On their news blog, Colgate University recently featured the work of Assistant Professor of LGBTQ Studies Paul Humphrey examining Afro-Carribean characters in comics as well as their culture. He came to find that “fiction from the region depicts Vodou and Santería as religions of resistance, standing against American neocolonialism, corruption, and Western Christianity.”
Humphrey, looking at characters in like La Borinqueña, Doctor Voodoo, and Marassa, observed that “creators go out of their way to establish them as important, yet they never quite keep the spotlight.” Just as their religions are cast as secondary or non-normative, so are the characters. “Part of the trouble is that even very respectfully depicted and drawn side characters are, ultimately, side characters, there to support the narratives of more marquee heroes like Spider-Man and Doctor Strange.”