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Vertigo Visions
Vertigo Visions - Tomahawk
In Massachusetts in 1773 Thomas Hawke gets lost in the woods. He is taken in by the Wampanoag tribe who believe it is their duty to the wolf goddess to 'civilize' him.
- GenresComics
57 pages, Paperback
Published July 1, 1998
12 people want to read
About the author
Rachel Pollack
208 books346 followersRachel Grace Pollack was an American science fiction author, comic book writer, and expert on divinatory tarot. Pollack was a great influence on the women's spirituality movement.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 14, 2024
A surprisingly original story about religion that takes place at the time of the Boston Tea Party. This is an updated origin of Tomahawk (Star Spangled Comics #69, June 1947). I found this story very different from other stories about culture clashes that I have read over the years; this story really looks deeply at questions of religious belief and gratitude. If you like The Last of the Mohicans I suspect you will like this book.
September 29, 2017
Of all the books in the Visions series, I was of course least excited by weird-blonde-white-savior-pioneer guy Tomahawk, but I was kinda hoping Rachel Pollack would handle him with more thoughtfulness than some of the other series writers have handled their respective charges (Ed Brubaker, cough cough). Pollack also wrote what I think is thus far the only other really strong Visions entry, The Geek, and I'm getting really excited about her Doom Patrol work that's finally being collected next year. For someone I'd never even heard of a few months ago, she's really worming her way into my nerdfan heart.
Anyway, Tomahawk is really excellent work. Pollack juggles a story with English colonists, Native American tribes, and the extremely problematic main character, and does it in a way that depicts each group pretty honestly and fairly. Her thoughtfulness demonstrates how, yes, obviously, colonialism is garbage, and no, Native Americans are not all magic shamans -- even though magic shamanism is cool, and still exists as a major part of Pollack's story.
It's also a book about gender, and how (specifically) white men treat white women horribly, but STILL that doesn't excuse white women taking out their problems on Native Americans -- in Pollack's eyes, women are accountable to their whiteness, even as they're also members of an oppressed group.
And then in the middle of it all is this blonde white dude, Tomahawk, whose character origin dictates that he has to become awesomer at living off the land than the tribesmen who train him -- but Pollack has an answer for that too (involving gods who use people to accomplish worldly tasks, Neil Gaiman eat your heart out).
Basically, the really hard thing that Pollack does here is make Tomahawk a story about the inherent intersectionality of colonialism, and she does it in a way that feels pulpy, straightforward, and effortless -- and that, my friends, IS NOT EASY. Tomahawk is an extremely smart book, not just for its ethical stance, but for the elegance of its craft. As just a single issue, it's hard to say I absolutely loved it, but Pollack seriously wipes the floor with everyone else who's written for this series.
Anyway, Tomahawk is really excellent work. Pollack juggles a story with English colonists, Native American tribes, and the extremely problematic main character, and does it in a way that depicts each group pretty honestly and fairly. Her thoughtfulness demonstrates how, yes, obviously, colonialism is garbage, and no, Native Americans are not all magic shamans -- even though magic shamanism is cool, and still exists as a major part of Pollack's story.
It's also a book about gender, and how (specifically) white men treat white women horribly, but STILL that doesn't excuse white women taking out their problems on Native Americans -- in Pollack's eyes, women are accountable to their whiteness, even as they're also members of an oppressed group.
And then in the middle of it all is this blonde white dude, Tomahawk, whose character origin dictates that he has to become awesomer at living off the land than the tribesmen who train him -- but Pollack has an answer for that too (involving gods who use people to accomplish worldly tasks, Neil Gaiman eat your heart out).
Basically, the really hard thing that Pollack does here is make Tomahawk a story about the inherent intersectionality of colonialism, and she does it in a way that feels pulpy, straightforward, and effortless -- and that, my friends, IS NOT EASY. Tomahawk is an extremely smart book, not just for its ethical stance, but for the elegance of its craft. As just a single issue, it's hard to say I absolutely loved it, but Pollack seriously wipes the floor with everyone else who's written for this series.
January 30, 2023
How salient this is, even today. It just seems that our culture wars continue to play / pay forward into the present. There is a salient critique in the end, that Tomahawk is accepted by the Colonists because he is an "acceptable savage." Cultural appropriation might not be the focus here, but the subtle nod is quite good for the time this was written (1998).
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews