It took long enough, but a few websites have picked up on the article from Bleeding Cool about how liberals are ruining comic books.  As if moths to a flame their reasoning is muddled and not really accurate let alone thought out… but that doesn’t stop me from pointing all of that out.

First up The Politically Incorrect Australian has this nugget:

It’s become impossible to just sit down and enjoy watching a movie or a TV show without having political correctness rammed down one’s throat. Even kids’ programming these days mostly consists of political indoctrination. Strident political propaganda does not make for good entertainment.

Yeah, damn those liberals and PC world.  Every piece of entertainment is tainted, they even made Fox liberal!  Nothing like a hyperbole to make one’s argument.

Sago had an article entitled “Yes Liberalism Was The Downfall Of Comic Books.”  Sago just goes for the jugular and lays it out there with it’s homophobia:

Archie decided it was time for a gay character. To take something as wholesome and free of the taint and the onslaught of liberalism even though, they also did the whole global warming scam for a period was one step to far. I would just skip over those stupid stories, knowing full well it was a scam created by people who saw how to extract precious dollars from billions of people worldwide to their bank accounts, such as Al Gore. The gay character though was a move to far, the way the global warming hucksters attempted to sway a generation of children to their cause, now Archie was doing the same with gays. I have said and will continue to say, I don’t care what you do in your bedroom, I do damn well care that you are attempting to subvert a generation of children to your cause.

I’m pretty sure this person also thinks marriage has been ruined by the gays too.  I mean, having one gay character totally makes something tainted.  In no way does it reflect the real world or include the variety of people you might meet every day.  You wonder what a person like this’ thought when it comes to racial integration.  Took a while for Archie to do that too.

It is always sad to watch the few destroy America for the majority, but when 18% call themselves liberals but they have the whole of the entertainment industry, they are indeed “deciding” for the rest of us.

I never really understood this argument.  If the right is so hardcore about capitalism and the market deciding things, why not put their money where their mouth is and fund conservative entertainment?  I mean Fox is doing pretty damn well.  24 was a hit, Passion of the Christ had it’s Christian fans.  There’s just no evidence on any of this, but if a few things don’t meet one’s viewpoints, why not condemn everything?

But where a lot of this is coming from is Newsbusters and D.S. Hube‘s post “Is Liberalism Leading to Comic Books’ Downfall?”

…as one who continued to purchase comics up until the mid-2000s, I find this modern “progressive” trend not only disburbing, but disgusting. It’s what led me to stop purchasing contemporary comics outright

Well, if it’s been 5 years, are you really an authority on the subject you’re writing?  There’s been a way of conservative writers and artists and comics cover issues from every perspective.  Comics are anything but liberal.  Are there liberal stories?  Sure.  Are there conservative stories?  Absolutely.  The idea of a vigilante taking justice into their own hands is as conservative a concept as can be.  Batman should be the ultimate conservative icon having a corporate leader funneling money to do what the police and government can not.

Hube goes on to cite The Authority and Mark Millar, especially Millar’s work on Superman: Red Son and Marvel’s Civil War.  Red Son was a solid story that if anything praised American ideals and saw Superman landing in Russia instead of the U.S.  Civil War saw the liberals lose in the end.  Never mind Millar is reviled by many for his over the top violence and portrayal of women.  He might call himself a liberal and hold those political beliefs but as a whole his modern comics are very much about shock and awe.

Hube continues:

The Ultimates (which, by the way, the upcoming The Avengers movie is mostly based on), Millar had a superhero team composed of characters from countries like North Korea and the Muslim Middle East invade the United States so as to “restrain the Roman Empire” because they “feared what America might do next.” Another rationale was because America was “interfering with cultures they could never understand.”

I’m pretty sure I hear Ron Paul spouting similar ideas at every Republican debate.  I don’t think Dr. Paul is a liberal in any way.

The usual issues of Superman renouncing his U.S. citizenship is brought up.  Never mind that is so he can easily spread American ideals without causing the U.S. international incident.  Also the Captain America/Tea Party fiasco.  The humor of it all is that Hube calls some of the comics he condemns as good reads and “top notch.”

It’s the ‘ol “Shut up and sing!” mantra. If you’re in the entertainment business, you run the risk of alienating a certain portion of your fanbase if you insist upon making controversial statements or taking up controversial positions on issues. This is no way means you have to shut up; however, you need to be aware that freedom of speech does NOT mean there’s freedom from criticism — or freedom from consequences.And, thus, all this is [partly] why I blog. I why I’ll continue to not shell out $3-4 for a comicbook any time soon.

And there’s the rub.  What the right really has an issue with is anything that doesn’t fit their world view and that includes the freedom of speech.  They should practice what they preach and Hube is thankfully.  If they disagree with the content or the viewpoint or what a creator says on their Facebook page or on Twitter, vote with your wallet and don’t buy it.  Instead of getting worked up about sex in comics or how a character is drawn, don’t buy it.  It’s really that easy.  Conservatives believe in market forces.  This is a good example of practicing it.  If people really dislike it, they’ll stop buying.  But that’s not reality.

If liberalism is so bad, how come comic book sales increased last year?  Maybe because the majority of folks don’t care or notice.