(from Alpha Flight #106 – 1992)

Violence is the normalizing force in mainstream comics. It is the POC or queer character’s willingness to do violence – the former against other POC to establish themselves as a “good” minority as opposed to the typical “bad” minority, the latter as a way to reinforce the presence of masculinity defined in large part by violence – that ingratiates them into a world that comic editors want us to know is 99% white and straight.  The remaining 1% punches its way into the mainstream – not by punching the white “heroes” that reinforce the status quo, but by punching other anomalous characters: the black, the brown, the poor, the gay, the disenfranchised – or ultimately, even themselves, as acceptance requires a willingness to endure the abuse these characters will eventually receive at the hands of mostly white writers.