From
BBC News Ouch! Pictured is Archie Comics' Harper Lodge, a new disabled character. She uses a
wheelchair following a car accident when she was a young girl.
As long-running American
comic Archie announces the introduction of a new disabled character, we
look at how disability is portrayed in comics.
A broad range of disabilities have been represented in comics
over the years. From the 'Golden Age' of the 40s and 50s, they have
included superheroes like Doctor Mid-Nite who is blind, and Freddy
Freeman, the alter ego of Captain Marvel Jr., who uses a crutch when not
in hero guise, as well as characters such as Misty Knight who is an
amputee and Echo who is deaf.
Doctor Mid-Nite, developed by DC Comics, is widely considered
the first disabled superhero character, appearing for the first time in
1941. His vision is "inverted" after an owl - which he later adopts as
his sidekick - crashes through the window. This means he can see in the
dark but is blind in the daytime unless he uses infrared glasses.
Marvel Comics' Daredevil, also a 2003 Hollywood film starring
Ben Affleck, was blinded by a radioactive substance. While he can no
longer see, his other senses are superhumanly heightened meaning he can
"see" more than sighted people.
Though these superhero characters are disabled, some feel they can't
really be categorised as positive portrayals because they are so
fantastical.
"Characters like Daredevil have superpowers that compensate
for their disability," says graphic novelist Al Davison from Newcastle.
"This is not realistic or fair."
"We need more comic book characters who are believable
representations of disabled people, rather than ones whose disabilities
are negated by superpowers."
Davison has spina bifida and uses a wheelchair himself. His
own graphic novel The Spiral Cage is an autobiographical work which he
hopes will bring a bit of reality to comic book representation of
disability.
The comic characters Rogue, Wolverine and Mystique from the
X-men, who have a renewed popularity thanks to the movie franchise, have
anxieties brought on by their differences, for example a feeling of
isolation.
"X-men is a story about alienation and marginalisation," says
Dr David Huxley, a lecturer at Manchester University who specialises in
comics and graphic novels. "It directly responds to the way in which
disabled people can be made to feel."
The moral compass for the X-men is the wheelchair-using
Professor X. "The fact that he's in a chair is irrelevant to the plot,"
Huxley says adding that he believes this is an entirely positive thing.
"Brain power is the most important aspect of his character, and this is a
key message."
The Archie comic strip is not fantasy. It tells everyday
stories and has been running since 1939. It has become known for its
diverse characters but it has only recently brought in a disabled
character after a long absence of disability from its pages. This is all
down to one person who was annoyed that people like her were not
represented.
At a 2013 Fan Expo in Toronto, long-time reader Jewel Kats
knew that Archie artist and writer Dan Parent was there and tracked him
down. "I had a bone to pick with him - so I did," she says. "I wheeled
right up to him, I looked him square in the eye, and I said to him, "why
isn't there a character with a disability in the town that Archie lives
in? How is that possible?"
Kats was there promoting a reality web comic strip she
produces based on her own life called DitzAbled Princess. Parent used
her as inspiration for a new disabled character who was given the name
Harper and has sought her advice on development.
Harper Lodge is a fashion designer; she's of mixed race and uses a
wheelchair following a car accident when she was a young girl. Kats and
Parent were keen that she isn't just a "disability character" but that
she is, as Parent says: "part of the gang" that just happens to be
disabled."
For Kats she is an important addition. "I've always wanted
figures growing up that I could relate to, and now Harper exists. She's
here for every kid with a disability and is a role model," she says.
Back in the mainstream, when Batgirl (or Barbara Gordon) was
shot by The Joker in 1988 and became paralysed, a superhero was re-born.
She became Oracle, a wheelchair-using computer genius who exploited her
technical expertise and was soon embraced by comic book fans like B.A.
Boyd who uses a wheelchair due to her spina bifida.
"When I found out that Oracle also uses a wheelchair I was so
happy, she says. "I finally felt included and broke away from the shell
I had encased myself in."
In 2011 however, a DC Comics re-launch led to an editorial
refresh. After two decades of being disabled, a cure was found for
Oracle's paralysis but the move was not popular with all fans.
"I was broken-hearted when I discovered that we were losing
Oracle," says Boyd. "It is something that still pains me, to this day."
Writer Gail Simone, who developed Oracle while the character
was recovering from her disability, was to be the writer on the new
title which took her back to being Batgirl.
She opened up a conversation with disabled and non-disabled
fans to find out what their views were and how to take the character
forward.
"She now provides representation of disabled individuals who
are able to find and come to recovery," says Boyd. "She still carries
it with her, and is forever changed by what happened to her, which is
valuable, and, to me, very appreciated."
Disabled characters are in many comics out there but - since
Oracle at least - haven't successfully broken through into the
mainstream.
The Movement, a DC Comics series, focusing on a group of
diverse teenagers, features the character of Vengeance Moth, a
19-year-old woman who uses a wheelchair, because she has muscular
dystrophy. It was written by Simone who again sought advice from
disabled fans, including Boyd and Davison, to make sure the wheelchair
was not just a surface detail. The series proved unpopular though and
was cancelled in February.
"I'm in a wheelchair and a fifth degree black belt in Kung
Fu," says Davison. He believes that his skills prove that disabled
people can be great comic book characters in their own right and that
they don't need super powers which effectively neutralise their
disability. "Mainstream comics need many more disabled people full-stop.
They have the ability to reflect real-life in all its diversity and
quite often are failing to do so for financial reasons."
