Indian Comics Irregular #100

The focus of this newsletter has always been "the intersection of pop
culture and Indian country." What better example of that than Arnold
Schwarzenegger's bid to be governor of California? Schwarzenegger is
running on pure celebrity, since he has no political experience or
acumen to his name. Indeed, he has no plan or agenda except
being "for the people" and against "special interests."

Like so many crusaders before him, Schwarzenegger's primary bogeymen
are the Indians. Like a latter-day Übermensch, he'll "terminate"
the bad guys for truth, justice, and the American way. How dare
those money-grubbing tribes try to get rich (i.e., pull themselves
out of poverty) at the expense of "real" people?

In Schwarzenegger's script for this election, Indians are the perfect
movie villains. They're the heartless land barons who will foreclose
on our mortgages AND the half-naked savages who will scalp us in our
sleep. Either way, they must be stopped.

Like the fictional Arabs and drug dealers he's fought before,
Arnold's Indians are barbarians who pretend to be civilized. If the
Duke isn't available to bring them to heel, he'll do the job. He'll
clean up Dodge City (Sacramento) and run the varmints (gaming tribes)
out of town.

If you're a Californian reading this on Oct. 7, it's not too late to
send the Terminator (or should I say the Predator?) a message. Don't
let a woman-groping, Hitler-admiring muscle man trample tribal
sovereignty beneath his boots. We have enough problems on the
national level without electing an intellectually and morally suspect
frat boy as governor too.

For more on the subject, see "Have Gaming Tribes Bought California
for $120 Million? No" and "Top 15 Reasons Why Indians Shouldn't Vote
for Arnold Schwarzenegger" at
http://www.bluecorncomics.com/120mill.htm .

The First American Superheroes

From an article titled "Shamans, the Ancient Americas' Superheroes"
in the LA Times, 8/27/03:

What do Wolverine, the Incredible Hulk, Wonder Woman and Spider-
Man have in common? They are all superheroes of today. Did you
know that more than 1,000 years ago, long before Columbus set foot
in the New World, superheroes existed in the Americas? These
ancient superheroes were known as shamans.

Shamans were the protectors of their tribes. Like Batman or
Superman, they were ordinary people who could morph into a
supernatural state. But instead of changing in a phone booth or
going down into a bat cave, shamans would engage in special
chants. These chants allowed them to transform from an ordinary
person into a superhero.

So Indians had their heroes and Euro-Americans had theirs: semi-
mythical figures like George Washington, Daniel Boone, and General
George A. Custer. But when they battled, both groups couldn't have
been fighting for truth and justice...could they? Which heroes really
represented the American way?

As I explained in "Why Write About Superheroes?"
(http://www.bluecorncomics.com/whyhero.htm), gods, knights, and
gunslingers keep recurring as Western heroes. Nonviolent naysayers
like Jesus, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King don't make the traditional
list--and neither do Indians like Tecumseh, Sitting Bull, and
Geronimo. But with macho men like George W. Bush and Arnold
Schwarzenegger (mis)leading us, maybe it's time for some Native
heroes.

Speaking of Which...

After months of delay, Blue Corn Comics is back in the publishing
business. Yes, we're finally producing more PEACE PARTY stories. As
usual, stay tuned for further developments.

Rob Schmidt
Blue Corn Comics