The Four Color Media Monitor

Australian Broadcasting interviewed Scott Wilson, an artist of Aboriginal descent, who's developed superheroes with similar backgrounds, because he didn't see any significant examples in other comics:

Scott Wilson grew up obsessed with superheroes, but he never saw his own culture in the comic books he'd get lost in.

"When I was a kid, my favourite superhero was Wonder Woman. I'd twist a bath towel into a lasso and pretend it was the Lasso of Truth," he says.

Scott grew up in Rubibi (Broome), spending his time on country around the Western Australian tourist town.

Spider-Man was the superhero who really captured his imagination, and he identified with the idea of a high school student by day, masked avenger by night.

But like most superheroes, without his mask, Spider-Man is a white man.

For Scott, it raised a very personal question: Why don't I ever see myself in these stories?

Before continuing, I should point out that Bishop from X-Men counts as at least one, and if Mr. Wilson didn't do research to that extent, that's not doing a very good job. There's also Black Panther, Luke Cage, Black Lightning, Storm, and even Bumblebee from the Teen Titans. We could also consider Robbie Robertson and Glory Grant from Spider-Man's cast; why didn't he and the news writer bring them up? This is where the article flubs considerably, and undermines itself as a result. Plus, there's the vital query why seeing your background represented may be more important than entertainment value?

As he grew up and learned to make his own superheroes, Scott found the answer in creating comics that draw from the world's oldest living culture, and by sketching its newest figures.

He called it the Indigiverse. In this universe, the superheroes talk in traditional language, and draw their power from the Dreaming.

Well I appreciate he's developing his own products, but I think it's farcical already when some creators rely so heavily on the superhero theme, rather than put more emphasis on adventure themes, and making the stars of the show adventurers with sci-fi and fantasy powers without touting them as superheroes per se. You can also develop fancy-looking outfits without claiming these are superhero uniforms per se to boot. Yet Wilson's resorting to the superhero theme when it's been run into the ground by PC since the turn of the century, and simpler concepts could avail far better. I will agree however, that emphasizing traditional languages can have advantages, and it could also be a great idea if a comic starring characters of Basque descent from Europe were developed. Wilson also told of his experiences growing up:

He described himself as a "shapeshifter". Chess, rugby, basketball, art — he did everything, wanting to excel and be the best.

But it couldn't shield him from the prejudice he was confronted with whenever he did things like going to the local shops.

"[Shop staff] would check your bag … [and] I thought, Oh, that's probably just how they do it with all kids. But I noticed they weren't checking any of the other non-Indigenous students' bags," Scott says.

"I just was very blasé to these concepts of racism. I never really thought of myself as Aboriginal [when I was in Rubibi] because I was in my class with majority Aboriginal students and we didn't say, 'Hey, I'm Aboriginal.' We'd just say, 'Oh, I'm Gooniyandi'. You know who your mob is.

"It wasn't until people started pointing out ... 'Hey, they're only doing that because you guys are black'."

As he was learning to deal with these concepts of racism, and finding his voice as a young creative, a tragedy struck that shaped his art forever.

Dealing with loss

While boarding at Hale, Scott lost a beloved cousin, Adam, in a car crash.

The sudden death rocked him.

"Adam was my big brother, basically, and he loved his cars. He had this brilliant, beautiful gold car. The golden boy," Scott says.

"[He] used to drive around town. You know, all the girls used to sing out. Everyone knew him."

On this, I'm most terribly sorry for his loss of a beloved relative. And on the subject of racism, he's got valid points that were confirmed in recent years, when a report came out that in the West Australia province, there was an alarming case of racism at local schools during 2021, made worse by how Aboriginal girls were the main victims, and a combined racist/misogynist slur was used by offending students against them. Whether or not it's been dealt with, it proves that without vigilance, racism can still prevail in the modern day and age. This is stuff the woke movements in the USA don't seem to pay any attention to, and as a result, their whole platform is farcical based on the lack of altruism involved. Wilson might want to do some research on that kind of stuff, if he really wants to address the issues of racial prejudice in modern times.

And he found the ideal elective: Create Your Own Superhero. He already had the model for his superhero in mind, a Gooniyandi man named Adam Hart.

"A lot of the characters that I was forming had that anti-hero vibe," Scott says.

"I created this character that was just completely Black with all these awesome colours throughout the body, with the power to move through time, move through space. I love this idea of, no matter what the challenges ... they'll overcome their own darkness within themselves."

Again, I think it's definitely admirable he's creating his own stories and characters, but the superhero theme has still been vastly overused, maybe even overvalued, and if you can't rely on anything apart from that particular theme, it's not doing the medium much good. It's entirely possible to develop comic adventures without emphasizing the stars as superheroes, just as adventurers who could be wearing fancy outfits. The Japanese have done that with various manga and anime productions, so why not try it with comics outside of Japan too? I honestly think plenty of comic creators in and out of the English-speaking world could consider it doesn't have to be just stories described as superhero-themed that can be produced for the market. There's plenty of other ways to employ fantasy and sci-fi too.

Labels: Black Panther, conventions, dc comics, Europe and Asia, history, indie publishers, marvel comics, misogyny and racism, Spider-Man, Titans, Wonder Woman, X-Men