PEACE PARTY = "real" Native comic?

Regarding my search for Native people and products at Comic-Con, an anonymous commenter had this to say:Ah you missed one big one: "Rob Schmidt's Peace Party: The only and real Native American comic! Any other work that features Native Americans (in the past, present or future) are fake, insane, stereotypical, morbid, wrong, ugly and WHITE. Only us are the real ones, see us on booth 453. BUY NOW! WHITE CASH IS WELCOME :)"My response:

Wow. It's always amazing to see how much stupidity someone can pack into a few sentences.

I sure hope this cowardly comment isn't from writer Jason Aaron, who was upset when I criticized his Native portrayals in SCALPED. So upset that he dropped out after losing a couple of debates with me. But I digress.

Let's go through the idiocies in this comment one by one:

For starters, I didn't miss anything, since PEACE PARTY wasn't on sale at Comic-Con. You can bet that I would've mentioned it if it was. <g>

Everyone except this moron knows that I'm not Native and I've never claimed PEACE PARTY was "real." About the only thing I've claimed is that it's as authentic as I could make it as a non-Native outsider. Whether that's good enough is for Natives and other readers to determine, not me.

In the past I've worried publicly that my use of supernatural magic made PEACE PARTY a bit stereotypical. For every worry that I've aired publicly, I've probably had five or ten in private. I could post several old e-mails to prove my trepidations at tackling a Native-themed comic book.

After checking my blog, I find that I mention PEACE PARTY maybe once a month, in passing. I can't remember the last time I urged someone to buy one of the few remaining copies. In other words, if I'm trying to sell PEACE PARTY, I'm doing a poor job of it. A pushy peddler would put "Buy PEACE PARTY" notices all over Newspaper Rock and in every posting.

"Insane" and "morbid" must be references to my SCALPED criticism, although I don't recall using those words. In fact, I don't recall using those words to describe any comics. As I told Aaron, I don't have a problem with dark, Sopranos-style stories. My problem is with stupid, fake, and ugly Native stereotypes. Aaron never quite understood this distinction, but I trust Newspaper Rock's readers are more discerning.

Ironically, Anonymous posted his comment the same day I praised the obscure comic book REDLAW. In fact, I praise Native-themed comics by Native and non-Native creators alike whenever they're good. My Indian Comics page has a reasonably long list of highly recommended Native-themed comics. And it's not hard to name others that are pretty good--e.g., TRIBAL FORCE, TALES OF THE CHEROKEE, and THE ADVENTURES OF RABBIT AND BEAR PAWS. Even SCALPED is worth reading except for its Native stereotypes.

In short...you're wrong, Anonymous. Almost every word of your gratuitous attack is badly, laughably wrong. Thanks for brightening my day with the stupidest comment I've received in weeks, chum(p).

P.S. You'll be glad to know that I'm working slowly but surely on the PEACE PARTY graphic novel, Anonymous. I hope it'll be done sometime in 2010. If we're lucky, it may be on sale at the next Comic-Con. You can pick up your copy then. <g>