FFF Results Post #126—USA! USA!
On Friday afternoon, participating CR readers were asked to "Name Five Cool, Patriotic Things About Comics." Here are the results.
*****
Tom Spurgeon
1. Captain America Loses Civil War To Drunk, Dies; Becomes More Popular
2. Art Form Obviously Not Created Here, Yet We Still Occasionally Claim This To Be True
3. Leading Export 1890s = Steel; Leading Export 1980s = Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
4. Sawdoff As Loaded Representation of mid-20th Century American Enemies
5. The Howling Commandos: Diversity in a Foxhole
*****
Douglas Wolk
1) The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund: champions of the First Amendment
2) Stars-and-stripes motif almost always looks good on comic book covers
3) The U.S. Treasury actually hired Tom Hart to promote its redesigned currency
4) Megan Kelso's Federalist Papers slash fantasy
5) "Pettigrew for President" in Treasure Chest: a black President 44 years before Obama!
1. Captain America is commercially viable at all anywhere else besides the U.S.
2. Uncle Sam is a superhero
3. World's most recognizable characters include Superman and Batman
4. Just about every superhero around before his death took on Adolf Hitler personally
5. The phrase "Truth, Justice and the American Way"
*****
Jason Michelitch
1. "Captain America for President" by Roger Stern and John Byrne (Captain America #250)
2. Almost every super-villain's scheme for world domination, destruction, or ill-gotten gains includes a stop through New York City/Gotham/Metropolis. It's because they hate our freedom.
3. It's Justice League of AMERICA, man, except when communists like Giffen are in charge.
4. O'Neil/Adams Green Lantern/Green Arrow - they were harsh because they cared.
5. Our fans are allowed to complain about people like Warren Ellis or Neil Gaiman "being too British."
*****
Russell Lissau
1. I learned WWII history by reading All-Star Squadron in the 1980s. It paid off: I knew from that series who won the Battle of Midway and thus proved a middle-school history teacher made a mistake on a test.
2. Dead or alive, Captain America remains a symbol of everything that is good about the American Dream.
3. Superman's motto is Truth, Justice and the American Way. 'Nuff said.
4. Superhero comics are a true American Art Form. There aren't many; the Blues is one of the few others.
5. Uncle Sam is a superhero in the DCU.
*****
James C. Langdell
Five For Friday #129 -- Name Five Cool, Patriotic Things About Comics
1. In the 1940's millions of comic books were sacrificed in paper drives, without which we wouldn't have kicked Hitler's ass.
2. In the 1950's, congressmen and senators are known to have talked about comic book in the heart of the United States capitol.
3. In the 1960's, Marvel comic book heroes saw beyond the obvious communist adversaries and bravely took on the more serious threats of Latveria, AIM, and Galactus.
4. In the 1970's, American youth read Dennis The Menace specials about their country's founding, history, and geography -- not that Howard Zinn crap.
5. In the 2000's DC Comics inspired Americans with an honest, smarter, kinder vision of their country in which Lex Luthor was elected president rather than George Bush.
*****
Don MacPherson
1) Marvel's most popular mutant character is Canadian.
2) Joe Shuster was Canadian.
3) Guardian's costume (Alpha Flight)
4) The vast majority of America's beloved comics are printed in Canada.
5) T.M. Maple
USA! USA! USA!
*****
Michael Grabowski
5. Comics covers of the WWII era with German and Japanese caricatures getting bopped by superheroes are still culturally accepted.
4. Captain America isn't a name, it's his rank.
3. Some of our comics are still cheaper here than in Canada.
2. The 1st Amendment still works, most of the time. (Sorry, Mike Diana.) God bless the CBLDF.
1. Benjamin Franklin's "JOIN, or DIE." The definition of pretty freaking awesome is when one of your founding fathers was an editorial cartoonist whose imagery contributed in part to the founding of your country.
1. Steranko's catalog of imitator heroes in his History of Comics: "Cap turned around and discovered an army of stand-ins waiting to jump on the patriotic bandwagon: The Americanization of comics had begun. There was the American Avenger, American Crusader, The American Eagle, Commando Yank, Fighting Yank, Mr. Liberty, and U.S. Jones. Some copied his stars and stripes: Yank and Doodle, Yankee Boy, Yankee Eagle, Yankee Doodle Jones, The Pioneer, the Defender, the Liberator, the Sentinal, the Scarlet Sentry, Spirit of '76, Super-American, Citizen V, Johnny Rebel, the Flag, the Flagman, the Unknown Soldier, and Citizen Smith, son of the Unknown Soldier. Some even copies his name: Captain Flag Captain Freedom, Captain Courageous, Captain Glory, Captain Red Cross, Captain V, Captain Valiant, and Captain Victory..."
2. The idea of throwing a shield as a major offensive tactic.
3. The Marvel 1976 Bi-Centennial calendar: esp. Conan jumping over a stone wall with a bunch of Minute Men.
4. The All Night Party. Third parties are always more patriotic than the main two.
5. "Fuck Communism" lighters.
1. World War III Illustrated
2. The work of Ted Rall
3. The work of Tom Tomorrow
4. Steve Englehart's Nomad storyline
5. "A Short History of America" by R. Crumb
1. Captain America & Falcon - with the sole exception of Power Man and Iron Fist, Marvel's best team-up
2. The USAgent - radial, arrogant, brainwashed, right-wing patriot, who failed as Steve Rogers' replacement
3. Superman - The epitome of Truth, Justice, and The American Way
4. The Shield - The first patriotic superhero
5. The Force of July - terrible, terrible team, but still kinda awesome
*****
Sean T. Collins
All-Frank Miller Edition...
1. "We must not remind them that giants walk the earth": Superman tosses Soviet tanks around in Corto Maltese in The Dark Knight Returns
2. Only in America: the Roarks, a family chock-full of serial killers, reaches the top of Basin City's political, religious, and social spheres in Sin City
3. "Give me a red": Nuke does one last thing for his country by dying on Ben Urich's desk in Daredevil: Born Again
4. "I'm the President. So I've got the Box. Damn straight.": Ninja sex machine Elektra transports the mind of mustachioed CIA operative Garrett into the body of President/Antichrist Ken Wind in Elektra: Assassin
5. Batman beats the living shit out of Osama Bin Laden in Holy Terror, Batman!, god willing
* The Air Pirates throwing it all on the line, fully aware that copyright and trademark law would not work as written in their case
* Steve Gerber and Jack Kirby demanding the right to authorship in a country that does not properly support moral rights
* Bill Gaines' defending a decapitation scene on a comic cover he published to congress
* Every single line and word in Bill Mauldin's Back Home
* Zapiro, Sasa Rakezic (Aleksandar Zograf), and all the other brave souls who have actually put their lives on the line for their views (sorry... they're from other countries... the spec just said patriotic, it didn't say where, even though the 4th connection was pretty obvious). Pray that you are never in their position.
