Batman Battles Al Qaeda

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this would normally go on ILC, but i thought this was just a bit too (forgive the pun) batshit not to post here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060214/ts_alt_afp/afplifestyleusattacks_060214163702

NEW YORK (AFP) - Bored with pitting his wits against the Joker and the Riddler, Batman is setting his sights on a more challenging target --
Osama bin Laden.

"Holy Terror, Batman!" an upcoming graphic novel from famed Batman writer Frank Miller, sees the caped crusader facing off against Al-Qaeda operatives who attack Gotham City.

Miller, who has already inked his way through 120 pages of the 200-page opus, told a recent comic book convention that the novel was an unashamed "piece of propaganda" in which Batman "kicks Al-Qaeda's ass."

The driving force behind the work, Miller said, was "an explosion from my gut reaction of what's happening now."

Holy Terror is "a reminder to people who seem to have forgotten who we're up against," he said in remarks posted on the entertainment website, IGN.com.

A 20-year comic book veteran, Miller became one of the best known names in the industry with the graphic novel "Dark Knight Returns," in which he brought Batman out of retirement.

He was also the creator of the graphic novel series "Sin City," which was turned into a hit movie of the same name last year directed by Miller, Robert Rodriguez, and Quentin Tarantino.

Miller said the use of comic book heroes for propaganda had an honourable tradition.

"Superman punched out Hitler. So did Captain America. That's one of the things they're there for," he said.

"These are our folk heroes," he added. "It just seems silly to chase around the Riddler when you've got Al-Qaeda out there."

No date has been set for the release of "Holy Terror, Batman!"

― latebloomer: yes...that's a human ear, all right (latebloomer), Thursday, 16 February 2006 13:40 (twenty years ago)

As long as he doesn't plan on having him fight Muhammad...

― deej.. (deej..), Thursday, 16 February 2006 13:45 (twenty years ago)

I read the title as "Bartman battles al-Qaeda".

"Eat my shorts, Osama" etc.

― Hello Sunshine (Hello Sunshine), Thursday, 16 February 2006 13:56 (twenty years ago)

WHAT A LOON

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Thursday, 16 February 2006 13:59 (twenty years ago)

"a reminder to people who seem to have forgotten who we're up against,"

Miller's been annoying for a while but this is tool-level moronicism. If he even slightly seriously thinks that somehow one can 'forget' the entity which the administration's been all too happy to remind the world of at every chance then I larf.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 16 February 2006 14:01 (twenty years ago)

Miller's right, though. In these troubled times you must choose a side. You are either with the terrorists or you are with Batman.

― Nemo (JND), Thursday, 16 February 2006 14:18 (twenty years ago)

I said this on one of the many ILC threads this came up one, but it deserves a bigger audience: I think the more interesting take on this would be to tell an Alternate History story where Batman is a devout Muslim (sorta like the recent reimagining of Spider-Man as a Hindu).

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 16 February 2006 14:38 (twenty years ago)

In a lot of ways Batgirl wears a Burqa.

― Pete (Pete), Thursday, 16 February 2006 14:55 (twenty years ago)

Oh crap! Thanks for pointing that out. Now I have to re-write the goddamned ending.

― Frank Miller-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 16 February 2006 14:56 (twenty years ago)

"Perhaps you've forgotten 9/11"

"No, I haven't, thanks to your bumper stickers!"

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Thursday, 16 February 2006 15:00 (twenty years ago)

In a very weird way, last night's episode of Lost reminded me of this, with Sayid (the former Iraq Republican Guard torture artist, O, IRONY OF IRONIES) telling Charlie "the others have forgotten what the Others have done to us."
Charlie: "The Others forgot what they themselves did?"
Sayid: "No, the 'other' us forgot what the other 'Others' did."
Charlie: "Did I ever tell you that I was in a band?"

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 16 February 2006 15:04 (twenty years ago)

I think this is sort of reprehensible, inflammatory etc etc but also I think it might be a pretty thrill-powered comic. I hope it is done in the style of Bill Savage fighting the VOLGS.

― Tom (Groke), Thursday, 16 February 2006 15:08 (twenty years ago)

Cue Cheney as The Penguin now please. Then we'll know it's a Batman we can trust.

― c@md3n (c@md3n), Thursday, 16 February 2006 15:10 (twenty years ago)

Would Cheney be a Danny DeVito/Sam Kieth sewer-dwelling Penguin or a Burgess Meredith/Iceberg Lounge high society, Shakespeare-quoting Penguin?

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 16 February 2006 15:15 (twenty years ago)

I'm going with Burgess Meredith all the way. The talking out of the side of mouth, mostly emotionless demeanor.

― c@md3n (c@md3n), Thursday, 16 February 2006 15:23 (twenty years ago)

"It just seems silly to chase around the Riddler when you've got Al-Qaeda out there."

― Allyzay Rofflesberger (allyzay), Thursday, 16 February 2006 15:39 (twenty years ago)

He won't be so smug when the Riddler takes over Gotham coz Batman's eye's off the ball.

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Thursday, 16 February 2006 15:41 (twenty years ago)

Bin Laden needs to do more riddling.

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Thursday, 16 February 2006 15:43 (twenty years ago)

Now I'm imagining Jim Carrey playing Bin Laden.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 16 February 2006 15:45 (twenty years ago)

Ned, Who would be Batman to Carrey's Bin Laden?

― c@md3n (c@md3n), Thursday, 16 February 2006 16:23 (twenty years ago)

tom hanks

― kingfish has gene rayburn's mic (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 16 February 2006 16:24 (twenty years ago)

Verne Troyer

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Thursday, 16 February 2006 16:29 (twenty years ago)

Didn't Batman already battle Al Qaeda in Batman Begins? Was I reading too much into that?

― Hatch (Hatch), Thursday, 16 February 2006 16:31 (twenty years ago)

Nah, that was just a french guy.

― kingfish has gene rayburn's mic (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 16 February 2006 16:32 (twenty years ago)

batman vs the pink robot

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 16 February 2006 16:36 (twenty years ago)

I think yer missing the point of Frank Miller, Hatch. See, sure Batman's ALLEGORICALLY fought terrorism for years (and Ra's Al Ghul was bin Laden-esque before bin Laden was!), but now Batman is REALLY REAL REALLY going after Al Qaeda to inflict BRUTALLY BRUTAL JUSTICY JUSTICE.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 16 February 2006 16:36 (twenty years ago)

i hope batman does some pre-emptive strikes!

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 16 February 2006 16:37 (twenty years ago)

Wasn't there noise 4 years ago about sending Capt America to go fight the terrists? What's G.I. Joe been up to, aside from teaming up with the Transformers?

― kingfish has gene rayburn's mic (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 16 February 2006 16:50 (twenty years ago)

Miller's always been a politically crude, reactionary, quasi-fascist. this should not be a surprise to anyone who's followed his work since the 80s

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 16 February 2006 18:36 (twenty years ago)

Yes, that is the point.

― Allyzay Rofflesberger (allyzay), Thursday, 16 February 2006 18:42 (twenty years ago)

Remember the 9/11 Amazing Spiderman?

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Thursday, 16 February 2006 18:42 (twenty years ago)

Will the conservative pundits embracing Miller for this forgive his Reagan-bashing in DKR? Or did I misinterpret that?

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 16 February 2006 18:48 (twenty years ago)

http://www.authentichistory.com/images/attackonamerica/comics/spider-man_36_09.jpg

― Milhouse is not a meme. But 'Milhouse is not a meme' IS a meme. (Adrian Langston, Thursday, 16 February 2006 19:08 (twenty years ago)

I thought DKR was based on some kind of creepy right-wing dystopia?

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Thursday, 16 February 2006 19:31 (twenty years ago)

I think maybe Miller was saying that Reagan wasn't right-wing ENOUGH!

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 16 February 2006 19:32 (twenty years ago)

Miller's more of a libertarian than a dyed-in-the-wool Republican - he's not opposed to making people on both sides look bad with broad strokes.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 16 February 2006 19:32 (twenty years ago)

also not afraid of making himself look like a macho nutcase, but that's neither here nor there, really.

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Thursday, 16 February 2006 19:34 (twenty years ago)

Am I the only one who imagines all comic book "voice overs" being read by the guy who does all the action movie trailers? "IN A WORLD..." Give me a goddamn break. I started rteading the Watchmen book, something I didn't want but which I got for Christmas anyway, and gave up about halway through because the whole thing was like, "IN A WORLD..." gag.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 16 February 2006 19:35 (twenty years ago)

ONE MAN...

― Nemo (JND), Thursday, 16 February 2006 19:39 (twenty years ago)

Alan Moore is 100000x more sophisticated a storyteller than whoever's responsible for that horrible Spiderman thing above (and Frank Miller for that matter).

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 16 February 2006 19:39 (twenty years ago)

I read the first issue of the new Jonah Hex comic last night, and felt the same way. There's this laborious voice over littering what could have been a very potent and possibly poignant showdown. I mean, imagine if Sergio Leone had used a voice over in G, B & U... "He was a man with no name. No first name. No last name. But if he had a name, it surely would have been Certain Death."

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 16 February 2006 19:40 (twenty years ago)

Uh... Watchmen doesn't have any captions. Well, not many.

― chap who would dare to be completely sober on the internet (chap), Thursday, 16 February 2006 19:42 (twenty years ago)

the only voiceovers I recall in Watchman are from Rorschach (who is such an over-the-top caricature that the "IN A WORLD" voiceover is probably appropriate - cuz Rorscach is a simpleton)

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 16 February 2006 19:44 (twenty years ago)

"dead dog in gutter with tire tread on burst stomach"

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 16 February 2006 19:44 (twenty years ago)

Actually there's the Dr. Manhattan chapter as well - "I am on Mars, the photograph is falling from my hand" etc.

― chap who would dare to be completely sober on the internet (chap), Thursday, 16 February 2006 19:49 (twenty years ago)

hmm yeah. and Rorschach's psychologist too, I guess...? Still, these are all character monologues, not omnipotent narrators!

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 16 February 2006 19:54 (twenty years ago)

omnipotent -> omniscient

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 16 February 2006 19:54 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, I think that was the point I was trying to make, I was just a bit too lazy.

― chap who would dare to be completely sober on the internet (chap), Thursday, 16 February 2006 19:58 (twenty years ago)

Miller's always been a politically crude, reactionary, quasi-fascist.
Miller's more of a libertarian than a dyed-in-the-wool Republican

-- Shakey Mo Collier

Ugh.

"Although the free market is clearly the antithesis of a state conrolled economy, such as fascists advocate, the left-wing dichotomy makes it seem as if fascists are just more extrememe versions of "conservatives," in the same sense in which socialism is a more extreme version of the welfare state. But this vision is of a symmetrical political spectrum corresponds to no empirical reality. Those who advocate the free market typically do so as just one aspect of a more general vision in which the government's role in the lives of individuals is to be minimized, within limits set by a need to avoid anarchy and a need to maintain military defense against other nations. In no sense is fascism a furth extension of that idea. It is in fact the antithesis of that line of thinking. Yet much talking in terms of left and right suggests that there is a political spectrum which proceeds from the center to conservatives to "far-right" neo-fascists to fascism itself. The only logic to such a conception is that it allows disparate opponents of the vision of the (left) to be lumped together and dismissed through guilt by association."- Thomas Sowell

― Cunga (Cunga), Thursday, 16 February 2006 20:17 (twenty years ago)

Since when does the GOP support anything resembling a free market?

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 16 February 2006 20:20 (twenty years ago)

Since when is anybody talking about GOP policies?

― Cunga (Cunga), Thursday, 16 February 2006 20:32 (twenty years ago)

libertarians may not be fascists but they're still douchebags.

― fauxhemian (fauxhemian), Thursday, 16 February 2006 21:09 (twenty years ago)

OTM

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Thursday, 16 February 2006 21:12 (twenty years ago)

these are all character monologues, not omnipotent narrators!

so what, they're still lame!!

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 16 February 2006 21:17 (twenty years ago)

hahahahaha

― Allyzay Rofflesberger (allyzay), Thursday, 16 February 2006 21:28 (twenty years ago)

I mean, let's focus here, people.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 16 February 2006 21:29 (twenty years ago)

sorry I always get kind of frustrated when people compare comics to movies.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 16 February 2006 21:30 (twenty years ago)

if'n you want highbrow, go read Maus or some shit.
xpost

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Thursday, 16 February 2006 21:31 (twenty years ago)

I don't want highbrow comics. That sounds particulary terrible. Isn't "Watchmen" one of the ultimate highbrow comics, packaged in hardback form, sold for close to $100, consistently referred to as "a classic" etc etc? From an insider's perspective, it may indeed be real different from other stuff, or was at the time, and therefore worthy of this and that, but I found the writing both totally schlocky and terribly self-important, as if the authors thought of themselves as Karel Capek rather than, er, comic book dudes. Plus it's so damn heavy it's impossible to read on the subway. So on the shelf it went. IN A WORLD where I don't really like comic books in the first place, though, ONE BOOK with ONE CHANCE to grab me, failed.

I'm not sure what Cunga's point there, is. But fascism really needs to be understood, for fuck's sake. It is the doctrine that POWER is the greatest goal, greater than democracy, or liberty or anything. I think it's not strange to imagine that in a libertarian "let the big dogs eat" society with "minmal" government action, the weak and the powerless will be exploited by the powerful much more than in other systems, which I would call pretty close to fascism. Disagree?

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 16 February 2006 21:44 (twenty years ago)

Watchmen sells for $100? that's outrageous.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 16 February 2006 21:47 (twenty years ago)

I really think its only considered a classic because it was one of the very first self-conscious deconstructions of the comics industry's favorite trope (the superhero). Moore's done way better work on other stuff (From Hell is probably going to stand as his greatest achievement, depending on what he's still got up his sleeve).

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 16 February 2006 21:48 (twenty years ago)

(and no I don't get Cunga's point either, so I just ignored it)

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 16 February 2006 21:49 (twenty years ago)

watchmen sells for $20

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 16 February 2006 21:51 (twenty years ago)

there's a fancy edition but there's fancy editions of pretty much everything these days

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 16 February 2006 21:51 (twenty years ago)

s1ocki, i got it for Christmas. It was the hardcover edition. When I looked at the jacket, it said something like "$75.00" I am not making this up!

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 16 February 2006 21:54 (twenty years ago)

Anyway, none of this has to do with the fact that comic book narration is 100% terrible.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 16 February 2006 21:54 (twenty years ago)

is there a fancy hardcover edition of Secret Wars?????

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 16 February 2006 21:55 (twenty years ago)

i like some comic book narration!! even third-person. like stan lee '60s stuff

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 16 February 2006 21:55 (twenty years ago)

Abort, Tracer, abort!

― Allyzay Rofflesberger (allyzay), Thursday, 16 February 2006 21:57 (twenty years ago)

I still have all the original issues around here, somewhere.

A score from a comic con for like $15-20 12 years ago.

― kingfish has gene rayburn's mic (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 16 February 2006 22:04 (twenty years ago)

tracer there's plenty of comics WAY better than stupid watchmen, don't dismiss like 80 years of the form based on one overhyped book!

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Thursday, 16 February 2006 22:09 (twenty years ago)

actually if comics had accomplished nothing more than the phrase "batman battles al qaeda" i would still love them.

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Thursday, 16 February 2006 22:11 (twenty years ago)

Haha, too late, J.D. I think comics will always be a lost cause to me.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 16 February 2006 22:17 (twenty years ago)

and you're reading a thread about Batman why?

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 16 February 2006 22:24 (twenty years ago)

Tracer, if this doesn't turn you around, nothing will:

http://www.2000adonline.com/functions/cover.php?choice=93&Comic=2000ad

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Thursday, 16 February 2006 23:00 (twenty years ago)

Arrrgh!

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Thursday, 16 February 2006 23:01 (twenty years ago)

Well, if the giant scorpions can't come to our aid, there's always this:

http://www.superdickery.com/images/oneshot/batman06.jpg

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Thursday, 16 February 2006 23:02 (twenty years ago)

comics seems to be one of those things (like sports) that you either get into as a child or else you never get into at all.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 16 February 2006 23:02 (twenty years ago)

like girls!

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 16 February 2006 23:03 (twenty years ago)

ahahahahaaa!!!
x-post

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 16 February 2006 23:03 (twenty years ago)

or pro-wrestling

― kingfish has gene rayburn's mic (kingfish 2.0), Thursday, 16 February 2006 23:03 (twenty years ago)

I didn't read comics as a kid.

― c(''c) (Leee), Thursday, 16 February 2006 23:33 (twenty years ago)

(Fascism) is the doctrine that POWER is the greatest goal, greater than democracy, or liberty or anything.

-- Tracer Hand

You're off on the wrong foot by looking at doctrines based on goals instead of by processes or incentives. Defining a movement/idea based on it's social goal is never enough to judge its worth. Whether Hitler was indeed given power "Because power kicks ass!" or whether it was to "help out the German people" (the second one is more like the goal that was used to justify his power) is irrelevant to how the policy was actually used.

I think it's not strange to imagine that in a libertarian "let the big dogs eat" society with "minmal" government action, the weak and the powerless will be exploited by the powerful much more than in other systems, which I would call pretty close to fascism. Disagree?

I think there's a lot of room for empirical evidence that libertarian societies exploit their citizens as much as any other system! How many people were killed by their governments in free-market and generally libertarian societies in the 20th century compared to fascist and communist countries where the governments were there to protect them from such "exploitation"? Hmmm....That is a good question and I look forward to seeing some hard numbers on that.

― Cunga (Cunga), Thursday, 16 February 2006 23:40 (twenty years ago)

Bin Laden needs to do more riddling.

― The Yellow Kid, Friday, 17 February 2006 03:34 (twenty years ago)

you're off on the wrong foot by assuming i give a shit about your totally uninformed opinion of 20th century ecnomics and armed conflict

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 17 February 2006 16:53 (twenty years ago)

Oh snap!

― Allyzay Rofflesberger (allyzay), Friday, 17 February 2006 17:24 (twenty years ago)

haha urgh

posts about libertarianism on the internet are like dandelions, children think they're pretty but they just clog everything up.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 17 February 2006 17:28 (twenty years ago)

Did u get my email? Anyway I think you're being harsh on dandelions, though that's a pretty turn of phrase. Aren't dandelion greens a part of dandelions? And people eat those. I never have but they might taste good for all I know.

― Allyzay Rofflesberger (allyzay), Friday, 17 February 2006 17:29 (twenty years ago)

Also, the power of dandelions to determine affinity for butter

― kingfish has gene rayburn's mic (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 17 February 2006 17:30 (twenty years ago)

they're really bitter - I like 'em, but I'm partial to leafy greens, particularly the smothered variety.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 17 February 2006 17:30 (twenty years ago)

Batman hates dandelions. Batman kills his lawn every summer because he'd rather have a big patch of dirt than one. single. dandelion. Also, Ace the Bat-Hound eats them and then throws up yellow all over the batcave.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Friday, 17 February 2006 17:38 (twenty years ago)

Dandelion greens are tres tasty. Had some with a tuna steak at the Eagle a while back. Dandelions cannot tell if you like butter though, that's buttercups.

― Pete (Pete), Friday, 17 February 2006 17:43 (twenty years ago)

Dandelions cannot tell if you like butter though, that's buttercups.

not if you grew up in american suburbs. No less an official authority than the Wolf Dog Circle sez so.

Apparently, you can also sautee the buds in butter and munch them, and they have "Magickal Correspondences & Uses"

― kingfish has gene rayburn's mic (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 17 February 2006 17:49 (twenty years ago)

No I think he's right about the buttercups. I've never heard of this dandelion butter madness.

― Allyzay Rofflesberger (allyzay), Friday, 17 February 2006 21:42 (twenty years ago)

Really? It was dandelions around our school, since buttercups were not in supply.

― kingfish has gene rayburn's mic (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 17 February 2006 21:46 (twenty years ago)

Ah that might explain the discrepencies then.

― Allyzay Rofflesberger (allyzay), Friday, 17 February 2006 21:47 (twenty years ago)

you're off on the wrong foot by assuming i give a shit about your totally uninformed opinion of 20th century ecnomics and armed conflict

I like this response. It's very well thought out.

Oh yes, and Dandelions!

ihttp://www.musicaememoria.com/RollingStones-Dandelion20.jpghttp://img306.imageshack.us/img306/601/rollingstonesdandelion202uv.jpg

― Cunga (Cunga), Friday, 17 February 2006 22:23 (twenty years ago)

http://img306.imageshack.us/img306/601/rollingstonesdandelion202uv.jpg

― Cunga (Cunga), Friday, 17 February 2006 22:23 (twenty years ago)

i do try!

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 17 February 2006 22:27 (twenty years ago)

oh you two.

― Allyzay Rofflesberger (allyzay), Saturday, 18 February 2006 01:18 (twenty years ago)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v134/tracerhand/BatmanVSOsama.jpg

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 21:16 (twenty years ago)

HAHAHAHAHAAA!

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 21:19 (twenty years ago)

six months pass...

http://www.chud.com/index.php?type=news&id=7560

Last year I had dinner with Frank Miller. It was an interesting experience, and will one day make for a good page or two in my memoirs. Frank was funny, and nice, and vocal about being more hawkish than Donald Rumsfeld. He also threatened to fight me when I said I saw the influence of Full House on Sin City, but I think he was kidding. At any rate, I am sure I could take him.

Miller’s political views will eventually make a huge splash whenever he finishes his Holy Terror, Batman!, where Batman fights Osama bin Laden*, but for those of us who don’t want to wait to see just where this guy stands, he’ll be reading an essay on NPR’s Morning Edition on 9/11, explaining how the attacks on the US changed his political views on patriotism.

Says Miller: “I draw and write comic books. One thing my job involves is making up bad guys. Imagining human villainy in all its forms. Now the real thing had showed up. The real thing murdered my neighbors. In my city. In my country.” Miller adds, “Patriotism, I now believe, isn’t some sentimental, old, conceit. It’s self-preservation. I believe patriotism is central to a nation’s survival.”

Not wildly surprising from the guy who fetishizes a fascist society in 300, but still interesting, especially in the generally leftist-leaning world of comic books and movies. I wonder whether Miller and Robert Rodriguez have political arguments. Actually, I wonder if Rodriguez reads the newspaper.

For those unable (or unwilling) to catch Miller’s essay on NPR, the recording and a text copy will be available at www.npr.org/thisibelieve this Monday.

Personally, I think it’s great that Miller is being politically outspoken, and I wish his Batman graphic novel would get finished already. I watched The US vs John Lennon last night and it made me realize that our artists are not speaking out about the world around them anymore, that hardly anyone is using their art to directly engage the issues of terrorism and the war in Iraq – hell, when Green Day is one of the few groups doing so you know that you’re in trouble. While I don’t agree with Miller’s views – and the things that he said at dinner, while funny, were slightly troubling to me – I agree fully in his right to say them.

* While I applaud Miller for using his art to approach politics, I do have to laugh at Grant Morrison’s take on this comic: “Batman vs. Al Qaeda! It might as well be Bin Laden vs. King Kong! Or how about the sinister Al Qaeda mastermind up against a hungry Hannibal Lecter! For all the good it's likely to do. Cheering on a fictional character as he beats up fictionalized terrorists seems like a decadent indulgence when real terrorists are killing real people in the real world. I'd be so much more impressed if Frank Miller gave up all this graphic novel nonsense, joined the Army and, with a howl of undying hate, rushed headlong onto the front lines with the young soldiers who are actually risking life and limb 'vs' Al Qaeda.” (from Newsarama)

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Thursday, 7 September 2006 22:50 (nineteen years ago)

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