Necessity, the Tyrant's plea.

athenadark:

andarthas-web:

brevoortformspring:

I write articles for my local comic store. We were going to post an article on “Secret Empire”, but due to some genuine discomfort about certain aspects we made the decision to not post it this time. I think the premise and story are very interesting and just wanted to share the unused article with you. It’s clearly going to be an uphill battle for you guys, this time, but hopefully it will all be worth it. 

Who’s Afraid of the SECRET EMPIRE? – Chaos McKenzie

So there’s been a ton of controversy lately centered on Nick Spencer’s run of two corresponding Captain America titles. The controversy being the juxtaposition of a champion of liberty, transformed into a figure of fascism, flying in the face of what many feel the character stands for. I do not want to piss upon those fans feelings, I understand them, I get the rage, but like an avalanche begun by a tiny pebble knocked loose on a mountain summit that roles down, gathering steam, and becoming uncontrollable – I personally feel the controversy has lost any sense of control and the only real victim is the type of story that is going live long beyond the strife.  

So yes, Nick Spencer is not writing a story about Captain America fighting the tides of fascism, which are quickly becoming a dominant force in real world politics once again; Spencer is instead using Captain America to paint a very realistic portrayal of current social and political climates. People currently, especially in America, feel their country has been subverted, and depending on whom you ask the cause of that subversion differs greatly. But it is a fact that the Marvel Universe has always attempted to represent the real world within their fantastical reality, and it is a fact now that Nick Spencer’s story heavily reflects things happening in politics right now. I get that some people don’t want that. That things have gotten so bad in the world lately that we need our escapism more than ever, but I for one am extremely excited for the story to unfold fully. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that Captain Americawon’t be back to safe and normal status by the end of Secret Empire, and in the meantime we get a sci-fi/fantasy/adventure story that parallels the fears of people in today’s climate. Plus I really feel Spencer has earned a lot of trust with his Image books Morning Glories and The Fix (new volume out now!!)

In the Sam Wilson title, we see the fight for American ideals that have been presented to us on television and in films for decades. An ideal that in today’s climate doesn’t seem as realistic or believable as it once was. Then in Steve Rogers’ title, we watch as those ideals are perverted and twisted in accordance to the whims of an evil cosmic power with the mood swings of a child. One needs to remember through all of this, that fascists see themselves as the right, the just, like any truly brilliant villain they do not see themselves as villains. Surely by the end, as Cap struggles through the everything that is pure anathema and contrary to his character, he will come out of it even stronger, more defined, and recast in the ideals that make him a legend. It’s all very tense and amazing stuff, but I get how, to many, it’s a hard sell. So let’s try looking at it from a different angle – the source material.

Nick Spencer’s exploration of Hydra, as a fascist organization that truly believes it is in the right, doing good, all finds its beginnings in Jonathon Hickman’s Secret Warriors run. This was Hickman’s first series at Marvel, originally publicized as a co-production with Brian Michael Bendis, but Hickman took it in so many different directions that it became a beast completely unique to him. Madam Hydra, Hive, the Kraken, and the philosophical groundwork for this version of Hydra all come from Hickman’s run. Secret Warriors is the underdog of Hickman’s Marvel work after the epic of Fantastic Four and the build up to Secret War. To anyone feeling dirty about the current status of Captain America, I highly recommend checking out Hickman’s Secret Warriors, to get a better sense of the waters Spencer is churning up for his turn at the big event wheel. And remember this is just one more hurdle in a life of Herculean struggles for Steve Rogers, who will no doubt be on the side of truth and justice again, before too long.

To review – there’s no doubt Cap will be back to normal, sooner rather than later, but in the meantime I feel that Secret Empire deserves a much closer look than its getting. Consider how rewarding it will be to see the cracks of fascism rise among the plots of a mind-wiped idealist, to eventually see the evil topple of its own hubris. Without a doubt, I think Secret Empire will be considered a classic once all the dust from the controversy settles, especially as a parallel to the terrors of Trump-ism. 

There are multiple volumes of Sam Wilson: Captain America, and the second volume of Captain American: Steve Rogers just came out. Secret Empire is just getting started, and is on the stands now. A new printing of Jonathon Hickman’s Secret Warriors was just collected and is still available.

First of all, fuck yes, THANK YOU. Finally.

Second, I think that you are a little late to the game where it comes to communicating this to people as intensely as it would have been necessary, considering that there was already a strong association between Hydra and Nazis in the fandom, with these seen as the kind of “Evil Other” that people are quite averse to reflect upon, but hey, better late than never.

At the moment, the discussion about “Zeitgeist”, which is indeed badly needed, has regrettably gotten bogged down by discussions about how Nick Spencer is supposedly a Nazi and Marvel a bunch of antisemitc enablers. Which is bullshit, but in discussions like these, the emotional bits are as important as the rational ones (interesting article about this in the NYT here).

Problem is

a)      human beings usually prefer to be seen as rational

b)      when we feel hurt, we want to lash out

If people accepted the HydraCap storyline as a valid way of analyzing the current socio-political situation, enabling us to deal with it better, they risk being dismissed as irrational (a fire which you’ve fed) and they no longer have a legitimate outlet for their hurt and anger. So….what we end up with to cope with this dilemma is rationalizations. And since those are NOT fed by facts and evidence, but by emotion, addressing this is going to take a LOT of work and finesse.

One thing that I believe will be helpful is to repeat things that you have said in the above article.

Say it.

Say it again.

Say it differently.

Say it through a different channel.

Rinse and repeat.

Maybe find some new and innovative ways to communicate with people, ways that empathize that this is NOT just a marketing gimmick done for shock value.

Maybe include interviews with people who are authorities on the “Zeitgeist” you are picking up on. I suggest Jane Eisner. Or Noam Chomsky. Or Philip Zimbardo. Or Alicia Garza. Mohamed Ali. Benedetta Berti.

Or start an essay-writing competition for readers about the connection between the story and how fascism gains and maintains power in real life. Have the jury be people from outside Marvel, people that the readers respect and will WANT to have their stories read by. Some of the same people you might use for interviews, but also people like Anthony Mackie, Chris Evans, Clark Gregg or hell, Sebastian Stan, whose family fled Ceausescu’s regime when he was a child.

Get creative.

People aren’t hearing you much right now, but you and Nick and your team have a story worth being read and appreciated. Especially now.

Whenever a book that challenges the norm comes out, whether it’s book/film/comic or even a concept album, people have this weird idea that they are immediately accepted and praised for what they are doing and the challenge they are making

the opposite is true

almost every work that is later accepted to be that important and powerful, say Fahrenheit 451, 1984, A Clockwork Orange, Watchmen, A Brave New World etc has been slaughtered by the press and people who are not reading it, who will never read it, go insane and turn into pearl clutching soccer moms going “but won’t someone think of the …..” insert group who were completely unaware it was coming out

and right now Secret Empire is getting that unfair shake of the stick especially as it’s not finished yet, now if the work comes out and it’s like a Terry Goodkind novel of 200k of proselytising about the joys of communism in a fantasy series that started out joyfully apolitical and it is judged on it’s own preachy terms - then it becomes a fair assessment. Yes a series you love can get up itself and start to try to educate you

but if your only complaint against something like We by Evgeny Zamyatin [a wonderful sci fi book which presents a communist dystopia instead of a fascist one] is that someone told you something happened in it - that might not be true is unfair

Any mirror held up to our own society is going to, by its very nature, be slandered by those who do not want the work to exist, and those who do not understand the risk of it.

Let’s keep this with comics - Watchmen bombed in its initial print because it was so different from what comic readers knew and it shattered the view of the superhero as flawless - in its wake both Marvel and DC redefined their entire canon and it was for the better - even if you don’t like Watchmen you have to admit the effect it had.

The same was true of Arkham Asylum: A serious house on Serious Earth, at the time the art style (Dave McKean) was considered unintelligible, with awful type setting, the story was considered to be ludicrous and unrealistic - it is now taught at university level and recognised as one of the greatest comics ever written.

Secret War - right now - is in the middle, we don’t know the ending but it is trying to hold that mirror aloft - for good or for ill

and it’s funny, that most of the people who are offended by it - are the ones who were never going to buy it in the first place

(via athenadark)