Indian Comics Irregular #72

The PETER PARKER 2001 annual offers an untold tale of Spider-Man.
One summer in high school, Peter journeys to Peru to do field work
with the Red Cross. He saves a bus from going off a cliff and is
found unconscious by Amazon Indians, who carry him into the jungle.

How does this scenario play out? Not well, of course, since it's a
comic book. Let's take a look:

The good: The briefly glimpsed airport has an air of authenticity,
as do the locals' clothing and wares. The natives' faces and skin
color are appropriately non-Caucasian. The jungle scenes are lush
with vegetation and awash in muted shades of green and brown. The
Indians have had contact with missionaries, so they aren't quite a
lost tribe.

The bad: The lead character, Taran, is a beautiful young priestess.
She wears a two-piece, bikini-like sarong. The men are big and
strong, the women slender and sexy. There's no sign of the elders
who typically would govern such a group. (Few if any indigenous
tribes are led by young women.) The Indians live in what look like
open-topped tepees, wholly impractical for life in a rain forest.
(Grass huts with roofs of leaves would be more like it.)

But wait, there's more. The Indians call themselves the Spider
Village and worship "the Great Weaver, and the river spiders." (That
Native people worship animals is a common myth.) A sorcerer has
ousted the villagers from their spider temple, a moldering stone ruin
like that in any old potboiler. (Erecting such an edifice is well
beyond the means of a simple village). Spider-Man and Taran fight the
sorcerer over a powerful magic amulet. (That Native people run their
lives with magical talismans--or with magic, period--is a gross
bastardization of their religions.)

The ugly: Taran's spider clan is opposed by the deadly snake clan,
whose warriors dress up as serpents. Their evil leader commands
constrictors to crush people.

Snakes have gotten a bum rap ever since the Garden of Eden. They're
perennial villains in any "primitive" tale: Conan vs. Set
worshippers, Arak vs. the Snake People. Perhaps someday someone will
recognize that many indigenous people respect rather than scorn
snakes. The Hopi, for example, consider them messengers of the gods
and honor them in their Snake Dance.

Despite the nice artistic touches, it's unfortunate to see such a
stereotypical work produced in 2001. Give this comic a D and give it
a pass.

Indian/Cartoon Connections

Indians have starred in a few animated TV shows: the horrendous "Go-
Go Gophers" from the '60s, "The Paw Paws," and "BraveStarr."

A 1991 "Widget" cartoon showed a Hopi kachina mask and the inside of
a kiva, two cultural no-nos.

One can view the epic battles between the Roadrunner and Wile E.
Coyote as modern versions of Native Coyote myths.

Characters such as Bugs Bunny, Batman, and Spider-Man represent the
Trickster archetype, a classic figure from indigenous (and other)
cultures.

For more on the last point, visit
http://www.bluecorncomics.com/whyhero.htm.

Getting Going in 2002

We wrapped up 2001 with another batch of PEACE PARTY political
'toons. Check out Billy and Drew's final answer on the war against
terrorism at http://www.bluecorncomics.com/toons01.htm.

For 2002 we're ratcheting up our search for Native artists who can
draw pro-quality comic books. For details, see
http://www.bluecorncomics.com/artwrite.htm.

Rob Schmidt
Blue Corn Comics