Comicscape - October 1, 2003

By: TONY WHITT
Date: Wednesday, October 01, 2003

OPINION

First of all, a quick announcement about a policy change of mine: many of you have noted the amount of times I've erroneously stated that a book was shipping during a particular week, and then that turned out not to be the case. I have to apologize for those errors and thank you for your vigilance, and in order to bring you more accurate information, I have decided not to list any titles that appear on the Marvel and DC homepages unless they also appear in the Diamond shipping list for that week. (I've noticed that Marvel is particularly bad at announcing that this or that title is on its way when it actually isn't. 'Nuff said.) So, if any of you should visit those sites and see a book promised for a given week and then come here to see that it's not listed, either a) it didn't appear on the Diamond list and therefore may not be shipping after all, or b) I just didn't feel like giving it any attention. You'll have to decide which. Thanks for your patience.

Thanks also for the huge response to last week's question about whether or not comic books were an appropriate forum for political content - amazingly, I got more responses to this one than to any other previous column, including the "Superman is dumb" one. For the most part, those responses all expressed the opinion that comics are indeed an appropriate forum for political content - though there was some contention over exactly how that content should be presented, and when that presentation crosses the line.

Neil Steen was one of those in the majority who feel that comics are appropriate for political content, though he was bewildered about why it was an issue: "I don't understand how people can get upset over any form of entertainment being too political. In a time when you can turn on the TV and choose from several different reality TV shows or a dozen or so SMACKDOWNs, if you don't want to think, it's not a problem. Our media is more than capable of feeding your hunger for eye candy and mindless drivel. For the rest of us, we'd prefer something that challenges our minds and caters to our brains. This really shouldn't be an issue. Don't like a comic? Read something else. Think the TV show you're watching is too liberal? Change the channel. Unless we've got to the point where we're so lazy, we don't even have the motivation to find something we like and instead just accept what's given to us; we have to realize we live in a time with something for everyone. Personally I like my comics with a bit of thought provoking ideas stirred into the mix. Unless it's just for the sake of trying to sound smart or issue-conscious, in which case it's just tacky. But when done well, any story with political undertones can be really enjoyable on many levels. So to those who find some comics too political or thought provoking, there's plenty of crap out there that isn't. It shouldn't be too hard to keep you happy."

A reader named "penancex," however, feels that the presence of political content in comics may stem from other motivations than a desire to provoke thought: "I think that current events in comics come from the recent 'realism' trend in comics today. While writers like Waid, Millar, JMS, and many of the Ultimate writers are at the forefront of this trend, it seems pervasive... One element of this is to bring real life possibilities into the comic's plot, or realistic characterizations into new or existing comic heroes and villains. Note this is an 'easy out' to make comics more interesting and profitable in many ways. It's much easier to incorporate real events or people into comics than it is to come up with completely new ideas or ways of thinking. Superheroes are more interesting when they're fighting ideological viruses, or taking over countries/the world (which is now becoming a bit trite), or losing their identities due to altering their personalities too often. But making them fight terrorism, or deal with racial or gender issues is easier to come up with and can be almost as interesting." I don't know that it's that much "easier" to recreate a real-world situation using the comic book as a metaphor, but it's certainly worth considering.

Mathew Pifer, while agreeing that comics can have political content, makes an important distinction: "I don't believe that the issue is that 'political content should be left out of comics,' but instead, the real issue is 'political opinion should be left out of comics.' [For example,] I recently read JLA # 83. The story involved Superman being presented a scenario which is very similar to our situation in Iraq. Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are arguing with the President of the United States, saying that they feel more information should be accumulated before taking any type of military action on a country that has been found to harbor terrorists, and possibly have weapons of mass destruction. The President argues that by waiting on the sidelines, the country is simply leaving itself open to attack. Now, I understand that [all people have their own opinions], but comic book characters are not people - they are icons. To have Superman stand up and say something to the effect of 'Mr. President, I think you're making a mistake' is not content, it's the opinion of one person - the writer - and I believe that is the problem. To take a character such as Superman and place him so prominently on one side of such an issue is insulting to many readers... Many of these characters were created or molded to take an objective view of these types of issues in society; to look at both sides of an argument; and present the reader with information from both ends of the subject. By doing this, the reader [may] make their own decision on said subject. Presenting characters with such strong, one-sided opinions on subjects like this, the comic publishers take that power out of the hands of the reader, and in addition they alienate their characters from readers as well." This is a good point, particularly as drawing a parallel between President Lex Luthor and President George Bush immediately makes the actions of the latter look like "super-villainy," a view which many comics readers who support the real-world President will not tolerate. This expression of political opinion could well be considered inappropriate, if not downright irresponsible - it assumes that the majority of comics readers are liberal (which they may indeed be), and thus alienates those who may not be. (For a more complicated occurrence of this sort, look at the latest story arc in FANTASTIC FOUR - my review of the latest issue appears this week.)

Eric J. Carter is one of those readers alienated by this liberal slant, particularly in X-MEN: "[I've noticed that] Republican-bashing seems to be okay for the comics writers. The first page of the first issue of the CYCLOPSmini-series had a block of text about Reagan's leadership skills (after which I thought to myself, 'Yeah, makes perfect sense.') followed up by Scott's thought of, 'That's why I never vote Republican.' Another issue had Jean state to Scott something along the lines of mutants 'scaring the Republicans...' I don't mind characters having political views... in fact I think that if they did and were vocal about them it'd be a good thing, but these examples are very one-sided, unchallenged, and unsupported viewpoints. It can easily suggest to a young reader that the Republicans are the Bad Guys. To address the "scaring the Republicans" line for a bit, one reason I'm a Republican is because I do believe that everyone is equal, should be treated equally, and have equal access to justice and opportunity. I believe that the other side of the political aisle uses race and class warfare for their own political purposes, never solving the problem because appearing to address the problem gives them votes. In X-MEN, it's humanity who hates and fears mutants, but that particular issue gave you the impression that the only people hating and fearing mutants were the ones who voted for Bush... It was explained to me a long time ago that most of the writers and artists [seem to] come from a liberal mindset, and there's probably a lot of validity to that. Also, most of their target audience would be from that mindset. Probably also true. However, there are Republicans and Conservatives in the comic-reading audience, and I would think that these comic writers wouldn't want to alienate a percentage of their readers." That's a good point, especially as there does seem to be a great deal of Republican-baiting in modern comics. (Hell, I do quite a bit of it myself, though I don't think of all Republicans as evil - only the ones in charge.) I don't recall quite this much Clinton-bashing going on in comics when he was in office, but if anyone does, please remind me. If not, perhaps there's something to be said for writers curbing their opinions a bit and not being quite so blatant about their personal leanings.

Tim Van Bruggen (from my home state of Michigan - whoo hoo!), however, would argue that even such blatant "soapboxing" is something up with which we must put: "To say that an author is not allowed to let their political or personal beliefs color the stories they write because of the genre is to say that they are not allowed to write at all. Writers write what they know, what they believe. The best of them can sometimes put themselves into another person's shoes, but even then their writing is expressed through their own style and perception... Before we rant and rave and start writing hate mail or anything that says, 'You don't have the right...' we better take a step back and look at our own motivations. Are we angry because our beliefs are different than those of the writer? If so, agree to disagree and allow the writer his vessel. If your beliefs are important enough to you that you feel they should be presented, you have the power and the freedom to pursue getting a writing or speaking position yourself. Now, if you feel the author has gone against the integrity of the medium or character involved, by all means, please write and express your opinion. But please understand that your opinion, and your right to have your opinion, does not negate the right of the writer to have his. If everyone would just remember that, we'd have a lot less hate mail and vitriol in the air." I could sure do with the "less hate mail" part, Tim...

I'd love to go on with this discussion, especially as so many of you wrote in on related issues that are just fascinating - Brian Compton, for instance, wrote in to explain how comic books are a new form of mythology, and how, as in any mythology, the stories reflect the political turmoil of the culture that produced them; and British reader John Mosby talked about how the portrayal of Captain America actually allowed him to understand America more fully. I'd also love to list everyone who wrote in, but this column would eventually start looking like the end of an episode of ROMPER ROOM, so I'll try instead to answer each of you with at least a note of thanks. Since so many of you wrote in about the 9-11 "black issue" of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, though, I've decided to devote next week's column to the pros and cons of that particular tribute (what made it so appropriate and what bits people found contentious). E-mail me your thoughts on this issue at comicscape@cinescape.com. Now, here's a (hopefully) more accurate listing of what you can expect in your comic shops this first week of October:

THIS WEEK

The first issue of Image's SWORD OF DRACULA series, written by CINESCAPE's own Jason Henderson (!), arrives in stores this week. I wonder if he'll celebrate with a glass of champagne since he never drinks...wine... (Bear in mind: Diamond says this is out this week, while Image's site says it's next week. Direct your ire at them, not me - and then buy the book, anyway!)

Of course, that's not the only fun stuff (hopefully) coming from Image this week, as they're also shipping FRANKENSTEIN MOBSTER (no, that's not a misspelling!) #0, with two covers by Mark Wheatley and Adam Hughes; and G.I. JOE VS. THE TRANSFORMERS #4 (of 6), also with two covers.

And still more shape-shifting action comes at you from Dreamwave Productions this week, who offer TRANSFORMERS: THE WAR WITHIN VOL 2 #1. And guess what - it also has two different gatefold covers by Don Figueroa and Pat Lee. Whew. Getting all the different versions of these comics is starting to be as expensive as buying the original toys

used to be...

And speaking of toys...no, just kidding. It's actually ELEKTRA #28, even if it's not Jennifer Garner. Even without Garner's presence, I'm sure this cover is bound to make someone out

there happy.

Might as well get all of the eye candy out of the way at once: EXILES #35 is also out this week, featuring an alternate version of the Fantastic Four. So, a different version of the FF, in a book written by Judd Winick, with a cover like this - why aren't you buying this already?

Perhaps your tastes run more to Greg Rucka? If so, then the latest issue of his QUEEN & COUNTRY series for Oni Press, issue #18, also ships out this week.

It's the end of a (very, very disturbing) era this week, as Dan Slott's phenomenal ARKHAM ASYLUM: LIVING HELL miniseries concludes with #6, which features a special guest star. Could it

be...Satan?

Could Batman be considering calling himself "The Light Knight"? Ugh. But wouldn't you, if your city were suddenly rearchitectured (is that a word?) with a glowing material that took all the shadows away? OK, maybe not. BATMAN: CITY OF LIGHT #1 (of 8) starts the story by Pander Brothers (who also do the artwork, with Alvaro Lopez) and

Mark Paniccia.

Meanwhile, in another part of the Bat-Universe, the Man-Bat is kidnapped by the Mad Hatter in a tale told by Brian K. Vaughan and Rick Spears in DETECTIVE COMICS #787. Goodness, why don't these villains simply invite someone to come visit like any other decent sociopath would?

Meanwhile over at Marvel, someone called simply "Brian Vaughan" is writing a little ditty called DOCTOR OCTOPUS: NEGATIVE EXPOSURE, a five-part miniseries starting this week. (Sigh. Marvel, if you're looking for a new webmaster, I do have experience,

you know.)

Wildstorm's sending out its usual packet of goodies this week with ASTRO CITY: LOCAL HEROES #4 (of 5) (hard to believe that's an Alex Ross cover, innit?), AUTHORITY Volume 2 #6, and EXTINCTION EVENT #4 (of 5).

It's first meeting time all around as Clark Kent applies for a job at the Daily Planet in the Mark Waid-scripted SUPERMAN: BIRTHRIGHT #4 (of 12). It's also the first time Lois Lane begins her bad habit of falling out of windows and suchlike.

IDW Publishing proudly ships CSI: BAD RAP, the second in a five-part miniseries based on the eponymous TV series, this week. Gee, I wonder if they could do a series based on that one TV series with Jennifer Garner... oh, what's its name again?

Oh, yeah - ALIAS! - D'oh.

Well, the bad news is that while Brian Michael Bendis (or as they call him at Marvel, "Brian Bendis") has negated the possibility of such a series by naming one of his own the same thing, the good news is that there's an absolute ton of BMB stuff out this week, including Marvel's ALIAS #27, Image's POWERS #34, and Marvel's ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #47 and ULTIMATE SIX #2 (of 6). (And yes, Diamond says this last one is shipping this week. Promise.)

Not a whole helluva lot of X-Citement this week, though, as only NEW MUTANTS #5 and NEW X-MEN #147 ship out. Still, that should hold you until the next wave of Wolverine miniseries come out, shouldn't it?

Yup, 'tis the season... BART SIMPSON'S TREEHOUSE OF HORROR #9 is out this week from Bongo for the cheap price of $4.99. Hey, at least they waited until October to ship it - my local Rite-Aid has had Halloween costumes out

since Easter...

And speaking of costumes I wish I could pull off for a party sometime (and costumes that many fanboys just wish they could pull off),

here's SPIDER-GIRL #65.

And finally, some eye candy for the ladies (and about ten percent of the gentlemen): everyone's favorite messed-up Golden Age character gets his own arch-nemesis in HAWKMAN #20. His name? The Headhunter. Ahem. And on that note...

Comicscape is our weekly Comics column.

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