*Before I begin this Opinion Article, I would like to point out that people are entitled to their opinions, and this is from an observation made by the writer’s personal opinion, so please keep an open mind when reading this article. Thank you for taking the time to read it.*
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Superhero Comic Books, one of the most popular Comic Genres in American History that began with Action Comics #1 in 1938 with the first superhero, created by two young men, Jerry Siegel and Joseph Shuster called Superman. Superman’s creation, led to the birth of the Superhero Genre and the Golden Age of Comics. In 1939, Marvel was one of the companies that entered into the Superhero craze with the introduction of characters such as Carl Burgos’ Android, the Human Torch, and Bill Everett’s Anti-Hero, Namor the Submariner.
Eventually, there would be the introduction of Patriotic-themed Superheroes with the world entering into another War and Marvel’s Joe Simon (Editor, Writer/Artist) would team up with Jack Kirby to create one of the first Patriotic-themed Superheroes called Captain America. The First Issue’s Cover showing the Captain punching the Fascist Nazi Leader Adolf Hitler, the cover was considered to be controversial for its time.
For years Comic Books have provided reflections, parallels, and commentary on the political climate they are conceived. For example, they tackled tough subjects that were on the minds of Americans with a DC Comics Series Story Arc that focused on Green Lantern/Green Arrow eventually later called “Hard Traveling Heroes” by Writer Dennis O’Neil and artist Neal Adams. It tackles subjects such as poverty, corruption, pollution, racism, and drug addiction. But Marvel was known to address the big issues, in September 1963 a team of teenage heroes would be introduced thanks to Writer Stan Lee and Jack Kirby called the X-Men, instead of the traditional battle between good and evil, the X-Men had a wrinkle: mutants were hated by the “normal” humans they defended. In an article from History Channel’s Dante A. Ciampaglia, according to Dante and Stan Lee, the X-Men introduced Professor X and his vision of harmonious human-mutant coexistence standing in for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., while Magneto’s rigid attitude toward the defense of mutantkind reflected the philosophy of Malcolm X. The Sentinels, the mutant-hunting robot, was introduced two years later as readers watched on TV as black Americans were beaten and abused by white police officers.
While listing some examples of how political comic books get, many have wished that comics would stay out of that area altogether, some citing that they only show “the Left” side or Comic Books being too “Political.” That’s the thing, you can’t leave it out of Comic Books, it’s a representation of the people and it can’t be hidden away from the world just because you don’t agree with it. In the past few years, there have been critics that have been very vocal about certain events that are going on in Comic Books but instead of reading the story they jump into defensive mode and claim that the books are becoming “un-American“. This wasn’t the first time someone got offended over what was written in Comics and certainly isn’t the last, here are several examples of when Critics got upset over what they deemed “un-American”:
- Superman Renouncing his U.S. Citizenship (April 2011, DC Comics)
- Miles Morales’s first appearance was labeled a publicity stunt and part of a ‘Political Correctness Campaign. (August 2011)
- Sam Wilson as Captain America labeled as a PR Stunt, and against Conservatives. (2015)
- The Red Skull notably influenced by the Far-Right Academic Jordan Peterson in Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Captain America Comic Book Series (2021)
- California Man Threatened DC and IGN over Jon Kent’s Bisexuality (2022)
- Florida GOP Representative Cites X-Men In Bigoted Comments Regarding Transgender People (2023)
The outrage didn’t stop there, in 2019, writer Mark Waid penned an essay describing America as being flawed, and was going to be put in Marvel Comics Issue 1000. Ultimately, this would lead the publisher to censor their work, why? Ike Perlmutter, who was not only the CEO but Chairman of Marvel Entertainment. He was a close friend of former President Donald Trump who believed that not only would it hurt Trump’s feelings, but it was considered un-American. Things such as racism, xenophobia, gun violence, and inequality began to grow and would be overlooked by Donald Trump during his Presidency.
People who have revered Trump and how he handles situations and his way of politics began to develop very thin skin regarding criticism and misguided anger at something else entirely. Some began to embrace lies and become very vocal about ‘Cancel Culture’ which claimed to have canceled Dr. Seuss. It eventually began to believe that the election was rigged, and would lead to the Capitol Riot where the former President would incite a riot at a rally he held at the Capitol, to try to disrupt the joint session of Congress assembled to count electoral votes to formalize President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. Trump would watch the most fanatical of his followers become Domestic Terrorists, most wearing Captain America-themed shirts that depicted Trump as the Superhero. Neal Kirby condemned the Rioters, writing, “These images are disgusting and disgraceful. Captain America is the absolute antithesis of Donald Trump.” A few months later, the Captain would come under fire, this time for questioning the American Dream.
No, you’re reading this right, Fox News and other critics have slammed Rogers for thinking about how the “American Dream” is misunderstood and too easily turned into Nationalism. In the Comic Book Mini-Series titled United States of Captain America, Christopher Cantwell (not to be confused by the Neo-Nazi, White Supremacist with the Same Name,) the writer of United States of Captain America had Captain America question the concept of the “American Dream,” with the network’s hosts and guests arguing that Marvel is trying to make Captain America fit into what they call “the fashionable trend of hating America.” To kick things off after expressing how the network isn’t open to criticism about their country even though the network (along with other conservative networks, news outlets) does it regularly whenever someone has a rational thought about helping the country, its citizens, heck even voice an opinion that is different from their own.
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