Today is National Comic Book Day. In honor of the holiday, l’ve been looking back this week at some “classic” comics that relate to Asian and/or Asian American subject matter. Here’s my final entry on this subject.

If a comic book character like Stuff, the Chinatown Kid was atypical for the 1940s in that he was a non-stereotypical Asian character (and Asian American at that), then a character like Chop Chop represented more of the typically offensive norm.

Chop Chop was the Chinese member of the heroic Blackhawk Squadron (a.k.a. the Blackhawks), an international organization of fighter pilots who battled the Axis during World War II. The Blackhawks were created by famed comic book legend Will Eisner along with Chuck Cuidera and Bob Powell for Quality Comics; making their first appearance in the pages of Military Comics in August 1941.

But while the other Blackhawks wore military uniforms, for some reason, Chop Chop was relegated to wearing a stereotypical “chinky” costume complete with buckteeth, a queue and Pidgin English dialogue. By today’s standards, it was about as bad a representation of Asians as you could get.

But Chop Chop wasn’t even always the most racist thing about the 1940s era Blackhawks. Oftentimes, the squadron fought the Japanese and Chop Chop was downright progressive compared to the portrayal of the evil Japs. Here’s a sample of a typical Blackhawks adventure from that period:

 And here Chop Chop makes his appearance to help save the day:

In 1950, Chop Chop proved to be popular enough to warrant his own solo adventures in the back pages of Blackhawk comics under the direction of another comics legend–Jack Cole of Plastic Man fame. However, Chop Chop remained the stereotypical “Chinaman” who often bungled his way in and out of trouble. And since this was Cole at the helm, the stories were also populated by his trademark va-va-voom women dames–although Chop Chop never hooked up with any of them due to America and comicdom’s strict anti-miscegenation rules.

Following is a typical Chop Chop solo adventure that appeared in Blackhawk #33 (Oct 1950). While on his way home to China to meet up with his girlfriend Lotus Blossom to “make much woo! Woo, woo!”, Chop Chop ends up on an island where he confronts some pirates including Captain Kate, the pirate leader who is one of Cole’s aforementioned va-va-voom dames:

Later, DC Comics (which inherited the Blackhawks) realized how racist Chop Chop was and began updating him. They kept his Coolie outfit but made him more three-dimensional:

Then, in the 1960s, DC attempted to modernize the group and the “new” Blackhawks received new uniforms and even super powers. Chop Chop was updated to become “Dr. Hands” a master of martial arts. Still stereotypical, but an improvement over his original incarnation:

In the next revival of the Blackhawks in the mid-70s, Chop Chop got a new name (Chopper) and became a fully integrated, non-stereotypical member of the group:

Finally, in a story entitled “What’s the Matter with Chop-Chop?” (Blackhawk #265, Dec 1983), writer Mark Evanier tackled the racial stereotypes inherent in the character head on. The issue tells the story of a disgruntled Chop Chop who is still being treated like a second-class member of the Blackhawks. But by the end of the issue, Chop Chop’s fellow Blackhawks have come to understand that they have treated him poorly and Chop Chop finally gets to wear the full-fledged Blackhawk uniform:

(Thanks to Michael H. for his research aide)