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SUPER-MAN !!

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Loosely Tim Sale inspired

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I will say if Nia is intentionally manipulating literally anyone on this team, I will laugh so hard because Jay's been catching racially motivated Manipulator Accusations for years, and in swoops this palatable white girl to go 'i gotchu baby, i will endure this for you'.

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older jon and jay after jorge jiménez, commissioned by @bobactually

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Head in the clouds

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Nia and Jay interactions are so fucking funny I can’t stop thinking about them. It’s always just:

Nia: I owe you an apology

Jay: well? I’m waiting? Are you going to apologize?

Nia: no, we’re going to commit murder together

And it sounds like Jay is maybe onboard with this??? Like he seems still pissed at her but he isn’t rejecting the offer.

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hello jayheads

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secret six issue 1 in a nutshell

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VINTAGE DC COMICS VALENTINE'S DAY CARDS (1980)

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Every day, I miss Russmo's Bernard with his silly expressions and gay little outfits more and more

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haven’t touched dc since october….need to reread soke…….

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Rooftop Kisses!!!

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Supergirl (comm)

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For the [checks notes] 256th time, Jay is not intended to be the bad guy. Ever. He was used to subvert the racist trope of colonised people being labelled as "terrorist" purely because they used a fraction of the violence inflicted upon them against their colonisers to fight back (the worst part is he isnt even violent. He's a journalist & his powers are entirely about evasion & self-defense).

He is a part of a group called the Revolutionaries & his pseudonym is "The Truth".

They could not have been more ham-fisted about this if they tried, the only other option was Jay turning to the camera and saying "The US & other supposedly First World countries villainize brown people & colonised people such as myself evil & call us terrorists for merely fighting for our freedoms in order to justify our annihilation. Everyone can fall for propaganda kids!" and then Jon says "You're right Jay, the US is an imperialist power which must be stopped!"

And yet......people think he's evil. Comics are political and have been since day one & you have to set aside fanon & shipping goggles at least once ti actually examine the politics of the story please please its very fun & enlightening.

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It has officially happened enough times that like. I feel the need to make a formal post about it because good fucking god.

Jay Nakamura is an Asian man. His last name is one of the most common Japanese last names... ever. His first name is extremely common in Asian communities and is likely a romanization or shortening of the many many asian names that start with the syllable 'jay'. From a (fictional, but created BY ASIAN MEN specifically as a commentary on japan/korea) Asian country that is historically exploited by the United States. His entire story focuses on the fact that he does not have white privilege and is often exploited by white people. He LOOKS LIKE THIS.

The fact that Jay is nonwhite and is marginalized for being nonwhite is something that has been acknowledged multiple times by multiple authors. Namely Nicole Maines, his current main writer, who has retweeted analysis threads and made comments about how his development and radicalization is informed by this lack of privilege.

Yet numerous people have approached me, specifically when I am actively talking about how important it is that Jay is a man of color, and gone, well, isn't he white?

I cannot even BEGIN to FATHOM why this happens. You have to be a certain kind of dumb to look at JUST HIS NAME and go, ah, a white man. Do people think Nakamura is a French name or something?

But I can guess it comes down to a few things:

People just don't see Asian folk as people of color, I guess, outside of when they can be fetishized. This actually has been a problem in DC fandom specifically for a long time; I've noticed it particularly with Cass Cain and Damian Wayne, where their heritage will either be erased in favor of their white halves, or they'll be sexualized in the context of their cultures being orientalized.

In this same vein, race is often treated by fandom as purely cosmetic, and not something that could impact how a character is meant to be read or thought about in the story. This is part of how you get headcanons that end up leaning into racial stereotypes.

Jay is very obviously visibly queer. White people tend to assume we are the arbiters of queerness. Therefore, whenever a character has queer signifiers (dyed hair, piercings, etc), is queer, they are presumed to be white. It's the goddamn pink hair again, people can never be normal about it!

People who don't want to look racist online, but who also don't like Jay (and haven't read his stuff), are trying to convince themselves and others that they aren't actually putting down a character of color.

jay hasn't had a writer to whitewash him yet, so the fans gotta pick up the slack

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And once again the day is saved, thanks to the Batgirls!