What awesome conservative comic book story lines are we missing out on?
The political world is reeling from the whopping KAPOW! that GOP House Majority Leader Eric Cantor just got from a Tea-Party insurgent in the Virginia primary.
How could this happen? How could one of the most powerful conservative jokers in Washington suddenly find himself without a job? Was Cantor “too calculating“? “Ambitious”? “Disconnected”?
Well, don’t mind us, but if being calculating, ambitious, and disconnected were likely criteria for a politician getting voted out of office, we imagine there would be no need for anyone ever to discuss term limits.
No, there’s something else. Perhaps Cantor was simply too Jewish? Conspiracy theories abound, including one that says that Virginia’s “open primary” attracted too many Democrats willing to cross party lines just to give Eric Cantor a big fat THWAPP! (Never mind that, given the Tea Party nut who won, this whole thing is like cheering the Riddler for defeating the Penguin.)
While the rest of the media sort this out, we have another story about shadowy liberals to bring to your attention. See, it’s not just the GOP Majority Leader who’s going to have trouble finding a job soon. It’s also comic book writers.
But not just random comic book writers. Conservative ones. And, trust us, it’s not because conservatives aren’t good storytellers. (See: FOX News.)
A little backstory: A long, long time ago (1954), comic book publishers in America united to create the “Comics Code Authority” in response to the fear (perpetuated by a much-debunked tome, Seduction of the Innocent) that comics were turning America’s youth into juvenile delinquents. Eventually (the 1990s), those delinquents had grown up and taken over and the Code was tossed out. Publishers were once again able to go with more difficult stories with complex, conflicted heroes.
In other words, comics were allowed to be interesting again. But a couple of established comic book writers fear that this return to “moral relativism” not only ruined the medium — it cost them their jobs.
In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal this week, writer Chuck Dixon and artist Paul Rivoche decry the “moral ambiguity and leftist ideology” that have made superheroes “no different from the criminals they battle.” Superman became “less patriotic,” and Batman became “dark and ambiguous.”
These conservative writers and illustrators have “truth, justice and the American way” kinds of stories that they say are less ambiguous. But those doggone liberals won’t let them tell their stories! Holy vast liberal conspiracy, Batman!
So what’s up with this? Have comic books simply matured as a medium in telling more gripping stories with more interesting heroes and villains? Or is this really evidence of a conspiracy?
Either way, we’re all for free speech. And we think these conservative comic book writers should be heard! Bring it on! In the big, wide multi-verse, there should be room for everyone. So tell us your stories!
We can only wonder what conservative comic book titles we’ve been missing out on all this time.
- Little Unaborted Annie?
- The Incredible Butterfly vs. Dr. Gore?
- Marcus the Transformer Meets Bi-Curious George?
What do you think?
(Posted by authors. Original article, poll and references at http://lesterandcharlie.com/2014/06/12/holy-vast-liberal-conspiracy-batman/)
= new reply since forum marked as read
...the "ambiguous" stories just sell better. Comics is a business of low profit margins and publishers can't afford to publish "unambiguous" gosh-darn comics when they don't sell. We know this because it has been tried. Some years ago, DC's Vertigo imprint put out "American Virgin", a book based around an abstinence preacher and how he deals with his fiance's death. No, it wasn't a piss take, it actually treated the main character sympathetically. It got good reviews but it didn't sell and so, it was cancelled at #24. If conservative books sell (such as Bill Willingham's "Fables"
, they get to stick around.
Besides which, this is complaining about a problem that doesn't exist. Superman is no less patriotic than he's ever been (although he no longer feels the need to shout about it every issue) and Batman was always meant to be dark and edgy. It was Batman's tv-led camp period that was the aberration, not the current style. And Dixon was happy to work in that dark and edgy style until it stopped making him money. He wrote Punisher (a mass murdering vigilante) and was partly responsible for the Knightfall arc which created Bane, saw him break Batman's back and Bruce's replacement by the outright psychotic Azrael. It's only when Dixon fell out of favour that he decided there was a liberal conspiracy in comics.
... but I missed out on the teenaged angst angle. I was too busy trying to avoid the bullies who called me queerbait and then beat the hell out of me whenever they caught me. When I had time for hobbies, it was electronics. I quit high school for college.
( Horrors, I missed the prom! 
)
My introduction to the comic art was Love and Rockets.
It reminds me of people I've met and places I've lived. (I've lived most of my life in places where white guys like me are a minority.)
Edgy "conservative" comics always seem to go creepy-pervy, Mallard-Fillmore-brain-dead stupid, or Chick Tract insane.
Reality has a well known liberal bias.
I voted for Zombie Reagan in your poll. That would be one of the creepy-pervy conservative comics, sort of like Twilight with the old man vampire who dates high school girls.
I figure this Zombie Reagan would fight for conservative American Values like pissing on the poor and war-mongering in exchange for blow-jobs. An undead Dick Cheney could be his master and ever-goofy and befuddled George W. Bush an amusing sidekick.
