Content provided in partnership with
Comic book masculinity and the new black superhero
African American Review, Spring, 1999 by Jeffrey A. Brown
Although the Milestone line of comic books is read by many fans as an alternative depiction of masculinity in comparison to the Image books, and by others (particularly those from minority backgrounds) as portraying "thinking black man's heroes," the books are by no means the sole voices of change present in contemporary culture. Outside the superhero genre, several other comic book series, including The Sandman, The Books of Magic, American Splendor, and Maus, have offered much less hyperbolic models of masculinity. Unfortunately, unlike the Milestone books, most of the other revisionist types of comic books are classified as "Mature Reader" titles and are clearly not geared toward the traditional, pre-adolescent consumer. Likewise, less hypermasculine, less "cool pose"-informed images of black men occasionally emerge through the cracks of popular culture. As bell hooks concludes in her chapter on reconstructing black masculinity, "Changing representations of black men must be a collective task" (Black 113). For true change to take place, for stereotypes (both imposed and internalized) to be broken, alternative representations of blackness in relation to masculine ideals must come not just from comic books but also from the realms of music, film, literature, education, and politics.
One of the most often cited alternative visions of black masculinity is put forth by Mitchell Duneier in Slim's Table: Race, Respectability, and Masculinity (1992), his acclaimed ethnography about the elderly black men who frequent Valois, a Chicago diner. The men of Valois have constructed for themselves what Duneier describes as a "community of caring." A world apart from the conventional understanding of black men caught up in masculine protests of violence, misogyny, and social alienation, these elderly men are unconcerned about - indeed, outrightly scornful of - displays of masculine posturing. Instead, the men profiled in Slim's Table spend their days offering support, respect, and love for each other in social and personal matters ranging from finances to sexual relationships. In relation to the issues I have been discussing in this essay, Bordo accurately sums up the vision of masculinity revealed in Duneier's work when she writes, "The oppositions soft/hard, masculine/feminine have no purchase on their sense of manhood, which is tied to other qualities: sincerity, loyalty, honesty. Their world is not divided between the men and the wimps, but between those who live according to certain personal standards of decency and caring and those who try to 'perform' and impress others. They are scornful of and somewhat embarrassed by the 'cool pose' which has been adopted by many younger black men" ("Reading" 730). But whereas Duneier, Bordo, and hooks see gentle, caring men of an older generation like those who bide their time at Valois as an ideal that might transform a younger, disillusioned generation, today's youth are likely to find little purchase in this ideal. Although these older men have certainly lived their lives in resistance to racism and other social pressures, young men today - young black men - live in an environment in which the standards of hard vs. soft and masculine vs. feminine are an intricate and unavoidable fact with which they must come to terms. It is here that I think Milestone's reworked image of heroic black masculinity might prove uniquely helpful.
Find Research Guides for:
Find Featured Titles for: Autos
Most Popular Articles in Reference
- The importance of understanding organizational culture
- Credit card attitudes and behaviors of college students
- What factors attract foreign direct investment?
- Libraries Need Relationship Marketing - mutual interest marketing concept, ...
- How to set performance goals: employee reviews are more than annual critiques
- More »