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Native American Heroes in Comic Books

Native American Heroes in Comic Books

Native American heroes in comic books are listed below by the year of their introduction along with links to associated articles. In the early forties, when Western comic books were quite rare, Indian characters–if featured at all–were typically portrayed in contemporary settings. Once Western comic books became all the rage in the late forties and fifties, Native American heroes were almost always set in the Old West. With the return of superheroes in the 1960s, contemporary heroes once again to appear. Today Native American characters in comic books remain fairly rare.

Portrayals of these Indian characters ranged from highly stereotypical to quite admirable for their time. Two Native American heroes that stand out to me are Johnny Fox, a hero from the 1940s and Wyatt Wingfoot, a Marvel character introduced in the 1960s. Wingfoot had not superpowers, but readily stood his ground and established meaningful connections with the Fantastic Four and She-Hulk.

Michael A. Sheyahshe, a member of the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, has written a wonderful critique of the treatment of Indians in this medium, entitled Native Americans in Comic Books. It was published in 2008. Sheyahshe evaluates dozens of Native American comic book characters based on the degree to which they embody or break free of existing stereotypes such as wearing traditional dress in contemporary times, are overly fond of fringes, speak in stereotypical dialect or are only seen as engaging in Indian mysticism. Many of the heroes listed here fall into one or many of those traps.

Why I think this list is helpful is that it helps place the development of Native American heroes in chronological perspective. After an extensive and I hope comprehensive searching of forties comic books, I also have identified a number of forties characters that Sheyahshe doesn’t discuss. In any case, this timeline is offered in celebration of diverse heroes in comic books, then and now.

Native American Heroes of the 1940s

Johnny Fox1940

Bird Man

Johnny Fox

Mantoka

1941Bronze Terror

The Bronze Terror

1944

Red Hawk

Tommy Tomahawk

1948Pow-Wow Smith

Young Falcon

1949

Pow-Wow Smith, Indian Detective

Other Heroes and Villains of the 1940s

Native American Heroes of the 1950s

1950

Straight Arrow

Five Indian Superheroes of the Old West

Tonto1951

American Eagle

Green Arrowhead

Tonto

1953

White Eagle

1954

Arrowhead

Man-of-Bats (Batman 86)

Turok, Son of Stone

Other Heroes and Villains of the 1950s

Native American Heroes of the 1960s

1960

Johnny Cloud, Navajo Ace (All-American Men of War 82)

1961

Super Chief

1963

Little Sure Shot of Sgt. Rock’s Easy Company (Our Army at War 127)

1966Wyatt Wingfoot

Wyatt Wingfoot

1969

Private Jay Little Bear (Captain Savage’s Leatherneck Raiders)

Native American Heroes of the 1970s

1970

Hawk, Son of Tomahawk

Red Wolf (Avengers 80–9/70)

1975

Thunderbird

1977

Dawnstar

1979

Snowbird (Uncanny X-Men 120, 4/79)

Native American Heroes of the 1980s and 1890s

1981

American Eagle

1982

Dani Moonstar

1983

Coyote

Shaman (Alpha Flight)

Talisman (Alpha Flight 5, 12/83)

1984

Black Crow (Captain America 292, 4/84)

Forge

Puma (Amazing Spider-Man 256, 9/84)

Scout

Warpath

1985

Spirit of G.I. Joe

1989

Silver Fox (Wolverine v2/10)

Native American Heroes of the 1990s

1990

The Butcher

1991

Portal (Darkhawk 5, 7/91)

1993Sarah Rainmaker

Stalking Wolf (Shaman’s Tears)

1994

Sarah Rainmaker

1996

Risque (X-Force v1/51, 2/96)

Tribal Force

1999

Echo

Indian Heroes of the New Millennium

2002

Manitou Raven

2006

Black Condor (Uncle Sam and the Freedom Force 3)

2007

“Dash” Bad Horse (Scalped 1)

Mark Carlson-Ghost

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