Politics Have Always Been In Comics, But That's Not The Problem
Editors and Writers, For Better Or Worse, Changed Political Depictions On A Personal Level
The question comes up more frequently these days: “Have politics always been in comics?” The short answer is “yes,” but the presence of political messaging hasn’t been, in my opinion, nearly as divisive as it has in recent years. Digging into the history of it all, the question really isn’t “has politics always been in comics?” The question you should be asking is “what changed?”
Before getting into the meat of this article, please subscribe to this newsletter. It helps keep this project going, and you’ll be first to get notified when I start bringing cool new benefits online.
Writers are only human
Writers are humans. That shouldn’t be a shock to anyone, but sometimes we forget that the words we read come from a human with thoughts and feelings just like everyone else. I’m a writer (obviously), so I can confirm. Therefore, it’s impossible for a writer to write any type of narrative that is completely free of some bias.
Bias is the mechanism that helps humans decide what is and what isn’t, what’s right and wrong, what works and what doesn’t. Bias is part of the way we perceive the world around us and how it functions, so bias - which includes political leanings - is always present in what you write.
Good writers know how to use it
Recognizing we all have biases require some amount of self-awareness and self-reflection. I have to be able to see what I’m saying and doing, why I’m doing it, and adjust for a better outcome. Unfortunately, self-awareness doesn’t come naturally to most people. It has to be taught and developed just like building a muscle. It takes time, effort and consistency.
Why does it matter if a writer has self-awareness? Because it’s only through a cycle of reflection and adjustment that writers can become good or even great. In other words, great writers know how to identify their own biases and suppress them enough to not let it affect the stories they write, or they use it constructively as part of the story to make it better.
Examples of suppressing your bias is pretty clear. You read an issue of Captain America and can’t tell anything about the ideological leanings of the writer. It’s just a good, fun story.
Likewise, great writers know how to use their biases to create an effect in the reader’s thinking. Whether or not the effect is positive or negative is up to historical interpretation. Let’s take a look at some examples:
Captain America punching Hitler in CAPTAIN AMERICA #1 is probably the comic most cited as proof that politics have always been present. Here you have the comics representation of the best of American ideals landing a right hook on a dictator bent on destroying the whole world.
The Punisher takes on insider traders in Wall Street in THE PUNISHER VOL. 2 #9. This particular issue made the real world news specifically for it’s “ripped from the headlines” storyline of Frank Castle killing insider traders; a crime that at that time was having serious negative effects on the economy.
In GREEN LANTERN/GREEN ARROW #5, the emerald duo comes face-to-face with the real world problems of drug addiction when it hits Ollie’s ward, Roy Harper. The entire GL/GA run is notable for tackling an entire range of social problems on a grounded level, sometimes in a heavy-handed way, but always leaving you with something to think about. Denny O’Neil was keenly good at showing the problems and working through how the heroes address those problems without telling the audience what to think or presuming to solve the world’s problems with the snap of a finger.
Unless you’ve read these issue or the runs they come from, it’s not immediately obvious, but the key to notice is that the “political enemy” always fell into one of three categories: 1) An actual criminal (Hitler), 2) A criminal group or organization (corrupt Wall Street), or 3) a social ill with a criminal component(drug dealing). The key here is CRIMINAL. The writers were calling out people, organizations or social problems that were criminal in nature.
Nobody was mad about those examples, so what changed?
Two things started to emerge in comics, predominantly in Marvel Comics. The first in 2008, the second in 2010. These two events started a paradigm shift that led to the divisive environment between publishers and customers that we see increasingly today.
2008
Marvel Comics published NEW AVENGERS, VOL. 1 #47. In that issue, Luke Cage gets into an *ahem* altercation with a real world, real estate mogul based in NYC. To put it simply, Luke Cage puts Donald Trump in his place. The scene is irrelevant to the overall story, so why put it in?
At that time, Donald Trump had developed a reputation for being a real estate developer that some deemed to be operating unethically. For example, the Trump Soho project was notorious for tearing down neighborhood buildings inhabited by low-income citizens in favor of expensive high rises. In the grand scheme of United States affairs, this mattered little to anyone except to people who lived and worked in NYC. Nothing criminal had taken place, but Donald Trump was not liked by everyone universally due to his business dealings. In 2008, both DC Comics and Marvel Comics were headquartered and entirely staffed in NYC, and it’s fair to say Trump was not universally liked among the staff.
At the risk of speculating too far, Donald Trump was also good friends with Isaac Perlmutter, CEO of Marvel at that time. It is conceivable that the friendship between Perlmutter and Trump created internal tension at Marvel between Perlmutter and key editorial staff, including Joe Quesada, Tom Brevoort, and Axel Alonso. Including Trump unfavorably in the comics may have been a passive aggressive move by those same editors to voice their displeasure towards Trump, in general, and towards Perlmutter for befriending Trump.
Change number one becomes clear. Marvel published the depiction of a real-world individual as an unsavory character. Somebody to be disliked and derided as a soft enemy to the Marvel characters, but NOT a criminal. The shift for the creative team moves from “criminals as enemies in comics” to “people we don’t like as enemies in comics.”
Vulture Magazine has it’s own issues with bias, but it has a fairly decent list of the times Donald Trump appeared in comics, and there’s a marked increase since the late-2000’s. Notice several appearances pre-date his election to President in 2016.
2010
The infamous Dan Slott/Crawlspace incident is well known among comics circles at this point, but for the uninitiated I’ll direct you to this post. In the shortest terms I can, a forum poster mildly criticizes Marvel writer Dan Slott’s motivation for taking a project. Dan Slott responds with harsh and foul language. It’s reasonable to say that Slott’s aggressive response well outmatched the initial criticism.
But that’s not the change. Anyone who follows Dan Slott’s online rants could reasonably conclude this is typical behavior for Dan Slott.
What’s unique about this particular case is a CBR article about the incident and seeming support of Dan Slott’s over-the-top reaction. By supporting Slott’s response to (presumably) comics customers, CBR established a precedent that normalized unprofessional and adversarial behavior between the comics companies and the customers they serve. In other words, CBR, whether intended or not, said “Hey, comics companies. You can curse out your customers, and we’ll defend you for it.”
That journalistic change made it okay for creators, with support of the publishers and editors, to deride customers; both in the comics and in real life. The professional risk of getting called out by journalists for unprofessional behavior had been removed. It was open season on customers except for the most egregious of examples.
The foundation is set
Marvel (and DC and other publishers) inclusion of real world people in their comics in unflattering depictions, by itself, is not enough to establish a rift. Adding in the rough treatment of creators towards customers, that’s SUPPORTED by comics journalists, resulted in the now toxic brew.
Comics publishers have become comfortable depicting real world people and groups, who were not criminals, as enemies within the comics. The reasons for doing so are too many to name comprehensively. It could be for political differences, ideological differences, or something as simple as not liking a person or group. And creators were free (arguably aided by the emergence of social media) to attack, insult, deride customers with no fear of consequence from their publishers or the press.
Conflict without restraint or consequence.
But the customer is always right. Right?
No. Categorically, no. You will get customers who are (to put it mildly) jerks. A jerk’s behavior is never to be excused or supported in any way. That said, unsavory customers are unavoidable in business, and the most productive way to deal with a jerk customer is to show them the door as you say “have a nice day.” It sounds too simple, and yet, so many people struggle to do it. They struggle because it’s human nature to get defensive or be proven right when facing a jerk. The only way to rise above that basic instinct is with restraint through practiced self-awareness. Sound familiar.
Let’s recap
Have politics always been in comics? Yes, but up until recently the political barbs were directed at criminals, criminal groups, or social ills with a criminal component.
What changed? In the mid-to-late 2000’s comics publishers expanded their political/ideological barbs beyond criminals and towards real life individuals/groups they didn’t like. In addition, creators (with the implied support of their publishers and the press) were emboldened to insult or clap back at customers without fear of consequence.
Yikes! How do we fix it?
I wish I knew, folks. Truly. Philosophically, it may be time just to go back to the rules I learned in kindergarten. Because when you have too many adults acting like children, sometimes the best thing to do is get back to basics.
Thanks so much for your time. I hope this was an interesting article for you.
If you haven’t, please click on the subscribe link above to receive notices of new articles and be first in line for cool stuff to be announced.
Also, subscribe the Comical Opinions YouTube channel where I post a mini opinion every day. The most engaging video of the week gets turned into a newsletter just like this one.
Thanks for stopping by, and have a Great Day!