Indian Comics Irregular #164

On December 6 I spoke on Natives in comic books at the Montclair Art Museum in
New Jersey. Accompanying me was Michael Sheyahshe (Caddo), author of the
forthcoming "Native Americans in Comic Books." The lively discussion ranged
from Green Lantern's pal Thomas Kalmaku to the X-Men's Dani Moonstar to tribal
comics such as A HERO'S VOICE and CHICKASAW ADVENTURES.

We began the program with "A History of Natives in Comics," the PowerPoint
presentation I created for my appearance at the Eiteljorg Museum in March (ICI
#155). We didn't have time for my other PowerPoint presentation, "Hercules vs.
Coyote: Native and American Comics." But both are now available online as
PDFs.

The event went well, according to Martha Kelshaw of the Montclair. As she wrote
in an e-mail, "Thank you so much for being part of the museum's Comic Book Art
Programming. The talk you and Michael gave truly was well received. We
appreciate the PowerPoint and the discussion you provided our audience."

The day after the event I spent a couple hours touring the museum. Naturally, I
was interested in the showcase exhibit, "Reflecting Culture: The Evolution of
American Comic Book Superheroes." The comics on display included ACTION #1,
AMAZING FANTASY #15, and PEACE PARTY #1. The curators did a fine job of telling
the social history of comics and integrating Indians into it.

The Montclair has quite an eclectic collection: portraits, landscapes,
sculptures, abstracts, Indian artifacts, and comic books. It's worth seeing if
you're in the area. If you can't make it, check out the pictures I took of the
museum, the town, and nearby Manhattan.

A few months ago I recorded some commentaries for the "Reflecting Culture"
exhibit. These commentaries covered Native stereotypes in comics, Wyatt
Wingfoot, the X-Men and Alpha Flight, and Peace Party. If you're interested,
you can download and listen to them as MP3s.

Around the same time, I was videotaped for a documentary by Chip Cronkite,
Walter's son. Titled "The Legends Behind the Comic Books," it's now out on DVD.
It features interviews with such luminaries as Stan Lee, Joe Simon, and Joe
Kubert and includes one sound bite from me on Indians in comics.

More on Native Comics

Speaking of Tom Kalmaku, I recently reviewed two of his appearances. As you may
know, he debuted in 1960 as an Eskimo grease monkey called Pieface. Well, in
SECRET ORIGINS #36 and GREEN LANTERN: LEGACY, he comes across as a
three-dimensional character--i.e., a real person. He's a mechanic, an author,
and a family man, which makes him one of the best comic-book Natives ever.

I also posted some thoughts on Dani Moonstar. A correspondent wrote, "To me,
she seemed like one of the better characters, as she was given depth, a
leadership role, and actual space in the comics." I agreed but added, "Moonstar
has some heft as a proud and angry activist type. She's more than
one-dimensional. But if you look at her Cheyenne background, it's paper-thin.
She isn't much more than the generic mystical or shamanic character."

As for PEACE PARTY, I did an e-mail interview with Jennifer Contino for The
Pulse, an online zine about comics. It's a good introduction to our books for
those who don't know them. Meanwhile, Chandler Hayes, a skateboard artist who's
part Cherokee, is developing "decks" based on our heroes. Looks like 2008 is
going to be a PEACE PARTY kind of year.

For more on these subjects, go to http://www.bluecorncomics.com/nacomics.htm .
There you can find links to everything mentioned here.

Rob Schmidt
Blue Corn Comics