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Monday, January 22, 2007
Jimmy Olsen, Jerk
Certain segments of comics fandom, given half an opportunity, will loudly and frequently complain about characters being "shoved" down their throats. What they usually mean by this is that someone is trying to publish a comic featuring a character that is not either a straight white male or an over-endowed white woman. Viewed from a certain angle, what their complaints mean is that they're nostalgic for this type of story:
That's Jimmy Olsen, super-spy, escaping from a prison in a Latin American country with a sultry senorita on his arm. And that's about as good as it gets in this comic.
Hmm, strange women throwing themselves at Jimmy, and the poor sap is too stupid to realize that any woman who greets him that enthusiastically is either a secret agent or, well, stupid.
Naturally she's an enemy spy. Personally, I think she killed herself just to get away from Jimmy.
... Oh, man...a "sleepy" latino, complete with poncho and sombrero. All he's missing is a little burro on a string to complete the racist stereotype trifecta. And before anyone attempts to defend the image, yes, I know that used to be the logo for Taco Bell. Didn't make it any less offensive there, either.
They knew he was an imposter because he wasn't wearing a sombrero.
...
I think that bears repeating, actually.
They knew he was an imposter because he wasn't wearing a sombrero.
Until I read this story, I'd never actually wanted to punch a comics creator before.
A little bondage for the kiddies, and Jimmy Olsen showing all the self-awareness of a dry sponge yet again.
Gosh, I'm sure that no cultural assumptions about the virtue of Hispanic women factored into their portrayal in this tale...
We'll set aside the potential offensiveness about Lucy doing a culturally insensitive impersonation of a Romany woman to focus on the important point here, Jimmy getting what for.