498 RACE AND ETHNICITY
or superhero origin stories that off er alternatives to the genre’s mainstream standbys.
In these superhero chronicles, a non-white main character often undergoes a set of
challenges that contrast with the experiences of Superman, Batman , Spider-Man ,
and other comics superstars, pointing to the ways in which ethnic origins help to
shape social experience. In Milestone Comics’ Icon: A Hero’s Welcome (1996), a
compilation of the fi rst eight issues of Icon , for instance, the title character comes
to Earth when his spaceship crashes in a fi eld— an origin story that has prompted
some critics to label him a “chocolate-dip Superman.” However, Icon is an adult alien
who takes on the form of an African American baby boy before emerging from his
craft, simply because it is 1839 and he has landed in a fi eld tended by black slaves.
He continues to live as a black man into the present, making the most of his immor-
tality, but profi ts from his skill at business rather than helping others with his alien
powers. It is not until he meets Raquel Ervin, a 15-year-old African American girl
who tries to rob his house with a group of friends, that he gains a social conscience.
Raquel renames herself Rocket, becomes Icon’s sidekick, and teaches him the value
of using one’s abilities for the greater good. Th e series is notable for its attention to
such issues as teen pregnancy, drug use, racial prejudice, and economic inequality.
Icon and Rocket also interact with the Blood Syndicate, which exists in the same
universe.
Icon only indirectly addresses the potential shortcomings of the American dream
that Superman and his fellow heroes represent. However, Marvel’s Truth: Red, White,
and Black (2004), created by Robert Morales and Kyle Baker , deliberately challenges
the easy equation that many superhero comics draw between physical prowess and
patriotism. Th e book’s main character, Isaiah Bradley, is a soldier on whose unit the
U.S. government secretly tests a “super soldier” serum while they are serving in World
War II. As a result, Bradley gains immense strength but is imprisoned for 17 years
after a mission goes wrong. What the government covers up during this time is that
Bradley was the original Captain America — a black man. Th e truth is not revealed
until Steve Rogers, the white Captain America who has received all the public acclaim,
learns about Bradley’s existence and tracks him down to his New York City apart-
ment, where he is living with his wife and a wall full of photographs, unable to speak
due to brain damage sustained during his imprisonment. Th e book’s fi nal panel shows
the two Captain Americas standing with their arms around each other’s shoulders,
smiling broadly. Rogers’s costume is crisp and fi tted, while Bradley’s is in tatters, draped
loosely over his T-shirt. Morales and Baker based their story on a number of histori-
cal sources, including accounts of the Tuskegee syphilis experiments, and slotted its
new perspective on Captain America into the Marvel universe chronology. Morales
and Baker’s work, along with similarly satirical titles such as McGruder and Baker’s
Birth of a Nation and John Ridley’s Th e American Way , suggest that many artists
exploit their genre’s often overstated visual elements in order to critique persistent
issues of race and class. Th e fi eld’s many other black superheroes— including DC’s
Green Lantern , Amazing Man, and Cyborg; Milestone’s Static; and Marvel’s Blade,
