Friday, March 29, 2024

5 Unique Native Characters from DC Comics

Comics are a fantastic medium. They encompass many different genres, and sequential artwork offers a unique lens to tell stories. To me, however, superhero comics are in a class all their own. They’re a truly modern sort of mythology, mixing imagination with modern paradigms and old styles to tell stories of nobility and heroism that resonate with people the world over.…Which made it strange to me that there are so few Native characters among the ranks of the “Big Two” comic book companies. When I ask my comic-inclined friends to name even one, (whose name is not “Apache Chief,”) most of them draw a blank. So I decided to pick five Native American superheroes from DC Comics to turn a spotlight on. These heroes may not be the most prolific in appearances, but each of them has something unique about them, while still being obviously tied to the stereotypes of their day.

5 UNIQUE NATIVE CHARACTERS FROM DC COMICS

Man-of-Bats is one of DC’s earliest examples of a Native American superhero. First appearing in 1954, William Great-Eagle took up the mantle of “Chief Man-of-the-Bats” after being inspired by tales of Batman’s adventures in Gotham City. Of both Lakota and Menominee descent, William operates out of a reservation in South Dakota, (although which one has changed over the years,) along with his son “Little Raven”. His powers are little more than his physician’s training, as well as some hand-to-hand skills he learned from a stint in the armed forces.

Even so, he’s always happy to step up to a good fight. William has appeared many times throughout the decades, his backstory updating as needed to keep him current, and has usually joined or
been a part of the “Club of Heroes” (or the Batmen of Many Nations).

Regrettably, he has never been the best example of representation in comics. Which is appropriate, given that, even in-universe, he has never evolved much beyond a Batman-knockoff in a feathered headdress.

5 UNIQUE NATIVE CHARACTERS FROM DC COMICS

The character Dawnstar, however, is a bit more interesting. First appearing in 1977, she is technically from the planet of Starhaven, (in the 30th/31st century,) but given that the entire planet is made up of displaced Anasazi people, I’m still going to count her. Not the least
because, somehow, her outfit is still buckskin-coloured, complete with fringe, despite the centuries and lightyears between her and the nearest reservation. Like all Starhavenites, she has a gigantic pair of wings upon her back, and these give her the ability to fly faster than the
speed of light. Her heritage also bestows a set of skills that could best be termed “super-tracking”, (another reason she’s getting counted as a Native American, beyond the coding and explicitly genetic link). She is a proud member of the futuristic Legion of Superheroes, and thus has more total appearances under her belt than William, but few of them are recent and she usually has to share the spotlight with an ensemble.

5 UNIQUE NATIVE CHARACTERS FROM DC COMICS

Green Arrow is a name that many people will recognize, not only from comic books, but also the reasonably popular show on the CW. However, this particular hero isn’t the one that most people know. One of his only appearances to date comes in the 1999 book “Legends of the DC Universe: Crisis on Infinite Earths”. Taking place during the titular multiversal Crisis, the book focuses on the destruction of the Earth of “Universe-D”, and offers us a look at a very different Justice League of America. A league where every hero hails from a different ethnicity, save for Batman, and his son, Robin, who remain caucasian. This particular version of Green Arrow, is
very obviously, and clearly very proudly, native american.

While we don’t find out much about this character, we see that he is not only the world’s foremost archer, but a capable hand-to-hand fighter, as well as brave, sarcastic, and, ultimately, self-sacrificing. I’m including him on this list primarily because I hope to see more of this fun character in the future.

5 UNIQUE NATIVE CHARACTERS FROM DC COMICS

When you ask most people about a native american superhero, if you’re lucky, you might hear the name “Apache Chief”. He was a caricature of Native American stereotypes who was never even given a secret identity. His whole powerset was to say the magic word “Inukchuk, grow large, and wrestle ineffectually with a giant monster-of-the-week..He was the worst kind of stereotype. However, he left behind enough of an impression that later creators gave us different, better interpretations. In 2002, we were introduced to another, in the form of Manitou Raven, (although the readers had no clue at first). He was first introduced as an antagonist,
working as part of a prehistoric team of anti-heroes, before the JLA convinced him of their own nobility.

He was a powerful shaman, and made use of many magic spells of great power before he finally used a very familiar word that made him grow very large and wrestle (effectually!) with the main antagonist. The writers tried to sidestep representation issues by having this character be from a time far enough in prehistory that his people only vaguely resembled the Apache they would become, (although when he comes in contact with a casino ran by modern-day natives, the issue is still touched upon very briefly). Regretfully, this character died several years after his introduction, but he is survived by his wife, Manitou Dawn, who inherited most of his powers, and still makes the occasional appearance to this day.

5 UNIQUE NATIVE CHARACTERS FROM DC COMICS

Of course, the long shadow of Apache Chief did not end with Manitou Raven or Dawn, but continued with Timber. By far the most recent character to appear, Timber made her debut in 2017’s “The Dark Forge” as a member of the Immortal Men. Keshena Carpentier was born in the early 1800’s to a woman of the Menominee people, and a worker from the nearby logging village. Keshena faced racism from a very early age both from the nearby village folk and, most prominently, her paternal grandfather. This inspired her to take up the legendary blue axe, Babe, and use her size-changing powers to cut down a forest in a single night. Because all the legends of Paul Bunyan were actually inspired by Kenesha in the DC universe, but altered because of sexism and racism. As far as representation goes, in her scattershot appearances,
Kenesha has been treated the most respectfully of any character on this list. This is important, given that she’s one of the only heroes from a time-period wherein most characters are portrayed as a one-dimensional stereotype.

Her superhero outfit is one that is very interesting, as it forgoes most of the fringe and buckskin look for a look made of furs, and blue-paint, both of which were more appropriate to the people of the time-period, (even if not necessarily in the configuration she wears them in). She has had relatively few appearances thus far, so it remains to be seen whether this will improve or not.

Logan Boese
Logan Boesehttps://www.loganboese.com/writing/
Logan Boese is an indigenous author from the Apsáalooke tribe. Telling stories is his passion, but he enjoys writing, regardless of the topic. Language was his first toy and continues to be his favourite. He’s a contibuting writer for Coyote & Crow Tabletop RPG, and the editor for Vampyre Magazine.

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