2-BSide

4B —Thursday, January 18, 2018
b-side
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

‘Your Black Friend’ takes 
on millenial woke racism

You could easily mistake 
Ben Passmore’s “Your Black 
Friend” for a light read; after 
all, it is only 11 pages long. 
However, 
through 
skilled 
artistry and strong language, 
the mini-comic is as poignant 
and relevant as it is visually 
pleasing. Its cover draws you in, 
boasting 
playful 
pastels 
and 
bouncy 
bubble 
letters, 
looking 
more 
like 
a 
middle schooler’s 
doodle 
than 
an 
open 
letter 
about racism and 
Black alienation in America. 
Its 
characters 
are 
spot-on 
caricatures of people you have 
known or seen or been, depicted 
with a balance of humor and 
criticism.
“Your Black Friend” is a 
brief yet intensely powerful 
testament 
to 
what 
racism 
looks 
like 
among 
“woke” 
millennials. In word and image, 
Passmore creates a work that 
is 
simultaneously 
personal 
and collective, encompassing 
his own experiences while 
capturing the experiences of 
others. 
Written 
entirely 
in 
the second person, Passmore 
actively engages in a critical 

and much-needed conversation 
about race in today’s America. 
The 
comic 
involves 
the 
reader in an unconventional 
way, pointing to them as it 
begs and pleads that you, 
and only you, recognize the 
pervasiveness of racism in our 
culture. Passmore’s narrator 
grapples between two poles 
of racialization, one being not 
Black enough for his Black 
friends and the other being 
too Black for his 
white 
friends. 
He lives in racial 
limbo, where his 
own 
existence 
is measured and 
metered by his 
peers rather than 
himself.
Passmore uses a distinct color 
palette of soothing pastels of 
blue, purple and pink. Even the 
most troubling and gruesome 
of scenes is inked with bright 
and whimsical hues, washing 
over the darkness and dread 
of the comic’s content with a 
paintbrush soaked in millennial 
pink. Just as the comic washes 
over the serious with a façade of 
brightness, the façade of woke-
ness 
masks 
the 
sometimes 
unintentional 
but 
inherent 
racism that lies beneath. 
“Your Black Friend” attacks 
the millennial post-racial myth 
head-on with tact and humor. 
Like Jordan Peele’s (“Key and 

Peele”) terrifyingly relevant 
and 
award-winning 
social 
thriller “Get Out,” Passmore’s 
comic 
confronts 
the 
self-
serving nature of white guilt, 
turning alliance into a selfish 
and preoccupied excuse for 
sympathy. Passmore addresses 
the performance of linguistic 
“blackface” among his white 
friends. He explores the desire 
to try on “Blackness” like 
a costume, a hipster in full 
minstrel guise in a desperate 
attempt 
to 
reconcile 
white 
privilege in a country built on 
racism. Passmore manages to 
capture a similar feeling of 
alienation and fear without 
directly evoking the horror 
tone of Peele’s masterpiece. 
Passmore 
effectively 
uses the comics medium to 
communicate his message and 
personal experiences. He fills 
the small comic to the brim 
with jarring colors, expertly 
formatting 
the 
pages 
with 
text and images that inform 
and complement one another. 
Passmore’s use of arrows and 
comments 
throughout 
make 
the comic feel more organic, 
as if the author is allowing a 
snapshot into his own diary. 
From run-ins with the cops to 
eating a po-boy at a coffee shop, 
Passmore walks the reader 
through the 21st-century Black 
experience in a 21st-century 
white world.

BECKY PORTMAN
Senior Arts Editor

B-SIDE SECONDARY

Paramount Pictures
Marvel movies subvert 
the superhero narrative

The Marvel movie franchise 
has a bad reputation for being 
associated with movies that are 
essentially overpriced, overdone 
blockbuster fodder. It’s imagined 
to be loved exclusively by stringy 
comic book nerds and those of 
“low-brow culture.” With the 
tedium of each new Marvel 
movie hitting the big screen like 
clockwork, it’s easy for people to 
disregard the franchise with a 
cavalier “Eh, those movies don’t 
really appeal to me.” But what 
most people fail to realize is that 
the 
Marvel 
movie 
franchise, 
dubbed the Marvel Cinematic 
Universe, is a highly complex, 
endlessly fascinating, extremely 
impressive 
and 
revolutionary 
feat of moviemaking that defies 
cinematic structure and explores 
deeply resonant societal themes.
While 
superhero 
films, 
or 
adaptations 
of 
comic 
book 
characters, have been around since 
the 1930s, the Marvel Cinematic 
Universe, or MCU, is radically 
different than anything that has 
come before in film. Structurally, 
the MCU is designed as a web with 
an intricate interweaving of origin 
stories, sequels and ensemble 
films that introduce and feature 
different players throughout the 
expansive network of films. This 
unorthodox structure gives the 
franchise a puzzle-finding feel 
that challenges viewers to search 
for and spot different heroes in 
different movies. Like pieces on a 
larger gameboard, the MCU works 
as a massive universe in which the 
characters exist, with each movie 
exploring a different part of that 
universe. While all this seems 
chaotic and slippery, the franchise 
is actually meticulously planned. 
The MCU timeline is easily 
accessible online, where the details 
for a four-phase cinematic opera 
are laid out. The sheer breadth of 
planning — starting with “Iron 
Man” in 2008 and continuing with 
untitled films set to release as late 
as 2028 — demonstrates franchise 
construction on a completely new 
scale. And while characters and 
emotional nuance can easily get 
lost in the haze of an entity that 
large, the MCU stays grounded 
with 
clear 
development 
and 
emotional arcs.
What makes Marvel so brilliant 
is that in the midst of juggling a 
massive ensemble of different 
characters, 
backstories 
and 
motivations, the franchise is able 
to craft distinct personalities for 
each character and weave them 
all together. Instead of being one-
dimensional, each hero is shaded 
with nuance. Iron Man isn’t just 
cocky and impulsive but is rather 
a detail-obsessed genius with a 
confused moral compass whose 
narcissism is bred from daddy 
issues. In its ensemble films, 
sharply written dialogue works to 
seamlessly blend each character’s 
personality so that they both stand 
out and blend in. 
The MCU is an unprecedented 
beast of a movie franchise, with 
structural and story elements that 
keep viewers locked in, waiting 
for the next piece of the puzzle. 
While the MCU is a revolutionary 
media entity among franchises in 
general, it’s also remarkable within 
the genre of superhero narratives. 

The MCU is not merely a large 
collection of traditional hero vs. 
villain, good vs. evil storylines. 
Marvel examines and challenges 
heroism, morality and fantasy in 
ways that are unparalleled in texts 
of the superhero genre.
Superhero narratives, rooted in 
comic books, are defined by a few 
classic tropes. Of course, there 
is the hero, a morally righteous 
protagonist committed to the 
fight against an equally insidious 
villain. There is a clear binary 
between good and evil, and 
these moralities are uncontested. 
Superhero movies are heavily 
laden with action, dynamic fight 
scenes, big explosions and chaos 
in the name of justice. They exist 
clearly in the realm of fantasy: The 
hero possesses a heightened ability 
that sets him or her apart from the 
masses and can wield this power 
freely. These tropes are integral 
to the superhero narrative, and 
they serve to create distance from 
reality. Superhero films generally 
reflect the thematic tradition of 
comic books, mirroring the moral 
binaries of comic book heroes.
Destruction plays an interesting 
and integral role in superhero 
films. While it may seem obvious 
to think about, every hero fight 
inevitably involves destruction. 
Superhero films in the mid-2000s 
used relatively old-school effects 

to blow up a building or a city 
block, adding visually compelling 
elements to a climactic fight 
scene. In “Batman Begins” (2005), 
Batman 
destroys 
a 
monorail 
line while the train drives into a 
parking structure and explodes. 
In “The Dark Knight” (2008), the 
Joker detonates a string of bombs 
that blow up an entire hospital. 
Destruction is understood as a 
natural and entertaining part 
of the genre that heightens the 
actions and suspense of the scene.
Advancements in CGI special 
effects allowed for more complex 
and dynamic fight scenes moving 
into the 2010s. Bigger explosions 
and more precise detail meant new 
possibilities for mass destruction 
on a completely different scale. 
Magneto in “X-Men: Days of 
Future Past” (2014) lifts an entire 
baseball stadium and floats it 
around before sending it crashing 
into the cityscape below. In 
“X-Men Apocalypse” (2016), the 
X-Men raze the entire city of Cairo 
to the ground, leaving it completely 
decimated. What’s interesting is 
that in every superhero film there 
are no discussions about the loss of 

life, infrastructural consequences 
or acknowledgment of any kind of 
damage and chaos following the 
battle. And with contemporary 
superhero movies playing out on 
an international or intergalactic 
scale, the lack of acknowledgment 
of destruction becomes more 
apparent and more fantastical.
Here is where the Avengers 
franchise 
completely 
revolutionizes 
the 
superhero 
genre. With its meticulous buildup 
of films and phases, Marvel 
initially reflects the tropes of 
its genre, only to then deliver a 
climactic movie that challenges 
thematic taboos routinely left out 
of the narrative. There are three 
pivotal battles in the franchise 
that all involve massive amounts 
of destruction: in “The Avengers” 
(2012), the team fights Loki and 
his alien-insect army, destroying 
large chunks of Manhattan in the 
process; In “Captain America: 
The 
Winter 
Soldier” 
(2014), 
Captain America and Falcon send 
government 
airships 
crashing 
into Washington D.C.; and in “The 
Avengers: Age of Ultron” (2015), 
the Avengers fight Ultron while he 
lifts the entire city of Sokovia off 
the ground. These three films in 
the Avengers narrative arc involve 
crucial moments of character 
development, 
shifting 
team 
dynamics, introduction of new 
characters and the evolution of 
villains. But in “Captain America: 
Civil War” (2016), these moments 
become the fulcrum upon which 
the progression of the narrative 
balances.
“Captain America: Civil War” 
is responsible for bursting the 
bubble of fantasy in the superhero 
narrative. At the start of the movie, 
Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr., 
“The Judge”) is confronted by a 
grieving mother whose son died 
in the battle at Sokovia. In this 
moment, for the first time, a hero is 
faced with the real and detrimental 
consequences 
of 
his 
actions 
and the unintended but severe 
consequences on human lives from 
unrestrained 
destruction. 
The 
tension between heroic action and 
unheroic consequence becomes 
the focus of the movie, and 
Stark’s enormous guilt drives his 
motivations for the rest of the film. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Soon after Stark’s crushing 
epiphany, 
the 
Avengers 
meet 
with Secretary of State Thaddeus 
Ross (William Hurt, “Goliath”). 
Ross projects a video summary 
of the Avengers’ major battles but 
without the polished and self-
indulgent perspective of their 
original play. Imagery of buildings 
exploding, cars crashing, people 
screaming and errant gunfire turn 
previously exciting action scenes 
into terrifying and traumatic 
warzones. Watching the clips, 
the Avengers all wear faces of 
realization and shame. This scene 
is crucial for so many reasons; It 
shows a direct interaction between 
heroes and government agencies 
and introduces a new perspective 
on the Avengers, what it means to 
be a hero and the consequences of 
unrestrained power.
Ross makes clear that up until 
now, the Avengers have “operated 
with unlimited power and no 
supervision.” He exchanges the 
word hero with the word vigilante, 
asking “what would you call a 
group of U.S.-based, enhanced 
individuals who routinely ignore 
sovereign borders and inflict their 

SYDNEY COHEN
Daily Arts Writer

will wherever they choose, and 
who frankly seem unconcerned 
about what they leave behind?” 
In an effort to curb the power of 
the Avengers, Ross introduces the 
Sokovia Accords, a contract that if 
signed would place the Avengers 
under United Nations jurisdiction. 
In order to impose a system of 
accountability and place limits on 
previously 
unrestricted 
power, 
a U.N. panel would have control 
over the team, deploying them 
when the panel deems it necessary. 
The document essentially strips 
the Avengers of their agency, but 
also curbs potential unforeseen 
consequences.
The significance of this moment, 
why it’s brilliant and unparalleled, 
cannot be understated. Here we 
see the first major integration of 
world powers in a fantasy realm, 
where the government has actual, 
sizable influence. For the first time 
in the superhero genre, we see an 
effort to impose accountability 
on superheroes who previously 
wielded power without restraint, 
or even the concept of restraint. 
This move has only ever been seen 
once before, in “The Incredibles” 
(2004), when injured civilians took 
superheroes to court, and a national 
law forced them into hiding. This 
is really the first instance of the 
powers of ordinary society curbing 
the powers of the extraordinary. 
But “The Incredibles” fails to 
take the tension between fantasy 
and reality further and ends up 
mostly concerned with the self-
actualization of heroes.
The question of whether or not to 
sign the Sokovia Accords launches 
the Avengers into the main 
conflict of “Civil War” — a debate 
of accountability vs. free will. 

Tony Stark urges the team to sign 
because he sees unaccountability 
as the most dangerous threat to 
the Avengers and the world, and 
argues they can’t be allowed to 
continue without restrains or 
limits. Captain America, on the 
other hand, rejects the Accords, 
arguing that the contract places a 
limit on free will, and emphasizes 
his belief in everyone’s right to act 
as a free agent.
With this debate, the MCU 
tackles the morality of heroism 

and explores the philosophies of 
its heroes. Marvel demonstrates 
that it is extremely self-aware of 
the tropes of its genre, effectively 
subverting them by questioning 
and challenging what it means to 
be a superhero. Marvel complicates 
the binary between good and 
evil by spotlighting death and 
destruction at the hands of those 
who are considered heroes. Marvel 
also introduces the influence of 
real-world consequences on the 
actions and motivations of its 
heroes. Because these elements 
have never been approached in 
this way or to this magnitude in 
any superhero film before, Marvel 

is essentially constructing a new 
subgenre 
of 
superhero 
films: 
one that is preoccupied with the 
convergence of the real and the 
fantastical. The universal model 
of the franchise allows much more 
room for characters to interact and 
develop, creating a deeper level of 
familiarity between the characters 
and their world that makes the 
philosophical questions of “Civil 
War” possible, meaningful and 
believable.
There is also room for a deeper 
analytical interpretation of “Civil 
War” and the themes of the MCU. 
Subverting notions of heroism and 
moral absolutism is fascinating in 
the context of the long tradition 
of comic book heroes. But the 
debate 
between 
accountability 
and free will extends to more 
prevalent ideas in society today. 
The plot of “Civil War” can be 
read as an allegory for the debate 
between government surveillance 
and privacy and the question 
of surveillance as a necessary 
protection against terrorism or an 
infringement on civil rights. While 
it is common practice for films to 
reflect the societal themes of their 
time, Marvel is noteworthy for 
its simultaneous subversion of its 
genre.
The 
MCU 
is 
an 
elegantly 
intricate 
and completely fascinating piece 
of moviemaking that proves that 
complex narratives can exist in a 
blockbuster franchise. Marvel’s 
deconstruction 
and 
subversion 
of the superhero narrative are 
wholly unprecedented in the genre 
of comic book films and make 
watching these movies thrilling 
and deeply thought-provoking for 
both casual viewers, cinephiles 
and anyone in between.

20th Century Fox

COMIC BOOK REVIEW

“Your Black 
Friend”

Published by the 
Artist

2016

Ben Passmore’s comic explores Black alienation in America

The MCU is an 
unprecedented 
beast of a movie 
franchise, with 
structural and 
story elements 
that keep viewers 
locked in

The MCU is an 
elegantly intricate 
and completely 
fascinating piece 
of moviemaking

