Unca Cheeks the Toy Wonder's Silver Age Comics Web Site!

Comic book super-heroes were -- without exception -- white. With a lackluster few exceptions -- a "Wonder Woman," here; a "Blonde Phantom" there -- they were all white guys.

This was years before Marvel Comics would introduce (to their credit) the first ongoing and sympathetic black character in a regular series (the courageous "Gabe Jones," in the pages of SGT. FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMANDOS); more years, still, before Marvel and DC would actually get around to granting minority super-heroes their own ongoing monthly titles (Marvel testing the waters with the publication of LUKE CAGE: HERO FOR HIRE; and DC -- shortly thereafter -- with BLACK LIGHTNING). And, as for the women...

... well... not counting the inevitable girlfriends-turned-sidekicks here and there (DC's "Hawkgirl"; Marvel's "Wasp"; etc.)... it was still all pretty much WONDER WOMAN, really.

Part of the problem, of course, was the fact that it was the late 50's. Institutionalized racism was still an integral part of the warp and woof of the American fabric; the Civil Rights Voting Act, for instance, was still half a decade away. And the television sitcoms of the day were ruled by the cheerfully bubble-headed (and, thus, studiedly non-threatening) likes of MY LITTLE MARGIE and I LOVE LUCY... so, obviously, sexism was still in its heyday, as well. (Back then, the "strongest" female characters on network television were the scheming viragos constantly attempting to ensnare a pouty-faced DOBIE GILLIS. The Good Lord alone knows why.)

Too: the comics distributors of the day -- particularly those in the "Deep South" -- had made abundantly clear, in times past, their manifest displeasure over having to handle and route comics titles with a manifest minority "slant." (Example: the 40's comic ALL-NEGRO ROMANCE -- the first comic explicitly aimed towards such a readership -- lasted a mere handful of issues... due, primarily, to distributor intransigence.) So... that was another hurdle to be high-stepped, somehow.

Socially-conscious DC editor Mort Weisinger -- along with like-minded writers Jerry Siegal; Edmond Hamilton; and (later on) Jim Shooter -- finally hit upon a workable solution:

... if you can't leap over the hurdle... then make an end-run around it.

Take a look at the picture atop this page.

That's a shot of (a portion of) the current LEGION OF SUPER- HEROES membership, in battle against recurring formen, "the Fatal Five."

There are the standard whiteguy super-heroes, of course (Ultra Boy; Livewire; etc.)... but:

... notice the large number of non-white (and -- for that matter -- non-guy) members rollicking about in battle, as well!

Let's see, now... there's "Saturn Girl," "Apparition," "Triad," "Kinetix" and "Sparks" (all women); "XS" (a black woman);"Monstress" (a GREEN woman; obviously, there are needs being addressed on behalf of today's readership of which we may well be -- mercifully -- unawares). That's enough to field a decent girl's basketball team, right there.

But: look once again, please. We also have: "Gates" (a sentient insectoid); "Sensor" (a telepathic serpent); and "Chameleon" (an orange-skinned and attenae'd shape-shifter).

... and -- as I mentioned, earlier -- this is just a small portion of the team roster.

Much in the same fashion as a young Rod Serling, a few years earlier -- who, after having been thwarted by nervous network executives practically every time he'd attempted to get serious, issues-based scripts produced for PLAYHOUSE 90 and suchlike, finally learned to "couch" those exact same storylines in "fantasy" terms, thus leading to the epochal TWILIGHT ZONE television series -- Weisinger and Company managed to smuggle the notions of Tolerance and Diversity over the well-guarded storytelling border after swaddling their "minority" characters in the science fiction stealth-mode bunting of Alien Beings.

This, of course, fooled precisely those who most needed fooling (i.e., minority-hostile retailers and distributors), while not bamboozling for one nano-second those readers who most needed to see such gospel proffered from the pulpit (or those who could read between lines spaced several miles apart, at any rate).

As the years wore on -- and as the need for such semi-chicanery on the joint parts of comics writers, artists and editors grew less necessary -- various "real" ethnic minorities finally found representation within the august ranks, as well, in various incarnations of the LEGION series: "Tyroc"; "Invisible Kid" (the second Legionnaire to bear that name); and "Kid Quantum" were all black males. The aforementioned "XS" was a black woman, as was "Catspaw"; and "DragonMage," an Asian. Even if one were so inclined as to exclude entirely the bevy of blue-, green-, orange- and what-have-you-skinned Legionnaires from the (sadly) seemingly inevitable "nose-counting" so prevalent in certain fannish circles today... this is still -- by any intellectually honest measure -- a breath-taking accomplishment, in terms of representation, and one from which other titles (and companies) could only profit, in emulating. However: such willfully blinkered vision sells the alien contingent of the team needlessly "short"... particularly given that this site's especial emphasis is on titles published during the groundbreaking "Silver Age" of comics.

Take (as an example) the blue-tinted alien heroine known as "Shadow Lass" [see cover, above]. Said character was the latest descendant in a generations-long line of same, who were all, to a man (or woman, in this case) sworn to devote their lives towards championing their own people, on their own homeworld. She originally joined the Legion -- by her own admission -- solely for the opportunity to pick uup extra combat training; the better to serve her own kind, once said training had been assimilated.

That the character's genesis carried such obvious resonances of the siege-like Israeli nation-state mindset of the day -- to say nothing of the black "separatist" rhetoric of the period, as well -- was, clearly, no accident. The character's creator (a young, savvy Jim Shooter) made a tidy little career for himself, being precisely that willing to filch a notion or two from the headlines of the time... and canny enough to "get away" with it by rendering them in "safe" science-fiction terms.

Most fascinating of all, however -- at least, so far as this reader was concerned -- was the coolly-cerebral "Brainiac 5""... a direct, lineal 30th Century descendant of notorious Superman arch-foe, "Brainiac." [see cover, above]

Brainiac 5 was, at once, both the member the other Legionnaires most needed and relied upon (a LEGION story which did not contain -- at some point -- a scene in which some other member would turn helplessly towards the team's resident inventor and strategist and wail the equivalent of: "... now what do we do...?" was a rare thing, indeed, back in the day)... and the team's greatest liability, as well. His dispassionate devotion towards scientific inquiry led to (among other "nuisances") the creation of the evil and sentient mechanism known as "Computo" (responsible for the death-in-battle of fellow Legionnaire "Triplicate Girl"); and the intentional creation of the malevolent psychic entity known as "Omega," during a period of pronounced mental instability [see cover, below], who very nearly managed to annihilate the entire team assembled.

(He also came within a hairsbreadth of successfully framing another Legionnaire for that latter misdeed, as well: the powerful "semi-rogue" team member known as "Ultra Boy." That's his figure in foreground silhouette on the accompanying cover, by the way. He is -- I assure you -- about to get Well and Truly Pounded. Life -- I am reliably informed -- is not always fair.)

Other alien Legionnaires who played significant and ongoing parts within the LEGION canon include both "Chameleon Boy" (a shape-shifter who -- unhappy with his own people's clannish and xenophobic views towards other worlds and the alien races thereon -- endured perpetual banishment from his own kind, in order to join the team); and the feral, ill-tempered "Timber Wolf" [see cover, below], who found a degree of humanization and self-awareness in his unswerving romantic devotion to fellow Legionnaire "Light Lass."

It would seem impossible, really, for any young reader to batten upon such heady stuff without being decently inculcated, in turn, with a deep and abiding respect for the diversity of ways and worldview that is mankind, writ large... and a profound appreciation towards the men and women of incontestable good will who made such thoughtful fare available in the first place.

That I have (sadly), in fact, met a few such as these, online, is genuinely sad-making. Because it means that even so simple a message as this -- "Race Is Irrelevant" -- is capable of being "missed," providded one only blink rapidly enough, or crane one's neck the other way with sufficient stubbornness.

Not everyone, it seems, is true "Legion" material...

... which means, of course, that the need for precisely such a message is with us, still.

Long Live the Legion!

OTHER CLASSIC DC/MARVEL HEROES of the Silver Age
PAGE ONE (Superman, Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes)

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