Is Liberalism Killing Comics?
I can't say that I'm a huge comics fan. I had a few when I was a kid, mostly X-Men. I used to watch the X-Men cartoon, too. But what Darin Wagner writes rings true:
You pick up a superhero comic book featuring a childhood favorite of yours, hoping to reignite some of that magic you felt way back when and you see that the opening sequence in the comic deals with an oil rig disaster. You immediately and disappointingly know what’s going to be said, either by your childhood favorite or by some other character given credibility within the story. You turn the page, and sure enough, your childhood favorite grumbles about his/her country’s dependency on oil or how inherently dangerous oil drilling is to the environment and how it’s not worth it or simply mutters to him-or-herself briefly about the evils of corporate America. That’s when you put the comic back on the shelf and your local retailer loses a sale. (Sound familiar? Brightest Day #5 contained a similar scenario featuring Aquaman.)
Does everyone remember how last spring Superman declared he was going to renounce his US citizenship? Wagner doesn't refer to it directly, but does use the following image at the top of his blog post:
(Image copyright DC Comics...obviously)
I think that when Superman "non-violently" protests the mullahs, then goes to the UN to renounce his US citizenship, it's pretty left wing from start to finish.
And, really, non-violent protest? It's not so courageous when you're bullet proof, by the way. And if Superman is "non-violently protesting" while the Basij is killing people in the streets? Kind of pathetic. Hello, super speed and aforementioned bullet proofness? And why is he going to the UN to make this announcement? Seeing the UN as anything other than a joke is obviously liberal.
The only good thing about this whole situation is that clearly Superman thinks Obama is a giant [wussy] jabroni for not having the courage to take a stand for freedom during the "green revolution" in Iran in 2009. It's actually the lame Obama administration that Superman is railing against when he says he doesn't want to be seen as an instrument of U.S. policy. Notwithstanding this, for the reasons I gave in the previous paragraph, the whole thing sounds pretty left-wing.
Wagner has a larger point, though, which is that alienating conservative readers is just bad business:
Everybody knows that when an entertainer goes political, he/she runs the very serious risk of cutting their audience by at least half. The comic book audience has been getting smaller and smaller and I think it’s time to honestly consider that a big part of the problem is the content. It’s gotten so bad that some of the more open-minded liberal comic book readers I know are getting turned off because it’s so obvious what’s been happening. I know that some of you are going to reply with some variation of “I don’t see it” or “This guy is a troll” or “Shut up.”That’s fine, go ahead and exercise that right… but it won’t help the comic book industry or make the audience grow again.
Any comic book fans out there that want to weigh in?
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Comments:
Jul '10
Re: Is Liberalism Killing Comics?
Misthiocracy
The existence of God in the DC universe was (more or less) confirmed in Kevin Smith's run of Green Arrow where Oliver Queen is brought back from the dead.
When was the existence of God confirmed in the Marvel universe? I've always been led to believe that the most supreme beings in the Marvel universe (Earth-616) were Death and Eternity.
God puts in his first canon DC appearance that I am aware of in the Spectre's original origin story in the early forties. The Spectre is an angel of God's wrath.
As for Marvel, there is another. Check out Steve Englehart and Frank Brunner's run on Dr. Strange. The Siseneg storyline. Don't mind the hookah smoking caterpillar.
And speaking of Captain America, Steve Englehart pulled one of the biggest stink bombs of all time with his Nixon inspired story in 1974 where he had a disguised villain, Mandrill, as President killed by Cap to end a hijacking of the federal government, and then Steve Rogers sets aside the Captain America identity to "find himself". Awful, awful, awful pap.
Apr '11
Re: Is Liberalism Killing Comics?
Dave reads the National Review. Probably the only person in the comics community that does that.
Wonderful, though, that your interest in him led you on that path in particular. I'm afraid there hasn't been in the comic book store for me since he finished Cerebus.
And speaking of people who haven't heard of Cerebus is Jonah Goldberg. I am exceedingly glad I rectified that.
Apr '11
Re: Is Liberalism Killing Comics?
D.B. Little
...
And speaking of people who haven't heard of Cerebus is Jonah Goldberg. I am exceedingly glad I rectified that. · Jan 10 at 1:40pm
It's good to know some of us can out-nerd Jonah Goldberg.
Mar '11
Re: Is Liberalism Killing Comics?
D.B. Little
Dave reads the National Review. Probably the only person in the comics community that does that.
Ethan Van Sciver posts NR stuff to his Facebook feed sometimes.
Apr '11
Re: Is Liberalism Killing Comics?
Sadly I entirely incapable of out nerding Goldberg. In fact, half the stuff you guys are talking about I don't understand in the slightest. It just seemed a crime that someone like Jonah Goldberg had never read it.
The best thing about Cerebus was it grew up while I did. The comicbook field, not so much...
Oct '10
Re: Is Liberalism Killing Comics?
this post gets a link from Big Hollywood.
Aug '10
Re: Is Liberalism Killing Comics?
I dunno. Jonah's "nerdism" is awfully mainstream. Star Wars and The Simpsons do not a nerd make.
When he starts pontificating on the similarities and differences of H.P. Lovecraft vs. Richard Matheson, then we can add a few nerd points to his resume.
Edited on January 11, 2012 at 3:30pm