Why is Isis White?

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Rachel Udin

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http://www.the-trades.com/pictures/I/IsisCover2.jpg

http://eschergirls.tumblr.com/post/52467268253/the-ancient-egyptian-art-of-vacuum-sealed-crop said it well.

Yeah. I want to know. And I know comic traditions, but there has been a concerted turn around by DC and Marvel (to their credit this is from Blue Water.)

A crossover tried to follow that and made her even whiter. (As if being white wasn't enough, the shade has to be whiter and her hair has to be lighter.) TT http://comics.drivethrustuff.com/images/349/102494.jpg

That level of white washing just amazes me. I never would think to make Isis white. o_O;; Kanon will now be turned into a blonde?
 

katci13

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Yeah...they could at least give her the right hair color. I don't think blonde hair and green eyes were very common in ancient Egypt. I really hope they're doing it out of ignorance and not on purpose...though really I find either case extremely sad.
 

slhuang

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Argh!

Also, WTF is up with her clothing??? (Or lack thereof?) IT HURTS MY EYES.
 

Cyia

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Good grief. Even if you go with the idea that later dynasty "royal" Egyptians were from a Greek family line, you still don't get that.

*pictures blonde hieroglyphs wearing spandex*
*head asplodes*

Also, she needs wings.
 

little_e

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Ow. That hurts my eyes.
I'll tolerate a lot of silliness in the name of artistic license, but that's just so very wrong.
 

mirandashell

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It isn't just the racism fail. Or the clothing fail. (Did they have shrink-wrapped lycra in Ancient Egypt?) WTF is up with her anatomy? There's bits of her going in all directions.
 

Kitty27

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That is some seriously ugly art. At least,to my eyes.

Typical race fail all over the place,not to mention the clothing that reduces a powerful goddess to a stripper on Ancient History Night,2$ Shots& No Cover Charge.

I can take some artistic liberty,too. But this is ridiculous.
 

Dave.C.Robinson

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This is Bluewater, generally considered the worst company in the industry in every way.

As with others, I can see someone like Cleopatra (who appears to have been descended almost entirely from Greek/Macedonian ancestors) being depicted as white, but Isis should look darker.
 

buz

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How very wtf.

Lawlz at "the ancient Egyptian art of vacuum-sealed crop tops" though...
 

Liralen

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And then there's the anomaly of her being fairly well muscled . . . except for those skinny arms. Like she could ever throw a spear or do anything even remotely useful with spaghetti arms!

Since they've made her redheaded-ish, perhaps they've gotten her confused with Queen Maeve of Connacht?

Who was a warrior and would not have had those ridiculous arms either.

:D
 

lolchemist

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As a Middle Eastern person, this really pisses me off. It' not like we have much representation in comic books at all unless we are the bad guy and finally we get Isis and NOPE! She's white!

You know what I would have loved though? Instead of giving her the stupid outfit that makes no sense, if the artist would have had the balls to give her the traditional outfit she actually wore in her ancient picture with her breasts popping out of the top and they could cover the nipples with the red suspender looking straps. COME ON, this was their once chance to give a female character a sexually offensive and revealing outfit and be able to get away with it by going BUT ITS HISTORICALLY ACCURATE THO! Instead they go for the generic skintight white top that literally looks like if the artist painted it skin color she'd be topless.
http://www.earthpm.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/isis11.jpg
 

Liralen

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Wait.

You know why she's white-ish?

So she can use the flesh colored bandaids.
 

J.S.F.

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Hello, I am the former producer of the Captain Marvel show and I approve of making Isis whiter than the driven snow so that most Americans will be able to relate to that image instead of a more proper one with darker skin and eyes because this is HOLLYWOOD!

Oh, wait, just kidding. I was having a flashback to a previous life as a Hollywood producer. See, reincarnation DOES exist!

Artwork isn't that bad, but really, having a blond and blue-eyed Egyptian goddess? In ancient times? Oh, rlly?

This isn't just a 'WTF' moment. It's a serious 'LMAO-WTF-Who-are-they-kidding? moment.
 

thebloodfiend

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This is Bluewater, generally considered the worst company in the industry in every way.

As with others, I can see someone like Cleopatra (who appears to have been descended almost entirely from Greek/Macedonian ancestors) being depicted as white, but Isis should look darker.

I even doubt the Ancient Greeks, knowing what Greeks look like today, looked like the modern typical blonde hair, blue eyed Caucasian American.

It's just too much for Egyptians to start looking anything other than white. Yet, I wonder, have these artists ever been to Egypt? I have. Most of southern Egypt is covered by Nubians much, much darker than I am. And most of Northern Egypt is covered by actual Arabs who are rather dark themselves. They did not magically die, let the Caucasians spring up, and magically appear again. Also, for directional purposes, modern Southern Egypt is historically Upper Egypt. That's the portion touching Sudan. Naturally, looking at the Sudanese, these people would be quite dark and would intermix quite a bit. But, no, television and comic books would have you believe otherwise. It's really quite sad.
 

lilyWhite

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Somehow, I don't think mythological accuracy is a high concern for these people. They have another series in which there is a tenth Greek muse...and she's a superhero.

As irrational as it makes me sound, this makes me want to strike inanimate objects with a baseball bat. Really hard.

(The same people have amusingly made a comic book sequel to Plan 9 From Outer Space. Lo and behold, it apparently sucks!)
 

Rachel Udin

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Good grief. Even if you go with the idea that later dynasty "royal" Egyptians were from a Greek family line, you still don't get that.

*pictures blonde hieroglyphs wearing spandex*
*head asplodes*

Also, she needs wings.

Also, minus the cats... Isis wasn't associated with cats.

This is Bluewater, generally considered the worst company in the industry in every way.

As with others, I can see someone like Cleopatra (who appears to have been descended almost entirely from Greek/Macedonian ancestors) being depicted as white, but Isis should look darker.

For some reason they *do* have a comic book with an unsexualized black woman on the cover when I checked their website which just makes less sense to me.

Isis was an awesome goddess--she's my favorite out of Egyptian Mythology. She was kick butt on her own and even transported into the future, I'm not quite sure why she's shown so stereotypical Northern European. If you want woman power in Ancient times--she had it in spades. The woman put back together her husband and when she couldn't do it, she used magic to put the last piece together, had his child, and tricked Thoth, the god of the moon and Wisdom. She tolerated all kinds of hardship and came out on top. You don't need to sexualize her. She's awesome on her own and all kinds of sexy.

I kinda feel robbed in two ways seeing her like that. A sex symbol, with scanty clothes, and white. A strong woman reduced to that level... Just makes me want to cry...
 

Cyia

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Ha! I had to go back and look to see the cats. I missed them on the first look because of the absurdity of the rest of the image.

I seriously can't get over the hair. No one had real hair in ancient Egypt, at least not those who could afford wigs. They were billiard bald to get rid of the lice. She shouldn't have flowing hair.

It makes you wonder if the people who drew the comic were told : "Hot chick, Egypty stuff, don't sweat the details, we'll figure that bit out later."

ETA: Finally found the image I wanted. This was a mock-up print sold at comicon a couple of years ago. Gorgeous and far more appropriate for the character. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gifwiu39Myw/TEKivtn529I/AAAAAAAAAGk/HRUj3yhaKaY/s1600/IsisFinalDtl.jpg
 

ellio

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I was gonna make a tongue in cheek quip and then I actually looked at the pictures and now I'm just laughing.
Like, they can't really be serious/expect anyone to take her seriously. It's hilarious (in that it's so, so not okay)
 

Rachel Udin

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ETA: Finally found the image I wanted. This was a mock-up print sold at comicon a couple of years ago. Gorgeous and far more appropriate for the character. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gifwiu39Myw/TEKivtn529I/AAAAAAAAAGk/HRUj3yhaKaY/s1600/IsisFinalDtl.jpg
Now that image makes sense to me. Seee... still sexy with the right sorts of symbolism. Plus it has the kind of quiet confidence the original goddess had.

Though I kinda have questions about the black thing on the right edge of the paper... o_O;;; What is that?
 
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