Reactions to Young All-Stars 1-8

I have to admit, I bought Young All-Stars expecting it to be bad. I wanted rant material. And honestly no matter how one spins it, it still seems very odd to have cast little Sandy the Golden Boy, sidekick/ward of Wesley Dodds, the Sandman, who he dotes on and follows with only occasionally sardonic enthusiasm in the Simon/Kirby adventures...whose philosophy and techniques are heavily influenced by his time in "the Orient"...as the token racist.

Well, honestly, it doesn't really click for me. In fact, now that I've read the first eight issues or so, I'm quite certain the character was chosen only because Thomas wanted a relatively recognizable young sidekick character as the token racist. I'd bet he'd have chosen Robin if Crisis hadn't wiped out any chance of a Robin existing in the 1940s. The fact that he's gone to "visit Wes in the hospital" in issue eight and subsequently (from brief skimming through later ones) seemingly never to return supports this. While that attitude was indicative of the time period and shared by many, I still think it's odd that in a group of impressionable teenagers, the only one buying into the propaganda is the one with presumed experience with Asian culture.

That said, aside from the tacked-on, out of place seeming racism, Sandy was pretty well portrayed. He's mouthy, charming/sweet when he wants to be, flippant, snarky, a show-off, a brat, and a bit insecure of his own value without Wes. To give him credit, Thomas seems to understand that the racism is out of character, and puts a few points in to make it a little more understandable. The notion of Dian being killed by Nazi spies (which might have actually been in Adventure Comics 69 for all I know, but I doubt it) makes spy-paranoia understandable...one presumes the rumors of her death were exaggerated as she's been seen in the DCU since, :-). And Tsunami *did* initially fight on the Japanese side.

I'm not excusing the racism of course, but it is portrayed as one aspect of the whole. It probably helps that aside from Dan the Dyna-Mite, he's the youngest of the group. Which lends to the idea that he can be taught otherwise, and also...well, let's just say there'd be an entirely different feel if, say, Iron Munro had been the racist. Being young and smaller than Tsunami helps make it more...well, more of an annoyance than a danger. Makes it easier to preserve the character's ability to be a protagonist. That said, I'm glad they resolved it early.

So anyway, Sandy wasn't my problem. The problem was everyone else. Ironically, the token racist was the *only* character in my opinion that was anything beyond a bland caricature with one or two defining traits.

Wherein I Bitch About Everyone Else Seriously:

You had Helena "We don't have elevators back in Greece!" Kosmatos, the Fury, whose sole purpose seemed to be to have scary dreams and get possessed when she gets mad. In eight issues, that's all the development she had.

You had Neptune Perkins. Which is still an incredibly stupid name. He's characterized as a complete socially inept dork in the worst way. He's, I think, the geek-wish-fulfillment kind of dork. He gets the girl in spite of his behavior (because she sees past the dorkiness or something) and never gets called on the dickier part of his actions. Yes, Sandy was being a twit and deserved a slap, but physically attacking someone *that* much younger/smaller is out of line. However, he gets a pass because it's in defense of his girl, of course! Shame he hasn't any personality aside.

Little Dan-the-Dyna-Mite has confidence issues. Which are understandable. But every panel he's in seems to be his confidence issue at work. In eight issues, there's nothing else.

Iron Munro shows the most sign of possibly developing a personality. I was intrigued by his assholishness in Manhunter. Right now he's token strong guy with a chip on his shoulder.

Flying Fox is the token mysterious shamanic native. Apparently that's enough characterization right there.

The worst though is Tsunami. Roy Thomas gets praised for introducing a Japanese-American character to the group and exploring issues of Internment Camps and racism...but honestly, there's no *character* there. She's a walking, talking PSA. That's it. Her only purpose is to explore this issue and she doesn't even have the cardboard cutout personality of the others.

She doesn't get to have any likes or dislikes. She doesn't *do* anything besides end up in the camp with her family, tirading about the tragedy, up to and including the damn "single tear falling from one eye" scene. Let me tell you something, it didn't work for me in the littering commercial, and it didn't work here. She doesn't even really defend herself against Sandy's childish jabs. It's the others who do it for her. (And again, given how racism was deeply ingrained in the culture of the time...why is *every other* young character somehow enlightened?)

When even Dan, Neptune and Iron occasionally get lines that transcend their stereotype, she never utters a line that isn't somehow reflecting of Japan, the war or the camps. Seriously.

When she saves Sandy in issue 6, and he apologizes for everything (which did actually work for me, he's very young, adaptable, and I'd bet a lot of anger had to do with Dian's death and other things Tsunami wasn't linked to...also it was worded in the awkward way of a young boy...), her response isn't trepidation, tentative acceptance, suspicion or even anger like a real character's might be. Her response is a canned After School Special speech:

"It's going to be a long war- a sad war-- but everything will be just a little better anyway if we just love one another."

But on it's own that's not so bad. I mean, race and war politics was the crux of their animosity right? So it makes sense here if a little cheesy, but it gets better.

In issue seven, there's an incredibly cute baseball benefit game between the Squadron and the Young All-Stars. It's adorable. (And without the tacked on racism, Sandy's pretty much the Simon/Kirby character in full again. I'll give Thomas credit, he writes a good Sandy.) Anyway, Iron Munro hits it, managed to atomize it, Hawkman seems to catch the atoms or something, so Wildcat and Iron are arguing with the Ump about which won...when Tsunami breaks in with:

"It seems to me that you're both losers." "What reason do you two, and your teammates, have to start a war over which of you truly won? If this benefit game shortens the real war, hasn't it achieved its purpose?"

Naturally the men are chastised. And I am irked. This sort of speechifying isn't natural, and it really doesn't add to her character!

Hell even with her boyfriend, Neptune Perkins, her dialogue still revolves around her martyrdom and the tragedy of being Japanese, "There's no use going back home, I'd just be put into a detention center with my family..."

Honestly, I commend Thomas for trying to tackle such a hard issue. And I'm not trying to say they should gloss over the tragedies and hardships for a Japanese-American in WWII. But she needs *more* than just those tragedies to define her. Every word she utters is about her family's state, the war, or Japan, and that's not really an exaggeration. In eight issues, the only think we find out about Miya Shimada the *person* is that she can't hit a baseball.

And this is wrong. She's dehumanized here. Made into the long-suffering symbol of a race of people...there's no human connection. I read her and I feel an academic distant sorrow that this happened, but I don't *feel* it. I sympathize but I don't empathize. There's nothing to connect to. Now maybe if in the process I learned that she loves the color blue, hates dogs, likes to dance, wanted to be a singer when she grew up...*something*, I'd feel more. But as it is, she's a waste of potential.

The really ridiculous thing is that my Bachelors was in *East Asian Language and Culture*. Specifically Japanese. I have a particular interest in politics and social ramifications during the second world war. The plight of Japanese Americans during that time is definitely a part of that. I should love Tsunami. I should connect with her. I should find her fascinating and her relationships fascinating. But I don't. At all. And this is due to the execution.

Stories involving racial conflict are hard to write, I understand this. But the key is to make the victim an active personality, one that is human. One that acts rather than only reacts. One in which race is an important aspect, but not all that he/she is. John Stewart is a character who's often involved in race-related storylines, but that works because he's a strong compelling character in his own right. He's a crusader. He defies authority. He lets his temper get the best of him sometimes and he can be impatient. And you know what? We knew that his first appearance. We'll soon learn more: he's an architect. He likes alien women. He's got questionable taste in music.

By the eighth issue, we could have learned so much about Tsunami by now. Think about the eighth issue of JLA. Of Teen Titans. Of Young Justice. Or any other team book and what we knew by then about the characters. No one except Sandy, of all people, can claim the same amount of exposure. (I think that's because Thomas is focusing on one trait for each character: Iron: the chip on his shoulder, Dan: the lack of confidence. In Sandy's case it's the racism, but as Tsunami's not in every one of his scenes, he actually gets the chance to show other sides...I think it might also be that he's not one of Thomas's original, so he had Kirby/Simon to fall back on.)

Where this really hurts the story is that basically we've got the racist with the more developed personality than the victim. Our racist is the active personality, which we know more about. We've seen him snarky, arrogant, bratty, sweet, competent (beating up a nazi while blinded without any trouble...a very cool moment), worried... We see her as a speech-giving martyr.

It's funny because as much as I'm pre-biased to like him and give him the benefit of the doubt. I'm also pre-biased toward covering the issue of racial struggles in America. It should balance out making me interested in both. Instead, I was far more interested in seeing him come to his senses and get over that irrational anger than I was in her struggle. It's a real problem.

And I don't like the green bikini. It looks dumb.

That said, I intend to read more. I've 13 issues left to read of what I've bought and more to track down later, maybe this'll change. I hope so. Otherwise, there will be subsequent irritated blog entries to follow.