Indian Comics Irregular #71

Last year I reported on Dan Red Eagle Comics in "Christian Indian
Comics Online" (ICI #40). Though their Christian message was heavy-
handed at times, at least the comics had characters and plots. The
second issue was noteworthy for dealing with such real problems as
suicide, alcoholism, and police antagonism.

Now comes a less benign example of comic-book proselytizing. Jack
Chick, a longtime publisher of religious propaganda, has put out a
tract called "The True Path." In a wordless series of pictures, it
spells out a nasty message.

The checkbook-sized tract begins with the standard story of God
expelling humans from paradise. Next some scuzzy-looking Natives--
identifiable by their stereotypical features--approach the "true
path" to God. A few Natives take this route, reach God, and are
cleansed of sin. Another Native rejects God because he's too in love
with liquor.

It doesn't get much more hamfisted than that. Natives are either
lousy drunks or loving Christians, with nothing in-between. There's
no mention of Indians who are alcohol-free and content with their
indigenous religions, nor of Christian Indians who are falling-down
drunks.

"The True Path" perpetuates two major stereotypes. One, that Native
people are alcoholics. The tract shows no one except Indians
drinking. Two, that Christianity is the only valid religion. Pope
John Paul II might love this message, but it's grotesquely out of
place in today's multicultural America.

A couple of correspondents summed up "The True Path." One, a non-
Christian Indian, said, "This is well beyond just a stereotype. This
is hate." Another, a non-Indian Christian, said, "The theology
behind the tract is basically standard Christian fare." Sadly,
they're both right.

For more on Jack Chick and "The True Path," go to
http://www.bluecorncomics.com/stype176.htm.

"Herman's" Hermit-Like Attitude

The "Herman" comic strip must be going for a record. Not only did it
depict a Native subject in April, but it offered two more in
October. All three portrayals were stereotypical.

In the 10/21 Sunday strip, it appears a Plains Indian is talking to
an Apache. The Apache says he's leaving. Why? Because he won an
archery contest for the chief's daughter.

Besides the dubious mixing of Plains and Apache details, the whole
contest bit is unsavory. Consider: 1) The chief's marriageable
daughter is a bad cliché from hundreds of old novels and movies.
2) Indians are shown as barbarians who give women away on a whim, not
as people with civilized courtship rituals. 3) The Apache's escape
plan suggests the daughter is a homely Indian "squaw," another
cliché.

In the 10/31 cartoon, a pioneer wife brings a meal to her husband,
who has two arrows in his back. The caption: "They ALWAYS go on the
warpath when we're eating." This text belies the reality that the
Anglos, not the Indians, were the aggressors in US history.

Cartoonist Jim Unger may want to quit the Indian bashing while he's
behind. To see his cartoons and others, visit the Stereotype of the
Month contest at http://www.bluecorncomics.com/stertype.htm.

Happy New Year

A year-end thanks to some of our best customers: Cherokee
Publications, Native Voices, and the Book Depot at Montana State
University-Billings. You can find links to their websites at
http://www.bluecorncomics.com/links.htm.

We hope to publish more PEACE PARTY in 2002, so stay tuned for
further developments.

Rob Schmidt
Blue Corn Comics