Asian Invasion

DC Comics has been on a push to diversify their cast of characters lately and as most comic fans already know, many of those characters are Asian. The first of these characters is the Chinese superteam the Great Ten.

With Grant Morrison being responsible for their creation, it's no surprise that they have some really wacky powers with names to match. I was originally pretty turned off by their names, but came to like them not because they could be literal translations of Chinese names. Nah, I liked the names because they're strange and different. August General in Iron, Accomplished Perfect Physician, and Immortal Man in Darkness are pretty fun to say.

One thing I don't understand is why we never see foreign characters speaking in contractions. Their speech is always somewhat bland and just doesn't sound natural. Here's an example from page 5 of DC: Fifty Two Week 6:

"The Great Ten were gathered to consolidate super human power for the preservation of China -- and yet we spend most of our day waiting for the green light to flash. Bureaucracy will be the death of us, Perfect Physician."

Is it just me or does that just sound typical of your everyday foreign character in American fiction? Despite my issues with the way they talk, I have an optimistic outlook for the Great Ten. I hope they don't turn all Asian villain on me in the future. I think that would be too predictable for Morrison. I also hope the people at Blog@Newsarama are wrong about this little bit of news they published last week.

The new Atom will also be Chinese. I haven't read the book yet so all I can really comment on is the art that I've seen. So without further ado, what the hell is up with his eyes in this cover? Eyes don't slant at that angle, not even Asian eyes...

All in all, I commend DC for trying to diversify their roster with characters like the new Atom, the Great Ten, the new Blue Beetle (Latino) and the new Firestorm (African American). It's definitely a step in the right direction. Let's just hope sales are high enough to keep these new faces in print.