Published by Avi Green
on Thursday, August 23, 2012 at 1:33 PM. 
This picture is from JSA #29 (part of the Joker's Last Laugh crossover), which I read a decade ago, and back at the time, when Jakeem Thunder and Star-Spangled Girl were fighting with Solomon Grundy, it passed over my head, but he mouths off with a racist slur, calling Grundy a "white boy", and no argument was forthcoming from Courtney Whitmore about whether that's a good idea to call even a villain by that name. After all, Grundy may be a zombie pain in the butt, but he's far from a crook who's own motives were ever built on racism, and that's why Geoff Johns' choice of words was pretty tacky. This was also part of one story he wrote solo at the time without David Goyer assisting him, explaining extra why it's one of the weaker stories.
It would be truly awful if Spider-Man or any other white
superhero were depicted using that kind of language against any black
criminals they've faced. So why did DC editorial allow the slur Johns slipped in here to get the green light to pass with nary even a message about what's wrong with it? It's a very stupid way to write even a protagonist with flaws in personality.
Labels: dc comics, dreadful writers, Justice Society of America, misogyny and racism
Courtney probably would have been called racist if she did refute Jakeem, don'tcha know. Or, if this occurred, today, that is.
Compared to what's going these days with invective against Whites, what Jakeem said was almost quaint.
But isn't Grundy actually a [pasty] white color? (I haven't seen him in a comic in many, many years, but that's what color he was back in the day.)
If so, I wouldn't take the remark as a racial one.
Yeah, upon reflection, I personally wouldn't interpret that as a pure racial one, either... or it's quite minor, at best. Not to say it shouldn't be analyzed or flagged as Avi did.
I don't think I've ever heard of Jakeem, so if I knew more of his character, it would be easier to make such an assessment. Is he prone to such things?
Oh, well. Speaking of really pasty White guys, CNN hired Morgan Spurlock:
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2012/08/23/cnn-trusted-name-left-again
Joy.
Jakeem Thunder was a replacement for the Golden Age hero Johnny Thunder, I think. After the original died he got control of the Thunderbolt.