One of the weird things about reading old comics is that you’ll be shocked when some parts are rather progressive for the time, but others are exceedingly a product of their time.
IE, the Spirit: Some issues seem forward-thinking. The Black Queen, for instance:
A lot of emphasis is put on her appearance and the fact that she’s a woman- these days, a character like that could be seen as backwards, or like tokenism. However, it was a progressive move for the times: and unlike many other “femme fatales” in the Spirit’s run, there isn’t a focus on her having sex or seducing men in this issue, and she is a competent antagonist (Held back a bit by her partner-in-crime’s bumbling).
But constantly backwards on other issues. IE, Ebony, pretty much in all issues:
It’s not just Ebony, the portrayal of most black characters is about on the same level. I’ve read some articles that see Ebony’s portrayal as not being racist (Or, at least, progressive for the times)- however, even the author, Will Eisner, later admitted he was lazy in his portrayal, and that his earlier works made him cringe (30 years later). It’s not that they “didn’t know any better” back then, either, even if this thing was normal.
IDK, these are just some of the things that are jarring to me when I read old comics.