For example, some have suggested that the Wonder Woman character and title evolved as a vehicle to communicate pro-American attitudes during World War II.
[3] In 2007 the scholarly journal MELUS (publication of The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States) devoted an entire issue to the literary and sociological representations of race and ethnicity in comics.
The issue was guest edited by Derek Parker Royal, and it included essays on older graphic narratives (such as Jackie Ormes's Torchy Brown and Miné Okubo's Citizen 13660), more recent graphic novels (Ho Che Anderson's King, Ben Katchor's The Jew of New York, and Mark Kalesniko's Mail Order Bride), as well as various comic book series (Dwayne McDuffie's Deathlok, Adrian Tomine's Optic Nerve, and Los Bros Hernandez's Love and Rockets).
Those few positive portrayals are often passive, neither taking the limelight away from the most often Caucasian protagonists, nor overshadowing the active role of the evil Arabs in the book.
These features often included long unkempt hair, broad noses, enormous red-tinted lips, dark skin and ragged clothing reminiscent of those worn by Black slaves.
In comics, nameless Black bystanders and even some notable heroes and villains were developed in this style, including The Spirit's sidekick Ebony White and Billy Batson's valet Steamboat.
Eisner later admitted to consciously stereotyping the character, but said he tried to do so with "responsibility", and argued that "at the time humor consisted in our society of bad English and physical difference in identity".
In a 1966 New York Herald Tribune feature by his former office manager-turned-journalist, Marilyn Mercer wrote: "Ebony never drew criticism from Negro groups (in fact, Eisner was commended by some for using him), perhaps because, although his speech pattern was early Minstrel Show, he himself derived from another literary tradition: he was a combination of Tom Sawyer and Penrod, with a touch of Horatio Alger hero, and color didn't really come into it".
[13] In the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, several African-American heroes were created in the vein of blaxploitation-era movie protagonists, and seemed to be a direct response to the notable Black Nationalist movement.
Symbolizing America's "phobia of the "Yellow Peril",[16] these characters were frequently of foreign nationality (usually Chinese) and often possessed a stereotypically Asian appearance (for example, a long wispy moustache and yellow-tinted skin).
They were often highly intelligent or in possession of a powerful, supernatural ability and generally occupied themselves with elaborate plans for world domination, although they were usually thwarted by the American heroes of their time.
In the early 20th century, author Sax Rohmer published a series of novels focusing on the wildly popular Chinese villain, Dr. Fu Manchu.
In 1938, DC Comics obtained the license for Sax Rohmer's character, and subsequent titles featured Fu Manchu as a recurring villain.
These characters were frequently caricatures of the Chinese coolie, appearing short in stature, sporting bucked teeth and a queue, and spoke pidgin English.
Examples of such characters include the controversial Chop-Chop (aka Wu Cheng) of DC's Blackhawk team and Wing-How, sidekick of the Crimson Avenger.
Chop-Chop was the youngest member of the Blackhawk team created by Will Eisner, Chuck Cuidera, and Bob Powell for Quality Comics during World War II.
Resembling other Chinese caricatures typical of the era, Chop-Chop was short with bright yellow skin, bucked teeth, and a queue.
Writer Mark Evanier and artist Dan Spiegle avoided all the racial and ethnic stereotypes that had previously defined Chop-Chop's character except one.
[21] Howard Chaykin's 1987 Blackhawk limited series explains the earlier stereotypical representations as a comic-book-within-a-comic-book and the Chop-Chop of that team expresses indignation toward them.
An overwhelming number of Asian characters, particularly those of Japanese descent, are portrayed as masters of ninjutsu or the ways of the samurai, and are frequently introduced as teachers of non-Asian protagonists.