I was about to launch into a tyraid of how the metaphor just doesn't work, but I stopped and spared all of you who get ill when the scroll down to ignore long posts. :wink:
One thing of note - I know the metaphor is supposed to be about the current political climate of 5 years ago in reference to the Patriot act and all this "civil liberties or national safety" dilemma... but here's what I thought was a cool metaphor for the series -
The superheroes of Marvel Manhattan are seen as a danger to children.
The superheroes are openly attacked, both verbally and physically, in the streets by civilians.
The government threatens to regulate or completely end superheroes as a concept.
Some of the superheroes decide to continue as they have always been and face the consequences.
Others champion a form of their own form of self-regulation in order to curb public unrest.
Now I don't know about you - but this is a perfect metaphor for what happened to the entire US comics industry in the 1950s.
Just look:
The comics of the US, due to Frederick Wertham's book, The Seduction of the Innocent, are seen as a danger to children.
The US comics are openly attack verbally, and physically burned in the streets by civilians.
The political climate threatens to ban the comic book medium in its entirety.
Other companies create a form of self-regulation called the Comics Code in order to curb public unrest and allow them to be produced without government interference.
Sadly, this code kills off certain companies such as all the horror and crime companies, which, some may say suspiciously, were the top-selling comics at the time.
See what I mean?
I think that would've been fascinating when you consider that Marvel was the first major comics company to scrap the Comics Code in its entirity. I'm aware several independent comics and even DC Vertigo's line were all unapproved by the Comics Code, but Marvel were the first major, mainstream company to abandon it on all of their titles. A big move.
Plus, if you look at the sides, Captain America, a metaphorical icon representing the crime and horror comics built out of World War II in the 40s, and the only real Marvel superhero still left from the era of a non-Comics Code comics industry, makes perfect sense as the anti-registration/Comics Code figure head, a man who fought for his freedom more so than any of his contemporaries. While Mr Fantastic, the leader of the Fantastic Four and the first main character of superhero comics in the 60s when the current era of Marvel comics began post-Comics Code, is a perfect metaphorical figurehead for the pro-registration/Comics Code, a man who's entire career is about making a family work together whilst being berated by the public. And instead of Reed trying to acquiesce to the US government, he'd been saying, "We'll create our own internal system for cataloguing superheroes, which the government can view at any time" therefore creating a middle ground between the two sides, eventually having it implimented, with Captain America's side being utterly removed from the superhero world - or if one wanted to change history, have another resolution to the story.
Anyhow... this is just me thinking about stuff. It popped in my head when I read the last page of the first issue for the first time, I think. Thought I'd share it with you. Consider it a rumination, or a rant, whatever's your poison.
