Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Bizzare & Odd

The weirdest political messages in the history of comics

The weirdest political messages in the history of comics 23

Every now and again, comic book writers try to infuse superheroes’ foibles with societal relevance or their own personal political beliefs. But in fictional worlds where Galactus the World Devourer tries to eat the biosphere every two weeks, these attempts can get downright baffling.

Magneto throws garbage at Wolverine for disagreeing with him

As the revolutionary figurehead for mutants in the Marvel Universe, the X-Men nemesis Magneto has delivered fiery oratory out the wazoo, some of it tremendously overwrought. (For example, there’s a fantastic two-page splash page in 1991’s X-Men #1 of Magneto screaming a small pamphlet at the X-Men while frozen in place.)

But more recently, in the 2012 Neal Adams series The First X-Men, Magneto pleads that Wolverine tread the path of prudence by threatening the clawed one with a receding hairline and rusty taxis, all the while preening like Tim Curry in The Worst Witch.

The weirdest political messages in the history of comics

The weirdest political messages in the history of comics 24

The weirdest political messages in the history of comics 25

This was awkward, but perhaps a little less awkward than the time he crashed the Scarlet Witch and Vision’s Thanksgiving while sporting a Cosby sweater. The Avengers (who showed up in their costumes) toss the reformed villain the stink-eye all meal long. To be fair, he did once mind-control his daughter and make her prance around Salome style, so Magneto’s not being nominated for any “Father of the Year” awards.

The weirdest political messages in the history of comics 26

The weirdest political messages in the history of comics 27

Batman becomes a mouthpiece for the Expanding Earth hypothesis

Speaking of Neal Adams, he’s a proponent of the Expanding Earth theory, a scientifically derided hypothesis that claims the Earth is slowly growing, plate tectonics be damned. It’s good to have hobbies I suppose, but Batman recently became a spokesman for the movement in a 2012 issue of Batman Odyssey.

The weirdest political messages in the history of comics 28

The weirdest political messages in the history of comics 29

Steve Ditko’s Objectivist comics

Steve Ditko is famous for three things — A.) co-creating Spider-Man and basically promulgating all of his early mythology; B.) staying out of the public eye; and C.) his later Objectivist comics, in which he traded superheroics for Ayn Rand. When dealing with a protagonist like Mr. A, villains weren’t necessarily thrown in the pokey. No, they were occasionally subjected to long-winded philosophical speeches followed by painful deaths.

The weirdest political messages in the history of comics 30

Mr. T tackles hot-button issues in his comic book

In reality, crack-addicted babies and racial profiling are serious topics. But when such social problems are brought to the fore by world-famous gymnastics coach and fashion maven Mr. T? Well, the rules of reality generally don’t apply to Mr. T. (Incidentally, this is the third Neal Adams comic we’ve mentioned thus far, this time by accident.)

The weirdest political messages in the history of comics 31The weirdest political messages in the history of comics 32

Lois Lane becomes a black woman with Superman’s help

Yes, Superman once transformed Lois Lane into an African-American woman using technology because 1970s.

The weirdest political messages in the history of comics 33

The weirdest political messages in the history of comics 34

The weirdest political messages in the history of comics

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.
Comments

You May Also Like

Conspiracies

By Gary North | LewRockwell  In the history of Western philosophy and social theory, no really silly idea has been more successful than the...

Underworld

On 8th June George Orwell’s surveillance crazed czar of surveillance Big Brother will be 65 years old (in literary years). To mark the date...

Conspiracies

by T.S. Caladan  Could we be once again seeing some form of truthful reflection or what is really going on behind the scenes of...

Bizzare & Odd

Abby Zimet writes at Common Dreams: The head of the Italian police officer’s union is charging Nina De Chiffre, a 20-year-old art student, with...

Conspiracies

In this interactive documentary, based on British journalist Steven Poole’s book, the manipulative power of  language is explored. Merging filmmaking, data, technology, and design,...

Underworld

The only TV doc to have advance access to the biggest Wikileaks release ever. This is what really happened during the Iraq war, not...

Underworld

Russell Brand earns the respect of non-voters everywhere standing up for himself in the face of an extremely hostile BBC interviewer and calling for...

Underworld

FOUR HORSEMEN is an independent feature documentary which lifts the lid on how the world really works. As we will never return to ‘business...

Advertisement