I want to talk about comics and politics. Why? Because I heard about something recently, that as a comic book fan, made me think “Have you only just realised this?” as I quietly raged.

If you have already heard about this ‘drama”, then that’s excellent; though if you haven’t, then buckle up. Marvel released the first issue of a new Captain America mini-series, titled The United States of Captain America very recently.

In the first issue, Captain America is explaining that the problem of the American Dream, is that it’s a dream that not everybody can achieve or the way I understand it, is that if a dream can not be shared, then it’s a lie.

Upon hearing this, some people have be upset at Marvel and Captain America for being “too woke” or “unpatriotic” or “anti-America” or “too political”. It seems and I could be wrong here, that people are really angry at the fact that comics have now become political. In 2021, people have just come to the realisation that politics exist in comic books and they’re protesting about this.

When I’m talking about politics, I mean not just conservative/right wing, centre or liberal/left wing views, but also issues on poverty, LGBTQ+, healthcare, war, drugs, sexism, education, climate change, racism and the list could go on and on.

Before I address this topic, I need to quickly talk about two things. Firstly, the way Dr. Jason Johnson reported this subject on MSNBC was amazing and 100% correct. The things I’m going to talk about are based on what he said…again, because he was right. I don’t want to take away from anything that he said, I just want to build on it.

Secondly, the fictional characters we love in comics, movies, television shows and books, don’t actually exist in the real world. Actors have scripts to follow; authors control what characters do in a book; while the creative team of the writer and artist can determine what a comic book character will say and do.

With that being said, let us dismantle the idea of comics suddenly being too woke and too political. Seriously, this is just nonsense. Comics have ALWAYS been political is some way or another. They really have.

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Claiming Captain America is too political is madness. Johnson mentioned three key things for me about Steve Rogers. The first is that in Captain America Comics #1 in 1941, Captain America is smacking Adolf Hitler in the face on the cover.

It’s also interesting to point out that Captain America Comics #1 was cover dated as March 1941, but went on sale in December 1940; a full year before America entered the Second World War. Democracy vs Fascism, right there on the cover of the first issue. America is not even in the war and want to take a shot at Hitler and Nazi Germany. Is that not political?!

The second is that Captain America has always stood up to bullies; if you know anything about his history and the character, then you would know that when any character that stands up to a company, organisation, government or country, it’s extremely political.

The third point is that if Captain America was a real person, then yes, he would have taken down the people that stormed the US Captiol Building on 6th January 2021; and also handed out voter registration cards. I’m not an American, but yes, after reading Captain America for years, that’s exactly what would have happened.

Captain America has been proudly waving his political flag throughout his years, during Civil War¹, he went against the wishes of the US government; went undercover to investigate prison abuse and reform²; fighting Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan³; declines to be a US presidential candidate⁴; confronts drug addiction⁵; unmasked Number One, the leader of the Secret Empire, believed to be President Nixon⁶; quits as Captain America because of the US government’s corruption⁷; discovering the truth about Isaiah Bradley and the super solider serum⁸; and The Falcon, an African American superhero, officially becomes Captain America’s crime fighting partner and co-star of this title⁹, along with many other stories.

Captain America is not the only Marvel character, that has been political. When they were created, the X-Men were an example of African American civil rights within the country at the time, with Xavier’s role of Martin Luther King and Magneto’s role of Malcolm X.

As the reader of Marvel comics, you are drawn into Daredevil’s world, where the protagonist is blind; Black Widow is an ex-Soviet spy; Wolverine is not an American, he’s Canadian; Hulk was created from the real world fear of nuclear testing and radiation; Silver Sable was a Nazi hunter; the Punisher walks round executing criminals; Doctor Doom is a supervillain, but also the ruling monarch of Latveria; and the most wealthiest and advanced nation in the Marvel universe, is Wakanda, an African country.

Here is a small sample of political Marvel storylines:

• Peter Parker’s best friend Harry Osborn, develops a drug addiction (Amazing Spider-Man #96-98, Vol 1, 1971).
• Hulk learns one of his oldest friends is dying of AIDS (Incredible Hulk #420, Vol 1, 1994).
• Mar-Vell dies of cancer (The Death of Captain Marvel, 1982).
• Sue Storm suffers a miscarriage (Fantastic Four #266-268, Vol 1, 1984).
• Kamala Khan, a teenage Pakistani American girl, becomes a superhero (Ms. Marvel, Vol 3, 2014).
• Miles Morales, a teenage African American/Latino boy, becomes Spider-Man on Earth-1610 (Ultimate Fallout #4, Vol 1, 2011).
• Northstar, a gay mutant, married Kyle Jinadu in the first same-sex superhero wedding (Astonishing X-Men #51, Vol 3, 2012).
• Tony Stark battles alcoholism (The Invincible Iron Man #120-128, Vol 1, 1979).
• Details Magneto’s origin as Max Eisenhardt, as he lived at Auschwitz (X-Men: Magneto Testament #1-5, 2008-2009).  
• Mutants and Humans swap roles, where Mutants are praised and Humans are prosecuted (House of M #1-8, Vol 1, 2005.)

Marvel are not the only company that have been political. Take DC for an example and in particular, Superman. He has been political just as much as the Sentinel of Liberty over the years.

Superman has campaigned to end world famine¹⁰; helped train US troops in war exercises¹¹; destroyed slum tenement buildings, to force the government to build better ones¹²; dealt with the murder of his friend’s son¹³; fought the Ku Klux Klan¹⁴; renounced his U.S citizenship, in protest of the government¹⁵; married Lois Lane¹⁶; dealt with Lex Luthor becoming US president¹⁷; and talked to a young woman on the verge of suicide¹⁸; to name but a few.

DC has a collection of political characters as well. Animal Man is the avatar and defender of the Red, a force that connects all animal life and micro-organisms; Swamp Thing is the avatar and defender of the Green, a force that connects all plant life; Wonder Woman has become an international feminist icon; Green Lantern Hal Jordan reflected America’s involvement in the space race; Sinestro ruled Korugar as an authoritarian; Harley Quinn is bisexual; Black Lightning fought street level crime in Suicide Slum; and Lobo smokes cigars.

Here is a small sample of political DC storylines:

• Supergirl was introduced as Superman’s cousin, along with all of her superhuman powers (Action Comics #252, Vol 1, 1959).
• A mini series that reexamines and highlights some traditionally disenfranchised groups in the superhero community (The Other History of the DC Universe #1-5, Vol 1, 2021).
• Batman creates the Brother Eye and OMAC network to spy on superheroes, which has disastrous consequences (Infinite Crisis #1-7, Vol 1, 2005-2006).
• Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons create Watchmen. (Watchmen #1-12, Vol 1, 1986-1987).
• Kal-El lands in the Soviet Union and becomes a world leader (Superman: Red Son #1-3, Vol 1, 2003).
• Green Lantern Kyle Rayner’s girlfriend, Alexandra DeWitt, is murdered and stuffed into a refrigerator (Green Lantern #54, Vol 3, 1994).
• Reintroduction of Batwoman into DC continuity as a lesbian (52 #7 & #11, Vol, 2006).
• Green Arrow discovers his sidekick, Speedy, is addicted to heroin (Green Lantern #85-86, Vol 1, 1971).
• John Stewart, a black man, was appointed to be Green Lantern Hal Jordan’s replacement ((Green Lantern #87, Vol 1, 1971).
• The Justice League fight against white supremacists and the government (JLA #80-83, Vol 1, 2003).

Politics in Western comics is not limited to the big two companies. Over the decades, many different publishers have brought social issues to the reader, such as:

• Mark Grayson is raped by a female Viltrumite (Invincible #110, Vol 1, 2014).
• Judge Dredd lives in the futurist Mega-City One, where unemployment is over 90% (2000AD, 1977-present).
• An ex-superhero is the mayor of New York City (Ex Machina #1-50, Vol 1, 2004-2010).
• Illegal dumping of toxic waste triggers mutations in four turtles (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, 1984-present).
• Autobiographical series on Marjane Satrapi’s childhood during the Islamic Revolution and as a young adult (Persepolis The Story of a Childhood, 2000; Persepolis The Story of a Return, 2004).
• A survivors tale of the Holocaust, told through the lens of Jews as mice and Nazis as cats (Maus, 1980-1991).
• Seduction of the Innocent was published in 1954, detailing the damage comic books were having on the youth.
• The creation of the Comics Code Authority in 1954, in an effort to regulate comics and their themes.

I could go on with this list, but I simply just can’t. I’m very sorry to any and all creators that I’ve not included on the above list; it’s because of the lack of time in writing this blog, so please forgive me.

To me, comics have always been political, because that’s the point. Yes, there is a story to tell, but it’s deeper than that. Comic book creators try to expose readers to new and different ideas, topics and issues, that readers may not have ever heard or thought about before.

I simply can’t tell you how many new and different social or political ideas, topics or issues I have discovered over the years, through reading comic books. Because of this, it gave me reasons to view the world differently; or at least to try understand the issues by researching myself.

Some of my first impressions of the larger world and the diversity of people, were through reading social and political issues in comic books. Comic books in all of its forms, are visual stories that are being passed onto the next generation. Of course there would be political themes in them, humans have created them; because we are a political species.

Before I leave you, I want to present you with two of the best and greatest examples of politics in comics, I can possibly think of. The first is Stan Lee’s literary work in the Soap Box. Within the pages of early Marvel comics, existed the news and information page, known as the Bullpen Bulletins; and within this, Lee had a monthly column called Stan’s Soapbox or Stan Lee’s Soapbox.

In the Soapbox, Lee would discuss Marvel, contests and the comics industry; along with heavy social issues. To me, I think Lee saw this as an opportunity to talk directly to readers, as a means of not just showcasing and promoting comics, but also to promote a better understanding about the world, as well as ourselves and how we can fit in it. Stan Lee was “woke”, before being woke was an actually term.

The second example is actually quite simple and so basic, that you probably already know it, but have dismissed it. We have to go all the way back to 1939 for this example and no, it’s not the start of World War II.

Are you ready for it? Here it is: Bruce Wayne is a victim of gun violence. That’s right, Bruce Wayne’s parents were shot in front of him, when he was a boy. And what did he do with that anger and grief? What every child would do; to make an oath to rid their city of evil and declare war on crime.

This is displayed in the beautiful Batman: War on Crime, where Batman discovers a boy named Marcus, had witnessed his own parents’ murder in a robbery. Batman can’t help to make comparisons to Marcus and himself, so by the end of the story, both Marcus and Bruce must confront the pain of gun violence and having survivors guilt. Gun violence and gun reform are still issues facing society, even in 2021.

In a nutshell, I think the people protesting against the involvement of politics in comics, may have honestly lacked the imagination or sense of wonder, to have never read a comic book. To pick up one up and be transported to worlds, where the problems people face there, are the same ones we face here is invaluable to our youth and the old.

We are supposed to read and learn new things, so we can change. You are not supposed to stay the same person throughout your life, you are built to learn, grow and explore new things and be open minded. Having political issues in comic books is an extremely good and positive thing, so don’t let anybody tell anything different.

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next week.

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¹ Civil War #1-7 (2006-2007)

² Captain America #260 (Vol 1, 1981) & Captain America #23 (Vol 3, 1999)

³ Captain America #264 (Vol 1, 1981)

⁴ Captain America # 250 (Vol 1, 1980)

⁵ Captain America #372-378 (Vol 1, 1990)

⁶ Captain America and the Falcon #175 (Vol 1, 1974)

⁷ Captain America and the Falcon #176 (Vol 1, 1974)

⁸ Truth: Red, White & Black #1-7 (Vol 1, 2003)

⁹ Captain America and the Falcon #134 (Vol 1, 1971)

¹⁰ Superman: Peace on Earth ( Vol 1, 1999)

¹¹ Superman #23 (Vol 1, 1943)

¹² Action Comics #8 (Vol 1, 1939)

¹³ Superman #84 (Vol 2, 1993)

¹⁴ Superman Smashes the Ku Klux Klan #1-3 (Vol 1, 2019-2020)

¹⁵ Action Comics #900 (Vol 1, 2011)

¹⁶ Superman: The Wedding Album (Vol 1, 1996)

¹⁷ Superman: Lex 2000 #1 (Vol 1, 2000)

¹⁸ All-Star Superman #10 (Vol 1, 2008)