I think they used to be.

The influx of writers and artists who happen to also be of another ethnicity is changing this. When they write or draw a comic, I've noticed it tends to reflect their reality more rather than the more homogenous reality of past creators. So you see more ethnic characters that don't act the role in a stereotypically insulting fashion as was usually the case when diversity was attempted by people who had little to no contact with people of color.

You still occasionally hear howls of protest from a (very) few white males and the usual accusations of the comic trying to be P.C. But it's become less and less so as people just accept characters as being characters, not as "token this" or "token that". Which I think reflects society at large.

Everything is funny as long as it is happening to somebody else. --Will Rogers "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees." - George W. Bush I don't think anybody could have predicted that these people would .. try to use an airplane as a missile, a hijacked airplane as a missile. - Condoleeza Rice Barbara Bush: It's Good Enough for the Poor To comfort the powerless and make the powerful uncomfortable.