I like to think of myself as a connoisseur of comic books. Now one comic book in particular that I have found to be very interesting is The Punisher by Marvel Comics.
The Punisher is about a former soldier whose family was massacred by the Mafia. Since that time, he has carried a very effective one-man war against crime.
In the last few years, The Punisher comic book has been the showcase of, shall we say, repulsive actions, all viewed in living color including but not limited to:
Eviscerations (i.e. disembowlements), cannibalism, rapes, immolations (i.e. setting people on fire), close-ups of violent shootings, death by snakes, piranhas, sharks, polar bears (the scene in which the polar bear swipes the man's head clean off was simply incredible), beheadings, the destruction of an entire island by a nuclear bomb, a tossing of a gangster from the top of the Empire State building (in the full view of a young teenager who got super excited over it), testicular castrations . . .
I think you get the picture.
But not once, I repeat, not once have any religious right group raised anything resembling anger, outrage, disgust, or downright shock over any of these things.
But these groups are crying bloody murder now and you know what they are angry about?
The wedding of a gay superhero, Northstar, to his boyfriend in another Marvel comic:
From that lovely bastion of phony news, One News Now:
Now I usually end a piece like this with a quirky comment, but I don't think I need to.
Sometimes the idiocy of the religious right speaks very well for itself.
The Punisher is about a former soldier whose family was massacred by the Mafia. Since that time, he has carried a very effective one-man war against crime.
In the last few years, The Punisher comic book has been the showcase of, shall we say, repulsive actions, all viewed in living color including but not limited to:
Eviscerations (i.e. disembowlements), cannibalism, rapes, immolations (i.e. setting people on fire), close-ups of violent shootings, death by snakes, piranhas, sharks, polar bears (the scene in which the polar bear swipes the man's head clean off was simply incredible), beheadings, the destruction of an entire island by a nuclear bomb, a tossing of a gangster from the top of the Empire State building (in the full view of a young teenager who got super excited over it), testicular castrations . . .
I think you get the picture.
But not once, I repeat, not once have any religious right group raised anything resembling anger, outrage, disgust, or downright shock over any of these things.
But these groups are crying bloody murder now and you know what they are angry about?
The wedding of a gay superhero, Northstar, to his boyfriend in another Marvel comic:
From that lovely bastion of phony news, One News Now:
Pro-family groups are outraged by the recent announcement about plans for some comic book super heroes to embrace alternate lifestyles.
. . . Focus on the Family's Glenn Stanton, director of family formation studies, says it is "shameful" to press this issue upon children.
"What's really disturbing about this is the real arrogance of these cartoon creators who think their job is not just to entertain, but to indoctrinate, to preach at us," he observes. "We go to church to be preached at; we don't go to comics to do that. And again, it's just arrogance on the part of these creators."
He also dubs it a political move. "It's kind of activist comic books, which we don't need. Comic books are for entertainment; they're not for activism, social activism," Stanton contends.
. . .Monica Cole of OneMillionMoms.com, an advocacy branch of the American Family Association, agrees.
"DC Comics and Marvel, they have an agenda, and it's to indoctrinate children at a younger age," she laments. "And they're doing it. They're being successful at it."
Now I usually end a piece like this with a quirky comment, but I don't think I need to.
Sometimes the idiocy of the religious right speaks very well for itself.
Like making a 4-year old boy sing a song that proclaims "Ain't no homos going to get into heaven" isn't indoctrinating children at a young age? Clean your own house before you go after others.
ReplyDeleteeveryone just needs to relax
ReplyDeleteComic books are not for activism, social activism. Are you kidding?!!
ReplyDeleteThe Superhero is a social activist.
To borrow from Superman, they are fighting for truth, justice, and the American way.
As for arrogance on the part of Marvel...It is their business and can do what they want and they would not have done this if the bottom line was not the right price.
The difference between Marvel and them is they are promoting love and acceptness with truth and justice while they are welding the sword of discrimination, hate, and lies.
I am so glad our next gen will have Superheros to look up to.
I am beginning to think companies are now jumping on the bandwagon. It works for equality ya but I think most are saying 'hey, these companies are getting TONS of attention doing this. Let's do it too!' I guess everyone wins but the bad guys
ReplyDeleteYou, sir, have been bookmarked.
ReplyDelete- William Perrin
Did this woman never read comics? Comics have been about social activism since Green Lantern/Green Arrow in the 1960's-70's.
ReplyDeleteI hate how the right CONSTANTLY complains about how a medium is, without knowing a SINGLE damn thing about the medium. Its a joke really. Northstar isn't even all that important to Marvel, I meen its not like he is in every issue going "i'm queeeeer!". And where also is the rights issue with Batwoman? Surely the only real Lesbian hero can't be ignored by them right? Oh wait, yes it can, because they don't actually know anything about comics.
If anybody should be outraged its us, and at DC. Spineless gutters claimed time and time again that they would make a major character gay, so who do they pick? Alan BLOODY Scott! NOBODY but hardcore fans know who Alan Scott is, and not only that, doing this ERASES Scotts son. One of the only openly gay heroes DC has, its kind of stupid if you ask me. It's nothing more than a cheep cashgrab to make a quick buck before the public loses interest in gay issues for another few months. Sorry bout that rant lol, just figured I would get that out.
Alvin, a comics connisuer aye? Well then I have a few trades of GL/GA that you can send the good fellows at one news now for their reading pleasure. See if they don't still think comics can't be about social activism.
they wont let any news crews on the property for an interview.
ReplyDeletethey wont let any news crews on the property for an interview.
ReplyDelete: ) I'm a DC fan, but married a Marvel reader, and I say it's about time Northstar settled down...
ReplyDeleteand I just have to laugh at the fools who think he's a new character, like he hasn't been around since the Moral Majority was bitching about comic books giving young people bad ideas about things like equality...
think Teri's got it... to quote scripture 'attend to the beam in thy own'
*evisceration. It has a "c".
ReplyDeleteAlso, spot on. I mean, wow.
Freakin cowards removed my comment on OneNewsNow. I guess they couldn't handle my NY rebuke.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure that kids haven't been a big comic book-buying demographic since the 70's.
ReplyDeleteEven if this weren't insane, I'm pretty sure kids stopped reading comic books in the 80's.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to remember the name of the comic book that the Catholic church used to hand out to younglings to indoctrinate them*, whilst trying to remember that the Catholic administration has been a bunch of shameless hypocrites since the dawn of time...
ReplyDelete* - funny how the memory works. I believe the comic was called Treasure Chest...