involvement in the Central Americanndrug trade, and the CIA-contra warnagainst Nicaragua.” Specifically, hensaid, “it would target the relationshipnbetween Vice President George Bushnand Panamanian strongman GeneralnManuel Noriega,” who has been indictednby a Florida court on charges ofndrug trafficking.nThe appearance of comic books innthe presidential campaign reflects angrowing tendency within the realm ofncomic bookdom to link the multitudenof superheroes to current political, social,nand environmental issues. Thenmainstream comics have progressednsteadily and profitably along politicalnlines in recent years. Their readers arenexposed to increasingly liberal views ofnglobal sociopolitical issues.nThe comic book firms would notnrespond to my requests for interviewsnwith comic book writers and editors.nHowever, a fairly interesting profile ofnan assistant editor appears in the Septembern1988 issue of Marvel’s G.I.n]oe. Bobbie Chase writes that her hobbiesninclude “making fun of politicians.”nHer list of pet peeves is headednby “Ronald Reagan” and “televisionnevangelists,” and “the Moral Majoritynand other fascist organizations.”nSeveral mass-market superheroesnaligned themselves with detente in thenheady first two years of the Sovietnregime of Mikhail Gorbachev. As thenwords glasnost and perestroika becamencommonplace in the US press, comicsnwere quick to respond. In late 1986,nDCs Green Lantern Corps (GLC)n— a squad of controversial extraterrestrials—nsuffered a serious split betweennadvocates of Gorbachev’s restructuring,nand those aliens who thoughtnearthly politics should be left alone.nThe “dumbest” of the green aliens hadnbeen befriended by an AmericannCommunist while attending a baseballngame in California. The man invitednthe alien to visit his “friends” in thenSoviet Union. They turned out to benMikhail Gorbachev and his senior advisersnat the Kremlin.nGLC set off on its four-volumenseries keyed to detente after DC pencilnartist Joe Staton returned from a trip tonthe Soviet Union with a pile of photographsnand a wealth of personal impressions.nGLC editor Andy Heifernwrote a landmark editor’s note in thenJanuary 1987 issue of the corps’ comic,nin which he described his reaction tonStaton’s snapshots and experience:n”The picture [Staton] painted wasn’tnexactly a pretty one . . . but from itnemerged an image of Soviet Russiannsociety that seemed to strike ye oldneditor as being poor, rather than oppressed.”nThat issue of the corps’ comic hadnas cover art one of the Green Lanternsnboldly leading the armed masses forward.nDrawn in the style of the giantnbillboards so prevalent in socialist nations,nthe superhero held aloft a rednbanner that proclaimed: “Forward,nProletarian Superhero!”nNo, the series did not go on to praisenthe Communist heartland—the Sovietsnused the powers of the GLC membersnwho visited that nation to clone an”Red” superhero—but it did raise thenidea of moral equivalence to newnheights. Each issue of the series, sayncomic book distributors in New YorknCity, sold out very quickly.nStressing the new link betweenncomics and politics even more forcefully,nthe February 1987 issue of DCsnBlue Beetle had President Reagan outlawingnsuperheroes, because dastardlynvillains had begun impersonating thensuperior good guys and committingncrimes in their disguises.nReagan and Gorbachev were joinedn—literally—in the persona of yet anothernsuperhero. This neurotic creationntalked to himself His two personalitiesnwere named Ronnie andnMikhail.nAt the end of one issue of MarvelnComics’ Merc, the star-mercenary,nMark Hazard, who has just thwartednan attempt on the life of an Israelindiplomat by Arab terrorists, goes to anmovie — Rambo. Despite the fact thatnhe is a mercenary, and despite the factnthat Hazard has (cynically) foughtnalongside freedom fighters in CentralnAmerica, he says to himself: “First Inshoot the projectionist. Then I burnnthe prints. Stallone must be foundnbefore he kills again.”nThere was a time when comic booknsuperheroes fought either for the UnitednStates and against totalitarian nations,nfor the people of one city againstnarchcriminals, or for Earth against alienninvaders. Now they fight among themselves,nwith their own troubled “darker”nsides, or against such targets as toxicnwaste dumpers, religious cults, drugnnntraffickers, and self-appointed urbanncrime patrols.nThough juveniles have traditionallynbeen the prime readers—and purchasers—nof comic books, these days mostnare clearly aimed at an older audience.nIn a note attached to Word Warriors,nan independently produced special issuenmagazine about illiteracy, DCnComics’ senior editor/director of developmentnMike Gold says: “Comic booknstorytelling has matured at a time whennthe average novel, movie and televisionnshow has devolved to meet the desiresnof a less sophisticated audience.”nThe push into the world of adultnfantasy reading (setting aside the satiricalnmonthlies Mad and Cracked) of thencomic book genre came in the laten1960’s and early 70’s, when “hippy”nillustrators such as R. Crumb andnRalph Bakshi penned the drug-and-sexnadventures of, respectively, Mr. Naturalnand Fritz the Cat. Bakshi today isnresponsible for CBS-TV’s The NewnAdventures of Mighty Mouse. Episodesnof that Saturday morning “kids”nshow have attacked capitalism, veerednclose to pornography, and allegedlynsympathized with cocaine use.nAnother significant change in thengenre has been the appearance innAmerica of book-length comics on ansingle theme. Though such illustratednbooks have been popular in countriesnsuch as France and Japan for decades,nthe release of Art Spiegelman’s fulllengthncartoon novel, Maus, just twonyears ago vaulted American comicsninto a new dimension. More thann100,000 copies of this book about thenHolocaust, where the Nazis are catsnand the Jews are mice, have been sold,nand Maus was nominated for an awardnfrom the National Book Critics Circle.nThough most American kids havengrown up reading some kind of comicnbook, reading them now has becomenan adult pastime, and clearly less innocent.nAs DC Comics’ Gold put it inn1987, comic books “are on the cuttingnedge of sophisticated storytelling.n… A great many comics test outnat higher reading levels than manynnovels. The grand joke is that, today,nreading comic books is a true sign ofnliteracy.”nEvans Johnson is national editor fornThe New York City Tribune.nMARCH 1989/51n