Comics have never shied away from punching a Nazi. Captain America socked Hitler himself on the jaw in his first issue back in March 1941, with Superman and Batman also stepping up to fight the Führer that same decade.
But long after the Third Reich was toppled, Nazis and fascists continued to make good villain fodder for superheroes. For Captain America, Marvel created out-and-out Nazi agent Red Skull (who also became a communist in the 1950s), as well as the green-garbed fascist, terrorist, criminal organisation Hydra. In DC Comics, there was Captain Nazi – genetically altered by his scientist father to fight for Hitler – who was sent by the Nazis to fight American superheroes, and there were evil groups like Hive and Kobra.
Even during the 1990s, Marvel’s Avengers West Coast had a team of supervillains called the Lethal Legion that included “demonically enhanced” versions of Heinrich Himmler and Joseph Stalin (renamed Coldsteel).
Today, comic-book writer Jeff Lemire’s new title for publisher Valiant, Bloodshot Salvation, is putting the “alt-right” in the villain role. Living in a world in which humans are transformed into enhanced killers through a controlled infection, Bloodshot has super-strength, speed and endurance. But the current incarnation Ray Garrison, who is attempting to settle down with his girlfriend Magic, is faced with in-laws you wouldn’t want over to dinner: a “cruel and sadistic clan of white supremacist criminals”.
Set to debut in September with art by Lewis LaRosa and Mico Suayan, Bloodshot Salvation was announced at Comic Con in Seattle as “[carrying] strong anti-fascist overtones as Bloodshot confronts the resurgent white supremacist underground of modern-day America”.
Lemire, who is Canadian, told CBR.com that the man-made plague that sparks mindless violence in its victims was his take on America’s far right, saying: “America is a scary place – and I say that as one of your neighbours from the north who is equal parts terrified, appalled and saddened on a daily basis by something new going on, not the least of which is the rise of Trump.”
Like most of us, Lemire didn’t think there would be any more superheroes socking Nazis, 75 years after Captain America first took on Hitler. “I don’t think I would have ever anticipated the things that have happened over the last couple of years,” Lemire told the Washington Post. “I never really thought I’d be commenting on this stuff the way I am or feeling compelled to, that’s for sure.”
So the real-world dramas of Trump’s presidency are getting an airing on the page. Comic-book shenanigans it all might be, but with the US’s new commander-in-chief firing off executive orders like Spider-Man slings webs, the fist-shaking cartoon baddies of yore simply won’t cut it for today’s comic-book audiences. The comics market is wider than it’s ever been before, and crucially, it has a far greater proportion of female readers. Competing for attention with the likes of Netflix, they have to be at least as sophisticated and well-written. These days, Spider-Man doesn’t pull on his tights just because the Green Goblin has decided to rob a bank; Spidey today is a mixed-race teenager who has to deal with school drama, family drama, survivor’s guilt. For a long time now, we’ve been getting more depth to our heroes and now we look for credible reasons why the bad guys are so malign.
So while punching Nazis might suddenly be more relevant than it has been for decades, here’s to hoping that comic books can deal with fascism and the far right in a far more nuanced way than a cheeky right hook to Hitler’s face.
