It wasn't just the Golden Age.

Unfortunately it carried over into the 70's with portrayal of black heroes...Luke Cage's first costume & his dialog? "Sweet Christmas". I remember cringing reading some of it.

Cage is an interesting case study.  He was a very clear attempt to exploit the popularity of blaxploitation cinema.  And while a lot of people now don't seem to understand it, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song and Shaft, whatever their faults, were a huge step forward in black directors, writers and actors being able to show their vision to the world.  Cage was clearly somewhat tone deaf the writers were generally young and coming from a good-hearted place, as opposed to trying to be offensive.  And Billy Graham was one of the few black creators in comics at the time. 

I was at a conference about the Japanese American Internment during WWII a few years back. One of the activities was for each participant to generate an impromptu presentation on different aspects of that era. I (of course) went the superhero route, first showing this:



and then an excerpt from the Fleischer cartoons where Superman apprehends a "Japateur" and calls him "Little Man" before disposing of him.

An older woman at the conference immediately spoke up and took issue with me, claiming I'd taken all of this out of context and was missing the terrifying times they were living in. I still mull that one over in my mind -- was she right or not? I guess they didn't have the sense of cultural sensitivity we have now, they were at war, and Japan was an enemy. But then, I think about the Internment itself, how (a few "Kraut" comments aside), Germans didn't get that same depiction in popular media, and no one was rounding them up.

So I wrestle with how much of an issue to take with these depictions. Yes, that's just the way it was back then, but that's also how the Internment happened.

(note: I'm not saying anyone here is arguing "that's just the way it was back then". I'm more arguing with an opponent who isn't here)

Slam Bradley Sums it up just beautifully and I echo that sediment exactly because these comic books back then were designed for the straight white male looking for dime store novels that gave them great entertainment back then of these colorful, dynamic, and out-worldly characters that fuels there fantasy back then. Those were good ole days of where comic books according to my Grandfather who collect them, barter them, trade them, and anything to get a hand on any comic book back then. To me, there's a Golden Age of Comics that began in the mid to late 30's and ends around in the 50's depending on what your view of the Silver Age of Comics back then.

It was a grandiose times of many publication companies back then trying to get an edge of this exciting new venture of which one company from the other trying it best to keep their place in the business itself; back then it was brutal, lawsuits, copyrights of characters, and just the other day learned from Cei-U that I did not know there were a character by the name of Lash Lightning that alone is one of many problems back then because so many characters has similar costumes and names that one company trying to destroy the other because their character(s) were the original and yours is a copycat.

It's was a challenging time and grand time of these mythical characters in bold and visionary looks that captured our fancies and I find this era one of my favorite eras of Comic Books because they had 48 and 52 pages of fun reading and they also covers 3-4 characters at a time. A perfect example of that is the Flash Comics #1 a dime store novel that features:





Flash - The central character, then ...

The Hawkman
Johnny Thunder
The Whip
Cliff Cornwall


Back then, every issue you'll have a chance to read 5 characters pretty much on a monthly or bi-monthly basis that gave you great entertainment for 1 thin dime.

I just loved those times - I remember going to my local comic store and buying 3 Comics for a nickel and back then without even thinking I got 150 pages of great entertainment for a Nickel and that's why I miss those years and that's why I love that era of Comics Books. I've maybe rambling here and there ... to me it is the greatest era of Comics.

Comics have had some disturbing ideas portrayed thru the years. The following appeared frequently:

It wasn't just reserved for the real (or perceived) "war antagonist/opponent" either. Take for example Simon & Kirby's Whitewash Jones of the Young Allies, or this sequence from 1944's Sensation Comics #31:



I too cringe when I read many of these old comics but as Slam said, it's a way to get a look at a past time. Comics were produced very quickly, there was no months-long lead time (as, say, with movies) and these old books provide a "real time" glimpse into the the prevailing or accepted modes of thought/behavior at the time the books hit the stands.