Back when this was all coming down (literally) on 9-11, I asked what the heck the comic book creators would do. This week, I began to find out.<\/p>\n
I subscribe to the Comics Buyer’s Guide<\/i>, a weekly tabloid that has various articles on the comics industry, history, etc. Yesterday the first issue written since 9-11 came out. <\/p>\n
Lots of personal stories. The comics industry is still centered in NYC, so people knew people in danger.<\/p>\n
And lots of the beginnings of “So, where to now?” Lots of pictures of the (twin) Luthor Towers in Metropolis, damaged during the recent “Worlds at War” story line. The Superman <\/i>comic with the most chilling panels of this was published on 12 September.<\/p>\n
The most poignant of the articles was Peter David’s “But I Digress” column. I’m prejudiced here, because I think David is a vastly entertaining writer. He’s one of the few guys I’ll pick up whatever <\/i>they’re writing and try it out. He writes comics. He writes franchise fiction (including some of the best Star Trek <\/i>books out there, not to mention some nifty B5<\/i>). He writes original fiction. He writes television. And he’s got a wicked sense of humor, and a way of slipping in something serious, even profound, when you least expect it.<\/p>\n
His BID column is really one of the reasons I subscribed to CBG. He (wisely) does not post it on the Internet. If he did, I suspect that CBG would lose a good quarter of its subscribers.<\/p>\n
David’s column this week intersperses how this affected his family life with vignettes about what would have happened in a comic book world. Batman taking the hijackers down in the airport parking lot. And the people are safe. <\/i>Another group of terrorists discovering that boxcutters are no match for Wolverine, who happens to be on their plane. And the people are safe. <\/i>Superman, rushing to the scene of the first plane crash into the WTC, snuffing the flames, spotting the second plane, and lifting it away until he can tear his way onboard and resolve the situation. And the people are safe.<\/i> <\/p>\n
I’ll quote the last bit.<\/p>\n
The President, grim-faced, sits in front of the Great Seal of the United States. “We have been attacked on American soil by great evil,” he says grimly into the TV camera. “But I promise you, my fellow Americans, that those who perpetrated this deed will be punished immediately … and swiftly. The Luthor administration will bring them to justice. You have my personal assurance, for I … Lex Luthor … your president … always pays America’s debts.”
\nAnd somewhere a pack of terrorists laughs at the obvious American rhetoric … until a roar of rockets alerts them that something’s wrong. They’re on their feet, but it’s too late for them to flee, as men in flying armored suits, with the letters “LL” stamped on them, smash in from everywhere. The terrorists are rounded up in seconds, to be brought before a world court that Luthor will oversee. They will be convicted. They will be executed — and Luthor will make certain that the Eighth Amendment is repealed so that cruel and unusual punishments can be implemented.<\/p>\n
And the people are not safe — but they are avenged.<\/p>\n
A bit of revenge fantasy? A cautionary tale? Some of both?<\/p>\n
If comic books are morality plays, if they are fantasies in which the conflicts and struggles of the modern world are played out with metaphors and avatars of the human spirit, then it will be very interesting to see what happens some months from now, when the actual comic books written after 9-11 start coming out.<\/p>\n
Stay tuned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Back when this was all coming down (literally) on 9-11, I asked what the heck the comic book creators would do. This week, I began to find out. 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Let's see what the pull box dragged in. [powerpress] The covers below are for the issues I gave an individual review of; hover over the covers below to see the ratings out of 5 stars (with an occasional added comment), and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "***Dave Does the Comics"","block_context":{"text":"***Dave Does the Comics","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics\/dave-does-the-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Justice-League-21.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Justice-League-21.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Justice-League-21.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":23252,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/30\/dave-does-the-comics-issue-16-30-oct-2011.html","url_meta":{"origin":524,"position":1},"title":"***Dave Does the Comics – Issue 16 (30 Oct 2011)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 30-Oct-11 4:53pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Another week, another bucket o' comic books to review. \u00a0Lots of good news for Marvel, ratings-wise; not so good for the end of the second month of DC's New 52. But we get a video to review as well, so that should be fun. Comic book covers galore ... 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