When it comes to African-American comic book heroes I never want to overlook Al Harper. When he was stranded on the planet Earth by the edict of Galactus, the Silver Surfer was a woeful figure, pining for his home world and feeling sympathy for his prison world, full of fractious and morally compromised human beings. But he found some good ones among the teeming hordes and one of those was Al Harper, smart witty urbane black man who didn't talk jive nor want to.
The best thing about Harper's story as spun out in Silver Surfer #5 is that his race was mentioned but not lingered on and certainly not a key part of the story. What was significant was the incredible bravery and feeling of compassion for our fellow men and women on this planet. Harper was not a cliche, he was presented as a man who smoked a pipe -- the universal comic book sign of thoughtful intelligence.
It is left to Al Harper to find the weapon and to put it out of commission. He does so at the cost of his own life, a life he sacrifices without hesitation "for the sake of everyone on Earth".
The Silver Surfer knows of his challenge and of his sacrifice, but he is the only one to know that Al Harper gave up his life to save us all. And so he ignites a flame to burn for all time in silent recognition of the act. Al Harper was a hero, the kind not sung about nor lionized, he was a man willing to give up what was his to allow others to keep and hold dear what was theirs. That he was a black man only pointing out the crude irrational pointlessness of the distinctions of ethnicity and race we all cling to so powerfully in this tiny world. A comic book taught me that - thanks to Stan "The Man" and "Big" John Buscema.
Note: This post originally appeared at Rip Jagger's Other Dojo.
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Great wee story this. Doesn't play the colour/race issue too strongly and is much more effective for it.
ReplyDeleteMarvel was very careful not to play into stereotypes with its early black characters (Gabe Jones might be a mild example of the latter) with Bill Foster being a scientist in the same way that Al Harper is. That made sense in the early days, but as more black characters entered the scene variety was necessary or it would have become patronizing. Hence we get street-smart types like Luke Cage and Jim Wilson of Hulk fame.
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