The Presentation and Representation of Police Officers in comic books – 2020 – Conclusion

The Past, Now and the Future

Guest blog by Sergeant Clayton Brown

So, what does all of this information mean? What can we conclude? If you believe, as I do that art, specifically comic book art in this case, reflects life, then I’m confident that we can conclude that, over the last century Police Officers have been a permanent fixture, not only in society, but also in the art and entertainment of society through the years.  

With the exception of artistic freedom for the sake of storytelling, I believe that we can confirm that the Police are represented in this art form and always have been, going right back to the birth of the comic book in the 1920’s. Within a short period of time, we have the Human Torch (Marvel) joining the Police Force, we have Officer Betty Dean (Marvel) attempting to stop the rampage of the Sub Mariner, we have Detective Jim Corrigan fighting crime in both his role as a Police Detective and his role as the Spectre and we have Police Commissioner Gordon (DC) beginning a relationship with Batman (DC) that exists to this day. 

We have seen Police Officers portrayed as bumbling and inept. We have seen them as confident and competent. We have seen them being portrayed as noble and we have seen them being portrayed as corrupt. We have seen officers portrayed as being challenged with aspects of the job and we have seen them challenged by their own personal demons. The depth of the portrayal of the police has been shown as going from support role to being the primary characters in their own books: Dream Police (Image Comics), Gotham Central (DC Comics), and The Job (Marvel Comics). 

We have seen them portrayed as trigger happy. We have seen them facing such real-life issues as mental health, racism and even philosophical issues such as what does good and bad even mean. Topics such as mental health, the death of a partner and abstract concepts such as what is good and what is evil are topics that never would have made it into the pages of comic books in the first couple decades of their existence. As times have changed so too has the reflection of the Police. In the 1920’s to 1940’s we saw the serious, sometimes mean, firm officer walking the beat with his billy-club in his hand. And I say “his” specifically because, for that time, that was what you saw, young, male, tall, white officers who were no nonsense and ready for action.  

As the decades moved on, we saw the representation of vehicles change, we saw the representation of equipment change. In the 1940’s, Officers were depicted calling in to the station from a call box. By the 1980’s, officers had radios in their cars and in current comics every officer has a radio on their uniform and a cell phone in their pocket. Diversity has changed with the times. Every background is now depicted in comic books as well as having more and more female officers which really was not the case prior to the 1970’s. 

In 1974, the OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) had its first female recruit class and in the 1970’s Marvel Comics released Lady Cop — the first full length comic featuring a female officer as the lead character. By today’s standards that comic would be out of date with her wearing her skirt on patrol and not having a duty belt, but it was the start. We now have a cast of female Police Officers and Detectives that span many different comic book companies — Captain Jean DeWolf (Marvel Comics – 1976), Police Captain Maggie Sawyer (DC Comics – 1987), Detective Renee Montoya (DC Comics – 1992), Detective Sara Pezzini/Witchblade (Top Cow Comics – 1995), Police Officer Abigail Moore (Alterna Comics – 2019). 

In addition to evolution in the reflection of officers through the years, their equipment, gender balance and cultural diversity we also see such topics as sexual orientation being reflected in comic books and in these characters. This is a topic that would never have been part of any comic book in the 1920’s. We also see topics such as mental health being talked about which would not have been a topic even two decades ago. I think we can conclude that, for the most part, Police Officers have been a staple of the entertainment industry and comic books since the start and that there is an evolution and reasonably accurate (within the context of a comic book and written to entertain) portrayal of Police Officers through the decades, heroic, noble, human and flawed.  

So where do we go from here? 

If art reflects life, I would like to put forward that art can also influence life. If we accept that police have been reflected through the year as they are, can we not then use art to portray Police Officers as we would like them to be? Could we not use art and to educate, inform and perhaps even recruit the future generation of officers? How could we show the excitement and interesting aspects of the job to a future generation of readers while also showing a respectful portrayal of the job and the men and women who provide service to the public every day? How do we reflect diversity of culture, gender and sexual orientation and show that the police are reflective of the communities that they serve? And how do we do that through a visual medium that is close to a hundred years old in a way that is fresh, new and exciting while still being accurate? How do we do all these things in the current era while still remembering that, after all, it’s a comic book and it’s supposed to be entertaining, exciting and an escape from the real world? 

I would like to introduce my attempt to use art to answer those questions.

Introducing Sergeant Alex Lee and her first comic Impaired Choices. Alex was written by myself and illustrated by Toronto artist Loc Ngyen. Alex is a comic book Police Officer that represents the qualities that I believe make her an excellent role model as a comic book police character. She is a former member of the Military who decided that she wanted to serve her community and joined the Police Service.  She worked her way up in the organization to running a unique unit that uses high-tech equipment enabling her to fly and she uses this equipment to support front-line officers with unique or challenging calls for service. 

In her first issue she is able to prevent a drunk driver from killing himself or anyone else when she dives in the water and is able to save him after he drives off the road into a river.  

Alex works with a team that is culturally and organizationally diverse (to reflect the ideal of diversity within the policing profession and the communities served). She works with uniform members, detectives, intelligence unit members and they all answer to a S/Sgt. The roles they fill as well as the rank structure are, for the most part, accurate.  The cases they are involved with are also accurate (with some embellishment for entertainment). Future stories plans include assisting with a human trafficking investigation and assisting with tracking down a missing suicidal teen.

Alex has also ‘released a message’ in to encourage people to “Reach Out” to those dealing with mental health challenges in an attempt to break down barriers and stigma and to get people to realize that mental health affects everyone. This artwork was produced by grade 12 visual art student Kaitlyn Lam. In partnership with ConnexOntario, this image was printed as a handout postcard with emergency information for those in crisis or dealing with mental health and seeking support.  

I believe that this essay has shown that over the years police officers have always been present in comic books as they are always present in our communities. As comics and other art forms are supposed to reflect life, the presentations within them constantly evolve to reflect these changes. The representations of the police of the 1930’s are no longer the representations of the police of the 2000’s.  Roles have changed, ranks have changed, who we hire has changed and policing has changed. How the career is viewed by the public and how it is expressed in art has changed.  

I have also shown my presentation that we can use this information and this artistic medium to create a positive influence using comic books going forward. Alex is brave, smart and noble. She supports her fellow officers and the public. She works as part of a team and is the first to jump in and help out. She reflects diversity and inclusion and is in touch with the issues of her time. This is a comic book officer that is a positive, inspiring role model not only for the career, but also for young girls and people of any background or sexual orientation.

She is my footnote to the conclusion of these ‘Police Officers in Comics’ blog posts – she is where I think we go next with the representation of police officers in comics in the modern age.