Normally I’d linklog something like this, but I didn’t think people would really get how jaw-on-the-floor stunned I was about it unless I wrote something a bit more substantial. So here we are. I’d like to introduce you all to the future of literature for kids – Liberality, an American Neo-Con comic book in the vein of The Authority only this time positing a future America where the government has become “an Orwellian nightmare of ultra-liberalism” and a new super-heroic force of famous mechanically-enhanced right-wingers must take back the country from the United Nations. This epic force of good-doers features (I kid you not) Conservative talk-radio and Fox News strop-monkey Sean Hannity, Watergate enthusiast and friend of Nixon G. Gordon Liddy and Iran-Contra Smuggler and Reaganite Oliver North.
Here’s my favourite part of the preview of the comic book, in which the evil new liberal orthodoxy welcomes Osama Bin Laden to the UN to apologise for 9/11 and look forward to a new liberal millennium. What more can I say. Wow.
38 replies on “On "Liberality" for all…”
the publishing company’s byline is “entertaining and offending the public” so perhaps there is a degree of tongue-in-cheek?
The basis of population control by the Neocon cabal is fear and paranoia. Even though they are in control of the US government at the federal level they need to demonize anyone that questions and challenges them in any way in order to maintain their hate and fear based agenda to cover up their ulterior financial motives. They will use their propaganda tools in the media to spread fear in order to keep their support for their agenda that is ultimately bad for the people.
Progressive American Politicians, French politicians and anyone that questions them are lumped together with terrorists and killers in their fanciful world of Propaganda. Notice that Spain is now lumped together with France and Bin Ladin now that Spain stopped supporting the illegal oil war of lies in Iraq. Do they really think that post 311 Spain is really supportive of international terrorism? Bullshit.
Their is a real threat from terrorism but the myth is blown up and manipulated by the Neocon cabal. Paranoia and fear is their strongest tools. Slander and lies are their methods.
Jacob Metcalf
Washington State Young Democrats Tech Director
Yes Jacob, terrorism is blown out of proportion but what you should really fear is the evil, threatening, lying, stealing, cheating neo-con who controls your government (which you arenít blowing out of proportion at all)Ö
You canít see it but Iím rolling my eyes right now.
As for the comic, I donít particularly see a problem with it even if it isnít tongue-and-cheek. Donít get me wrong, itís corny as all hell because Conservativeís just shouldnít try to create fiction, their bad at it. But the content is no more offensive than say (to use a comic book example) Peter Davidís Iraq focused issue of Captain Marvel where he essentially takes the administration to task.
As for the content, Iím not a neo-con but I have no doubt France and Germany would be sitting down with Osama right now if he had anything to offer them. Even by the worst estimates Osama Bin Laden hasnít killed anywhere near as many people as Saddam Hussein and they had no problem dealing with him under the table.
Unfortunately Tom is right.
Well, I’m not sure I agree with that assessment. The very least you could do if you’re going to make that kind of judgment on European countries is to give equal consideration to the role of the US in Afghanistan and the Middle East over the last few decades. Otherwise, it sounds unbalanced and jingoistic. I don’t think that any of the major powers come out particularly well in terms of the way they’d talked to and worked with dubious people around the world.
The US dealt with Saddam while he was gassing people. Back in the 80s we sold Saddam weapons he enjoyed full diplomatic relations and economic support from Reagan and Bush. Saddam was a thug that the CIA tolerated and supported under the table. We imported oil from Iraq while he was filling the mass graves that the Bush regime used to sell the war of lies after the WMD threat fell out. The felons that sold weapons to Iraq and Iran in Iran/Contra scandal are currently in power in the Bush regime.
@Tom: Do you really think that Germany or France would ally with Osama some way? I think that’s just misjudging the reactions to the Iraque war.
Wow, that comic’s amazing, it’s like reality never happened.
Carsten – if you’re asking me about that, then no I definitely and absolutely and completely do not believe that – nor do I think they’d negotiate with him in any way.
Tom C. & Jacob ñ A couple of things, (1) the U.S. never dealt with Saddam in violation of UN Sanctions and (2) I see a distinction between dealing with someone for viable defense reasons and doing it for a discount on oil. Quick perspective, Iím 25 years old so the cold war doesnít make all that much sense to me and because of that, Iím not going to justify the U.S.í actions in the Iran-Iraq war or Afghanistan. That said, my understanding from people who were adults at that time was that the U.S. considered itself to be in an actual war with the U.S.S.R. and I think that goes a long way to justifying the things done in the Middle East. France and Germany on the other hand, to the best of my knowledge, have no excuse.
Carsten ñ If you were talking to me, yes, I honestly do believe that the governments of Germany and France would deal with Osama at this point. Economically theyíve backed themselves into such a corner that, IMHO, they would do anything to get out. Even going so far as to deal with madmen in violation of UN sanctions or try to sell their countries off wholesale to some monolithic new European Government (though if I had a 10-11% unemployment rate I might be trying to bind myself to the UKís 4.7% too!)
I donít think people like Jacque Chirac are necessarily bad, but it gets real easy to justify things when youíre poor and desperate.
Jacob – “the illegal oil war of lies” is a clunky phrase, and it’s really not going to convince anyone who doesn’t already agree with you. All you’re doing is stoking the culture war you’re facing in the US. I know the Republicans are uber-good at using phrases that taint or mutilate the truth, but the way to best that isn’t by imitation.
As for the comic, Warren Ellis wrote a thing on Bad Signal last year about Red State/Blue State divergence in comic book sales, which I hope he won’t mind me reproducing here:
” few weeks ago, I threw out the playful notion that original comics don’t actually sell in the Red states of America — that the political borderlines there are also cultural borderlines. Just as there are isolated political Blue islands in Red America, there are also island comics stores, to be certain — but that the audiences for progressive comics are largely contained in
the coasts and those few Blue states in the north. The broader sweep of Jesusland is a dead zone,
to massively generalise.
So after that I got an email from a publisher I know. Telling me that he and his staff had been discussing the same thing. They looked at their sales documentation. And, in fact, it looks to them that they do the vast majority of their
business in the Blue states.
So they’re talking about changing their PR campaigns. Focussing on Blue America and those handful of island stores. They figure that
if Red America isn’t listening, then fuck Red America. And if you’re in Jesusland and you can’t get their books anymore, then frankly you should have tried harder to make your store order you the
stuff you wanted to read.”
I wondered at the time if anyone would come out with a comic expressly targetted at this [pretty massive] gap in the market. Liberality will be worth ordering in just for the dark laughs.
And finally general thing which has been bugging me a bit all day, and I know it’s pedantic, but there’s a difference between “their” & “they’re” & “there.”
Don’t you just hate it when you make a post which includes some grammar snark and then you re-read your post and find a missing ‘a’?
On a similar note to the above comment, the description of the book on that site includes “at the newly renamed ìUnity Towerî built on the hollowed grounds where the WTC once stood”.
I know it shouldn’t at all, because it’s sick and disgusting, but that sort of amused me. Also, I’m not sure if it’s meant to be like that or not.
“Illegal War of Lies” sounds a lot better when I say it with my teach clenched in a casual conversation.
Isn’t this kind of reaction (above) exactly the kind of reaction that the makers of the comic wanted to achieve – and wanted to parody. It’s a joke, as far as I can tell, though clearly it shows the chasm between the internal perceptions of the political camps.
It feels like a graphic-art troll to me.
The darker skin of the French and Spanish representatives is especially… curious.
Tom:
“the U.S. never dealt with Saddam in violation of UN Sanctions and”
“Even going so far as to deal with madmen in violation of UN sanctions”
So dealing with madmen not in violation of UN sanctions is OK?
Oh, and what about the time we ALL broke the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty in order to sell Isreal it’s nukes?
As for dealing with Osama, why bother? He controls nothing, he’s just some loudmouthed terrorist in a cave somewhere.
Come to think of it, BushCo never did get round to blowing his head off, did they? I wonder why that was?
I was weirdly disturbed to see this comic mentioned in an article in the Guardian Unlimited, but thankfully, the article wonderfully illustrated the mindset of the “writer” of LIBERALITY. Where as the satire of TEAM AMERICA plays really well with satirizing ideas of Liberal America (and conservatives), this writer has absolutely NO idea how the Real World works to satirize it. Bin Laden was no one until the then Carter Administration CIA backed him against the Russians. He wasn’t our enemy until the US and Western forces set up camp in Saudi Arabia to protect two fascist monarchies against another US supported madman, Saddam. That being said, one can’t expect any less from a ‘neo-con’ that such stereotypes would be played with… badly. It is simply catering to neo-conservative tastes, while wearing a satirical sticker as it provokes liberals. Hey, this is why we have ‘free speech’ in this country… unless you use it to ask questions or contradict the Right. Respect to Ennis for being able to read it.
Also to Tom, the 25 year old;
Read “A People’s History of the United States” by Howard Zinn to get an understanding how UNjustified the US was during the Cold War with Communism. Or check out any writing by historian Michael Parenti. Also, forget UN Sanctions, of the seven U.S. State sponsors of terror, VP Cheney’s Halliburton contracted with three: Iran, Iraq, and Libya, at times when they were all mired in human rights violations.
Look, I’m in the demographic that the book’s author is skewering, I believe in peace, a peace that was not created by UN sanctions because those in power abused it and the people of Iraq didn’t get what they required. But they also didn’t deserve the war that our nation launched at them for two reasons: empirical control of the region and oil. And that’s a question that LIBERALITY FOR ALL won’t raise or address.
At the end of the day, the writer gets to sleep and rest in Kentucky, reassured that Bush, Co. are ‘protecting his freedom’, while around the globe, our soldiers and civilians pay ultimate sacrifices for that FREEDOM. All under the American Flag that Mackey says he doesn’t see bandied about by the anti-war movement (see article in Guardian Unlimited). Yet, we also don’t get to see the flag draped coffins that come back from Iraq. That’s the last image I have of a friend.
George Orwell was only off by 20 years.
Why are some of you liberals so touchy about this comic? Do you have ANY clue how many cartoons, “documentaries”, and other media is heavily biased in favor of liberalism? I’m not saying that ALL media is like that, because that’s just insane. But you cannot deny that it exists. Therefore, why not allow a comic to be conservative? Is half of America not allowed to make their own comic book? You take a piece of creative writing and art, then you turn it into a political battleground. All I have to say is, I better not hear any censorship complaints out of your liberal mouths in the future, but if you want to look like a jackass then go right ahead.
The fiends! They skewered Canada! Burn them!
Chris, I don’t think the folks here are demanding censorship. They’re just presenting their views in a response to the folks behind Liberality presenting their views. That’s freedom of speech, you say what you like, and so will I. As for turning this piece of art into a political battleground, I’ll say this: it already is. It celebrates that fact. It’s not libel if the other guy says it’s true with a smile.
In fact, you might be making a censorship complaint, telling everyone else not to complain…
what i think is hilarious is that liberals are “concerned” about this comic. Whether liberals or conservatives like it or not, this isnt the 60s anymore, the line between left & right isnt as clear as “hippies and pigs,” and thats what scares people. now a grateful dead fan can be a neo-con, and a classical music fan can be a flaming liberal. go figure, gotta luv the beatles & led zeppelin for creating all this mess, but boy is it fun figuring out who is who, alot beter than the 60s, when if you had short hair you were a “beer guzzling hawk” and long hair meant “anit-USA doper”…bald has come a long way baby…read the comic, be proud to be a conservative, and pray for your luved ones & enemies that they save their souls, because everyone is beautiful…its not your humaness that condemns you, its your actions…
really folks, this comic is just that…a comic!
enjoy a great american artform…and while your at it, try reading Infinite Crisis by DC comics or Uncanny Xmen(how dare you recommend a claremont book!) or Runaways by Marvel…
…and for all you lefties out there try All-Star Batman and Superman, by Frank Miller & Grant Morrison, now there’s two writers who I would like to see “concerned” liberals pin down…not that their neo-cons buuttt…
read em and weep…
cheerio
The comic is a satire, people have no sense of humour. the story says that Sadam got his nuke from Uday in Iraq…. Uday’s DEAD, it pokes fun at Neocons inability to let the truth get in the way of a good story. Liddy was born in 1930…in 2021 he would be 91, little old for an action hero…. Anybody who is taking this seriously is missing the joke.
Go to the publishers website the alternate cover is an homage to Kubrik’s Dr Strangelove. IT”S A JOKE!!!!
It may not be as satirical as you think, simon. The alternate history here starts right at the 2000 election. Here, Gore takes office, and a slippery slope of liberalism ensues. The war on the Ba’ath regime that killed Udai never took place, nor did the war on the Taliban.
As for G. Gordon Liddy being an action hero, don’t forget that he’s been biomechanically enhanced now. He’s not just a commentator, he’s the Liddinator!
Yeah, I don’t like it. Why did they have to resort to superheroes? Everyone does superheroes! Who cares about yet another batch of superheroes?
P.S. Hey, the cover IS an homage to Dr. Strangelove. That’s a bit odd, considering the tone of the rest of the piece.
Many of the people complain about how convervative administrations backed future tyrants, and how we support people who later turn on us, like Osama and Saddam.
How to fix that?
If we did not constantly meddle (doing what the left calls “isolationism”), none of the above would have happened.
It is difficult to be against isolationism, yet complain about the dozens of bad investments that result from a more involved “world police” policy.
First off, I’m not liberal as I am proud to be in one of the few states to allow concealed carry of firearms to protect myself and business, and I’m not terribly interested in the sexual activities of adults in their own bedrooms, so I can’t be called conservative.
That said, I’ve found the reactions to this book quite interesting. The book it’self is pretty average on most points, and really only stuck out because of the buttons it was pushing.
But to those who are anti-conservative politics, if you didn’t get a few pages into it and NOT expect the author to be preaching his politics to you, you need to grow up. It’s like a book by Coulter, Rush, or Hannity guys, you KNOW what the gist is, so why act surprised that the artist and author’s vision is what it is? Let him have it already, vote with your damn dollars
Interestingly, this is to Conservitives what V for Vendetta is to Liberals…
Except V is still remembered almost 20 years after it’s last publication, and this one is doomed to be remembered as plain silliness…
Tom Coates:
Hello. My name is Daniel Antolin, a journalism student at Cal State University, Northridge, and I am writing a feature story about how comic books continue to be medium of propaganda in the contemporary world.
I was reading your web log and had a few questions I was hoping you could answer. I would greatly appreciate a response at your earliest convenience and any other thoughts about this issue you would like to share.
Thanks,
Daniel Antolin
РThe U.S. military is outsourcing the job of creating an Arab language comic book series set in the near future in the Middle East to reach Arab youth “in order to achieve long-term peace and stability” in the area. Their objectives are to educate these youths and provide them with role models.
What’s your take on this project? What sort of role models do you see the U.S. military creating for Arab youth in order to accomplish said goals? What are the U.S. military’s actual goals with this comic book series? Should they be doing this at all?
– Frank Miller is working on a comic book in which Batman saves Gotham City from an attack by Osama Bin Laden and Al Quaeda. He admitted that the project is blatant propaganda and that superheroes are meant to serve this purpose.
Do you agree with his assessment? Should DC and Marvel Comics use their superheroes to propragate certain political agendas? Why or why not?
What do you think the objectives are of mainstream comic book puslishers who implement certain political points of view in their comics, if any?
After the Danish comic strip controversy, the question has been raised whether or not publishers should be punished for propagating such content. What’s your opinion on this?
I can be reached at danielroberttrue@hotmail.com
I guess I will be the voice of reason.
IT IS A COMIC FOLKS!! Allbeit a satirical jab at the left leaning nut jobs that claim all right wingers are haters, homophobes and war mongers. Simply not true. Because the right has a comic that pokes fun at the left, I am sure that it will not be long before the ACLU blaims the right and the comic for something. I am sure that all of hollywood will boycott somewthing to make a statement. As my 20 years in the military comes to a close I will do my best to let the left think they are doing the USA some great service by standing up for what they feel is right by shooting off their mouths.
I must question tho how the government uses the media to promote anything. Fully %99 of the media is liberal or ultra liberal.
I can see how peace thru negotiation / compromise would be good, But I will let you explain to our forefarthers why you negotaited away the very things that this country was built on. Freedom to bear arms. Freedom of speech. AND THE GREATEST ONE OF ALL, FREEDOM OF RELIGION AND THE FREEDOM TO EXPRESS IT, FREEDOM TO WORSHIP WHEN AND HOW I CHOOSE. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” HOW the left feels that the government and religion should be completely seperate is beyond me. This country was founded by men of faith and they helped write the constitution!
the worst thing i see about this comic is the bad taste.
They use real public figures as heros and villians (picking on some poor girl who was just Bubba’s daughter and making her a arch-nemisis) I think its rude and insensative and just inflamatory. Why can’t comics on both sides make up fake presidents or figures, sure they can be based off the real ones but jesus christ make up your own characters. V for vedetta didn’t have Tony Blair lead the fascist party, (though Watchmen did admittidly have Nixon…but hey Nixon was a historical figure at that point and had proved himself a bit of a villian in real life) Casting a real life conservative/liberal as a hero and another as a villian is just in bad taste. I mean if i had John Stewrt, Steven Cobert, and Ted Kenedy fuse to form REformtron and decapitate Anne Coulter as she strutted about in a skanty whore of babylon costume that would be equally as bad. The concept of the comic if fine by me but I don’t like the intentionally inflamatory and insulting nature. Its like telling every one who disagrees with Bush that they support Osama or everyone who agrees with Bush that they would have supported Nixon or Hitler. Really its this kind of immature playground hyperbolle that causes such a dynamic partisin enviroment. I want to be able to express my own opinions agian without being labled in with fruits like Newt or pansys like Kerry by those who disagree. I want my UNITED states back.
Voice of reason? Get real. How does tying the Church and State together promote freedom of religion?
Oh, and separate is spelt with an “a”, not an “e”. I guess you were a child left behind.
Yeah, you guys are right. This is horrible! God forbid that a conservative person could be able to read something that they find interesting and that they agree with. We need to hear more liberal comics and cartoons. I dont hear enough insults about my beliefs on television or from democrat politicians like howard dean or ted kennedy. Or maybe i should listen to Al Frankin’s show. Hopefully he could snap my tiny conservative brain back to reality. Thats what we need, MORE LIBERAL INFLUENCE!!! And why not? liberals have such great moral clarity. you know, like cheating on your wife just like bill clinton did. and then lying to the entire country about it! or maybe we should let innocent people die in israel, and then lash out at them for defending themselves. thats what we need to do!!
ITS A COMIC BOOK! if you dont like it, dont read it. I cant open the newpaper, turn on the television, or watch a movie without hearing how stupid conservatives are. besides, the way you guys are freaking out about it makes it sound like the concept of the comic isnt very far fetched.
I am a recovering liberal. You have to be out of the liberal box to see just how intolerant and totalitarian the left is becoming. These guys are obviously engaging in hyperbole but not by much. The left is actively undermining this country and won’t stop until they have their socialist “utopia,” which will be a contracting-GNP nightmare for everyone else.
I am a recovering liberal.
Bwahahaha!
You have to be out of the liberal box to see just how intolerant and totalitarian the left is becoming. These guys are obviously engaging in hyperbole but not by much. The left is actively undermining this country and won’t stop until they have their socialist “utopia,” which will be a contracting-GNP nightmare for everyone else.
‚Üí Posted by: TJP at August 25, 2006
You’re a moron and a troll, and never were a liberal, or conservative. There is nary a one of you on this thread that has half a clue what a real liberal or conservative is. Your caricatures of either come from comic books and cartoon journalism, which is all you get in this country. Get your heads out of your asses.
Comics have been used to promote political and social propaganda from time to time. Look at WWII Golden Age comics and you’ll see this play out.
Given how recently some left wing nut jobs have been making political comments on having someone assassinate Pres. Bush, and some left wing nut job made a movie showing Bush getting assassinated, I don’t see the Libs as having any kind of Moral High Ground here.
Last I remember, if you even joke about assassinating a President, your ass gets thrown in jail. Remember that Manson chick, Squeaky, for example, and her threats to Ford? What about John Hinckley Jr.? The bottom line of it is that both the extreme left and the extreme right are fucked in the head and frankly, most of us are sick of both extremes. Still, I do consider this Comic a good read and a nice change from the usual Liberal bias we see in much of the media.
And to any Liberal nut job that wants to talk about Pat Robertson: I don’t think Pat Robertson was right in making comments about assassinating Chavez or the more Liberal SC justices either! However, Pat Robertson does not speak for all Conservatives or all Christians, just like those film makers that made Death of a President don’t speak for all Libs either. Still, I’ve heard a number of Libs say “Well, since Pat Robertson suggested it with Chavez, it’s only fair game.” WRONG! Two wrongs don’t make a right, idiot!!!!
Ok, liberal nut jobs, pardon the liberal jargon (minus liberal), the left has some who are crazy, and some who are crazier. those who are crazier have
an agenda that, like it or not, and regardless of liberal opinion, would bring this country to ruin. (eventually). one example is dialouge with enemies like iran, which repeatedly states its intentions of destroying america, israel, and western civilization at large.
Oh the comic is just good old fashioned Conservative
fun. you liberals
-Obama Quote-
Just Wouldn’t Understand.
for all you lefties out there try All-Star Batman and Superman, by Frank Miller & Grant Morrison, now there’s two writers who I would like to see “concerned” liberals pin down…not that their neo-cons.