Race & Comics Round-up: Around The Marvel Universe

What makes me angriest about this whole situation, however, is how starkly it contrasts with the list of all the things Joe Quesada and Marvel writers have REFUSED to apologize for in recent years – all the people whose legitimate complaints have been brushed aside derisively in the name of art or the almighty dollar. Let’s start with Jonathan Hickman’s use of the offensive slur “retard” in a recent issue of Fantastic Four, defended in the letter column as necessary to his art because “that’s what a three-year-old would say.” Let’s talk about how editors spent months defending the Chameleon raping Peter Parker’s roommate in Spider-Man without repercussions or even acknowledgment that it had been rape. What about all the times people have brought up the sexism or racism in certain comics and been brushed aside as crazy entitled fans, as if they were banging on the doors of the Marvel offices demanding the return of Deathlok? Marvel does not make a habit of apologizing, even when it probably should.

But when Fox News starts whining, it’s time to bend over backwards to apologize and excise the material that offended a few ultra-conservative white people. Because, as we all know, it’s a FAR bigger crime to accuse someone of racism than to be racist oneself. And while offensive slurs MUST be used to preserve the realism of a preschooler’s portrayal, it’s unacceptable for a black character to call the Tea Party Movement racist. Right?

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