Wrapping up National Native American Heritage Month by finally including a Comics post on the theme!
I’ve been thinking that Native Americans are probably the most over-represented ethnic minority in mainstream American superhero comics. I guess the associations people have with American Indians and different kinds of mysticism and magic make them an attractive source of inspiration for fantasy worlds…
(at left: Danielle Moonstar, Cherokee member of the New Mutants. Image by Bob McCleod, Copyright Marvel Comics.)
On the one hand, maybe these characters were sort of exoticizing, but on the other, there’s now a well-rounded, diverse range of native characters for creators to work with, certainly more so than for other minority groups…
Danielle Moonstar‘s probably one of my favorite of these characters, leaning as I do towards the X-Men side of things. Sure, she uses a bow and arrow, is shown as hot-tempered, maybe sorta stereotypical attributes, but she also became an honest-to-gosh Valkyrie, so I think it evens out.
Moonstar was a founding member of the New Mutants, a high-profile Marvel character since the early ’80s, and most recently the leader of the newest New Mutants, despite losing her own powers. Just an all-around BAMF. Look out for her in Marvel’s forthcoming Fearless Defenders.
BTW, the Moonstar links go to a character biography on UncannyXMen.net, an exhaustive fansite for all your Marvel Mutant needs.
Nice post! and Nice blog… I’m really interested in your stuff about educational / political comics, plus some other commentary I’ve seen- linguistics, art prints, etc. You should check out my blog if you’ve got a minute… I focus on writing reviews for political comics, or looking at comics through a political lens (plus some other stuff about history, art, and politics).
Cheers – and happy New Year
nmguiniling.wordpress.com
thanks! i’m not really a hugely political person, though not without my opinions either… i did think about indigenous issues a lot during college, so native american heritage month was a good time to think out loud about some of those issues : ) i’m liking your blog a lot too, so i will keep an eye on it! thanks for stopping by!