Autism in Comics

Well there is Madison Jefferies in X-Men who is primarily a tech nerd and doesn't really get people (like he gets lost in half the conversations he gets in). It's never actually stated if he's autistic, but he does show some symptoms and isn't a front lines character, mostly sci ency and investigation oriented.

As for a narcoleptic character, Sleepwalker's human host might count. When he worked for SHIELD he had a machine that would trigger REM sleep and let Sleepwalker wake up and work. As he used it more and more the blackouts(and headaches that went along with it) kept happening without the machine's aid.

How about a threat on autistic characters in any media?

I think Spongebob has aspergers. I've always identified with him on a level deeper than should be possible for a zany cartoon character who's often mistaken for being "stupid" when he's really just WAAAACKY.

Hey, here's an idea! Why not make a Superman character who is narcoleptic? Yeah, then you could show him flying, suddenly falling asleep, and crashing into buildings. He could also fight bad guys, fall asleep during the fight, and the bad guys have reactions ranging from shock to relief to running off to hide somewhere. Now this would be a superhero who experiences drama in his life!

edited 6th Aug '11 6:17:15 AM by TiggersAreGreat

This is loving brilliant.

If anyone here were to make a narcoleptic character, I would hope that they were treated as a Rounded Character first, with the narcolepsy being one of their traits, instead of just surfing the Wikipedia page for a list of symptoms and jamming them into a comedic stereotype. The same is true of autism, ADHD, and any neurological condition.

Well, see, there's the rub! Some of these writers seem to think that autism is a source of evil. Um...no, it isn't.

Someone could make a story like X Men, but instead of it being about mutants, it could be about characters with various forms of autism. They would have to deal with hatred, ignorance, misunderstanding and what have you. The story could even have bonus points if some of their enemies turned out to be comic book writers. Yes, that would be a very nice Take That!!

That is certainly food for thought!

I have to agree that the X Men have taken a dark turn in its storyline. It used to be such a great storyline that made thought-provoking comparisons to African-American people fighting for their rights, among other topics. Admittedly, the racism that X Men was trying to poke at did have some flaws, like acting like a Jerkass to someone who shoots beams out of his eyes was more of an example of Bullying a Dragon than actual racism. The parallels to racism did prove to be more effective in cases like Pixie, who was beaten up by a gang of normal humans just because she was a mutant and not like them. But now...it's like you said. You now have mutants all gathered in one place, away from humanity at large, and committing crimes and what have you, and they would be unable to be punished by humanity because mutants have become an authority unto themselves. Really, it's as if mutants have decided to become no better than the humans who tormented them.

It's just sad that characters with mental illness are treated like monsters in the comics.

I'm writing a comic with a rather Ambiguously Autistic nerd kid who is the only one who sees the obvious in the Superhero universe he lives in.

It's inferred as a combination of how he thinks and that he is sort of Genre Savvy, he reads comics and he picks up on Clark Kenting and common origin elements. (Granted how he thinks has also made him a conspiracy theorist, but that has dramatic story reasons.)

edited 25th Aug '11 10:32:10 AM by Ronnie

One thing that I find interesting is how the average human in Marvel Comics is portrayed as always treating mutants (and probably people with mental illness, autism, and the like) the same way that white Southerners in the 1930s treated black people. Apparently, the writers are trying to use a combination of This Loser Is You and Humans Are Bastards.

I understand that the writers are trying to be realistic. I truly do. However, their attempts come off as cynical, illogical, and ultimately unrealistic. Think about it...a large amount of the action takes place in New York City, right? A city that some fellow tropers stated is one of the most diverse cities in the U.S.A. So why would the average human living in present day New York City act like a white Southerner from the 1930s? That makes no sense.

Not to mention the fact that most of us in Real Life are not the loser who is supposed to be us in the comics!

I am just glad that most people are not the equivalent of a 1930s white Southerner when it comes to interacting with people who are different in Real Life!

edited 25th Aug '11 3:49:21 PM by TiggersAreGreat

On a related note, there was a story about an autistic boy in the recent Batman 80-Page Giant. It was completely awful. My review;

http://nitzthebloody.blogspot.com/2011/08/batman-80-page-giant-batman-fights.html

Oh yeah, funny someone here mentioned Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four. I don't know if he could be considered autustic. However, I would like to point out that the guy certainly came off as either a He-Man Woman Hater or a Straw Misogynist. I am speaking of the incident where he slapped his wife Susan Storm to get Malice's influence off her. I wish that there had been a better way to handle that. Also, there were episodes where he demonstrated a Stay in the Kitchen attitude towards his wife, as well as making insulting comments about feminity. I feel obliged to point out that autism should not be considered a reason, an excuse or a license to hate women.

edited 29th Aug '11 1:13:52 PM by TiggersAreGreat

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the general vibe I'm getting is you don't like it when autistic characters have character flaws that aren't a result of their autism clashing with a neurotypical world. Like the Reed Richards misogyny thing above. Yeah it shouldn't be taken that all autistic people are misogynistic, but to not let them be flawed otherwise for fear of negative association is dumb to.

Well, that is a good point. Autistic people do have flaws, and some people might even argue that autism itself could be considered a flaw in some ways.

From what I've seen on some sites, there seems to be a division on how to interpret Reed Richards. On one side, they say that he is autistic. On the other side, they say that he is a Jerkass. I have no idea what to think myself. All I know is that he acts like such a misogynist at times that I'm amazed writers haven't had Sue hurt him in retaliation.

Reed is very much a case of depending on the author, with Hickman's recent run not making him overtly jerkassish. A lot of his early Stay In the Kitchen bits were well a product of the time. As for jerkass moments, I'm pretty sure the time he shot his son with a coma ray(admittedly to keep Franklin's powers from endangering the world) pretty much tops it. Along with being one of the most Freudian things short of Evangelion.

Ugh. At least Reed has way more redeeming qualities than Gendou Ikari! That Gendou...he's such a Complete Monster that he totally deserved to die and become an Asshole Victim! Well, at least he pretty much admitted to being such a total *bleep* before his death!

Then again, Reed did do some things that would have made Gendou give a devilish grin, like creating that Thor clone, and other nasty business in *facepalm* Civil War. I hope Sue gave him a chewing out for all that!

What about that one guy, Henry "Hank" Pym? Could he be considered autistic? He is a brilliant scientist...and he is also mentally fragile like you would not believe. He did slap Janet Van Dyne, and he was in the middle of what had to be his fourth or fifth mental breakdown. The dude seriously needs help, and at least he admits it.

edited 29th Aug '11 3:55:34 PM by TiggersAreGreat

I'm actually not sure who created the Thor clone, if it was Tony Stark, Reed Richards or the Skrull impersonating Hank Pym. Or some collaboration between them.

As for Hank Pym, I never really got the autistic vibe. Most of his problems stem from raging self image/esteem issues and impulse control.

As for Sue, she is kinda perpetually keeping Reed from doing SCIENCE! that is a bad idea in general and chewing him out for when he does it anyways.