Chuck Dixon, popular Batman writer and co-creator of such characters and story arcs as Bane, Stephanie Brown, ‘Knightfall’, and ‘Contagion’, recently gave his opinion on politics in comics in an episode of ‘Ask Chuck Dixon’. When asked by Chris Cueva if he was against politics in comic books, Dixon responded by saying that he was not.
“Absolutely not. I’ve written political books. I did The Forgotten Man, a history of the Great Depression, adapting Amity Shlaes epic, epic history of some of the darkest years in American history. I don’t think it’s political, but it is because it’s seen to have a conservative viewpoint, it’s very down on the New Deal, which I don’t think history is going to judge well in the end. So I’ve done that.”
“Clinton Cash a far more political book. An adaptation of Peter Schweizer’s exposure of Bill and Hillary Clinton’s rather tawdry work with their foundation and how basically they used it to enrich themselves. It’s purely political. So I’m not against politics in comics. I’m not against anybody’s politics in comics.”
Chuck Dixon Can Appreciate Political Comic Books
Chuck Dixon went on to talk about the underground ‘Trashman’ comic series by Spain Rodriguez and how it was very political, Marxist, and ant- American but appreciated the energy that Spain Rodriguez put into it.
“Back in the underground days I used to read Trashman by Spain Rodriguez. It basically calls for Marxist revolution in the United States, bloody Marxist revolution. It’s very anti-American. Very anti-white when you get right down to it. I dug the energy of it. I didn’t believe in any of it. I didn’t agree with any of it, but I certainly respected Spain Rodriguez’s right to make any comic book he wants.”
Chuck Dixon and Politics in Comics
Dixon then went on to explain why politics shouldn’t be in main stream comic books.
“My problem with politics in comics is when you mix it with mainstream comics. When superheroes take a side, decide that they’re Democrat or Republican. And 99.99% of the time they are going to side with the Democrat. Where one president is seen as a hero and the other one is seen as an ogre or a coward or whatever depending on their party line.”
“Now, like the old Mad Magazine, if comics were to either elevate or mock each president with the same severity to the same level I’d be fine with it. But this is politics being put into a place it does not belong. Politics does not belong in superhero comics!”
He then continued with how American superhero comics were originally meant for children and not meant to be literature or political
“I’ve said it before, I’ve said it again. I’m a comics fan, you’re a comics fan, but let’s face it these characters were created to entertain children. They were never meant to be political. They were never meant to be literature. They were never meant to be meaningful. They were just meant to be good solid American red-blooded entertainment. And putting politics into it, ruins it. It ruins anything. If you made a political Kung Fu movie, I would say the same thing. Get off it. Stop doing that.”
Comic Books Should Entertain and Not Take Political Sides
Chuck Dixon is absolutely correct on this. The main reason that Marvel and DC are failing right now is because of the political sides that long established characters are being thrust into. Writers at both companies are interjecting their political bias into a medium it was never meant for. It was a medium intended to entertain us, give us hope, and show us right from wrong. Chuck Dixon is also right when he says that it’s ok to have politics in comic books but comic books that are meant for that platform like the ‘Forgotten Man’, ‘Clinton Cash’, or ‘Trashman’. The ‘Forgotten Man’ is a great adaptation of a time in American history that is fading away in our history books and should be used to teach our kids the right side of that dark period. Politics in comic books is also the reason for the great success of crowd funded creations over at Indiegogo. Most of the comic books coming out of there like CyberFrog, Graveyard Shift, and Jawbreakers are politic free and just pure explosive entertainment. Dc and Marvel are floundering for readership right now and it will continue to get worse the more they infuse their politics on our favorite heroes.
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