Exotic Black People Part Two: Australian Aboriginals

When it comes to the character of Bishop, one of the X-Men I think, he’s supposed to be Australian Aboriginal alongside his sister Shard, though over time it’s easy to forget this in favour of depicting him as an African American more often. Unlike his apparent indifference to Kenya in any way and form, Chris Claremont seemed really interested in Australia enough to have the team go there and create Australian characters himself. Australia may not be any less racist and may have its own issues as well as those not unique to itself, but the thing here is that Australian Aboriginals there are also considered black. Unfortunately, as it is stands, Americans seem far more familiar with African Americans than they do with both Africans and Australian Aboriginals, that Bishop was made African American over time.

The near lack of Australian talent at the helms of the X-Men canon (to my knowledge), let alone Aboriginal talent at that, compared to the preponderance of American talent doing the same makes it easier for them to unintentionally (or perhaps subconsciously) inculcate American ideas of blackness and the like onto international but non-Australian readers. Even if Bishop started out as an Aboriginal Australian, it’s pretty easy to forget this for Americans since they’re far more familiar with African Americans than they do with Australian Aboriginals. Likewise for Storm, Americans are significantly more familiar with African Americans than they do with Kenyans, to the extent that they consume more African American culture in any permutation than they do with its Kenyan counterpart.

It’s evident that more Americans listen to things African Americans create or created (rock, jazz, hip hop, rhythm and blues) than they do with the Kenyan equivalents (benga for instance), or African equivalents in general (Afrobeats, Highlife, Gqom, Amapiano). Maybe until recently or that I’m wrong about this but the way foreign black people are conceived in the X-Men stories speaks volumes about the way Americans conceptualise blackness, considering that Storm’s Kenyan and Bishop’s supposed to be Australian Aboriginal. The prototypical black person in the American mind is often going to be an African American, which speaks volumes about their familiarity with those people and their culture, than they would with their Kenyan and Aboriginal equivalents. One would only wonder if the average American really listens to Kenyan and Australian radio stations.

That’s not to say Americans aren’t exposed to Kenyan and Australian cultures at all, but it’s not particularly common and it’s far less common with the former. Which makes it even more ironic as Storm’s the best-known Kenyan character in fiction, but it also makes it easier to get her country and culture wrong on multiple counts. Not to mention it’s evident that the prototypical indigenous person in the American mind is a Native American to the extent that characters like Dani Moonstar and James Proudstar both come from specific, real world Native American cultures (Cheyenne and Apache respectively), whereas Bishop and Shard could’ve come from an actual Aboriginal one like Dyirbals for instance. What’s more interesting is that in the Dyirbal language, both women and dogs aren’t just gendered feminine but also classified under dangerous things for some reason.

Alongside fire and sun that for a character like Shard, who fires lasers at people, this would be very befitting of her really. One might wonder why nobody bothered to out both of them as Dyirbals, which would be even more remarkable in global fiction really. Especially outside of Australian and academic literatures that the appearance of Dyirbal superheroes would be really groundbreaking, but it also speaks volumes about underrepresentation and who gets to be represented at all. Australian Aboriginals are already very underrepresented in the US comics canon, Dyirbals doubly so with Bishop having become Schrodinger’s Aboriginal as although he’s supposed to be one, he’s more often depicted as an African American. Similar things can be said about his sister as well, though it stands to reason that Americans are far more familiar with African Americans than they are with Kenyans and Aboriginals.

To the point where they’re far likelier to consume African American culture in nearly all its permutations and encounter them more often than they would with Kenyan culture and Kenyans, or for another matter Dyirbal culture and Dyirbal people assuming if both Bishop and Shard are one themselves.

Exotic black people

I personally feel when it comes to the way Americans perceive Africans at all, it’s often in the lines of exotic black people this, exotic black people that. Institutions like Marvel Comics reinforce this multiple times over with its most prominent non X-Men African hero coming from a made-up African country, even when T’Challa could’ve easily come from Cameroon and be the son of a Bamileke chieftain who doubles as a leopard sorcerer (among some Bamileke communities, leopards aren’t just associated with royalty, but also witchcraft). Or more disappointingly that Storm’s from a real world African country herself (Kenya), so it’s something they should get it right and uphold. Storm may not necessarily represent all Kenyans, but the fact that she’s so isolated from other Kenyans, never married a fellow Kenyan and stuff, means she’s mostly written to be an exotic black woman.

Whilst it’s true that there are some Africans (Nigerians and Kenyans) who’re into rock music themselves, but rock music is so unpopular that perhaps other than certain forms of rock music (soft rock and Christian rock), a purely rock-orientated Kenyan radio station* never lasted long in the way it was presented that it ended up playing other kinds of music to be more relevant to most Kenyans. Storm is so isolated from other Kenyans, barely ever interacting with her countrymen at all, that it’s kind of telling that writers like Chris Claremont and Len Wein frequently view her as an exotic black woman. So different from other black people as to be almost alien, not like other (read westernised) black people. Maybe that’s not necessarily the case for how other white Americans perceive black Africans, but it generally feels this way.

In the sense that if African Americans are the prototypical black people in the American mind, then continental Africans diverge from this in some way. That’s not to say there aren’t Americans who don’t know a thing about Africa and Africans, but it’s uncontroversial to say that most Americans don’t consume African media regularly, Like they don’t frequent African websites much, read books or online/digitised documents coming from African countries like Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon, listen to African music and the sort of international music Africans like, bother livestreaming anything or everything from African YouTube channels even, listen to African radio stations and stuff, despite the Internet being a thing. Which says a lot about Americans being largely unexposed to African cultures, where it’s one thing to know African cultures, it’s another to be actually exposed to it in a big way.

Actually I don’t think most Americans are exposed to African cultures in any way, let alone if they either experience those directly by being in actual African countries themselves, or regularly consuming African media a lot. Which means they aren’t that exposed to African cultures that much for most of the part, far less than they assume it to be, which speaks volumes about them getting their ideas about African cultures from western sources. These are helpful but they don’t necessarily give insight into what they’re like by those coming from said cultures, so there’s going to be a difference between a white Briton writing about South Africa versus a white South African writing about the same, which speaks volumes really. The fact that Chris Claremont spent time in Israel has bearing on the stories he wrote, moreso than he does with Kenya.

As far as I do know about him, he’s Jewish and also very Zionist. Perhaps it does speak volumes why characters like Magneto and Kate Pryde are portrayed more sympathetically and realistically than it is with Arab characters like the Shadow King, despite the former two’s own faults from time to time. Although Storm is a sympathetic character, her culture’s not explored deeply nor portrayed realistically. Chris Claremont never spent time in Kenya, never consumed Kenyan media despite the Internet making this possible in a different way and never showed much interest in Kenya, to the point where it does explain why Storm’s written the way she is. Similar things can be said about the way he wrote Karma with regards to her home country Vietnam to an extent, though one wonders why Marvel never bothered to hire Kenyan talent as there was something like the Shujaaz comics there before.

You could even find pirated copies of it online, which people have already done the same with regular American comic books. Kenyan talent would be necessary to make Storm authentically Kenyan, the same way a Vietnamese American writer got hired to get the details of Karma’s birth culture right enough. She was even given a more plausibly Vietnamese name, as the earlier version sounded ridiculous. It’s not hard to see how and why Storm turned out this way, especially when under the pen of Chris Claremont, a man who seems more genuinely interested in Israel and is possibly more exposed to Israeli media than he would with its Kenyan counterpart, since he stayed in the former for awhile. His stay in Israel does have bearing not only on his stories, but also on subsequent X-Men writers.

Especially given the frequent allusions and comparisons to Israel in some way (Krakoa, Genosha) that it speaks volumes about the way media consumption influences impressionable minds, like if you’re mostly exposed to American media you’ll be very Americanised. It’s like this in the Philippines where it’s not uncommon for many Filipinos to be really exposed to American culture, not just as a byproduct of American colonialism, but also consume and peruse American media a lot. There are far more Filipino fans of Marvel and DC, than there are Filipino fans of things like Bumilangit and Bonelli comics. There are far more Filipino fans of American musicians and bands (Chappell Roan, Bruno Mars, the Platters, the Temptations, Sabrina Carpenter and Lizzo), than there are Filipino fans of their German counterparts (Kraftwerk, Nina Hagen, Tokio Hotel, Tomcraft and KIZ).

Or for another matter, their French counterparts (Sortilege, Mylene Farmer, Michel Polnareff, Edith Piaf, Manau and Dalida), though only Edith Piaf gets some exposure in some Philippine radio stations. But even then Philippine people are more greatly biased towards and influenced by American culture, than they are with Chinese, Indonesian, Vietnamese and Malaysian cultures. Or even German, French and Italian cultures really, which is why more Philippine stations play American music (some even specialise mostly in American music), than they would with Chinese, Indonesian, Vietnamese and Malaysian music. Unless if somebody either plays these sorts of music or peruse Chinese, Indonesian, Vietnamese and Malaysian radio stations online.

But it’s still telling how media consumption is another way of exposing oneself to another culture and its worldview, sort of like how Chris Claremont’s stay in Israel influenced the way he wrote certain stories and characters. It’s not much of a stretch to assume that Claremont may’ve consumed some Israeli media in his holiday there, but it still does influence his worldview and take on the X-Men stories. It’s no surprise why these may’ve influenced subsequent X-Men writers like Jonathan Hickman introducing yet another Israel analogue in the form of Krakoa, as if Genosha’s not enough. But even then the idea that mutants are crypto-Jews goes all the way back considering that the earliest X-Men authors (Stan Lee and Jack Kirby) were also Jewish themselves, so there’s inevitably an undertone of Jewishness to these stories.

The way Storm and Black Panther are written in the comics inevitably reflects American attitudes towards and ideas about black Africans, in the sense that they’re both exotic black people as the prototypical black person in the American mind is African American. Although countries like France and the United Kingdom may not be any better towards the same, it’s more direct due to the presence and effects of French and British colonialism in former colonies and protectorates like Cameroon, Uganda, Cote D’Ivoire, Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana. No surprise why Ghanaians, Kenyans and Nigerians celebrate Boxing Day every 26th of December, because it’s a holiday that originated in Britain.

America’s lack of an extensively direct relationship to African states and cultures would explain why African Americans and not Africans and African Caribbeans are the prototypical black people there, even if Britain may not be any better with the latter. But the idea that black people could also be voluntary immigrants in America is recent, whereas it’s often the case in Britain. Sort of like how British celebrities like Maxim Reality and formerly Leeroy Thornhill of the Prodigy, Skin from Skunk Anansie, Mel B from Spice Girls and Goldie are all children of Caribbean immigrants. Whereas most black people in America are long descended from African slaves brought over there, so this partly accounts for why black Africans are seen as exotic black people there too.

Or for another matter, why Africans are also exotic black people in Britain.

*It’s actually back.

Spiderwebs

It’s very rare for Christians to criticise superhero stories, let alone on the basis of the characters being demonic without complaining about magic. Spider-Man being based on a demon seems really plausible given he has to do the Devil’s Horns whenever he makes silk, though he could’ve used an ordinary hand sign instead to do the same thing. Not to mention he scarcely looks like a spider, apart from any attempts at making him resemble one and I’m saying this as an arachnophobe. I feel the existence of the Spider-Man stories and the way their authors construed the characters to be seems like a mockery of one of God’s creations (spiders), like instead of making Peter Parker make spider-webs with an ordinary hand gesture, he does the Devil’s Horns instead.

Conflating the innocent (spiders) with the demonic (Spider-Man doing the Devil’s Horns), it’s like the Devil’s out to undermine Christianity in some other way, that’s by making a heroic figure do this gesture whilst making silk. If the Devil’s out to destroy people, perhaps it’s no surprise why later writers would have Peter Parker make a deal with the Devil to annul his marriage to Mary Jane. Whilst divorce and the like are painful, but when you have a heroic figure who not only does the Devil sign but also makes a deal with the Devil to end or undo a relationship just to save a family member it’s like the writers are giving into the Devil’s ability to tear apart families. To the point where it may not be worth supporting the Spider-Man stories anymore, especially if writers continue to undermine Christianity in some way.

But perhaps despite consuming Marvel media before, I never really became a big Marvel fan. Not that I dislike Marvel and I do like some Marvel characters myself like Tigra for instance, but there’s something about the Marvel canon that feels spiritually odious, the more Christian I get. DC, which is something I’m more familiar with, does have its own spate of spiritually dubious heroes in the forms of Blue Devil, Kid Devil, Zatanna, Zatara, Timothy Hunter, the Enchantress and more because they are either demonic or practise magic themselves (which is forbidden in the Bible). Marvel has its own with Scarlet Witch, Agatha Harkness (who’s reimagined as a younger woman as of late), Illyana (demonic and also does magic), Nightcrawler (a Christian who looks demonic), Daredevil, Damian Hellstrom, Doctor Strange and Satanna.

But the disturbing thing with Marvel is that a handful of them have had their own dedicated magazine series before, with Daredevil several times over. There was a Doctor Strange writer who got into the occult whilst telling the character’s stories, DC has this cornered with Alan Moore being into Aleister Crowley style witchcraft and Grant Morrison being into chaos magic as well. But the Marvel thing is even more disgusting because the two characters who are practising Christians (Daredevil and Nightcrawler) also resemble the Devil and/or demons, it’s like those at Marvel call evil good and good evil, especially with demonised portrayals of practising Christians who don’t fall into this portrayal at all. Not just with Reverend William Stryker being a preacher and an enemy of the X-Men.

But also how the X-Men’s lone sympathetic Protestant Rahne Sinclair has been brainwashed twice into attacking innocent people, like the X-Men writers seem to have a demeaning view of Christianity as something that brainwashes people. I don’t think DC has done something like this outside of less popular magazine stories, well to my knowledge, and if I’m not mistaken Peter David (who also worked on Marvel stories himself) had Supergirl merge with a girl who got involved in something wrong, with both of them coming to do right as an angel or something. Though this portrayal was eventually undone when Supergirl reverted to being Superman’s cousin again, but if portraying Cassandra Cain as a sympathetic Christian is too much for publishers, what does this say about their view on Christianity?

That Christianity as done by practising Christians is an inconvenience at best, whereas polytheistic religions are portrayed more sympathetically and lovingly instead. It would be uncontroversial to say that both DC and Marvel portray magic and characters practising this more sympathetically than they would with Christianity, let alone without messing around to the point where a character like Rahne Sinclair’s a sad exception to the rule. A practising Christian who doesn’t look like a demon gets brainwashed twice into doing evil, whereas demonic looking characters are almost always on the side of good. Calling good evil and evil good, perhaps the way they portray Christianity is really messed up. There are superhero stories out there that portray Christianity more respectfully, most notably Power Mark. But he too is an exception to the rule.

The superhero school isn’t necessarily anti-Christian, if Power Mark’s any indication, but large swathes of both the DC and Marvel canon are unfortunately anti-Christian. Not just in condoning magic, but also anything and everything else despised in the Bible.

You Won’t See Me

When it comes to Satanic ritual abuse, it’s a real problem that’s been noted before. But this one’s from somebody who personally experienced this firsthand, having been used as a kind of sacrificial victim to the Devil. They said that they have markings on their face that’s only visible under certain lightings, which is the same for a pastor they met in church. It’s even more shocking that they recounted how Nazi scientists and physicians not only emigrated to the United States, but also live under different names like with Josef Mengele, oddly enough because they said that he lived well onto his mid-seventies. Perhaps he faked the drowning in Brazil, for fear he might get discovered by Brazilian authorities.

So he pretty much moved to America under another name, doing whatever he likes doing (however cruel it may be), including Satanic rituals in secret and the Nazis were really involved in the occult themselves. Nothing is hidden to God, even our thoughts are known to him and that secrets will be revealed, especially from a sermon I recalled sometime ago. There are things I prayed about regarding certain authors that would get revealed in due time, perhaps sooner than I expected regarding PD James, whose affair with another man will be exposed to the general public and become a newsworthy scandal that amuses or obsesses journalists. Among other things, but nothing is hidden to God. Even our sins and struggles are known to him.

There are many other things that will be revealed in due time, whether if it’s something like MK Ultra, or Hollywood people relying on the blood of kidnapped children, to the point where it’s not a conspiracy anymore. Rather these are long-suspected truths that can’t be said out loud in polite company for whatever reason, but they are known to God and he’s going to reveal them for what they really are. In the case with the mainstreaming of tattoos in America, some tattoos that have a demonic nature might be Satan’s way of grooming people to get the mark of the Beast. One might wonder if allusions to the Beast might also be found in other things, including those we don’t expect them to be found. But something God knows because nothing is hidden to him.

He knows people’s motivations, both bad and good, that these will be exposed for what they are. For example there’s a Marvel character named the Beast/Hank McCoy, he looks like an animal and has been shown acting like one as well. But then again in the Bible, there’s an entity also called the Beast that’s given authority and power by the Devil over people, alongside how and why Marvel continues having a cartoon called Daredevil who even dresses like the Devil himself. I feel this is one aspect of Marvel that doesn’t get scrutinised much by Christians, even when you have instances of Marvel characters not only blaspheming God in word, but also mocking the personality and image of God in the form of X-Man. He’s one of many children sired by Jean Grey and Scott Summers, who has reappeared as a Messianic figure.

In his reappearance he looked very much like Jesus Christ, right down to the long hair, facial hair and white robe, but one time he destroyed a church (the Church is understood to be both the body and bride of God) and then we had no Internet for days. It’s kind of shocking why not a lot of Christians criticise the X-Men (and Marvel in general) for being so anti-Christian, well outside of magic, that it’s surprising why so few criticisms of those exist. I remember somewhere on Reddit on why Christians have these double standards regarding both Harry Potter and Lord Of The Rings saying that a lot of Christians are worldly and have poor discernment, so they unwittingly condone things that are heinous to the Lord. It’s like if you’re opposed to violence in Harry Potter, you should be opposed to violence in the stories you like.

If you’re opposed to Harry Potter because it’s anti-Christian, you should do the same with X-Men because it’s a story where writers have been known to mock things sacrosanct to the Bible like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Legion and the Beast, having demonic superheroes around, mocking the figurehead of Christianity (God) and undermining other values upheld by the Bible like respect for elders and authority when these are needed. It’s like how John Proudstar faced consequences for his actions for disrespecting Charles Xavier (who’s the figurehead of the X-Men organisation), but not Kate Pryde for spiting him a lot even when she should have.

The fact that she’s also younger than Xavier risks communicating a bad message to certain people that it’s okay to be defiant and rebellious to authority figures many times over, especially if you’re perceived as always being in the right. That you can get off scot free for your defiance to those in charge is not a good message for Christians to emulate in other cases where you still have to defer to authority, whether if they’re religious or not, especially in situations that could help you out. Anything hidden will be revealed as God knows about people’s ulterior motivations, that no sooner or later they will reveal their real colours and it’s a matter of time before X-Men writers further mock Christianity and God. Nothing is hidden, all will be revealed.

He’s gone

There are many prophecies about Donald Trump dying for good, that he’s going to be replaced by somebody else soon enough, to the point where there are others saying that people have made an idol out of Donald Trump. If Donald Trump was given to Christians by God, when you have many Christians making an idol out of him, that they effectively worship the gift over the giver. Even if not all Christians do this but it’s not a good idea because God tolerates no idols, he doesn’t want competition, he wants your undivided attention, which isn’t always easy at times given our attachment to other things like myself towards certain things for instance. Even if God is kind, he’s also punitive when the situation calls for it. So getting rid of Donald Trump is to get rid of anything that distracts Christians from following the real thing.

If actions have consequences, then getting rid of Trump would be getting rid of an idol that haunts the minds of Christians. It’s not something other Christians are aware of, but that God should be prioritised more. You can’t serve God and Mammon, if Mother Mary’s an idol, so is Donald Trump. Though it’s something Christians should realise, especially Protestants, as they’re the ones who should know better. But it’s also kind of telling that they’re kind of hypocritical, like they point out the speck in the Catholics’ eye but not the ones in their own. I find myself wondering if Protestants are okay with idolatry, for as long as it’s socially acceptable idolatry. It’s socially unacceptable to honour and venerate saints, but it’s socially acceptable to have societies and organisations highly dedicated to CS Lewis.

For some reason, this doesn’t extend much to actual preachers like CH Spurgeon and Oswald Chambers, even though Evangelicals could’ve easily done that. But I feel making an idol out of CS Lewis kind of plays with sin in multiple ways, one you could get close to somebody who endorses things Christians are supposed to be against but is also on our side, two he has this taboo appeal that speaks to Christians’ repressed desires to indulge in something unacceptable. Same goes with Donald Trump, which becomes telling why Christians continue to excuse him, despite his own affairs with multiple women. It’s true that God uses flawed people but even then, there’s time for discipline which God does whenever we sin. But for some reason, Christians don’t really discipline Trump.

To the point where he’s getting worse over time, because they keep enabling his arrogance, treating him as if he can do no wrong. Even if Evangelicals are supposed to be against idolatry, cult of personality seems to be the kind of idolatry they tolerate and condone. Especially if it’s one aimed at people they like, even if you could do this with anything you like (as it is with me at times). But I feel it does make one wonder if Evangelicals are worldlier than they realise, like they prioritise worldly interests and want to have things both ways. Worshipping God and Mammon, it’s not hard to see why Christians have double standards towards Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, or even Narnia for another matter. As if their standards for something are shockingly lower than expected.

As if Christians allow things to defile themselves with, especially if it’s something socially acceptable. Looking back, I felt that there’s a Christian double standard towards Harry Potter and X-Men, which is telling that given X-Men also indulges in the things Christians despise and distrust, it’s surprising why there’s little to no Christian backlash against this like they have towards Harry Potter. But as what somebody else said, many Christians are very worldly people. So the double standards persist because Christians still let something worldly influence their lives, whether if it’s X-Men or Donald Trump, it’s still the same problem all over again. If God tells us to not ally much with the ungodly and evil, then they shouldn’t be allying with X-Men, as hard as it may be.

As for Donald Trump, even if he is chosen by God to rule over America, he’s made into an idol by many people that they practically love the gift more than the giver, as to warrant getting revoked in time.

Storm in a teapot

Cheryl Lynn Eaton wrote an essay on how and why Storm’s not always an example of good black representation in the X-Men stories, but I feel she kind of nearly neglected one other problem: Storm’s also not always a good example of Kenyan representation. From what I’ve read and watched, Storm mostly comes off as a white writer’s idea of an exotic black woman. So exotic and unlike other black women (read African descendant women) that she ends up having blue eyes and white hair, which when added to being worshipped as a goddess in Kenya, only others her a lot more than they would with African American characters. I feel this portrayal seems in line with those Charles Addams cartoons featuring black Africans as ‘uncivilised heathens’ out to eat western missionaries, even if many African countries at this point aren’t like this.

They’re even home to substantial practising Christian populations at that, they even have radio stations and YouTube channels that air and livestream sermons. There are even devotional and Bible reading websites coming from African countries like Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda and Kenya, even if not all of Africa is Christian, let alone have this many practising Christians at that. It’s kind of hard for me to think of Storm as a Kenyan, in that she doesn’t seem to celebrate or know of holidays Kenyans are wont to do. Something like Boxing Day, which happens every 26th of December, which is also celebrated in Nigeria and Ghana due to British colonialism/influence. Or rather her writers don’t make her celebrate and know of Kenyan holidays, which would’ve indicated her Kenyan upbringing in other ways.

There’s no doubt that they’re ignorant of Kenya but when Storm is perhaps the most famous fictional Kenyan of all time, then that’s a responsibility writers and editors need to uphold to the point where it’s necessary to have a Kenyan write her adventures. Although the Kenyan comics industry is smaller than that of America, or for another matter the entire African comics industry being smaller than its North American counterpart, but that hasn’t stopped comics and cartooning from being real. There was a comics series called Shujaaz, which is made in Kenya for Kenyan audiences. It’s even available online in the form of PDF downloads on file sharing websites, so you could learn to look for it over time if you know where to look or stumble upon by chance.

As for South Africa, it has produced two comics serials that were given televised adaptations. These are Supa Strikas and Madam and Eve, the latter is where you could also easily find online in comics form. Admittedly the latter is also written by foreigners living in South Africa, but even then Marvel Comics has employed Filipino cartoonists by the way despite being an ostensibly American publishing house. Now here’s the thing with Madam and Eve: whilst its authors aren’t South Africans themselves, maybe until now due to naturalisation, but the fact that they’ve stayed in South Africa for such a long time as to get South African trends, problems and mannerisms as well as the South African mindset in real time. As opposed to nearly any X-Men story featuring her, as they’re written by people who’ve never set foot on Kenya.

Let alone for such a long period of time as to really get Kenyan trends, mannerisms, mindset and problems in real time, which would’ve added authenticity to Storm’s Kenyanness really. So I feel some of the real problems with the way Storm is written largely stem from her respective creators being rather detached from Kenyan culture, they’ve never set foot on Kenyan soil, they never peruse Kenyan media in any way and so on that they never really experienced a taste of Kenyan culture, let alone in real time. So it’s kind of hard to think of Storm as a Kenyan, if you’ve actually experienced a taste of Kenyan culture in some way. If you’ve actually stayed in Kenya for a more extensive period of time, then you’ll come to realise how unKenyan she’s written to be. It’s not that she’s any less black, but she’s usually written as an exotic black woman.

As in she’s so different from many African American women as to readily mark her apparent lack of westernisation until her meeting with the X-Men, which kind of hints at a sort of colonialist mindset that Britain had (and possibly still has) towards it and its peoples. Even if it may not be the case anymore, well technically speaking, it’s not hard to see how it plays into an othering of African countries, cultures and peoples, especially in comparison to their western and westernised counterparts. Portraying her as a goddess who is worshipped by her people plays into this mindset, even if Kenyans these days are more likely to be Christian and a good number of them are practising Christians by the way. It’s a really outdated portrayal of her, considering how many African countries are majority-Christian by now.

To the point where the continued publication of the X-Men stories with their rather outdated views of African beliefs and cultures through the way Storm’s been written and portrayed frequently reinforces these views onto non-Africans.

Cartoon character iconography

When it comes to cartoon character iconography and especially those of superheroes, once an outfit is designed for the character comes expectations for what they should look like, should they ever wear new outfits at all. In the case with Supergirl, she’s a female counterpart to her cousin Superman and the expected iconography for her involves blonde hair, blue blouse, red cape, red boots and a red skirt though the belt varies from circular to v-shaped. But certain aberrations do happen such as red shorts, a proper catsuit, blue skirts and the like, though the expected iconography is supposed to be a feminised version of Superman’s own outfit, barring the hair itself. Or for another matter, the expected iconography for Rogue’s that of a woman who dresses in a brown jacket and a green and yellow catsuit with yellow boots.

I guess if Rogue existed in the real world that even if she retained her love of dressing in yellows and greens, and sometimes wore her old clothing from time to time she would’ve also changed with the times in some way. This is what she ended up doing in the comics from time to time, but her most iconic outfit’s from the 1990s and this is the same outfit a number of cartoonists return to from time to time. To put it this way, Siouxsie Sioux is a real life musician whose most iconic get-up consists of teased black hair and black clothing, though this is the same look that she graduated from as time passed. She now has straight greying hair and doesn’t dress in the same way she did when she was younger, but you should get the point I’m making regarding iconography.

It’s easier to draw cartoon characters in the same outfits as it’s easier to draw from memory, especially over time that’s become an accepted part of their respective iconographies. It also makes it easier to lend itself to merchandising, given the character’s expected iconography. Back to Supergirl, her expected presentation’s that of a blonde woman who wears a feminised Superman outfit. Cassandra Cain’s expected presentation’s that of a young Asian American woman who dresses in a black coloured Bat outfit that comes with a mask that fully obscures her face, though ironically given her knack for reading body language this would’ve impeded her ability to carry out such a task. But sometimes impractical outfits become part of the character’s expected iconography like the latter one.

Vampirella’s own outfit would be hard to comfortably wear without risking indecent exposure, though some cartoonists take this too far, sometimes without regarding the character’s own dignity in certain situations. But it’s become an accepted part of her associated iconography, despite how inconvenient it would be in some situations as to warrant more modest redesigns. So if this outfit was designed for the character in mind from the get go, or gets popularised in a more accessible format as it is with Rogue, it would be hard departing from the expected iconography without risking backlash of some sort. There have been attempts to get Black Canary from not wearing fishnets, most notably in the late 1980s and also in the 1990s, though the fishnet thing’s so deeply entrenched that it’s easier to return to those.

Than to risk the unknown, though the animated productions have shown that this is possible without changing the character’s overall look that much, all you have to do is to substitute fishnets for an opaque pair of tights. But even then there’s often the expectation for what the character should look like, if such a look was either part of the character or is popularised in other media, that giving them an entirely different outfit would be a very drastic departure. Sort of like what happened to Street Fighter’s Cammy White upon her latest appearance, for a long time she wore a thong leotard with a beret and two braids. Then comes the latest Street Fighter game with her sporting shorter hair and a more modest ensemble, that inevitably a degree of backlash would’ve occurred anyways.

When it comes to real life musicians, fans would inevitably have a favourite look, even if the musicians themselves have moved on from it as fashions change. Let’s say your favourite David Bowie hairstyle is the iconic red mullet, even though he moved on from that haircut as the mid-1970s marched on. Then one could on go saying that they liked Liam Howlett* best when he was younger and had undyed hair to boot, this is one example but not the only one that I can hypothetically come up with. But the thing with cartoon characters is that they’re designed with certain looks in mind, not so much something they chose at their own volition, since they’re not even real. In Rogue’s case, her most iconic look is the one that got popularised on television.

But it still often reinforces people’s expectations of them, that doing a radical redesign would make them practically unrecognisable. So there’s much care to make them recognisable whilst redesigning them in some way, given how such portrayals reinforce people’s expectations of them.

*He’s a member of the group called The Prodigy and he’s its resident keyboardist.