RACE AND ETHNICITY 497
Another specifi cally racialized perspective on superheroic abilities and responsibilities
appeared in the United States in the 1970s, when a series of comics capitalized on the
popularity of blaxploitation fi lm characters like Shaft, Foxy Brown, and Dolemite. Th e
most popular comics character in this vein was Marvel’s Luke Cage, who fi rst appeared
in Luke Cage: Hero for Hire (later re-titled Power Man ) in 1972. Cage gains his super-
powers while unjustly imprisoned, when he volunteers for an experiment that gives him
Superman-like strength and impenetrable skin. Unlike most superheroes up to this point,
Cage exploits his abilities for a profi t and consciously promotes his macho image. Marvel
took advantage of this success by featuring a character introduced in Fantastic Four #52
(1966), the Black Panther , in their Jungle Action series from 1973 until 1976, then in his
own self-titled book with two subsequent revivals. In his more recent incarnations, the
character has typically been in the hands of African American creators such as Christo-
pher Priest and Reginald Hudlin. Th is character’s success was due in part to the title’s
resonance with contemporary Black Power movements. Other blaxploitation characters
included DC’s Black Lightning, who fought inner-city crime and drug use and earned
recognition for his refusal to join the Justice League of America as its sole black member;
and Marvel’s short-lived Black Goliath, who could increase his size at will.
At the same time that American superheroes were undergoing a series of physical
and ideological transformations that refl ected the country’s social preoccupations,
Asian artists were developing a genre that would become one of the most commercially
successful branches of comics. Manga appeared as a substantive entry into the fi eld just
after World War II, covering a wide range of subjects that includes romance , mystery,
horror , sports, history , and more conventional action-adventure stories. Th ough many
Western readers associate manga primarily with Japan, it has long been a popular form
in Taiwan, Korea, and China as well. Part of the reason for manga’s cultural specifi city
exists in its heavy reliance upon textually represented sound, which can be linked to
oral features of the Japanese language. Its characters’ exaggerated facial features — which
include enlarged eyes, tiny mouths, and larger-than-life emotional reactions — invoke
cultural satire and stereotype, but also recall Japan’s centuries-long oral storytelling
tradition. Manga has become one of the best-selling genres in the United States, France,
and Germany, among other countries. Perhaps its most important contribution to the
histories of comics and of print publication more generally has been its readers’ expanded
awareness of global cultural identities. A high consumer demand for titles such as Bare-
foot Gen , Sailor Moon , and Ghost in the Shell has resulted in the proliferation of related
popular-culture fi elds like anime fi lms, while American comics like Aaron McGruder’s
Th e Boondocks and the popular online Homestar Runner incorporate visual traits drawn
from anime and manga.
Some comics artists have reacted to the commercial popularization of their art
form by creating series and graphic novels that engage with racial and ethnic iden-
tity through dialogue with literary precedents, social issues, and historical events.
Such historical revisionism generally takes one of two forms: representations of real
history that address details or perspectives left out of more conventional accounts,
