Batman Vs Al Queda, written and drawn by Frank Miller

[Art]

Really The Dark Knight Returns should have had a scene where the past-his-prime Bruce Wayne accidentally shoots a lawyer in the face with a shotgun.

[IndigoPrime]

:: an explosion from my gut

So, it's *shit*, then.

[Quirkafleeg]

Didnt the Joker become a arab terrorist back in the day when they had a poll to kill off Robin?

[GordonR]

He became Iran's ambassador to the UN.  In the comic, you actually saw him meeting the Ayatollah and being given the job.

'Simplistic' doesn't even begin to cover the level of political understanding going on there.

The 'Death in the Family' storyline also had a scene where Batman and Robin - in costume - visit an Ethiopian refugee camp, and look a bit sad at all the suffering going on around them.

Real-life stuff like this intruding into a silly superhero comic always makes me feel queasy.  Particularly when it's handled like the above examples.  I mean, does a big picture of the Hulk holding a tattered American flag and striding through the burning ruins of the World Trade Centre really the way to go?

[auxlen]

Spiderman did a 9/11 story which consisted of a load of marvel heros and villan looking mournful etc. It read like an open letter to the NY times....

[Dudley]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/jamesdudley/america.jpg">

[GordonR]

I saw that.  My favourite bit was Doom watching it on Doom-vid, and turning his eyes away in sorrow/horror.

Errrm....how many times in Marvel Universe history has Doom tried to destroy New York?
 

[longmanshort]

Yeah, but he didn't mean to destroy it, he just enjoyed the attention he got every time he tried. If he'd actually ended up destroying New York, what would he do to fill his time?!

[Funt Solo]

The amount of times he'd tried to destroy NY and a bunch of amateurs take out the twin towers without a hitch on their first go.

No wonder he couldn't watch.

[Will I. Cooling]

"Like this small fact ....George w's Grandfather was actually one of the biggest opponents to senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950's, Ironic but true. "

Yep, although it wasn't quite so much ironic as a symbol of the radical change that the GOP went under in the 20th Century. Joe McCarthy was in many ways a precursor to growth of the working class/anti-establishment conservatism that flared up in the 60s and 70s first with Barry Goldwater and then with Reagan. Prescott Bush was in many ways a member of the last generation of a "Tory" GOP that was still largely under the control of the North Eastern WASP elite. Similar to the various Tory parties around the world, such Republicans did see themselves as moderates and even progressive who accepted the post (or in America's case the pre)-war consensus on social security. It was only when the base of the party moved to the West in Sixties and then in the nineties the South that the more aggressively Conservative party we see now took its place, after all you can make a good case that from 1852 (the party?s inception) to 1912 (Wilson?s election as President) that the Republicans were really the left-wing party when compared with Southern dominated ?Redeemer? Democrats. I also recommend The Right Nation: Why America is Different, for anyone who wants to learn more about the change in the Republican Party).

Btw, did anyone read the article on Joe McCarthy in the Indie last week? Was a staggeringly good article and shed some interesting light on the whole affair; esp. the fact that what caused his downfall was when he went against the Army.

As for this comic, yep it sounds crazy but we all know Miller had flipped some time ago anyway. I mean have any of you tried to read All Star Batman and Robin? (shudders). And although Gordon?s right, politics has very little place in silly American superhero comics lets not forget that it can be done good (hugs copy of Watchmen and Superman: Red Son)

[Will I. Cooling]

Today's Guardian

Link: http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,1710677,00.html" target="_blank">Why of all possible comics did they cover this one

[simon]

Politics can be done in comics really well (mainly if you are Alan Moore) as you point out but not the stupid stuff that Marvel/DC crank out every now and then...some of the post 9/11 stuff was toe-curling...heart was in the right place but awful just the same....unfortunately Miller harks back to the 50's when it was CHILDREN read comics rather than the considerably older readership now and stereotypes reign supreme so any ludicrously crass and clumsy attempts just don't work  on a hopefully more balanced age range nowadays...Frank Miller has employed this immature ethos in sin city to great effect ie men =tough ,women=tits or beautiful lesbians or Hottie Ninjas etc....its embarrasing when done seriously...really it's why american comics are ,with a few exceptions, crap. ...I picked up some french stuff recently and it's so refreshing...it just strikes me as some of these US titles are just tired old corpses being dragged through the same old streets .best
Simon D

ps damn this cheap wine again....
pps i agree with all that Gordon said...

[Emperor]

After going through a few changes (and losing Batman) this is out in September:

www.amazon.com/Holy-Terror-Frank-Miller/dp/193727800X/

Previews:

www.bleedingcool.com/2011/07/21/violent-video-trailer-for-frank-millers-holy-terror/
www.bleedingcool.com/2011/07/21/see-the-first-five-pages-of-frank-millers-holy-terror/

Now, best of all, Pat Mills has given his thoughts:

"Just watched a small sample of Holy Terror – Frank Miller's latest. Looks fantastic – as long as i don't put my Marshal Law hat on (which is difficult). I gather its perspective is the right-wing war on terror. If so, presumably it will patriotically ignore the well-documented and proven terror that the USA (and the British) military is inflicting on the world. If so, Frank's huge talent is that he gives right-wing heroes a really cool image – I always find them really compelling – whereas Tom Clancy-style heroes – especially in game form – are usually so transparently "John Wayne for the 21st century", that their pernicious effect must be limited. Living in a military town, I have a little knowledge of the human cost of producing such super soldiers – and it's a high price and far from glamorous."

    "I got a lot across in Marshal Law and continue to do so in Savage and occasionally in Requiem, but the current right-wing perspective is so loathsome it needs challenging head-on. There's so much story material to draw on, it just needs the right window dressing/disguise to make it acceptable, popular and entertaining to a mainstream audience . I guess that's my speciality; certainly in the past I was inspired by Frank's dramatic techniques to create alternative heroes with a very different world view to his, notably Marshal Law, which was generally a full-on attack on US militarism. Somehow that seemed appropriate. But the fact I haven't found an outlet recently is really bugging me."

    "For anyone who identifies with me here, I promise I'll do my best to find it. The current establishment world view is just too disturbing, too all-pervading and too dishonest to go unchallenged."

http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2011/pat-mills-the-right-wing-and-frank-miller/

When Pat works out his best angle of attack (I'm hoping for more superheroes in warzones, perhaps you could even work it into the Marshal Law universe, or some kind of future war parody, a bit like Starship Troopers) I'll be up for buying whatever he has to sell.

[Greg M.]

When Pat works out his best angle of attack (I'm hoping for more superheroes in warzones, perhaps you could even work it into the Marshal Law universe, or some kind of future war parody, a bit like Starship Troopers) I'll be up for buying whatever he has to sell.

Yeah, as we all know, Pat is at his most potent when motivated by righteous fury (i.e Charley's War) - it's a shame Marshal Law has fallen by the wayside 'cos Kev O'Neill is otherwise engaged (and I don't imagine Pat'd ever do it without him.) But something in that style to give him an outlet for his justified venom would be great.

[O Lucky Stevie!]

Superman ends the Second World War... No really!.

That sound that you can hear is an indignant Frank Miller choking on his Hostess Twinkie.