A Non White Spiderman. I Was Waiting for Some Racist-y Wing Nut to Complain. And Along Comes Glenn Fapping Beck.

Beck Wants a Traditional White Spiderman, Sorta.

I'm not comic book people. When my sixth grade classmates were still reading Spiderman, I had moved on to the NY Times. (Not bragging. That's when I started with the political junkie stuff. And the Watergate stuff was just heating up.) I would not be caught dead at a Comicon unless I was there to work, as paid staff, or there to promote some project in which I participated. So I only know about the whole 'Ultimate" series of Marvel because some comix people explained it to me, and mostly because I read some other article that explained it, yesterday.

But this recent flap just reminds me of the racist-y whining before Kenneth Brannaugh's "Thor" came out. Because one of the Norse Gods in Asgard was played by a negro man. Because some people get all spastic when their notions of race centric cultural norms are challenged. Hey. It's freaking Gods. Some are so powerful they can change forms. Why limit them to one shade of skin, but for some observers' racist brain damage?

Bringing us back to Non White Spidey. The Marvel "Ultimate" universe is a different than the classic context universe. So anything goes there. So it's not weird for Peter Parker to die, and some half Black, half Hispanic kid takes over the web shooters and the spandex-y suit. Anything goes , there. So when I see some (already exposed as a wing nut racist) idiot like Beck whining about the damage to "tradition," all I see is a racist jerk who goes batshit insane because his racist cultural biases were challenged.

And this is not a matter of such importance that it rises to National Mythology. We are not talking about rewriting the Tales of the Brother's Grimm, or anything like that. I't a freaking comic book, for crying out loud! Get some perspective, asshole.

Now I should note that Beck in the audio says he doesn't care if there's a half Black Spidey, bla bla yadda. If that's the case, why have the segment at all? But he comes across as insincere as the person who says, with contempt dripping in their voice, "With all due respect . . . ," and then goes on to say something contemptible. How his deranged brain links this up to Michelle Obama is evidence of some serious cognitive dysfunction, if you as me. Making anything as trivial as a barely if even 50 year old comic strip part of social/national "Tradition," is pretty messed up, with out the racist/bigotry multiplier factor.

Note for Mr. Beck. The entire "Ultimate," line of Marvel Comics is not new, and not part of some PC conspiracy. It's pure capitalism. Marvel made the decision to expand comix sales into new markets. So the anything goes in Ultimate Universe paradigm allows Marvel to potentially reach any niche market, and maximize sales and profits. Ya racist moron!

Oh. Getting back to "Thor" for a minute. The god played by the negro man was Valhalla's guard of the bridge, Heimdallr. He had to stay on post all the time. All day, all night. Did not get to go to the fancy parties. Did not even get some time off to take a Valkyrie on a Battlefield Date. So it's not like he had the most glamorous gig there. But he did have awesome powers!