The Four Color Media Monitor

Comic Book Club Live wrote a puff piece about the politics in the writings of J. Michael Stracyznski, claiming his stories warned about the rise of authoritarianism for over 3 decades, including his takes on Spider-Man and Captain America:

For more than 30 years, across the mediums of comics, film, and television, writer J. Michael Straczynski has layered a warning into his writing: it can happen here. It can happen to us.

In that case, do you think Joe Biden was a poor influence at the time he was president? Guess not. Only politicians like Donald Trump matter to such leftists.

Babylon 5 was a case study in information warfare and institutional capture. The cautions in his 9/11 issue of Amazing Spider-Man go unheeded as he examines creeping surveillance, militarization, and securitization. Most recently, his Captain America run for Marvel directly confronts the parallels between the rise of American fascism in the 1930s and today.

Speaking of Babylon 5, one can wonder how JMS feels now about naming an alien race in the TV show after Neil Gaiman (they were called the "Gaim"), now that the disgraced comics writer and novelist has been accused of sexual abuse? That aside, what's told about the TV show is why I'm glad I didn't watch much of it years ago. Someday, a lot of his writings for comics, TV and film are quite likely going to be viewed as a lot of overrated mishmash that only extols the "values" of leftists. As for "institutional capture", couldn't that describe the far-left takeover of Hollywood? Why doesn't that count? Now, here's the part about Spidey's embarrassingly bad 9-11 issue, which interrupted the regular story all for the sake of the poor message conveyed:

At the time of its release, the 9/11 issue of Amazing Spider-Man perhaps most accurately captured the sense of righteous anger and jingoistic resolve that swept across the nation in the wake of the attacks.

Umm, if you're going to imply much of the USA's population was "jingoistic" rather than gaining a sense of patriotism and vigilance, doesn't that conflict with the part about "righteous anger"? But then, the story did serve as a subtle form of blaming America, so what's the surprise? The columnist continues to blatantly bring up precisely what's wrong with the whole vision:

The 9/11 issue’s warning? As JMS writes in its pages, “That the burdens of distant people are the responsibility of all men and women of conscience, or their burdens will one day become our tragedy.” He instead pleads with the reader to “Draft a covenant with your conscience, that we will create a world in which such things need not occur. A world which will not require apologies to children, but also a world whose roads are not paved with the husks of their inalienable rights.” The Marvel Universe, and our own, would fail to heed that warning.

Through Marvel’s Civil War era (the 2006 event series and related spinoffs), Straczynski would shine a light on the creeping militarization of those who had been our protectors and servants. Peter Parker’s unmasking and entry into government service, along with his subsequent rebellion against Tony Stark and the pro-registration forces, allowed Straczynski to demonstrate how civic approval, “transparency,” and their coercive allure are all brought into play by authoritarian regimes as a way of legitimizing their tighter control.

While George W. Bush did not do everything properly in response to 9-11, the unfortunate problem with Spidey's forced 9-11 issue is that it scapegoated the USA, as the quoted lines from the story indicate, and no serious blame was made regarding Islam's role in the terrorist attack. This, sadly, is a problem many leftists ever since have had, and even Chris Claremont followed an appeasement route, recalling he'd put a Muslim protagonist into the 2002 volume of Gen13, which was all undone by time travel effects when the series ended, interestingly enough. But that still doesn't excuse how for a quarter century now, we've been lectured by leftists over what to think and believe. And if the writer really thinks nobody heeded warnings about creeping totalitarianism, then how come leftists like him aren't either? And then, as if it couldn't get more insulting to the intellect:

Before leaving Amazing Spider-Man soon after the “One More Day” storyline, Straczynski pulled Peter Parker back to his roots. He removed him from the big world-spanning stories like Civil War and returned him to street-level stories. Peter took a role as a teacher and mentor, tackling problems that mattered to everyday people. He attempted to have the character illustrate that a great power’s primary responsibility is to the people.

Sadly, like his earlier warnings in the book, this appeal would go unheeded. We would not tend to the problems of the everyday person in our society over the next twenty years. So, when Straczynski returned to Marvel with Captain America, it was to address a nation facing a much more pressing threat.

So taking apart Spidey's marriage to Mary Jane Watson was okay, if that's what it took to make all the shoddy, ambiguous political statements we've been lectured with ever since, in addition to the constant dangling of carrots? No wonder Marvel's artistic value collapsed. And then, when coming around to Capt. America:

JMS returned to the character of Steve Rogers in 2023, in the space betwen two Trump administrations. He had seen firsthand how the MAGA movement had played on the economic insecurities and deeply-rooted racial animus in the country in their pursuit of power. [...]

Across all the media where he’s been warning us for the past 30 years about the creeping rise of fascism in America, Straczynski has shown us how authoritarian regimes reshape the truth, how they bend our protectors into our imprisoners, and how they use our economic stressors to capture us for their own purposes. He also tells us over and over where to find the solution: in the streets. With our neighbors. Teaching, learning, and listening.

No. Lecturing one-sidedly, and singling out western conservatism as the sole problem. The Islamic form of "conservatism" in their minds is the only kind that's legitimate. Of course, if "reshaping" the truth is a concern, then for JMS, does that include the palestine fabrication? Unfortunately, all that matters to these leftists is whether western conservatives do what they claim. JMS' only concerns are right-wing influence, and I doubt he's ever seriously regretted his role in destroying the Spider-marriage, let alone Spidey's own series itself. It's interesting how these propagandists don't seem troubled that JMS also slighted the dignity of some lady cast members in the MCU, which includes Sif from Thor's series, and no doubt, he also slighted the dignity of Lois Lane when he was writing Superman for DC. Some of those later writing roles post-Spidey didn't last as long, and it's just as well. JMS was never a good omen for comicdom any more than film and TV, but that's mainly because he's too much of a far-left ideologue for his writings to work well.

And again, if it matters, I'm not excusing what JMS did with Mary Jane and even Gwen Stacy 2 decades ago. Those awful stories that grew out of Sins Past were just some of the worst things he ever did, and claiming editorial interference played a part is no excuse either. If Straczynski wanted to, he could've quit the job immediately, but he remained at least until 2007 and One More Day, and the rest is some of the worst history to ever soil Marvel's publications.

Labels: bad editors, Captain America, dreadful writers, history, islam and jihad, marvel comics, moonbat writers, msm propaganda, politics, Spider-Man, terrorism, violence, women of marvel