I have been reading comic books since I was four years old. In all that time, I have rarely come across deaf characters in the comics.
American Comics
Archie
One time when I was a child, I was reading an Archie comic book and saw a letter from a reader in the Archie Club news about an Archie story in which Archie meets a deaf character, probably a child. It made me very excited, and for years I kept an eye open for that story.In 2005, I finally found the long-sought Archie story from the '70s. Below is the blog post that was made about the discovery:
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Long ago, when I was seven years old, I read in an Archie comic book an Archie Club News letter that mentioned a deaf child. I never forgot this letter, and for years afterwards I tried to find this story without any success. An About visitor who read the article on Deafness in the Comics told me about a story with a deaf character appearing in ARCHIE'S ACTIVITY Comics Digest Magazine #3, May 1986. I eagerly bought a copy only to discover it was not the story I was seeking..the deaf character involved was a deaf mother, and the story I was looking for had a deaf child.
Then, one night in late April of this year, I was re-reading my old Archie comics and came across THE letter. It was written by Kathie Lindenmayer (then a deaf 21 year old) in Laugh comics number 256 (July 1972). The letter said a story about a little deaf girl had appeared in a March issue of Archie. But which Archie comic? There were several Archie titles! And was I looking for a March 1972 or a March 1973 comic book? The issue of Laugh was number 256, but the cover was mis-printed and said issue number 261!
Was it Archie #224 published in March 1972? I checked that issue, but the story was not there. So I continued reading the old Archies..and then...a discovery! Many years ago, when I was at the beach with my grandparents, I found a coverless copy of Life with Archie #130 (Feb. 1973) and took it home. A few days later in early May, as I read through the old Life with Archie comics, I found ANOTHER letter in the Archie Club News about that very same story! This one, written by Dennis Holmes, said the story had appeared in Life with Archie #119 (March 1972) and Holmes' letter mentioned an organization called the National Children's Fund for the Deaf.
At last, after more than 30 years, I knew exactly which comic book I needed to find! It wasn't too hard to find a copy to buy. It arrived in the mail today:
The story, "The Sound of Silence," about a little deaf girl named Stella, was typical early 70s Archie. In the story, Archie feels "sorry" for the "poor" deaf child, and her parents are ignorant of the fact that deaf children can learn to talk and read lips. You guessed it..in the story Archie teaches the little girl how to read lips. In the early 70s, it must have been quite believable for young readers in the '70s that a red-headed teenager could so easily teach a deaf child how to lipread. I was a bit disappointed that sign language was not even mentioned in the story as a communication option, but after all, it was the early '70s, a time long before sign language had become more widely accepted. Kathie's letter did mention sign language and referred to Gallaudet University but not by name.
Newspaper Comics
Also in the mid-'70s, I was fond of the Dondi comic strip, which ran in the New York City Daily News. One year there was a sequence in which Dondi and the Explorer club met a new boy in the neighborhood - a deaf boy! I think sign language was mentioned in that storyline, but I am not sure.
Other comic strips that had a deaf character briefly was Mark Trail and Rex Morgan. In addition, Morrie Turner's strip "Wee Pals," has an occasional deaf character.
In 2000, the newspaper strip "Jump Start" had a sequence about deafness and sign language, and in 2001 the newspaper strip Luann had a brief storyline about a teenage boy and his deaf girlfriend.
The Far Side had a panel about signing snakes eating at a restaurant. The snakes were all twisted up, and the caption showed two hearing snakes saying, "Those snakes? Oh, they're just signing, honey."
Superheroes
In the '50s, deafness was a theme though a deaf character was not featured, in a Robin solo story that appeared in Star Spangled Comics number 130, July 1952, later reprinted in World's Finest number 191. In this story, "Stone-deaf Robin!" the Boy Wonder was temporarily deafened by a grenade and forced to rely on lipreading and vibrations to help him catch "Fixer" Bannon. Throughout the story, Robin had to hide the fact he was deaf to prevent Bannon - and others - from figuring out his secret identity.
In the '80s, the New Teen Titans had a hearing superhero named Jericho ("Joe") who could not talk and relied on sign language. My friends and I were disappointed that Joe was not really deaf, but it was better than nothing.
In February 2002, Supergirl #65 had a story featuring students at a school for the deaf.
