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The Comic Book Arab
In Fantastic Four “Danger on the Air” (Marvel Comics, # 309, Dec 1987) the voluptuous blonde super heroine Ms. Marvel is requested by his majesty King Khafir of Qurac to make a rather significant change in her attire: “In THIS part of the world, ladies do not expose their LEGS and FACES, so if Ms. Marvel—” Ms. Marvel’s current costume resembles a bathing suit with boots. Protests the heroine: “If Ms. Marvel WHAT? What kind of CHAUVINIST NONSENSE—” Her Fantastic Four companion, the Thing restrains her. Ms. Marvel complies to the King’s request, thinking “You MACHO PIG!” Moments later, she is covered from head to toe in what resembles a voluminous white sheet. Only her eyes are visible. Ms. Marvel groans inwardly: “I’m BROILING in this monstrosity.” A notoriously outspoken individual, Ms. Marvel suddenly seems to lose her voice. As the men discuss business, she glides in the background, silent. It is as if the donning of the cumbersome white robes had transformed her into the stereotypical Arab housewife, outwardly passive and unable to speak her mind. Later, when the King is no longer a constant companion, Ms. Marvel rips off her Arab garb, announcing, “ENOUGH of this silly rag!” Suddenly she is the superhero we all know and love, active and outspoken. In Moon Knight “Spirits in the Sand” (Marvel Comics, # 28, Doug Moench, 1983) the Arab villain, Jellim Yussaf, a terrible looking man with squinting eyes and a set of teeth that are not only incomplete, but yellow and misshapen, as if his gums are too rotten to hold them, greets the Moon Knight’s beautiful blonde girlfriend, Marlene Alraune, at the Sudan airport. He is cordial, saving her the trouble of going through customs. That night, however, Yussaf breaks into Marlene’s bedroom, abducting her. They make an odd couple, these two. One blonde, fair, smooth-complexioned, delicately featured, clad in scanty underwear, wholly vulnerable; the other dark-haired, bearded, with brutish features and permanently squinting eyes (very much resembling the old Chinese villains) wrapped in lengthy robes and brandishing a crooked dagger. Eventually, Moon Knight saves the day and Yussaf is slain. But the comic book reader is hard pressed to forget the image of the uncouth, malicious Arab threatening the lovely American heroine. It is a prevalent theme: ugly Arab males holding captive beautiful Western women. In the previously discussed Tarzan “The Man and the Mangani,” the evil Arab chieftain reveals his intention to sell Tarzan’s mate, Jane, into slavery. Action Comics’ (DC Comics, #598, John Byrne & Paul Kupperberg, 1981) Sheikh Khareemali would probably bid on Lois. Interviewing the sheikh, spunky reporter Lois Lane asks, “You have a PROBLEM with women?” Answers the Quracan Minister of Defense: “Indeed NOT...in their PROPER place. UNLIKE their American cousins.” Lois, never one to back down, counters: “Well, WELCOME to the 20th century, pal.” Thus, the interview proceeds, neither side liking the other. Eventually Lois’s pointed questions get under the minister’s skin. “ENOUGH, woman!” he shouts, furious. “America or NOT, you OVERSTEP your station. GUARDS!” Two Arabs in military fatigues and head dress grab Lois’s arms and pull her to the wall. Protests Lois: “HEY! What’s the IDEA...?! I’M AN AMERICAN! You CAN’T....” “But I just HAVE, Miss Lane,” answers the Defense Minister, smiling. “As I have said, in Qurac, we know how to TREAT our women.” As his soldiers pin Lois to the wall, Khareemali removes his riding crop and prepares to strike her with it, saying “It is time you LEARNED that lesson! HOLD HER steady!” Fortunately for Lois, Arab terrorists burst in and save her from this indignity by kidnapping her. The message is clear: Quracan women are treated as slaves (or cattle, take your pick) in their homeland, routinely ordered about and beaten. At story’s end, when Khareemali is escorted to his private jet preparing to leave the country, the sheikh raises his fist at Lois, saying: “But know THIS woman...You will still be PUNISHED for your IMPUDENCE. I shall NOT forget it!” Answers Lois: “Better do as the man says before I forget I’m a lady, SLEEZEBAG.” It is with great pleasure, then, that the comic book reader watches Khareemali’s plane explode to smithereens a few frames later. Justice has been done. REAL ARABS The Arab comic book caricature is a fallacy which does an injustice to a people who have made tremendous contributions to society. Contrary to comic depictions, Arabs are intelligent, educated, caring people numbering more than 200 million from North Africa, Southwest Asia and the Arabian peninsula, 65% of whom are under 20 years of age. The 21 Arab countries are equivalent to 50 American states, each different in culture and local dialect. The region is one-and-a-half times as large as the United States. They live and work in cities, suburbs, farms and villages and share the most admirable traits of moral world dwellers: respect for life, love of family and duty as responsible citizens. They have the same dreams, hopes and aspirations for a better world as all upstanding residents do. Out of 218 Arab types appearing in 215 comic books, this author found 149 characters portrayed as “evil,” 30 characters portrayed as “good,” and 39 characters portrayed as “common people.” Hence, the comic book reader sees three villainous Arabs to every heroic one. Not a flattering ratio. In reality, the imbalance is much greater.
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