Born on the Bayou: Midnight's social commentary on race relations

This untitled Midnight feature continues the expansion in Midnight's activity outside of Big City. (Last month's adventure took place in Iceland). This time, Dave Clark and pals have gone to the Florida Everglades for some vacation alligator hunting. Unfortunately for our intrepid trio, once they get there, they can't find anyone willing to guide them into the swamp!

Locals believe the swamp to be haunted. "No one hez ever went in and come out alive," claims the one fellow with whom they are finally able to talk. The man is so convinced of Dave, Gab, and Wackey's impending doom that he refuses to rent his boat to them--but he will sell it. In a merciful gesture the seller throws his old hound dog into the deal, "jest [tuh] give yuh a fightin' chanc't." As they enter the depths of the swamp and commence their gator-hunt, a dark-skinned figure monitors the trio from a secretive perch high in a tree.

Because you know some kind of craziness would have to happen eventually, on the next page Dave jumps the shark...er, gator. Spotting a particularly large crocodilian, Dave strips off his shirt and dives into the swamp to wrestle the gator one-on-one. 

If this isn't weird enough, Dave's post-wrestling photo op is interrupted when a hawk plunges from the sky to strike. The non-superpowered-mere-radio-host deftly evades this flying hunter, who instead makes a slight scratch on the hound dog, who lets out a howl and then falls over dead. Dave remarks that the hawk had jesses on its feet--a sign that the bird was a trained hunter. Given the Fido's quick death, Dave concludes the bird must've had poison-tipped talons.


Oh my goodness. Where to begin with the plot holes?

• That the "mere human" Dave Clark can wrestle gators and dodge hawks? 
• That he has the atypical calm under duress and attention to detail to note that the bird attacking him has little straps on his feet? 
• The fact that the same guy who's supposedly got these fabulous observational skills (and knowledge of rather obscure practices like falconry) in the first panel calls the bird a "hawk" but four panels later calls it a "trained falcon"?

Naturally, our hero decides this attack warrants an immediate investigation. When he asks if anyone objects, however, only Gabby responds. Wackey has seemingly disappeared!

While Midnight and Gabby yell into the swamp for Wackey (perhaps not the most intelligent decision, since they've already established someone is sending birds of prey with poison-tipped talons after them) the bound and gagged inventor is struggling with two men who appear to be African tribesmen of some sort. Since he cannot call out for help, Wackey elects to turn on the wrist radio so Midnight and Gabby can locate him. This whole using-the-wrist-radio-for-location-more-than-communication thing is really starting to emerge as a trope for the Midnight stories. Shortly after this, Wackey is knocked out via a club to the noggin.

When the scientist awakes, his eyes are greeted by what appears to be a primitive village of black people, and Wackey assumes he's been spirited off to Africa. This tribe of "Africans," however, are ruled over by a white queen. I'm under the impression this "great-white-leader-of-African-savages" thing was a prominent racist trope at the time. Though I've previously defended Cole against the charge that Gabby was a racist caricature of black people, the depiction of the tribesmen (and their relation to this queen) certainly seem to confirm at least some mimicry of the racist caricatures found in many Golden Age comics...but is there more to the story?

The queen announces that since, "the white dog has trespassed on sacred ground," Wackey is to be sacrificed, "as have all the white swine before him." Yes, I realize it's not exactly unprecedented for human societies to embrace self-contradictory worldviews...but I find it hard to believe that Cole would've been blind to the irony of a white queen ruling over a black-skinned population and complaining about white interlopers. Is it possible that Cole was engaging in some subversive story-telling here about the hypocrisy of people ruling over a Jim Crow south (This story does take place in Florida, remember) and protesting efforts of "outsider" whites to enter and effect changes in their society? Subsequent details in the story serve to increase the plausibility of this theory...but we'll get to those in a moment.

Meanwhile, Midnight (Yes, Dave has apparently trekked into the swamp with his Midnight suit, fedora, and domino mask in tow, because...you just never know when you'll have to do some costumed crime-fighting?) and Gabby have followed Wackey's wrist radio signal to the village.

Just before the first spear is plunged into Wackey, Midnight emerges from the brush and launches into his standard melee. The queen orders her people to subdue this newest intruder, which they eventually succeed in doing...but only by "strength of numbers." Once bound, Midnight requests to hear the story behind the village and its denizens before dying.

The queen claims she is the great-great granddaughter (and last descendant) of the first mate on a slave ship who "detested slavery." Her ancestor led a revolt with escaped into the swamps with the refugees and founded this secret society. The queen announces her intention to maintain her family's vow to protect her people from enslavement.

I appreciate the sentiment I think Cole was aiming at here...but from a storytelling standpoint, there's still some pretty big plot holes. First, if her great-great grandfather "detested slavery" how did he wind up as first mate of a slave ship in the first place? Unless the guy experienced some John Newton-esque conversion experience, it's pretty difficult to believe. Second, since her g-g-granddad probably wasn't serving on board the slave ship with his family or many other abolitionist slave ship workers, then how exactly does she end up with such a fair complexion? She's the fifth generation removed now. Shouldn't she look a little more African?

After the explanation, the queen orders the sacrifice to proceed. At this point, Gabby (again) saves the day by countermanding the queen's direction. He tells the villagers he is the "voice of [their] ancestors."

Admittedly, there's at least two different ways to read this. If we assume the worst, then Cole may be reflecting some coded racism here (i.e., the ancestor of black people is a monkey). If we give him the benefit of the doubt, he may simply be trying to write Midnight and Wackey out of their jam with the resources available within the story.

When Gabby claims to speak for the ancestors, the villagers are shocked that he talks...and name him a ghost...but no one names him a monkey. No one, that is, until the queen asks, "How can a monkey talk?" I would counter, however, "How can a woman from a society supposedly isolated in the Florida Everglades even know what a monkey is?!

Despite the queen's protests, the villagers are initially persuaded by Gabby's claim and fall down in reverence.  While they're prostrate, Gab unties Midnight (who seizes the queen) and then leads his crew on a hot-footed retreat.

Around this time, the natives decide Gabby is not an authoritative voice from beyond and launch after the fugitives with spears in hand. The quartet make it to a motorboat (which--somehow--is sitting in the middle of the swamp near the village all fuelled up and ready to go?!) and speed away.

Once in the "modern world," Dave takes the queen on a whirlwind tour of America to demonstrate the changed status of black people. As you would expect, she "realizes the error of her ways" and goes back to the swamp to tell her people the good news.

There's no question that Cole's closing page glosses over the very real injustices that were still being experienced by black Americans in 1942. I get the impression, however, that his heart was in the right place. He was trying to tell a story underlining that slavery was a moral evil. I think he did that. What say you?