By Advik Beni
“It is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world; we explain that world with words, but words can never undo the fact that we are surrounded by it. The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled.” (Berger, 1972: 7)
John Berger, writer for the critically-acclaimed television show Ways of Seeing, aims to explain the notion surrounding the way people view art. This statement shows that ‘words’ and the ‘world around us’ have a pivotal relationship. Artistic creations are an interpretation of the world, but still carry with them a sense of truth.
For example, if an artist paints a cat they are creating a subjective and creative interpretation of this cat. When someone buys this painting, they are not buying the tangible cat but the representation of the cat. However, the fact that the consumer sees it as a cat means that it carries an element of truth. This is the same way in which fictional literature manages to comment on real world problems through fantastical constructs.
Berger shows a subtle preference for the visual’s ability to create a lasting interpretation of real world situations, over the written, though this is a whole other debate. But if many people perceive the ‘visual’ as being the more astute portrayal of the real world, then the comic book medium, which merges both literary and visual components into one seamless narrative, becomes even more important to discuss.
Jonathan Gayle states that comic books manage to “reflect the kinetic societal context within which comic books and comic book characters are created.” (White Scripts and Black Supermen, 2011). What Gayle is saying, is that the medium of comic books have a strong link with the real-world situations that it stems from. The comic is a mirror in which the societal circumstances can be understood. Thus, this discussion – by comparing The Black Panther and Kwezi comics – will aim to examine the politics surrounding the black body in comics and, in particular, the way in which these representations have changed.
Kwezi is a South African superhero comic that began in 2014, and has achieved a lot of traction in the South African market due to it being the first representation of a black South African superhero in this format. It follows the story of young boy named Kwezi who attempts to find his purpose as a superhero. As it was created almost 50 years after Black Panther was first introduced, it acts as an ideal candidate to track the way politics of the black body have changed. These politics include the representation of black identities, narrative structures, and the creation of fictional worlds. Black Panther and Kwezi were created at different times in history and in different spaces, therefore comparing them will allow for an analysis of the advancements – if any – of how black bodies and their stories have been presented to the world.
The main facets of these representations that will be discussed will be: the identity of the respective authors of these comics, the worlds the comics take place in, the main characters, and finally, the representation of African elements and traditions.
In economics, when looking at the condition of two countries it is advised to take either a peak or a trough from both countries for comparison – not a peak from one and the trough from another (Mohr, 2015: 411). Since Kwezi is still in still in its ‘inception’ as a comic, it makes sense to compare it to the ‘inception’ comics of The Black Panther series in order to examine how the politics around the representation of black superheroes has progressed over the last 50 years. Thus, Kwezi #1-3 (Mkize, 2014) and Kwezi #4-6 (Mkize, 2016) will be compared against the early days of The Black Panther, specifically the Fantastic Four #52 (Lee, 1966) up to Jungle Action #5 (Thomas, 1973) period.
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The superhero comic has always been a medium in which the white power fantasy was able to operate on a primary level. This means that stereotypes, especially those pertaining to black bodies, were immortalized in early comics. Until the civil rights movement affected the media in the 1960s and 1970s, the representations of black people in many comics were routinely racist (Wanzo, 2010: 96).
The Black Panther character was created in 1966 when the Civil Rights Movement was gaining significant social awareness, though it emerged from the pen of two white men – Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. This creation is what philosopher Frantz Fanon describes in his book Black Skin, White Masks as “The white man justifying the black narrative through a schema of masochism.” (2008: 136) In other words, the creation of Black Panther was merely one example in which the white population was attempting to understand the black narrative by assimilating it.
The introduction of the Black Panther character was a business decision implemented to profit off the black man’s struggle. This was made clear when, for a short spell in the 1970s, T’Challa’s alter ego’s name was changed from the Black Panther to the Black Leopard in order to disassociate the character from the Black Panther group which was gaining traction among primarily Black populaces during the Civil Rights Movement. Whatever noble aspirations that might have been associated with those early days, this act showed a preference for marketing and making money as opposed to making a bold social statement.
However, with the creation of Kwezi we see it is possible to fathom a progression that allows black writers to create a self-narrative with a more contextual and appropriate social commentary. Kwezi was created by a young black artist named Loyise Mkize. The fact that the creation of a ‘black comic’ was done by a black individual is a major advancement. Although many story arcs in ‘black comics’ have now been taken over by black authors, black-created comics are not as common as they should be. This means that the comic features a more socially aware narrative based on lived experience rather than through secondary accounts.
Speaking in a 2015 interview, Mkize said that he wanted his work to represent black excellence and that his audience must “See themselves in the work – as grand, majestic beings worthy of being referred to.” (Mkhwanazi, 2015) This shows an authorship whose priority is not just money. Mkize follows Burkinabe film director Gaston Kobore’s notion that: “If Africa does not acquire the capacity to forge its own gaze, so as to confront its own image, it will lose its point of view and its self-awareness.” (2006: xiv)
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The next facet to be discussed is the fictional worlds that both The Black Panther and Kwezi are based in – Wakanda and the Gold City, respectively. Interestingly, this is one feature where there is a progression that is not wholly advantageous in the discussion of black bodies in comics. Both Wakanda and the Gold City have integral flaws and strengths in their construction.
Wakanda has two layers. On the peripheral layer it is seen as primitive and undeveloped, but on the inside it is technologically superior, yet still has a strong link to nature. In Mister Fantastic’s first visit to Wakanda he exclaims: “The entire typography and flora are electronically-controlled mechanical apparatus!” (Lee, 1966: 9) The strength of this is that it allows for a perspective of African modernity that does not rely on colonial technologies. However, this platform is fundamentally stereotypical. By construing that Wakandan technology is a mimic of nature, it intensifies the stereotypes of the African body as exotic in being deeply sensitive to nature (Milbury-Steen, 1980: 69).
The stereotype of the ‘exotic’ African landscape that was prominent in early comics is what the Gold City in Kwezi tries to stay away from, but in doing so it produces another flaw. Gold City is a homage to Johannesburg, but many of the aspects that give Johannesburg its character are stripped away. Professor Timothy Wright describes it as a neutralized Afropolitan Johannesburg that manages to circumvent the harsh realities of mine dumps and poverty in order to become a generic urban modernity. One which still casts black people as inheritors of a colonial modernity rather than creators (2017: 7). This leads to the neglect of the post-colonial structures that play a prominent role in forging an African city’s identity.
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Next is the progression in the development of the main characters – from T’Challa to Kwezi. The late pioneer of new age black comic books, Dwayne McDuffie, had this to say about early black characters in the medium:
“In comics, there are two kinds of people. There’s Shaft and there’s Sidney Poitier. You’re one or the other. You’re either the baddest-ass bad ass who ever badassed or you’re, like, better than white guys. And those are the two things.” (White Scripts and Black Supermen, 2011)
Reginald Hudlin, author of several Black Panther comics, has openly stated that Black Panther’s initial runs fall into the Sidney Poitier trope in which maintaining your dignity through all tribulations was key (White Scripts and Black Supermen, 2011). This was an overcompensation for previous racist stereotypes.
Black Panther’s authors wanted to show that black superheroes could be equal, or even better, in comparison to their white counterparts. However, the Black Panther, in his initial appearance in the Stan Lee and Jack Kirby comics, was predominantly in America fighting for white people. This meant the character was often blindly following a sense of duty to a system of white supremacy. Because of this, the Black Panther of this period was a conflicted character who longed for both Western ideals and his African traditions. (Gordimer, 1973:9) In doing this the character’s creators unknowingly implemented the hyper-masculine and ‘impenetrable black skin’ stereotype upon the Black Panther showing a level of ignorance of the individuality of the black body.
Initially, the Black Panther was merely a friend of the Fantastic Four, whom he helped whenever they were in need. He became a source of improved technology and extra support in battles. It was not until after this initial run that the character helped his own country and people. The Panther essentially became a modern-day servant to the white community.
Kwezi, in the development of its characters, manages to diverge from the stereotype of the ‘Sidney Poitier’ comic book hero, a fact that is demonstrated through the absence of white characters in any of the publications. The character Kwezi begins as a young narcissistic kid with superpowers who morphs into a superhero as the issues progress. Throughout, Kwezi does not seem to have any longing for white ideals.
Kwezi’s creator Mkize seems to focus more squarely on the development of the character’s individual identity – rather than adopting stereotyped black character tropes. This comes down to the fact that Mkize has the lived experience of being a black person. This in itself is progressive because it means that the black identity can be more fully explored. Kwezi is a model of transformative blackness, which entails a black identity that is open to a multiplicity of developmental and transformative possibilities. (Wright, 2017: 10) It creates a narrative into which many Africans can situate themselves, instead of just being passive entities in a white power fantasy.
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The final point I want to cover in relation to the progressive politics of the black superhero is African traditions. Given that both Kwezi and the Black Panther are from Africa, both their stories include elements of African traditions. However, the early days of The Black Panther do not actually include any purely African elements. This is partly due to the fact that T’Challa is extracted from his world very early in his narrative. The only African elements that are evident in his stories are a sense of monarchy which is shown on a purely superficial level to allow T’Challa to be seen as aristocratically noble – and thus, as a “noble savage” character.
Mkize, on the other hand, attempts to continually weave African traditions and elements into the narrative of Kwezi. He does this through the use of oral traditions as expressed in the Star People, an ancient sect of which Kwezi is a descendent. In Kwezi, the Star People are seen as mythical and of great stature, but nothing much is known about them as of yet. The Star People are based on an oral tale from the Dogon Tribe who believe that their oldest ancestors are embedded within the stars and have ceremonies to honour them every fifty years when these stars are visible. (Parin & Morgenthaler, 1963: 201)
Orality is pivotal in African traditions – with speech, performance, poetry, epigrams, and griots being an integral part of the continent’s means of entertaining, educating, expressing, and experiencing. Thus the inclusion of this in Kwezi makes the comic a distinct modern African piece. (Vambe, 2004: 111) These traditional elements are no longer suppressed, but are now used in order to add a richness and diversity to the narrative of the black superhero comic. The progressive politics at play here work as a means of allowing the African traditions to live on.
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It is still clear that there has been a huge change in the politics surrounding the black body in comics over the past fifty years. Authors have shifted from white to black, characters have become more complex, and the inclusion of African traditions adds visual and textual depth. The settings may still need work but this just means that no body of text can truly be complete.
In terms of black super hero comics, it is clear there has been a dynamic shift in the politics surrounding representation. Black authors now have much more agency in creating their own identities and stories. Although Black Panther may not have initially been an instigator of this agency, it has managed to progress within its own timeline. From 1966 to the 2000s Black Panther has seen a massive amount of progression, with the introduction of Ta-Nehisi Coates at the helm of the recent run of Black Panther comics to the predominantly black cast and black production of this year’s Black Panther movie.
Following in this tradition, Loyiso Mkize has managed to create a comic book which has managed to add more layers to the discussion of black comics in order to progress a multiplicity of identities relating to the black superhero that had once been overlooked. So, although there has been progression in the new creations of black superheroes, there has also been an equally relevant progression in reinvigorating old creations – which, as a whole, portrays improvement and growth in the politics of black bodies.
Reference List
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- Berger, J. 1972. Ways of Seeing. Great Britain: Penguin Books Ltd.
- Coates, T. 2016. Black Panther, Vol. 1: A Nation Under Our Feet. New York: Marvel Worldwide, Inc.
- Fanon, F. 2008. Black Skin, White Masks. New ed. London: Pluto Press.
- Gordimer, N. 1973. The Black Interpreters: Notes on African Writing. Johannesburg: Raven Press.
- Hudlin, R. 2006. Black Panther, Vol. 1: Who is the Black Panther? New York: Marvel Worldwide, Inc.
- Lee, S. 1966. Fantastic Four #52. New York: Marvel Comics Group.
- Milbury-Steen, S. 1980. European and African Stereotypes in Twentieth-Century Fiction. London: The Macmillan Press Ltd.
- Mkhwanazi, K. 2015. Loyiso Mkize on the Pursuit of African Excellence. Mail & Guardian. 11 September. Available: https://mg.co.za/article/2015-09-11-loyiso-mkize-on-the-pursuit-of-african-excellence [2017, June 18]
- Mkize, L. 2014. Kwezi 1-3 Collector’s Edition. Cape Town: David Philip Publishers.
- Mkize, L. 2016. Kwezi 4-6 Collector’s Edition. Cape Town: David Philip Publishers.
- Mohr, P. 2015. Economics for South African Students. 5th Pretoria: Van Schaik Publishers.
- Parin, P. & Morgenthaler, F. 1963. Ego and Orality in the Analysis of West Africans. In The Psychoanalytic Study of Society Vol. 3. Muensterberger & S. Axelrad, Eds. New York: International University Press. 197-202.
- Thomas, R. 1973. Jungle Action #5. New York: Marvel Comics Group
- Vambe, M.T., 2004. African Oral Story-telling Tradition and the Zimbabwean Novel in English. Pretoria: University of South Africa.
- Wanzo, R. 2010. Black Nationalism, Banraku, and Beyond: Articulating Black Heroism through Cultural Fusion and Comics. In Multicultural Comics. Aldama, Ed. United States of America: University of Texas Press. 93-104.
- White Scripts and Black Supermen: Black Masculinities in Comic Books [DVD]. 2011. Produced, Written & Directed by J. Gayles. San Francisco: California Newsreel.
- Wright, T. A New Black Pantheon: Kwezi as an Epic of African Postmodernity. Journal of African Cultural Studies. 29(3)1-19. DOI: 1080/13696815.2017.1315295
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