A re-imagining of two Hawaiian characters from Superboy's original run. I did as much research as I could, but I know I'm not going to have the authenticity to cover their story like a Native Hawaiian artist would be able to. Nonetheless, I hope I could give these characters more dignity then they're often treated to under DC.
Thank you so much for the warm response to this comic!! I hope this shows just how much characters like these deserve a chance to be reimagined outside of the restrictive racist caricatures they're limited to in canon. As is tradition, I'd like to share some of my King Shark/Tana Moon homework for this comic, below!
King Shark debuted in Superboy #9. Here we get Kesel's take on the character from Hawaiian mythology.
Nanaue is a demigod created by the monsterboinking between a Shark God and Kaikea, a human woman. Their son, Nanaue, would turn out to be an animalistic killer and re-occurring Superboy rogue. It's not a great adaptation of the mythology, and just adds to the overall racist lens in which 90's Superboy orientalizes Hawai'i. Nanaue would later be prominently adapted by Gail Simone for Secret Six and eventually the Harley Quinn show where he's grown more characterization and human-level intelligence but -other than his name- his native origins have been put to the side in modern takes.
So when revisiting the original text to expand on these characters, I found this one scene I wanted to remix.
It's a scene where Nanaue's mom is swimming among sharks. When Nanaue shows up she's not scared. He also makes this :0 face, which, 10/10 youtube thumbnail worthy stuff.
Next we have the ever controversial Tana Moon, Kon's first love interest. She first appeared in Reign of Supermen, but we discover she's Hawaiian once Superboy's solo starts.
What Tana and Nanaue have in common is that in the popular conscious, they orbit and are criticized in relation to their white guy love interests. Nanaue is criticized for being a demeaning choice of a queer joke love interest to John Constantine, meanwhile Tana can't escape the limiting racist characterization Kesel tokenized her with in relation to her creepy predatory relationship to Superboy.
So this little comic aims to give the two their own a space to breathe together, away from all that, as their own characters. DC's never gonna realize they struck gold by making Nanaue a queer Native demigod, so here I am digging into that! The anti-colonial potential of that is too good to pass up as a response to 90's Superboy.
Okay let's talk queer allegory
As an Our Dreams At Dusk stan, I really enjoy the use of water and fish swimming around as imagery for getting lost in one's own thoughts. The interpretation for this imagery is really nebulous in the manga, but I like to see it as a space for queer wondering and wandering.
Looking into the original mythology of Nanaue- his dad, Kāmohoaliʻi the shark god, is said to have guided lost ships home. I took this concept and combined it with Life of Pi and the Little Mermaid. For Pi, I really enjoy the idea of being stuck out at sea with a dangerous creature. For the Little Mermaid, I pulled the idea of interacting with the Divine and their curiosity for mortal beings. Also they both involve a ship accident. Considering the Little Mermaid's a queer allegory, that's just bonus points for me.
The first panel is a loose callback to this shot from Spirited Away. I love this portrayal of a vague memory and meeting with a spirit, but I wanted to expand it to that feeling of meeting with a queer figure from one's culture. Realizing the divine is like you, despite what colonialism tries to erase.
For the redesign of Nanaue, we had him wear Kapa, fabric made from tree fiber. The art of creating Kapa is something that's currently being reclaimed by Hawaiians, so I felt the inclusion of it made sense for the feeling of a pre-colonial ancient being. Also the process of making Kapa involves a shark tooth at some point, which I find delightfully relevant haha. I pulled the design of the Kapa from this documentary about it. They were designed in honor of the queen of Hawai'i. I shaped the Kapa into something between what male and female dancers wear. Nanaue's tattoo-like markings consist of more Kapa motif, I generally kept it to the geometric patterns you'd see in some Hawaiian tattoos.
For his overall look, of course I had to make Nanaue a bear. He's got pre-colonial idealized fat. It is necessary. It was really helpful to look at so much furry art of sharks. Like damn. It inspired me to give Nanaue a tail he doesn't usually have in canon.
The song Nanaue sings is Na Puuwai Haokila. I found the lyric translation here.
Once we get back to the present we have the rest of the Superboy supporting cast. There's more than just these two I've remixed, but for the sake of this story we have:
Roxy Leech (re-imagined as Roxy Lewis), the other half of Superboy's creepy love triangle, and Simon Valentine, Superboy's Jimmy Olsen in his later Smallville-set solo in 2011.
The comic ends with a mix of queer and diaspora longing. The disconnect to be away from where Taonui feels more true to himself.
I've said this many times before, but my personal distinction between a re-interpretation of an established character vs "that's basically an oc" is how much that take engages with its source material. People tend think this literally means "stay in character". But in the case of Superhero characters getting constantly re-worked, I find that outlook limiting. "Engaging with the material" can mean subverting it, flipping it, or deconstructing it. It's not just about "staying true" and "in character".
Tana Moon is a challenging character to remix, because we're only provided with one take on her. That take is a white man's sexually orientalist fantasy of a predatory brown woman, and that's all fans know her for. I'm fully aware when I'm reading 90's Superboy that I'm looking at a caricature not meant for anyone like me in mind. She's not granted the characterization similarly controversial characters like Roxy and Knockout are afforded (who are white women), so she only exists to re-affirm the white biases of readers. The white man's tricks at work.
My take on Tana is a deconstruction of not just canon Tana Moon, but the gentrification of Hawai'i that exists at the very premise of 90's Superboy. What would it be like if Superboy's love interest reflected his distance from his source culture? How does "truth, justice and the American way" work when Superboy's lover comes from indigenous land annexed by the United States? What would it look like to see Tana Moon outside of what a white man told you to see?
I love how "Sinners" didn't villify the sinners in the movie. Sammie's father told him that playing music for "drunkards and philanderers who abandon their family responbilities to sweat all over each other" was a sin. And he was right about the kind of people going to the juke joint: Delta Slim is an alcoholic, and Pearline a cheater. It would have been easy to villify them, but the movie tells us that despite their flaws, they are humans worthy of love, respect and freedom.
Delta Slim drinks because he's traumatized by the horrors Black people of his time face. And he's kind and compassionate, encouraging and reassuring Sammie, and sacrificing himself to save everyone else.
Pearline literally saved Sammie's life and sacrificed herself to protect him, a boy she had only known for a day. It shows her kindness because she could have easily stayed back when Remmick tried to bite Sammy and not endangered her life more than necessary.
The movie shows us that preachers blindly condemning those sinners are wrong: Sammie is only alive because drunkards, philanderers and gangsters (Smoke) gave their lives to protect him. They are people, with flaws and qualities.
I love how nuanced the movie is: Sammie's father is not wrong about the kind of people Sammie wants to associate with and their potential bad influence, but he's wrong about them being evil and not deserving of respect.
This is the like those “remember to be grateful you don’t have a sore throat right now” posts. It IS a beautiful day to not be in high school! Thank you!
Thinking about how stacks last words were "Smoke, I'm so scared. Love you."
Thinking about how Smoke pulls up Stack's pants to give him some dignity.
Thinking about how as he pulled up Stack's pants, he probably thought about dressing Stack to lay him to rest in his favorite suit and that may be part of the reason he snapped "this ain't no dead body, its Stack" at Annie to correct her and himself.
Thinking about how despite clearly telling Annie he doesn't believe in her hoodoo hours before, even cheap shotting her with asking "why didn't it protect our baby", he begs her for her power and skill to bring Stack back.
Thinking about how Smoke sits there holding Stack, his brother's blood covering him like the heaviest sin he's ever had to bear, not keeping Stack safe.
Thinking about how Smoke had gold on his teeth too on the other side, but we never get to hear people talking about it because he doesn't speak much and doesn’t smile until the very end, holding his daughter.
Thinking about how Smoke seems to almost view Stack's death as his own failure. How he can't go through with staking his little brother and cuts a deal. And how in doing that, Smoke allows himself to go handle Remmick, and later the Klan.
Thinking about how Smoke chose to stay behind and get rid of the klansmen. How all those people in the juke died on his watch, and he gets the opportunity to eliminate one more threat, and the excuse to not go on with the grief of being alone.
Thinking about Annie being the narrator even though the story doesn't follow her. Thinking about how she could be recounting the story to her baby while they wait for papa.
Thinking about Annie's wisdom and skill saving them at multiple points.
Thinking about how they all defer to Annie at once, no questions, and never dismiss her.
Thinking about how Annie's wisdom would have gotten them through the night. How Remmick saw that and knew that the weak links were going to be Grace and Smoke, playing their loved ones and facts against them.
Thinking about how Remmick seems to remember from cornbread in particular that Annie is clever and is thus a threat.
Thinking about how even though Annie is using Divination to foresee any hope, when she doesn't she meets that with understanding and grace as she tells Smoke what has to be done.
Thinking about how close Annie must have been with Mary. Mary was devastated enough to break the hive mind, and have Stack attempt to get her to safety.
Thinking about how no nonsense but still compassionate Annie and Smoke were.
Noticed on my fifth viewing how much of a real one Pearline is during the fight after the vampires enter the mill.
After Stack bit Annie, Pearline managed to shoot him off of Annie to get him away from her and also nailed Remmick while looking unsure of herself, which is badass as hell.
She also managed to stake Remmick in the loft when the fight went up there before he bit her.
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