Big Chief Wahoo #7 (Winter 1943/44?)

Man, early comic books were always sticking it to our Native American friends. Though, given how comics also treated Blacks and Asians, I suppose no one should be terribly surprised. At least in this instance Big Chief Wahoo was the star of the strip, but was still saddled with stereotypical Indian dialogue ("ugh" and "how" and "-um"s).

Lots more information on this remarkably non-politically correct character can be found at the excellent Toonopedia. This comic book is actually a collection of reprints of a comic strip, and as much as I like old strips, I am woefully uninformed regarding them. Therefore, it comes as a surprise to learn in that Toonopedia article that the Big Chief Wahoo strip, which was originally The Great Gusto, eventually became Steve Roper and Mike Nomad!

And, just for the heck of it, here are some Big Chief Wahoo gum packages.

Labels: newspaper strips, racial sensitivity

posted by Mikester  @ 08:07 |