Let’s lay it right on the line. Bigotry and racism are among the deadliest social ills plaguing the world today. But, unlike a team of costumed super-villains, they can’t be halted with a punch in the snoot, or a zap from a ray gun. The only way to destroy them is to expose them — to reveal them for the insidious evils they really are. The bigot is an unreasoning hater — one who hates blindly, fanatically, indiscriminately. If his hang-up is black men, he hates ALL black men. If a redhead once offended him, he hates ALL redheads. If some foreigner beat him to a job, he’s down on ALL foreigners. He hates people he’s never seen — people he’s never known — with equal intensity — with equal venom.
“Now, we’re not trying to say it’s unreasonable for one human being to bug another. But, although anyone has the right to dislike another individual, it’s totally irrational, patently insane to condemn an entire race — to despise an entire nation — to vilify an entire religion. Sooner or later, we must learn to judge each other on our own merits. Sooner or later, if man is ever to be worthy of his destiny, we must fill our hearts with tolerance. For then, and only then, will we be truly worthy of the concept that man was created in the image of God ― a God who calls us ALL ― His children.
I hate Trump so much that i sorta would rather he not be mentioned when I’m reading classic comics that have nothing to do with him. that sounds like a subject matter for a magazine essay or something maybe rather than an intro to a book of historical comics… If these were new comics inspired by the modern resistance to Trump it would make more sense…
My favorite Jack Kirby story was when a Nazi sympathizer called his office from the building’s lobby claiming that there were three men there ready to cause him grave bodily harm, and Kirby ran down to fight them only to find that the caller had run away.
I get your point, however the collection is comics from a time when Nazis were a problem (Marvel: The Golden Age 1939-1949), being collected in a time when Nazis are once again a problem.
Also, it’s the intro. It’s not going to be written at the bottom of every page. If you are buying this set and would rather not be reminded of Trump – in spite of it being impossible at this point in time to move through the world without being reminded of Trump – skip the intro. Personally, I’m looking forward to a day when Trump is a bad memory.
Also also, Art Spiegelman’s perspective on this current political climate, the past political climate, and comics is relevant, in my opinion. Otherwise why ask him to write the intro? He created Maus, not Garfield.
Marvel trying to censor him is their right. Him backing out rather than be censored is his right. I’m sure they will find something sufficiently apolitical to put in the book instead, and the printing press will roll on.
I, for one, look forward to reading what he had to say when it shows up in The Guardian.
America, THIS is what made us great, creative people with a conscience and a brain.
Damnnit man, you broke my finger I hit like so hard. 1968? Wow.
God damn Stan Lee was wonderful.
HEY MARVEL- Lee’s corpse has more balls and integrity than you do now. Grow your spine back.
Laughable that a company that created Captain America, a superhero who fights fascists, is now financially supporting a fascist, and can’t stand to see him criticised. The irony burns.
Why did Folio ask Spiegelman to do the intro to start with, when he’s never worked for Marvel? (per Wiki, anyway)
Could Folio really not find a True Believer?
Why did Spiegelman ever think that intro would be used?
I don’t think Mr Spiegelman had to take that route, but the material certainly lends itself particularly well to it. One could say that republishing comic books where nazis are often the villains is already a pretty bold political statement without somebody having to point it out in the preface.
Art Spiegelman is the first person to win a Pulitzer Prize for a graphic novel. He’s done as much to elevate the art form as any writer or artist alive, and he grew up reading the very comics collected in this volume. Why WOULDN’T they want someone like that to write an intro?
It wouldn’t surprise me if it was further up the ladder. Perlmutter seems to be on the outs with Disney, and he currently has little creative pull. But he, his family, and his associates hold significant stock. They owned the vast majority of Marvel stock when the buyout happened, apparently were already stock holders. And IIRC Perlmutter himself didn’t get a guaranteed board seat, Marvel does and Perlmutter’s clique controls a couple.
So they are sort of stuck with the guy, and have to keep him happy to a certain extent.
I do wonder how much of that has changed with the Fox buyout. That pretty much has to have diluted Perlmutter’s control.
He is still the head of Marvel, and it’s hard to imagine Bob Iger would have the time or inclination to micromanage something like “who should write the introduction for the first volume of a Marvel comics collection.”
Only kinda sorta? He’s technically the president or Chairman or something. But after the Disney buyout he was mostly in charge of Marvel Studios, then after Feige put his foot down just the TV part of Marvel Studios. And recently he’s been replaced by Jeff Loeb on that, Dan Buckly is the President of Marvel Entertainment as a whole, and some one else runs the comics division.
Perlmutter and his brother are still employed by Marvel in some capacity, and like I said they own enough of a chunk of Disney. But it’s not entirely clear what the guy does at the moment. And he appears to have been cut out of nearly every creative end of things.
I wouldn’t doubt that the problem starts with Perlmutter, but it isn’t clear to me that he’s enough in control to make the call on this. I would imagine whoever’s in charge of watching his shit on the Disney end would ultimately be responsible for this. Essentially pulling rank to keep the guy happy. Because if you try to dig into who’s actually officially in charge of which bits of Marvel. Including the comics division, it always looks like it’s technically some one else beside Perlmutter.
I’ve honestly been expecting him to “retire” along with some sort of forced buy out since the Fox deal came through. Diluted shares, and his Trump connection is now more of a liability than a benefit since it got white flagged by regulators.
Come on people, making fun of the President, no matter who it is, is basically one of the most American things you can do. Conservatives bitch about political correctness, but they are the most special snowflakes ever if you dare make fun of something they like.
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