Indian Comics Irregular #99

In 1973, ABC launched a Hanna-Barbera cartoon called "Super Friends."
This show featured DC Comics's top heroes fighting supervillains, mad
scientists, and aliens. Despite its goofy premises and hole-riddled
plots, it lasted in various formats until 1986.

Like its peers in comics, the "Super Friends" team was initially all-
white. Eventually the series introduced some ethnic types: Black
Vulcan, El Dorado, Samurai, and Apache Chief. These characters were
among the first minority heroes in cartoons.

Unfortunately, they were also tokens: bundles of cultural clichés
with no individuality. Apache Chief, whose magic word made him grow,
was arguably more stereotypical than Tonto, who had debuted 45 years
earlier. The problems included:

· His name: "Apache" (perhaps the most popular tribe for Indian
characters, signifying their warrior spirit) and "Chief" (Indian
characters must be chiefs or shamans or princesses so they aren't just
anonymous savages).

· His costume: a headband and vest (standard for most Apaches) and
loincloth (standard for most Indians).

· His painfully slow, solemn speech.

One Web-based critic, Seanbaby, has lambasted all the Super Friends,
especially Apache Chief. Some excerpts:

Apache Chief was just another insult. The guy could barely form a
three-word sentence, and if he did, it took most of the episode for
him to stumble it out....Do they expect us to believe this guy
spent his whole life in some isolated non-English-speaking teepee?
It was 1978....

Now that I mention it, I don't think he was Apache or a chief. His
name doesn't make any damn sense. That's like putting a white guy
on a team of Native Americans and naming him "Minnesota President."

I know all the ethnic Super Friends were supposed to make redneck
kids learn the beauty of other cultures and stop making them the
bad guys in children's games, but we still played Cowboys and
Indians and made the fat kid be Apache Chief.

Birdman to the Rescue

In 2001, the Cartoon Network began broadcasting 'toons that put an
adult spin on juvenile concepts. That's how the obscure '60s series
"Birdman and the Galaxy Trio" became "Harvey Birdman, Attorney at
Law." As the show's website put it: "Once a third-rate superhero,
Harvey Birdman is now a third-rate lawyer trying like hell to get by
in a fancy law firm."

Birdman the lawyer defended the likes of Fred Flintstone, Yogi Bear,
and Scooby-Doo. Episode 2, titled "Very Personal Injury,"
guest-starred none other than Apache Chief. As the website explains:

Ex-Super Friend Apache Chief accidentally spills a latte on his lap
and loses his super-ability to "grow large at will." With Harvey
as his attorney, he sues Javalux. A scheming Reducto calls the
beautiful coffee shop manager to the stand, who proves that Apache
Chief is not injured and does, in fact, still have his teepee.

The episode didn't eliminate the stereotypes, but it did humanize
Apache Chief. He got to engage in small talk, hint at his sexuality,
even blush. It was probably his best "role" ever.

About the only new stereotyping in "Birdman" came when the defense
lawyer questioned the aforementioned shop manager. Somehow she turned
into a Pocahontas-style maiden complete with a papoose. She was
supposed to be the Chief's fantasy, but she looked more like a white
man's dream.

A B+ to "Harvey Birdman" for reviving Apache Chief and a D+ to "Super
Friends" for creating him. Let's hope future creators give Indians
a better break.

Rob Schmidt
Blue Corn Comics