I love Marvel Comics. My brother and I saved every penny, nickel and dime we could find from ever seat cushion in our house to pay for four subscriptions to Marvel Comics. I remember we orderer the Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Amazing Spiderman and something else. (If you’re reading this and can remember, bro, remind me in the comments.)
One of the highlights of my stay on Adak, Alaska was when I found Bosco’s Comics in Anchorage during a day trip to the mainland. I found both stores, although I didn’t buy anything from the mall store.
Then, when I was transferred to Alameda Naval Air Station, I not only shopped at, but worked at Comics Pendragon in the Santa Clara area. It was just down the road a bit from my brother’s house.
I even found a comic book store when I was in port in Perth, Australia.
Currently, I have about 30 long boxes of comics, the bulk of them being Marvel Comics.
I was also very happy when they started making decent movies. Sam Raimi’s version of Spider-man was a breath of fresh air following Dolph Lundgren’s “The Punisher” and a Fantastic Four movie that was so bad they wouldn’t even release it on video. I must admit though, I was actually angry when I left the second Fantastic Four movie. The Silver Surfer is my favorite character, and what they did to him in that movie was a crime against fanboys everywhere. And what was with Galactus?
But I digress.
There has been a bit of outrage recently about a scene in Captain America #602. Warner Todd Huston writes:
In issue number 602 of Captain America, a new story line has begun called “Two Americas.” In it the current Captain (there have been a few of them, apparently) is on the trail of a faux Captain America that is mentally deranged and getting chummy with some white supremacist, anti-government, survivalists types going by the name of “the Watchdogs.” While investigating this subversive group, Captain America and his partner The Falcon — a black super hero — have decided to try and infiltrate the secretive organization.
In preparation for the infiltration, Marvel Comics depicts the two super heroes out of costume and observing from a rooftop a street filled with what can only be described as a Tea Party protest. The scene shows crowds of people in city streets carrying signs that say, “stop the socialists,” “tea bag libs before they tea bag you,” and “no to new taxes.” Naturally, the people in these crowds are depicted as being filled with nothing but white folks.
The black character asks the out of costume Captain, “What the hell is this?” And follows that with, “looks like some kind of anti-tax protest.” The Falcon character then snidely tells his partner the Captain, “So I guess this whole ‘hate the government’ vibe around here isn’t limited to the Watchdogs.”
The two then discuss their plan to infiltrate the subversive group that Marvel comics seems to be linking to the Tea Party movement. This discussion culminates in The Falcon wondering how a black man would do such a thing. “I don’t exactly see a black man from Harlem fitting in with a bunch of angry white folks,” he tells the incognito Captain America.
The Captain tells him, “no it’s perfect… this all fits right into my plan.” After this we find that the Captain’s plan is to send the black man into a redneck bar to pretend to be a black man working for the IRS and to get everyone all mad… because… well, you know that every white person is a racist that hates black civil servants, right?
So, there you have it, America. Tea Party protesters just “hate the government,” they are racists, they are all white folks, they are angry, and they associate with secretive white supremacist groups that want to over throw the U.S. government.
Marvel Comics has responded with an apology.
Comics books have a history of injecting politics into the pages. It wasn’t too long ago that Spider-man got a fist bump from Obama:
And Superman met with President Reagan:
President Bill Clinton even had a spot in Power Girl:
I may have made that last one up.
But it leads me to my point.
Politics is the least of my problems with today’s comic books. Sure, it was right for Warner Todd Huston to point out that Marvel was publishing a negative stereotype of the Tea Party movement. But that was one comic, in one title, from one publisher. In the scheme of things, it’s nothing compared to the reason I don’t buy many comics anymore.
I have considered writing an open letter to the comic book publishers of the world for a while. I guess you can consider this that letter. You see, as much as I love comics, I can’t enjoy taking my son to a comic book store.
Back in the 80s when I started reading comics as a kid, the focus was on the story. Matt Murdock taming Hell’s Kitchen and Batman taking the Joker down, again. Then the 90s hit, and the emphasis switched from the story to the art. Artists like Todd McFarlane and Jim Lee hit the scene and produced very high quality visuals. I’m not blaming these two, just using them as examples because they were a couple of my favorites.
But they drove the focus from the story to the art. And the more the art became important, the more detailed the female characters became. And more endowed. For example, here is an 80s era Storm, from the X-Men:
Same character today, as per Marvel’s official character page:
And it isn’t just Marvel. DC does it. Here’s a taste:
And the other publishers? Behold Vampirella #1, limited edition photo cover circa 2001:
Don’t forget Lady Death, or her “fetishes”:
(Before you tell me those last two aren’t for children, I’ll remind you that those were the covers of the comics. Regardless of whether my son opens them, they can still see them.)
While there has been a resurgence of emphasis on writing and good story lines in the past few years, the art still objectifies the females. There is no way I can share these books with my sons, which is unfortunate considering what a big part of my childhood comic books were. I would love to be able to share that joy with them.
Until comic publishers stop treating female characters as a tool to push the boundaries of decency, I won’t.
