Angelfood McSpade (1960)
Angelfood McSpade is a comic book character created and drawn by the 1960s counter culture figure and underground comix artist Robert Crumb. The character first appeared in the Philadelphia-based underground newspaper Yarrowstalks #2 in July 1967, making her comics debut in the second issue of Zap Comix (June 1968).[1]
The character was featured regularly during Crumb's late 1960s and early 1970s output.[2] In later comics her appearances became less frequent, and finally after 1971 Crumb stopped using the character in his comics altogether.
The Character
Angelfood McSpade is a satirical portrayal of a stereotypical black African woman.[3] She is depicted as a large, bare-breasted tribeswoman, dressed in nothing but a skirt made out of palm tree leaves. She is drawn with big lips, golden rings around her neck and in her ears, huge breasts, large round buttocks and speaks jive. Her name references angelfood cake and the racial slur "spade".
She is very naïve and easily abused or even raped by the horny men who surround her, though, being a nymphomaniac, she is not bothered by this. Often, she is vulnerable to assault while being asleep or unconscious. Angelfood has a tendency to walk barebreasted, even in cities. However, no one seems to stop her from walking around half-naked.
The Controversy
Angelfood McSpade is one of Crumb's most notorious targets for accusations of sexism and racism. Crumb has responded that he did not invent racist caricatures like Angelfood, but that they used to be part of the American culture in which he was raised. He saw the character as a criticism of the racist stereotype itself and assumed that the young liberal hippie/intellectual audience who read his work were not racists and would understand his intentions for the character.
Angelfood McSpade specifically embodies the myth of the “over-sexed” woman of color. She is depicted as a brainless woman-child without personal agency, gang-raped by space-aliens, made to clean out a toilet with her tongue because she is too stupid to know better, and basically only existing as a sexual outlet for men.[4]
External Link
Read the comic here
References
- ↑ Angelfood McSpade. Retrieved January 9, 2021.
- ↑ Dowd, Douglas B.; Hignite, Todd (2006). Strips, Toons, and Bluesies: Essays in Comics and Culture. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, pp. 76–79. ISBN 978-1-56898-621-0
- ↑ Crumb, R.; Holm, D. K. (2004). R. Crumb: Conversations.Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.
- ↑ The Day I Realized Some Of Robert Crumb’s Comics Were REALLY Racist And Violently Misogynist, Fantasy Merchant, August 8, 2019. Retrieved January, 8, 2021.