Comment: Film Four
I hadn't seen any of the comments about the pictures of the cast of the Fantastic Four movie anywhere, so this article was an eye-opener. First, let me go on record saying that I'm okay with Jessica Alba playing whoever, with whatever hair color she wants. But when I read about comics creators whose work I enjoy, like John Byrne, saying, "Personal prejudice: Hispanic and Latino women with blond hair look like hookers to me, no matter how clean or 'cute' they are. Somehow those skin tones that look so good with dark, dark hair just don't work for me with lighter shades," I get steamed.

(According to the article, Big Fat Hairy Knowles, the big fat hairy guy who runs the way-too-popular movie-geek gossip site Ain't-It-Cool-News, also thinks Jessica Alba looks too "slutty," but I suspect this has more to do with the boy's personal sexual issues than anything. I should point out that I stopped reading his web site years ago, when he wrote a far-too-enthusiastic multi-page essay enthusing about Godzilla tie-in chocolate bars.)

Okay, I realize that we're dealing with (in Byrne's case) a fat middle-aged guy who has spend his entire career telling superhero stories and who lives in Connecticut, but that's still no excuse for this sort of unthinking racist crap. (And while I'm sure his defense would be that he's just judging the aesthetics of skin tone vs hair color, he's the one who brings terms like "hooker" and "clean" into the discussion.) From here, it appears his issue isn't with her hair color, it's with her race, and what's more irritating, it's presented with the same sort of unthinking, casual dismissiveness that produces comments like, "I've got nothing against gay people at all, but they have no right to get married."

People wonder how racisim can continue to flourish in today's ostensibly broder-minded, multicultural society. It's because people keep making excuses for it and pretend its not there, and when someone does call someone else on it, they get accused of being "overly PC." Please.

Anyway, John Byrne currently writes and draws a comic I enjoy from DC Comics, Doom Patrol. And in it, he has co-opted an ostensibly Hispanic member of the Justice League of America to be on the team. So I'm going to write a letter to DC Comics, telling them that I read this quote on his web site, and that it bothers me that a person with this attitude is writing a comic with a Hispanic character. I'm not going to drop the book, but I'm going to urge them to keep an eye on how he treats her and her culture--if at all--because now I'm not sure I trust him to do right by the character as an artist.