kamalakhan-archive-deactivated2 asked: Hello sir! I'm an avid comic book fan, my favorite being kamala khan (if u couldn't tell haha). In the beginning issues of all new all different avengers, kamala khan was white washed so much I didn't recognize her (& was white w red hair in "Nova"). Other south Asians like myself are upset. Colorism is a huge issue in south Asian communities and having a dark superhero is very important to Pakistanis like myself. Will this problem be addressed? I greatly appreciate u answering this, thank u!
I don’t know that I can agree with you that Ms Marvel was whitewashed in Avengers–that implies intent. But there are different colonists with different approaches, and also a learning curve when it comes to new characters. We’ll keep working to do better.
Here are some exampled by the way of how much shes been white washed (as a comparison) @brevoortformspring:
(left) from ms. marvel (2014) and amazing spider-man (2014)
(right) from all new all different avengers #1 (2015)
and in this one while there is a difference between Bruno (white) and kamala, she is still a very fair and light brown, where as kamala is usually much darker (like in her original comic and previous comics listed above)
I do appreciate you @brevoortformspring answering my message and listening to this issue! I have stopped supporting any comics where Kamala has been lightened considerably, and hopefully if shes returned to her natural shade, I will be able to read her comics again :)
You didn’t send me along these examples when you asked your question. And I think you’re maybe stacking the deck here a little bit by selecting panels that reflect what you want rather than the work as a whole.
For example, above should be two other Kamala images I grabbed from Google, from her earliest appearances. I think it’s fair to say that these are more of a kind with what we’ve been doing in Avengers.
What I would suggest is that this is not some unconscious whitewashing racism being carried out by Sonia Oback and Dave McCaig and the Avengers team, but rather the kind of thing that happens when a new colorist works with unfamiliar characters. This isn’t just true of Kamala–pick your character, somebody has colored them off-model somewhere.
It’s a valid point and something to be watched out for. But for heaven’s sake, don’t attribute an honest mistake to malice afore thought.
~Whitewashing doesn’t require intent~ and no one was ascribing malice to a colorist, but honestly this isn’t just happening to Kamala Khan – see complaints about Sera in Angela, Queen of Hel. I think what’s actually being called out here are slack editorial standards where people aren’t being mindful of these things – again, no one is being malicious probably, but that doesn’t mean brown characters aren’t having their skintone lightened.
Gonna break it down to the “Even if you didn’t mean to step on my foot, it still hurt” analogy.
