Superheroes Span Red-Blue Divide ("Comic Book Icons Like Superman & Spiderman Tackling Politics")

CBS News.com ^ | 05/28/2006 | Randy Dotinga (Christian Science Monitor)

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

POW! (How far should I go to protect my rights?) BAM! (What's my position on gay marriage?) ZING! (Look out for that embedded reporter!)

In today's comic books, superheroes aren't just thinking about how to defeat the usual kryptonite-wielding villains. They're also tackling topics such as terrorism, war, and civil liberties as a heavy dose of 21st-century reality seeps into their alternate universe.

In Civil War, a sprawling new Marvel series, superheroes like Spider-Man and Captain America must choose sides over whether the government should be allowed to register them. In a comic book called Ex Machina, a 9/11 hero-turned-mayor copes with political hot buttons and his own superpowers. Not too long ago, Iron Man became secretary of defense under President George W. Bush. In a separate comic, Superman debated the invasion of a dangerous Middle Eastern country.

"Comics have always had one foot in reality, but it's probably been more so in recent times," says Alex Segura, spokesman for DC Comics. "The audience has gotten older, and the reader is more prone to read about stuff that's going on outside their window."

Civil War, for instance, explores the issue of civil liberties in the wake of a deadly explosion in a Connecticut neighborhood during the filming of a superhero reality show. Soon, superheroes are at war over mandatory registration, with dissenters facing terms in a prison that will remind readers of Guantánamo Bay.

"There's a lot of real-world echoes," says Joe Quesada, editor in chief of Marvel. "We're posing this argument: Would you sacrifice your privacy for your public safety or your civil liberties for your public safety? This is happening, literally, while we're still in the turmoil of asking ourselves these very same questions."

Civil War, a seven-part series, will draw in a variety of Marvel superheroes, and the conflict will cross over into their own comic books. In another reminder of the real world, there's also a spin off about two embedded reporters (one from a liberal newspaper, the other from a conservative one) who chronicle the action.

Ex Machina, a popular R-rated comic book published by DC Comics, also explores the divides of American society. It tells the story of Mayor Mitchell Hundred, a superhero turned New York City politician who must address issues ranging from gay marriage and the death penalty to legalized marijuana.

Comic books aren't strangers to the news. Decades ago, superhero tales mirrored World War II and the cold war, with Nazis and Communists often playing the role of villain.

More recently, Superman and archvillain US President Lex Luthor tangled in 2003 over plans to invade the imaginary Middle Eastern country of Qurac, which was linked to weapons of mass destruction.

Modern life can serve as fodder in other ways. Taking a cue from the newspaper industry's real-life struggles, a certain mild-mannered reporter named Clark Kent found himself sacked by the Daily Planet when Mr. Luthor bought the paper and replaced it with a web-only publication.

Even if they don't touch on specific events, comic books often explore "broad themes, such as paranoia or terrorism, things that the writers perceive as being at work in society," says John Jackson Miller, a comic-book writer and editorial director for the publisher of Comic Buyer's Guide. "They figure that they can do allegories on these things and make it feel relevant."

Indeed, the mutant creatures of the X-Men are widely considered to be metaphors for the struggles of outsiders in American society, including minorities and gays. (The third X-Men movie reaches theaters Friday.)

What may be different in today's comics is a higher degree of ambiguity about the boundaries of right and wrong.

In Ex Machina, creator Brian Vaughan says Mayor Hundred has the distinction of being both "hero and villain"; readers are left to ponder the wisdom of his political decisions. And Civil War never says which side of the superhero-registration debate is the correct one.

"It's one of the first stories of this magnitude that doesn't really have a villain," Mr. Quesada says. "It's heroes vs. heroes, it's people's feelings and opinions vs. other people's feelings and opinions. The villain really is in the eye of the beholder."

But don't expect to ever see a superhero comic book without a bad guy.

"Hero versus villain - it's constant, it's forever," says Don Markstein, a comic-book writer and the creator of the online encyclopedia toonopedia.com. "It will never go away. It's only exaggerated in comics because the whole medium is based on exaggeration. It's what it's all about."

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

Ping

[Richard Kimball]

Gosh. How original. Let's see...Dark Night Returns, The Watchmen, The Incredibles, the X-men, gee. Ten thousand titles I don't even recall. Guess they're going to run the same plot for another ten years until the next Frank Miller comes up with something new.

[GeronL]

They ran out of ideas

[GeronL]

A superhero who sits at a desk and signs papers... *yawn*

[Personal Responsibility]

This is what I always disliked about linking comics with reality. In any superhero-based world, there would be no invading armies looking for WMD. There would be a telepath or super-speed type searching everyone and everything.

In DC, any President not named Luthor could have had Superman do this by himself with reasonable certainty that Supes would go for it.

The Flash, Professor Xavier, Jean Grey, Psimon, Zatanna, Dr. Fate etc...all could tell within minutes if any country had WMD. Making it a running plotline as if the super-beings were bound as we are is more than silly; It defies the nature of the comics themselves.

[Pox]

So, artists will be mostly coming from Liberal Arts education, and it's not particularly hard to see where this will lead.

Certainly not surprising, seeing as Liberal/progressive/socialist/communist thoughts are already what are primarily bouncing around in the heads of the cartoonists, IMO.

Can't stick to good vs evil with shades of gray, gotta go hard left ya know!

[A message]

I disagree, the literary aspect of comics has never been better.

For instance Civil War, it may not have had write ups in Publishers Weekly or what not but it is satisfying the one demand of comic readers, excitement. And Fans can not wait to read issue #2.

Other books like Jean Phillip Stassen's 'Deogratias' from St Martins Press is a highly thought provoking title.

Or a book like ' A Bit of Madness' from Checker Publishing is absolutely gorgeous in the artwork and is a solid high fantasy tale of Elves, Humans and good and evil.

Soon we will see comic works by renown writers such as Laurell Hamilton and already have works by Sci Fi writer Raymond Feist.

The Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, John Byrne, Chis Claremont days are over. Comics are moving into a new generation with the likes of Warren Ellis, Michael Bendis and Robert Kirkman to name a few.

The industry has never really been more thought provoking and interesting for readers.

Comics are not running out of ideas, there is still a world of ideas to explore.

Why do you think Hollywood, which is bankrupt of ideas, is looking to the comi industry for new ideas.

[who knows what evil?]

The Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, John Byrne, Chis Claremont days are over. Comics are moving into a new generation with the likes of Warren Ellis, Michael Bendis and Robert Kirkman to name a few.

Precisely why I got out of comics...if I want reality with a leftist slant; I can read any newspaper.

[sig226]

Was it a Spiderman comic or a Superman comic that was written to push Virginia to pass their, 'one gun a month,' law?

Whichever one it was, I was amazed that a state could tell people they were proud to write laws taken from a comic book. That was when I gave up on them..

Now I guess we'll have Captain America dress up in pink and go beat up a few of Fred Phelps' morons at a soldier's funeral (they're evil right wingers after all.)

[Darkwolf377]

a solid high fantasy tale of Elves, Humans and good and evil. Soon we will see comic works by renown writers such as Laurell Hamilton

You almost had me upp to this point.

Comics about elves, and considering a hack Anne Rice wannabe as "renowned" writers pretty much says it all about comic books. The pretentions to some kind of relevence are just that.

Comic books are just comic books, simplistic stories for arrested adolescents who can't handle real books. No offense, just my opinion as one who read them as a kid and has looked at them over the years due to my work with kids.

[Darkwolf377]

Exactly. Comic book fans grew up, went to liberal colleges, and went back to create comic books with a more intense liberal slant than before.

Anyone buying this "they take no position" BS only needs to take a glance at the actual comics. Does anyone even suspect that gay marriage, for example, is ultimately frowned upon in Ex Machina? Probably no "good" character comes out in the end and says "It's bad," but the folks interviewed for this article never point out that the position the makers of a comic take doesn't have to be put into explicitly-stated dialogue in order to get across to readers.

[Psycho_Bunny]

The Watchmen and Dark Night were the first things that popped into my head, too.

(I still have my First Printings of them. heheheheheh)

[supercat]

Indeed, the mutant creatures of the X-Men are widely considered to be metaphors for the struggles of outsiders in American society, including minorities and gays. (The third X-Men movie reaches theaters Friday.)

How about gun owners? Minorities and gays don't have to be registered.

[Richard Kimball]

Are you trying to tell me there's something weird about comic books?

[steel_resolve]

ping for reading list ideas.

[Rembrandt_fan]

I was a literature/creative writing major in college--okay, so maybe that doesn't carry the weight it once did--but there are some comics that cross into the country of literature. My personal favorite is George Pratt's 'Enemy Ace' graphic novel. It is a powerful integration of beautiful art and compelling narrative, dealing with--among other things--the nature of war and warriors. Part of the problem of comic books, as I see it, is the insularity of the comic book world, with both its creators and its audience. James O'Barr, the creator of 'The Crow' complained once in an interview that most comic book artists never draw from life; they draw essentially from each other, and as a result, their figurative work becomes even more exaggerated--like the very worst of the rococo artists of the eighteenth century. The quality of the writing is substandard for similar reasons. There's a kind of creative incest at work. Occasionally, a comic book creator will venture into, say, film, and you get something as wretched as 'Spawn' or 'Sin City'.

Sorry, I'm rambling. It's just that sometimes I get a sense of the enormous potential offered by the 'picture story' medium, and then come up against the rampant mediocrity that passes for 'renowned' in those circles. It could be so much better, but it isn't. Sort of like television. Or cinema. Or contemporary music.

[A message]

Ah, Dark oh so cynical.

LOTR is nothing more than fantasy, yet Tolkien was truly a masterful storyteller. Elves, Wizards,.. fantasy. I suppose you consider LOTR, Silmarillion, Hobbit just childs play or for that matter C.S. Lewis's Perelandra series that was based in a sci fi / fantasy format.

As far as Laurell Hamilton, hell I haven't read her work and probably never will, but that hack is going to be signing her book Danse Macarbre all over the dang country, and that hack is getting the "Borders" crowd into the direct market comic store looking for her Anita Blake title. That hack sells books.

But lets look at a book like Deogratias by Jean Philip Stassen. It is a story set during the Hutu, Tutsi genocide. The main character, Deogratias, is a young Hutu who is cynical and thinks everyone is out to poison him in his food and drink, and the ethnic strife has turned him insane and dependent. He desires banana beer each night for without he thinks he turns into a dog.

The metaphor and allegory is striking and is a thought provoking exploration of the insanity of those times.

Or lets take a look at Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. This title is her autobiography of growing up as a young Iranian girl shortly after the Mullahs took over in Iran through the mid 90's.
Very fascinating and very relevant.

I tell you Darkwolf, the comic industry is so much different all over the world except in the United States , where so many people here still hold up their noses and think oh what a childish things these comic books when in reality so many people don't know a dang thing they talk about.

[Donald Meaker]

I think it is kind of funny that they make Lex Luthor really smart, but really evil:

So, is Bush really that evil? Is the US electorate really that stupid?

I see it as the same old philisophical battle between the elitists of Plato/Socrates/Sparta, and the people who wanted to have the people and the G-ds decide.

[GeronL]

Let me guess that it is evil conservatives who want to register super-heroes and not the left who in real life wants to register and regulate EVERYTHING and would absolutely hate superheroes