Saturday, February 11, 2023

MINOR SUPER-VILLAIN 242: THE WHITE RENEGADE

(Flash Comics v1 010, 1940)


I've alluded now and then to the colonialist assumptions that comics worked off of and that seemingly were endemic to the mindset of the American people. The White Renegade offers an example of the two major prongs of these assumptions, which boil down to the idea that the world is divided into White People and Everyone Else, and that:

1. All offenses committed by Everyone Else against White people shall be repaid with great vengeance. 

2. The greatest crime that a White Person can commit is to side with Everyone Else against White People.

I'm only about 1/10 qualified to talk about this stuff, but I am an English major, so I'm fully qualified to notice it. Someone could probably work up an okay thesis by analysing Golden Age (and all other) comics set in colonized areas.

So: the White Renegade. He's called that because he's a white person siding with South Pacific natives against other white people. The natives would have been in for it regardless, but whenever someone pulls this kind of thing in a comic you know that he's not long for the world. And indeed, Cliff Cornwall tracks him down and takes him out. There's not much to him to talk about really - he looks like a palate-swapped version of the Shadow, which is fun.

The White Renegade! Racism! Colonialism! A cool outfit!

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