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A review by themyskira
Elektra Volume 1: Bloodlines by
1.0
Points for the visually spectacular art.
Points off for the weak writing and the disgustingly racist caricature of an Indigenous Australian man.
It absolutely blows my mind that in 2014, a writer thought that it was okay to create an Aboriginal villain who is an animalistic, spear-wielding, skin-wearing cannibal guided by a mystical serpent. It's offensive on so many levels. It harkens back to the lurid stories (of savagery, of animalistic peoples, of cannibalism) that were literally used to justify generations of violence, dispossession, child abduction and genocide against Australia's first peoples by European invaders. It echoes racial slurs and stereotypes that are still used to attack and oppress Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people today. And it's deeply disrespectful in its appropriation of Indigenous cultures and beliefs.
(On the bright side, Blackman's overuse and occasional misuse of 'Australianisms' is kind of amusing. About halfway through I started imagining all of Bloody Lips' dialogue in Steve Irwin's voice, which made the all-around horribleness of the character the tiniest bit more bearable.)
To be clear, I don't believe that Haden Blackman and Mike Del Mundo had racist or malicious intentions. I do think they have created a deeply racist caricature of a villain in Bloody Lips, and that their storytelling displays a real tone-deafness and lack of awareness (which, thinking about it now, is also evident in Blackman's Batwoman work).
But regardless of what Blackman and Del Mundo were going for, their portrayal of Bloody Lips is deeply offensive and revolting, and I would not recommend this book to anybody.
Points off for the weak writing and the disgustingly racist caricature of an Indigenous Australian man.
It absolutely blows my mind that in 2014, a writer thought that it was okay to create an Aboriginal villain who is an animalistic, spear-wielding, skin-wearing cannibal guided by a mystical serpent. It's offensive on so many levels. It harkens back to the lurid stories (of savagery, of animalistic peoples, of cannibalism) that were literally used to justify generations of violence, dispossession, child abduction and genocide against Australia's first peoples by European invaders. It echoes racial slurs and stereotypes that are still used to attack and oppress Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people today. And it's deeply disrespectful in its appropriation of Indigenous cultures and beliefs.
(On the bright side, Blackman's overuse and occasional misuse of 'Australianisms' is kind of amusing. About halfway through I started imagining all of Bloody Lips' dialogue in Steve Irwin's voice, which made the all-around horribleness of the character the tiniest bit more bearable.)
To be clear, I don't believe that Haden Blackman and Mike Del Mundo had racist or malicious intentions. I do think they have created a deeply racist caricature of a villain in Bloody Lips, and that their storytelling displays a real tone-deafness and lack of awareness (which, thinking about it now, is also evident in Blackman's Batwoman work).
But regardless of what Blackman and Del Mundo were going for, their portrayal of Bloody Lips is deeply offensive and revolting, and I would not recommend this book to anybody.