I came across this 1960s comic, “Tod Holton Super Green Beret” pretty randomly; it’s about a boy during the sixties who uses a magic green beret hat to transform into a super solider with magic powers, that goes around to different countries to fight bad guys, mostly communist. And with just a glance at the cover, I immediately thought about when fellow 8asians blogger Bo brought our attention to the Racist Propaganda Cartoons during the WWII era.
The 1960’s was a precarious decade; communism, Vietnam, the Civil Rights Movement, Kennedy, Nixon and on and on. With all that said, I made an assumption and fully expected to read a very ignorant and racist comic. But upon further review I was rather surprised at the tone throughout the scenes. Sure, some stereotypes are made when the Green Beret is surprised that an African man speaks in an “educated tone” BUT overall it lacks the blunt racist vibe that I expected. I came to the personal conclusion that America probably needed to believe in a magical green beret to actually think they were going to win the Vietnam war anyway. Agree or disagree, but take it for what its worth.
