With the Shang-Chi movie getting some attention, it might be a good time to go over some source material. I don’t mean combining Chi’s father Zheng Zu with the Mandarin for a Secret Wars tie-in. Instead, we’re going to go over the complications of depicting anti-Asian racism. Not just with the use of Fu Manchu, or the controversial decision of skin tones, but the most realistic depictions of attitudes.
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Shang-Chi, Master of Kung-Fu is a brainchild of the Kung-Fu cinema explosion of the 70s. So popular Marvel tried to get the rights to adapt the TV Show… Kung-Fu. Only that show is owned by the parent company of Marvel’s main competitor, DC. So they instead they use literary villain Fu Manchu while artist Paul Gulacy designs Shang after Bruce Lee. Although that brings us to how many complications in artistic expression come in.
The Yellow Peril
You see, Fu Manchu is essentially an incarnate of the “Yellow Peril” from anything creator Arthur Sarsfield could get his hands on. He is a mad scientist dabbling in alchemical ventures in his empire of crime. Even if ironically, Manchu is the more dignified character unlike his fumbling opponent Sir Smith. It’s this complicated depiction of race that comes over to Marvel Comics. At first glance with his yellow skin tone and some of his trollish behavior towards Shang, he’d be a cartoonish villain. But many issues in, Manchu displays a belief in a cause that a lot of supervillains at the time lack.
I wonder what was going through the heads of the colorists at this time. Shang-Chi and a number of Asian character have a distinct gold skin tone in the 1970s; unlike Fu Manchu and a few Chinese civilians with very light yellow skin. Interestingly some Japanese characters have skin tones more like white characters. Then there’s Manchu’s daughter Fah Lo Suee, who doesn’t have any of the yellow skin tones either. Let’s not forget some Indian characters with dark gray skin tones resembling early depictions of Africans. But it’s their attitudes that stand out; while the Si-Fan are portrayed as loyal to a fault to their ideals, civilians are as mundane as others.
Black Jack Tarr and Shang-Chi
But the character who stands out the most is another Marvel spinning out of the source material, Black Jack Tarr. Blackjack is a companion of Sir Denys Smith from their times in war and in battle against Fu Manchu. As a result of the traumas and tribulations, Blackjack joins in on the Yellow Peril paranoia. Even after Sir Denys comes to a better understanding with Shang after their meetings, Blackjack retains his uneasiness. It doesn’t help with his casual usage of “Chinaman”. Heck with the way some characters use that and other racist insults, a beat down from a Bruce Lee clone is justifiable.
If anything, Blackjack’s long journey out of racism is what really stands out. While some of his traumas and his uneasy tolerance of Shang-Chi lingers, Blackjack starts to give Shang respect. I mean seeing a literal Nazi viciously gun down Asians gives Blackjack a good shake. Eventually, Blackjack sticks up for Leiko Wu a British-Chinese MI6 agent, finally letting go of his preconceptions.
Respect This Era Despite Problematics
The modern day Shang-Chi comics letting go of its controversies are for the best. On a practical level, changing characters like Fu Manchu to new ones like Zheng Zu keep the technicalities while allowing wiggle room. It’s what allows the comics by Gene Luen Yang to make more liberties. But that doesn’t mean that the problematic past is without benefits. Just because there’re depictions of racism throughout, it is best to appreciate the efforts to subvert it.
Thanks for coming to the end, and as always remember to look between the panels.