Do comic books lean left?
By Marjorie Kehe | 01.09.09
With a comic book aficionado about to be sworn in as the president of the United States, it’s no surprise that comic book makers are eager to capitalize on their new inside-in-the-beltway connection. But is it true that comic books are now turning partisan?
It’s been all over the news this week that Marvel Comics is planning a special issue Jan. 14 , 2009, issue of Amazing Spider-Man #583 with Obama on the cover. Inside are five pages of Obama-Spider-Man escapades, as Spider-Man stops the Chameleon from spoiling Obama’s swearing-in.
Best of all, there’s a fist-bump between Spidey and the new president.
It’s already predicted that the issue, which will have a face value of $3.99, will be worth as much as $20 the first day it goes on sale – an instant collector’s item.
But there are those who suggest that a comic book is not just a comic book but rather a sojourn into partisan politics.
“Even Comic Books Crawling with Pro-Obama Bias?,” asks Ken Shepherd at Newsbusters.
He notes that in the USA Today story about the Obama-Spider-Man special writer David Colton says that although US presidents have appeared in comics since the days of FDR, in recent years, “presidents have appeared as more shadowy figures.”
Shepherd quotes Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Joe Quesada who insists that he and his artists and writers “do our best to be completely non-partisan and treat presidents with respect.”
But Shepherd then refutes that claim by referring to a story by Michael Lackner on FrontPageMag.com that reports that in late 2001, a Marvel Comics storyline portrayed Bush as “a slobbering belching incoherent drunk, gleefully itching to launch nuclear missiles.” In the same story, The Punisher, Marvel Comics’ avenging vigilante, makes a threat on Bush’s life – “only weeks after September 11th. “
It may, however, require a deeper reading to truly deconstruct the politics of comic books.
In his blog on American Prospect, Adam Serwer cites another recent storyline in which Obama appears to side with the Green Goblin, “Spider-Man’s greatest foe.”
“All of which is to say,” Serwer concludes, “that while the politics of comic books are often interesting, they’re also often very incoherent, and hard to interpret as nakedly partisan.”
Comments
2. Jeff | 01.09.09
Comic books are so diverse that it is pretty rediculous to claim bias either way. Frank Miller is planning a graphic novel devoted to telling the story of Batman taking on Al Queda and Osama Bin Laden.
3. American | 01.09.09
It just might be that comics and democrats see eye to eye because they are on the correct side of every issue. It is sad that the Republicans have lost their way, but now that a decent, caring, smart, intelligent, and strong manager will be sitting in the white house, it will be like a breath of fresh air.
4. John Jackson Miller | 01.09.09
Writing Iron Man in 2003-2004, I was encouraged by Marvel to use George W. Bush for any sequence where the appearance of the president would have made logical sense. We worked to keep things even-handed — readers might interpret the major decision he made in the storyline as brilliant or reckless depending on their point of view, and it played either way. We fictionalized the chief of staff and several characters with more active roles (as shown here — http://blog.farawaypress.com/2009/01/obama-makes-mu-debut.html) but the guidance basically was that anyone else — Senators, cabinet members — whose roles were window-dressing should be the actual office-holders.
The depiction of the Marvel Universe as having the same participants as “our” universe goes way back. Reagan, Carter — even Nelson Rockefeller have had speaking roles in Marvels past.
5. TooDarkMark | 01.09.09
Yes they do lean left. It’s because usually because people who create comics are creative and intelligent. Hence the leaning left 
6. Jon | 01.09.09
Is this even a question? Of course they lean left. Go back through history, Bush being the president responsible for targeting and exterminating mutants via the Sentinels in Ultimate X-men. Clinton always being treated as an benevolent man who needed protection in the Reign of the Supermen era. All the way back to the Joker stating the he’s “just another victim of Reaganomics” during the “Death in the Family” series in the 80’s. I believe that covers both major comics companies over several of their flagship titles as examples. The results are self-evident, and yes, I am a comic book geek and I approve this message.
7. TWTaber | 01.09.09
Yes, well while i agree that comics do tend to lean, it should primarily be of no suprise to anyone with a pulse these days, that they are creations of POP culture, and i feel they have no where near the bias of any other pop medium such as the music industry or film for that matter.
Also to the point that the conservative culture of the 40’s and 50’s attemted banning, censorship, and linking them to adolescent delinquency and such, again i ask “is anyone surprised…?…”
i do recall, and while it has been decades since i read this issue in my childhood, certainly a re-print, an episode of President Eisenhower being protected from harm while out on the golf course, although i am not sure by whom….
fun stuff food for thought………
………guy on the scene
8. Sing Ha | 01.09.09
The old adage of knowing your audience comes to mind. The spectrum of comic readers is more diverse today than it ever was, but the main demographic targeted by comic books has always been America’s youth. Perhaps comics lean left because America’s youths lean left as well.
9. Louis | 01.09.09
OH MY GOD! THE LEFT IS OUT TO GET US ALL!!
Get over it.
Are Conservatives really this paranoid to suddenly suggest comic books are “leftist” reading material?
10. KDHARRI | 01.09.09
I remember when comics were unabasedly right-leaning. Examples: early Captain America & Sgt. Rock, both fighting “dirty Commies”. Seems apropo that there is a shift of sorts occasionally
11. SBP | 01.09.09
I don’t read superhero comic books anymore — haven’t since about 8th grade or so (although I devour escapist novels). But I’m interested in the medium and have a few old pulps and comic books from 50s and 60s in my library.
Even though, politically, I am left of center, I find the charges of ‘leftist media bias’ in illustrated fantasy books a bit bizarre. Superhero comic books are, at their core, illustrated stories about imaginary people who wear spandex and fly through the air; there is no claim to “journalism” or factual reporting in this entertainment media — nor should any be expected. Those who find the portrayal of Obama or Bush in the pages of ‘Spiderman’ objectionable should vote with their feet and their wallets.
13. David Baum | 01.09.09
I believe you chose the wrong publishing company for the title of your article. Spider-Man, the Punisher et al are the property of MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT GROUP - IE: Marvel Comics.
DC Comics, such as Batman & Superman are the properties of WARNER BROTHERS.
I think you should change the title…
14. tyler | 01.09.09
Even worse, it has recently been discovered that Garfield was actively working for Ron Paul throughout last year’s elections.
Superhero comic books don’t have a coherent approach to anything. They’re just churning ‘em out. Though now that Grant Morrison is working with the big characters we might see something with a little intentional political edge to it.
15. LeeInMpls | 01.09.09
Actually, society has be shifted so far right/authoritarian, that the center looks liberal.
The rest of the world sees Bush as a tragic, clown, failed President. Any objective person would.
16. garcho | 01.09.09
wow, my mind has been blown. if you’re someone who likes obama, or voted for him, or supports him, you’re ‘biased’ in favor of obama; a stunning observation. is anyone else confused as to how this is worthy of any mention? it looks as if the republicans, hillaryites, and whiney self-obsessed columnists are now resorting to stating the obvious, as if it’s a rhetorical question. i suppose, for them, that’s a good start. next they can work on elementary logic and reasoning.
17. Julian | 01.09.09
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18. forg3 | 01.09.09
Um,
You do realize that the election is over and Obama won. Also are you aware that comic books are a form of media, just like TV, radio, books, newspapers, etc? To state that a form of media is partisan is like stating that roads, train tracks, rivers, bridges and other structures are partisan.
Look at the comic books of the 40s and see the anti-Germany and pro-Germany sentiment expressed or look at the religious-comics and anti-religious comics that are sold everyday.
Marjorie, you should be more careful about pointing at the universe rather than at the authors who you appear to disagree with.
20. michael johnson | 01.09.09
you would be equally well informed about american politics by watching professional wrestling as reading comics. they are cashing in on the iconic
popularity of our new president just as many t-shirt, poster, and other vendors of schatzki are. mr. obama is already and will continue to be the most commodified president in history……if history is kind to him.
that having been said…. yes, most of the american popular media leans left as do many writers of american/world history. you need a broad range of informational input in order to know the real stories. i was a voracious reader of comic books and books as a youth, but i knew even then which held the real key to knowledge. and it wasn’t graphic novels…. i mean comic books.
21. Jon Brandon | 01.09.09
As Jonah Goldberg pointed out in his book, Liberal Fascism, JFK appeared in more Superman comic books than any other president. So the liberal-left bias in comic books is nothing new. But, really, political correctness entered the comic book genre when Marvel decided to “humanize” Tony Stark in the Iron Man series, documenting his struggles with alcoholism. That’s when I stopped reading Iron Man comic books. Iron Man was drunk in the comics before Bush ever was. I think he was even driving that crazy nuclear-powered suit while under the influence. Spare the children. Let the heroes be heroes. As for Obama siding with the Green Goblin, that makes perfect sense to me.
22. Lucas Sarkisian | 01.09.09
Political bias exists in all fiction, sometimes the political message is delivered with all the subtility of a sledge hammer to the head by someone who believes there is no bias or politics in their message, and get upset if you point it out to them. As for the specific stories mentioned, when a comic book company turns out as much as twenty different issues a week, it is a bit much to expect an editor in chief to track every storyline. That said, a New York City based industry employing people with far left politics, some of whom are not Americans and do not live in this country, the far left sledge hammer makes frequent appearances, conservative views are so infrequent that I would caution anyone from mentioning them since if such views became known in the industry, it will costs some people their jobs. Sadly, a more even handed approach might help with sales, and with public acceptance.
23. mark | 01.09.09
Or perhaps the comic book companies know that they will sell a lot of comics by placing a very popular president elect on their cover. At best they are reflecting popular sentiment, and at worst they exploiting it for their own gain.
While some comic storylines have deeper political agendas (left, right and otherwise), I don’t see this as being one of them.
24. Mark | 01.09.09
Wow, “do comic books lean left?” The question should be: are graphic artists and writers predominantly liberal? Hang out in any college art department and you’ll literally see students wearing their liberal ideology on their backs. Great t-shirts by the way.
I graduated from Ringling College of Art and Design and have been teaching at a small college for many years, it’s no secret … artists, writers and educators lean left. Check out Hollywood, same genesis.
26. Kathy | 01.09.09
Considering the fact that American pop culture’s run by the left, it’s no surprise that even comic books would be included. What is surprising, however, is that so many people fall for the tripe.
27. Cru | 01.09.09
Um.. Captain America is dead. That should say enough about which way comics lean. As far as they’re concerned, we’re not even in the same country anymore.
But of course comics lean left.. Comics are about fulfilling fantasies. Conservatives don’t seem so eager to reach for new dreams so much as keep the current ones intact.
28. India | 01.09.09
I think everyone in the country is trying to make money off of Obama. The US is a free-capitalist society so if they want to make a Spider-Man commic book on him go right ahead and let them make their money.
29. Phillep Harding | 01.09.09
As I recall, Stan Lee has started supporting extreme left groups.
Back while Lee was still with Marvell, Spiderman went through some “soul searching” that showed guns in a very bad light. DC has done similar with Batman. These are both examples of planting a meme in the minds of children, much the way the stories told children by the elders did, to teach the new members of the tribe the “proper” way to behave and what is right to believe. Much the same purpose as the childrens stories told in Sunday School.
LeeInMpls is part of the population that has drifted so far to the Left and into the group that would willingly support a populist tyrant (original definition of “tyrant”) that Karl Marx looks like a Right Wingnut to them. They believe they are “center” and everyone else moved. He, and they, never noticed their own shifting beliefs.
30. akrw | 01.09.09
What? Me worry? With Alfred E. Neuman as the new president, comic books should have a heyday!
32. terdburd | 01.09.09
To paraphrase Freud; Soemtimes a comic book is just a comic book.
Ya’ll take this way too seriously. Do you really think a comic book can change anyone from a conservative into a liberal, or vice versa?
33. Jim | 01.09.09
Comic books in the classic sense (not counting edgy graphic novels) are predominantly moral fables with a fairly obvious point. In past decades they were denounced by conservatives – J. Edgar Hoover comes to mind – for “corrupting the youth” by not providing good-eventually-triumphs-or-is-at-least-nobler stories.
Now, though stories may deal with moral ambiguities, that essential message remains: being good and honest, treating all people fairly and defending the weak is the way to go.
And now that’s the problem. The corruption, arrogance and moral bankruptcy of modern conservatism has made all of those into “liberal” virtues. Conservatives are griping because they can’t measure up to the same standards they supposedly wanted everyone to follow.
34. Hoq | 01.09.09
The argument that the left is well-stocked with intelligent and creative people is obviously bogus… two words, folks - “LABOR UNIONS!”
As far as comic books leaning left, they might, but who cares? It’s hard to take a medium where things like “Earth 2″, “Superman’s Mirror” and such outlandish explanations exist for the death of a major character. In fact, I would venture that accepting the outlandish is a defined character trait of the left!
35. Phillep Harding | 01.09.09
The Left is more about fantasy, things that people want and not what people can achieve. The Right remembers shattered dreams and what did not work. That’s why children are usually “liberals” and adults are more likely to be “conservatives”.
Comic books are intended for children and immature adults. Of course they tend to the left, those that do not go off in macho fantasies.
Note how the “super hero” genre portrays the average citizen as being a helpless victim of forces beyond the control of normal humans. It takes a “hero” to set things right, the “man on horseback”, the stranger with abilities beyond normal and mortal ken. This also plays into the mind set of those who support the leftist causes, and voted for the ultimate unknown stranger, Obama.
36. ZRo | 01.09.09
I think that in general those who are creatively inclined tend to lean left because the left-leaning world tends to embrace the creative arts a bit more than those right-of-center. It’s not right or wrong…it’s just the way it is. Comparable to me liking the service at one place because they smile at me more than another place. Those who pursue anything creative (particularly as a career) tend to get the most reinforcement from the left over the span of their lives and thus develop a certain loyalty that way.
37. Ken | 01.09.09
Stan Lee once put the line “Thank goodness for social security, I don’t know how Aunt May and I would survive otherwise.” in the mouth of Spider-Man. I don’t recall the issue off-hand, but it’s in the first 39 issues. In that same story Spider-Man chases thieves who have stolen all the welfare checks (that’s what prompts the above line).
There are so many other examples of lineralism throughout Marvel comics under the editorial control of Stan Lee — Professor X open embrace of the dialectic of Martin Luther King, Captain America’s change from government agent to Superpowered Conscientious Objector, even the metaphor of the Hulk’s creation, etc. — that there really can be no question that Marvel has historically had a liberal bias.
Stan Lee’s politics are clearly very middle of the road moderate — Lee’s Peter and his Aunt may be on welfare, but Lee’s Tony Stark was the heroic personification of the Military Industrial Complex. The original “Iron Man/Captain America” series was a two-fisted beatdown on communism and fascism that firmly grounded Lee’s politics in the masculine liberalism of the World War 2 generation, an ethos which still resonates throughout the Marvel Universe.
38. Roland X | 01.09.09
Oh yes, presidents have really been “shadowy figures” in the last several years. Like President Lex Luthor, who was “elected” while Bush v. Gore was still raging. Very partisal, very shadowy. Or, you know, NOT.
Sigh. Newsbusters is such a joke…
39. Tim B | 01.09.09
“The Left is more about fantasy, things that people want and not what people can achieve. The Right remembers shattered dreams and what did not work.”
Thanks for the laugh.
41. Delux | 01.09.09
I have to wonder where this author is getting their information about the comic industry; feminist artists and comic fans, as well as people of color, have had several banner years criticizing the representation of female characters and people of color, as well as those who are both, in mainstream comics.
42. M Groesbeck | 01.09.09
Support for Obama is hardly a sign of “the left” — he was the most conservative Democratic candidate in the primaries, and is no further to the left than centrist/quasi-liberal. Consider that superhero comics in general — often promoting violent vigilantism, displaying extreme sexism, and glorifying “benevolent authoritarian” characters — are a right-leaning genre almost by definition.
43. Ken | 01.09.09
M Groesbeck: Your comments might be true of Batman, but generally don’t apply to the mainstream of comics. At least not in the last forty or fifty years.
44. MalibuDave | 01.10.09
Comics, like most heroic fiction, focus on underdogs overcoming overwhelming odds. Even with their “powers,” comic book heroes fight even more powerful villains or villainous organizations. Whether right or wrong, conservatives have dug themselves into a hole in which they have reputation of siding with the rich and powerful and protecting them from the poor and under-privileged.
Notice the hero Robin Hood steals from the rich to give to the poor. There is no conservative hero, because a conservative hero, to have any ideological integrity, would have to steal from the poor to give to the rich. This is not the making of good heroic fiction.
At the risk of changing the subject and revealing my prejudice, the current crop of conservatives don’t have values, despite all their propaganda to the contrary. If they had values, they would have pushed just as hard to impeach President Bush as they did to impeach Clinton. Undermining the constitution and lying the country into a war that killed more Americans than the attack on the twin towers are far more serious offenses that lying about a sex act. If you can put any sense of actual values on the sidelines while your side is in power, just to stay in power, that isn’t really having values, that is just naked partisanship.
Marvel putting Obama in a Spidey story is just a sales gimmick. Nothing more. Nothing less. If Bush or any conservative had captured the imagination of the people the way Obama has (so far) they would have done the same thing.
45. Robert | 01.10.09
I’ve read comics since 1963. They always reflect the zeitgeist and that means they will echo social/political changes. Sometimes right, somewhat more often left. Does anyone remember the Green Lantern/Green Arrow series? It’s famous for its social commentary.
47. James Swezey | 01.11.09
Creative minds are always looking for different ways and formats to tell a compelling story. Perhaps they believed that putting Obama and Spiderman together would make an intriguing plot. Perhaps the two characters have something in common
48. dave | 01.13.09
Marvel Comics?
Left Wing Biased?
LOLOLOLOLOL
Go to http://www.superdickery.com “superman is a dick” and look in the galleries under propaganda (and the others if you want a good laugh) and tell me that’s a liberal leaning comic.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
4. Funnybook Babylon · Archives · “Get your politics out of my superheroes!” “Get your SUPERHEROES out of my POLITICS!” | 01.11.09
11. Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources - Covering Comic Book News and Entertainment » Obama flip flops on important Spider-Man vs. Green Goblin issue | 02.20.09
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1. deth | 01.09.09
palin needs to stop talking. forever.