Sidebar re: Indigenous Depictions @ Marvel

[dewline]

First time I'd heard of Danielle Moonstar being seen as a Problematic comics character today, but maybe I shouldn't be surprised. She was cited as such by Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair at today's Canadian Comics Publishing Roundtable at Sequential's Canadian Comics Symposium. The character's been part of the Marvel roster for 40 years now, or close to that.

Comments

[shanejayell]

I wonder what they think of Alpha Flight's Shaman and Talisman....

[dewline]

Probably not kindly. With cause, I expect. These characters all can certainly be better-realised than they've been.

[shanejayell]

They did try to give him a more 'Canadian native' look, but it didn't last long.

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/de/fa/04/defa04a36b88c0e9153740c2f6f0a383.jpg

[dewline]

Yeah, dressing up a guy from T'suutina as if he were coming from one of the Pacific coastal nations...I'm not surprised that it didn't last long when I look back at that.

Here's the home page for the government of his home community:

https://tsuutinanation.com/

[shanejayell]

Oh wow, I didn't know THAT. Ha.

[sabotabby]

I'd be interested to hear what he said.

[dewline]

If memory serves, all the discussions are going to end up on YouTube. This will likely be the channel hosting those videos. You might have to wait a few days-to-weeks.

[sabotabby]

Awesome.

[kaffy_r]

That surprises me; I always thought she was handled with a great deal of respect. On the other hand, I am not Indigenous/First Nation, and I need to pay attention to how Indigenous/First Nation readers react to characters. Was it somehow connected to some Indigenous version of the Magic Negro trope?

[dewline]

Almost certainly, and in Dani's case, it may have been made worse in Sinclair's opinion when Chris Claremont - Dani's original writer from the New Mutants graphic novel onward - gave her additional ties to the Valkyries.

[kaffy_r]

Oh, I'd forgotten about that. It always seemed a little weird to me, but I loved the New Mutants so much (especially the early issues with Bill Sienkiewicz' art) that I was willing to forgive a lot.