Supermanic Monday #6--I Didn't Want To Go There, But...

OK, this is probably pretty damned unfair, but it needs to be mentioned.

All the white folks of the diner complain to Superman about the drug dealing gangsters moving into a neighborhood ...

...Superman meets them, and the only ones with dialogue are the African-American, bling-wearing, gold-toothed guys who speak from the Bendis Book Of Colorful Minority Dialogue....

...and after Superman rousts them, he is given a congratulatory candy bar by the cute Caucasian kid.

Yes, I realize not all of the gang-bangers pictured are black, but a) they're the only one with dialogue, the only ones who stand up to Superman, the ones obviously in charge b) we can't really tell about the 1 or 2 others--they are drawn and colored so vaguely as to be potentially anything--Hispanic, white, Asian, kryptonese, whatever.

I'm usually the last one to to complain about (or pick up on) this kind of thing--and I'm the first to skeptical when people try to turn something that seems harmless into a racial thing --but damned if the first thing to pop into my head while reading this was "Wait, Superman is making Philly safe for white folks?"

I have little doubt that this is merely clumsy execution--albeit damned clumsy execution. But given the recent criticisms DC has taken, it's the tinnest of tin ears to have a bunch a white folks send the white ubermensch in to move the ethnics from "here" to "over there."

I'm just sayin'.