Racist Batman comics

[The Cool Thatguy]

Anyone remember what issue of Justice League Generations that was Judd Winick did Ice's origin? That was super racist and pretty modern

[Güicho]

A particularly bad example (IMHO) was Hal Jordan's Oriental friend

Tom Kalmaku was not "Oriental" he was Eskimo/Inuit he would be more considered Native American, descendant arriving about 20-30,000 years ago. That is long enough to not be "Oriental".
He would be no mare 'Oriental" than someone native to Guatemala or Peru would be considered Oriental today.
The ancestors of most Europeans entered Europe from the Near East, we don't call Europeans "Middle Eastern" today

But yeah he was Eskimo/Inuit which was pretty unique for a character in comics, still is today. The nick-name they gave him, sadly derived from a stereotype.

[oasis1313]

Tom Kalmaku was not "Oriental" he was Eskimo/Inuit he would be more considered Native American, descendant arriving about 20-30,000 years ago. That is long enough to not be "Oriental".
He would be no mare 'Oriental" than someone native to Guatemala or Peru would be considered Oriental today.
The ancestors of most Europeans entered Europe from the Near East, we don't call Europeans "Middle Eastern" today

But yeah he was Eskimo/Inuit which was pretty unique for a character in comics, still is today. The nick-name they gave him, sadly derived from a stereotype.

I never read the Green Lantern book long enough to get much backstory, so I stand corrected. However, "PieFace" is just wrong.

[Shamrock Holmes]

Just writing about that it occurs to me that perhaps the ... oddly ... best? At least, most notable, most "infamous", cool, well-known and least stereotypical black Batman character is Killer Croc. That's a trip to think about.

I might be reaching here, but I'd say Lucius Fox qualifies under notable, well-known and least sterootypical better than Waylon Jones (though I'll give you infamous and maybe cool though).

[Arctic Cyclist]

Are you only interested in the overt racism from the days of segregation, or are you looking for covert modern examples?

If it's covert modern examples, you don't have to go any further than Bruce Wayne's love interests:

Of his love interests of color, one (Shondra Kingsolver from the Knightfall/Knightquest era) was de aged. Keep in mind that there are several issues building up to how she's his perfect love interest that include breakdowns of why everyone else doesn't work, including Catwoman.

Talia is the most notorious example of orientalism, particularly in the modern era where she's been stripped of her positive qualities so they could be reassigned to the white love interest. It's also been pointed out, and it's blatant in the Batman comics, that if she's being portrayed as an irredeemable villain her skin is colored darker. If she has her older, sweet, noble and self sacrificing temperament and personality she's depicted with pale skin and hair. A striking example of this occurs in King's Batman story arc, The Rules of Engagement, where Talia is the darkest she's ever been portrayed as, has a haram of lovers, and is treated as a cold hearted bitch and an incompetent fighter. It aligns with how she's portrayed in The Silencer, aside from the being an incompetent fighter. These depictions are in direct contrast to how she is pale skinned and noble, focusing on the good of the world, in Red Hood and the Outlaws and Dark Knights: The Forging. The one example of a dark skinned non villainous Talia occurs in Robin: Son of Batman, but she's also treated as a villain in that book so it's questionable as a subversion of the racist trope. The most notable aspect of the racism applied to her is retcon of the consensual sexual encounters that had been canon into date rape. Note, Morrison had responded to the outrage initially by erasing the retcon by Batman 700, and it wasn't initially a part of the New 52 until editorial demand insisted that the rape be brought back into canon for Incorporated #2, which also showed several scenes of previous BruTalia stories but removed the mutual attraction and regret from all of the stories. Talia's also depicted as very Eurasian throughout the series.

Morrison also introduced Jezebel Jet, an African super model, who is written as entirely evil and manipulative. (See a pattern yet? He writes Selina and Vicki as noble women who overcome selfish impulses to do the white–sorry, right– thing. Both women are depicted as Western European white.)

There's Jana, The White Rabbit, from the New 52 who is Indian (sub continent India). Again, a potential love interest of color depicted as a villain. Snyder's Batman, in his flashbacks to Bruce's training, introduces a Chinese love interest who is later revealed to be a villain.

In fact, the only love interest of color who isn't eventually revealed to be a sociopathic villain is Shondra Kingsolver, an African American. Every other love interest of color is treated as an irredeemable villain, sex fiend, and rapist.

What makes this incredibly notable, particularly when it comes to Tom King's writing, is how Pamela Iseley is treated. As a character she was introduced as a rapist, thief, and murderer. However, she's white. Very white, just like Harley Quinn, and just like Harley, the fact that Pam is a serial/spree killer has been downplayed to the point that in some media she's treated as a hero unlike any and all female villains who are not white. Pam's Forever Evil issue established that long before she met Bruce Wayne she was a remorseless killer, yet King treats her as a hero.

Ivy's treatment, along with how the other prominent white female villain, Harley Quinn establishes that misogynoir is the rule at DC. Only white female villains and criminals are treated as if their choices to become criminals weren't their fault, they're victims of circumstances and can be redeemed as people. All female characters of color, particularly Talia who for 40 years was generally depicted as an antihero (unless she's dressed in Middle Eastern dress) was an antihero, are all psychopathic, manipulative, evil bitches. The browner the skin, the more evil the woman.

The tumblrs, KateFatale and OnlyTalia, have excellent breakdowns on the misogynoir in Batman comics, far better written than this with all of the relevant issues and scans of the pages.

[Arctic Cyclist]

For the most recent example of racism in DC comics, read Teen Titans Annual #1 (2019) by Adam Glass. It depicts DC's most well known character of mixed Middle Eastern/Asian descent and former child soldier in a suicide bomb. It's easy to miss the connotation on the first reading, but given how Glass has been writing Damian as a sociopath, and he's been treated in the main Batman books by Tynion and King, it's an excellent example of subtle racism that should not have made it past the editors.

Also: anything by Frank Miller will have rampant racism in it.

[kevinbruns]

Kinda stretching it, (when put into context) but a lot of books that came out during the war obviously had racial/war messages as well.. "Defeat the japs." back the war bonds etc etc.

very mild example-

WorldFinest#8.jpg

[Electricmastro]

Hmm...