496 RACE AND ETHNICITY
assimilation for many immigrants, helping to undermine widespread nativist views in
favor of a patriotism in which, theoretically, all citizens could participate. Superman’s
strong-arm opposition to the growing threat of Nazi Germany aligned his creators
with the voice of the contemporary American military. A few years later, fellow Jewish
American comics artist Will Eisner began drawing Th e Spirit , a 12-year-long serialized
comic that followed the title character’s attempts to fi ght crime in the fi ctional Central
City. Th ough the Spirit’s black sidekick, Ebony White, initially possessed stereotypical
traits, Eisner assigned him a more complex and prominent role after World War II,
and also introduced additional black characters. Siegel’s, Shuster’s and Eisner’s char-
acters also stand in stark contrast to the comic parodies of Jewish life that were popu-
lar in contemporary Nazi magazines such as Der Stürmer. Both Superman and the
Spirit suggest that Jewish American artistic production could help to overcome social
prejudice against ethnic minorities while promoting the new role of the United States
as an emerging superpower.
In subsequent years, comics artists transformed a popular superhero convention,
physical mutation, into a metaphor for racial diversity and diff erence. Th e most promi-
nent example of this device is Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s X-Men (1963), which follows
a group of superheroes whose powers manifest as a result of genetic mutation. Several
of the mutants ’ genetic traits are accompanied by changes in physical appearance that
simulate unique racial identities as well. Beast, who possesses superhuman strength and
intelligence, has blue fur, fangs, and claws; Nightcrawler, a German character with the
ability to teleport, has blue fur, yellow eyes, and a forked tail; and Wolverine, whose
enhanced ability to heal enabled the implantation of an indestructible metal skeleton
and claws, has body hair and a physical stance resembling a wolf ’s. Although the majority
of the characters are Caucasian, the series also includes Storm, an African American
women whose ancestors are Kenyan; the Native American Apache; and Sunfi re, from
Japan. Th e X-Men often tangle with the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, whose leader,
Magneto, is a Jewish concentration-camp survivor. Both groups battle social preju-
dice; though the X-Men seek to end the crimes that the Brotherhood perpetrates, the
organizations are united in a struggle to combat society’s fear of the unknown.
In 1993, African American publishers Milestone Comics created Blood Syndicate , a
group of mutated characters with similarly unusual powers. However, this group’s genetic
diff erences have an identifi able origin—a radioactive gas that police used to break up a
gang war — and its members, racially diverse before their mutations occurred, focus more
on personal problems than on social justice. Th e group includes, among others, Brick
House, an African American woman whose DNA fused with a brick wall to create
physical invulnerability; Fade, a gay Latino man who can travel through solid objects;
Th ird Rail, a Korean American man who can absorb and use electricity; and Wise Son,
a Black Muslim man who cannot be physically harmed. Th eir experiences in the inner
neighborhoods of the fi ctional city of Dakota demonstrate the real consequences of vio-
lence as well as the lack of easy solutions; the group eventually disintegrates because of
internal dissension, most of the problems it had faced still unsolved.
