Another month, another Superman controversy. This week, DC Comics was supposed to publish an issue of Superman in which he met a west coast-based superhero named Sharif. The story was supposed to revolve around the fact that some citizens don’t trust Sharif because he’s Muslim. When the issue hit the stands, comics fans realized that DC Comics made an unannounced change and published an innocuous story about Krypto the Super-Dog, instead. The Sharif story is nowhere to be found. You can read more about the whole thing here.
And, more importantly, you should go read this essay at 4th Letter about the whole deal. It’s a pretty good essay about race and responsibility and funnybooks:
-I don’t think DC is a racist company. I think they’re a bit clueless, but they have made great strides in terms of being better about race, for whatever “better about race” may mean to you personally. They’re trying.
-I do think that this decision is racist, or, at best, sympathetic to racists. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this story as described, and no reason to be suspicious of a fictional character.
-This is cowardice, pure and simple…If your comics are supposed to be this utopian garbage about the power of a single man fighting against evil, what type of message do you think this sends?
-You don’t bow down to scum, and you don’t bow down to tyrants. You shouldn’t be bowing at all.
Replacing Sharif with a story about Krypto the Super-dog hardly sounds innocuous at all. It sounds intentionally provocative, no less so than that guy who made all the noise about planning to burn a Koran, like DC really does hate Muslims or something.
@guspasho, at least they passed on Porcenia as a replacement.
(She’s a constantly-naked prostitute whose super powers include pulled pork sandwich-eating and shitting on the Koran accurately from high altitudes.)
@CC, replace “prostitute” with “bitch” and that would be an accurate description of Krypto.