Rumsfeld sending custom Spiderman comic books to the troops

[spooked]

Spider-Man, Captain America team with Pentagon
Custom comic book will be given free to troops worldwide

Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Saturday, April 30, 2005

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=28748

Marvel Comics unveiled a custom comic book Thursday at the Pentagon that will be distributed free in May to U.S. forces in Iraq and around the world.

Featuring the New Avengers and the Fantastic Four, the comic will have a mammoth print run of 1 million copies. The first 150,000 will go to soldiers in the Middle East.

“We’re not going to sell them. These are for the troops,” Jeff Klein, a Marvel spokesman recently told USA Today.



This is what the cover looks like:



So, how young are we recruiting them now, anyway?

[DanCa]

1. Green Arrow and Superman

you cant ask for any more liberal comic books.

[PleadTheFirst]

2. As wrong as the "war" is...

I don't think this is a particularly bad thing. I blame the liar in chief and his administration, not the grunts doing their job (no matter how wrong that job may be in this circumstance).

So, how young are we recruiting them now, anyway?

I understand the point you are trying to make (I think), but I know a lot of good liberals who would take offense at this comment. Comic books are hardly a childs medium, but I can't blame you for voicing what is a sadly common misconception in the US.

That sounded holier-than-thou and confrontational, but it wasn't intended as such. Just wanted to put my two cents in. :)

But I do want to say that I'd like to see what the content of that comic is. It is one thing to produce a special comic to entertain the troops; but I would hope it doesn't contain biased or prejudice rhetoric such as the "get them Japs!" comics of the 1940's.

[spooked]

5. no offense taken

of course I realize that there are many adults who enjoy and collect comics. What bothers me about this is I get the feeling that Rumsfeld & Company stayed up all night wondering how they could get their propaganda to the troops and this is what they came up with. I also worry about the content and wonder if it glorifies violence

[GreenPartyVoter]

15. Hey, in the 70s they used comic books for training manuals, or

so I have heard.

[PleadTheFirst]

18. It goes back earlier than that, actually.

Comic books, being a very easily digested medium (the combo of words and pictures that this particular artform is made up of) has been used an educational tool for ages.

The earliest I'm aware of comics being used by the American Military was in WWII when comic legend Will Eisner spent his stretch in the army writing and drawing field training manuals, such as "How to fix your jeep" and "How to clean your rifle." The way they were written (and drawn) allowed a number of the soldiers who weren't as literate as they might have been understand how to perform these actions.

But these pamphlets were used as instructional substitutes, not to foster propaganda. Which I'm afraid these new comics just might be doing.

Way to corrupt my artform, Rummie. You dick. :(

[Fire Walk With Me]

3. Will the comic characters have sufficiently armored Humvees?

It's the stuff of fantasy.

[DS1]

4. It'll give them something to do while recovering from amputation surgery

at Walter Reed.


God dammit.

[Fire Walk With Me]

6. "Someone turn the page for me. Thanks. Again. Thanks. Again."

A fine trade-off indeed. Comics make the pain go away.

[Lydia Guerra]

7. Or maybe bind them together for added armour? n/t

[Wizard777]

8. Are they printed on Kevlar or amour plating?

This is appropriate though. Our Mickey Mouse Pentagon has been out of touch with reality for so long Donald Rumsfeld is slowly transforming into Donald Duck The Latest Question on why the troops don't have sufficient protection and equipment. BLAHHHHWAAAAWAAAAAA they don't need it! BLAHHHHWAAAWAAA That's less to give Halliburton to throw down a rat hole. BLAHHHHWAAAAWAAA!

[spooked]

9. "only a superhero can extricate us from Iraq"

Great quote from MSNBC article:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7676925/

"Either Marvel Comics is really hard up for readers and needs an ultra-dynamic, Pentagon-heavy publicity gimmick to boost its sales, or Rumsfeld is finally ready to admit that only a superhero can extricate us from Iraq."

[NYC Liberal]

10. I think this one would be more appropriate...

;)

[spooked]

11. Or try this comic!

[NYC Liberal]

13. Good god, that codpiece is just disgusting!

:puke:

Now I'm off to go bleach my eyes!

[spooked]

12. This one is TOO funny!!

[Doc Bottom]

14. I love comic books

I can think of lots of comic-book titles that are very freethinking and are for adults. The Invisibles, man those were great. "Big Brother is watching you. Become invisible," and one of the heroes is a transvestite and one is the Buddha if the Buddha was from Liverpool and swore a lot. Grant Morrison wrote them. He used to write Doom Patrol which I believe is still happening and has been pretty damn interesting at times.

The Alan Moore Watchmen books are a fantastic peice of literature.

I send comic books to the troops of my own accord. The Savage Sword of Conan. This behavior is probably in poor taste, but I have a lot of old Conan magazines around. If you read the anysoldier.us site, you'll find that the soldiers aren't asking for magazines and comic books very much, they're asking for socks.

[PleadTheFirst]

19. Great list of good comics, Doc.

Add other titles such as The Sandman, Cerebus, From Hell and any of Kyle Baker's graphic novels (like Why I Hate Saturn) to the list and you've pretty much summed up some of the best comics published. :)

[paineinthearse]

16. See post that announced the pentagon event

It was bring your kids to war, er work, day at the pentagon 4/28 - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1749992

[paineinthearse]

17. The dumbing down of the military

These kids should be taking college correspondence courses. Better, they should be IN COLLEGE!

Nominated.

[bobthedrummer]

20. Reminds me of a thread started by a DUer comparing a certain former

General and 2004 Democratic Presidential campaigner to other DUers favorite George Lucas Star Wars characters.

Note Spider Man's fascist salute in the PR pic. It's all Southern Baptists in General Boykin's outfit!

[HEIL PRESIDENT GOD]

21. These heroes also did their "tours" in 'Nam

18 is still a kid and a lot of adults like comics. What I'd like to see is some of our progressive cartoon artists stepping up and making comics for the grunts to politicize them--make them start asking questions, at least. There were a lot of great underground GI comics in Vietnam (it was the golden age of underground comix) some of which you can see in the Penguin Book of Political Cartoons, edited by Steef Davison. Distribution may be more of a problem but I've heard hash and shrooms are to be had aplenty in Baghdad, so there must be some stuff slipping through--I mean other than bombs...

[spanone]

22. A war based on a fairy tale deserves a comic book.

And it's heavy reading for Rumfuck.

[donsu]

23. will the comics protect them from DU poisoning? who owns Marvel?

how much did they give the criminal bushgang for smirk?