The Resistance by J. Michael Straczynski is a small press comics masterpiece, at least according to the critics. Surrounding it is the beginning of a superhero universe from the aftereffects of a pandemic.
One very similar series, Ignited by Mark Waid and Kwanza Osajyefo on the other hand performed very badly. But it was over the same reasons, depictions of sociopolitics in super-heroics. On the web, these political leanings are beginning to divide their fanbases; I dare not even say examples for this reason. People of either side also bring up how trying to integrate representation like with the X-Men just doesn’t work anymore. So how does JMS do it in a way that so many fail? Let’s find out.
Sociopolitical Comics
Comics have their beginnings in politics, usually as satire in newspapers. Not just the American variety but across the world. Because how else can people stomach something that affects their lives? As for superheroes, NerdSync likes go into a hour-long discussion about this. The gist goes into how the heroes inspire the masses to make changes in their lives. Captain America for example was created because Joe Simmons believed the US would inevitably join World War II. In other words, that’s speculative fiction that comes very close to reality. Even one of the Sentinel of Liberty’s capers have him punch out a charismatic Nazi says that free speech isn’t about accepting toxic ideologies. That is… if you take it that way.
Super-Heroic Politics
Now politics can go into comic books and graphic novels without too much trouble as autobiographies. Sometimes it’s how journalists bypass publishing laws as the case in Palestine. Even fictional autobiographies can depict real events like in Maus. Barring what the Werthamites would make you think.
But for superheroes who have to wrap most things up in a few issues, that’s harder. Superheroes are about adding the fantastical elements of imagination to their worlds. While they are similar, they are not the same; which makes it all the harder when creators use these people’s heroes as mouthpieces.
Some like Neal Adams use comics as a way to portray the very real effects of heroin in Green Lantern/Green Arrow. That same series also brings up how irrelevant super-heroics are in the real world. Superheroes might be able to put on show but their absurd abilities don’t solve actual issues. It’s times like between the series’ two mentioned issues on how the absurdity of comics actually makes a mockery of these problems.
Where The Ignited Fails Unlike The Resistance
This is one of the issues of Ignited; instead of showing the very real effects of how people act post-school shootings, everyone acts like fools. The police for example deputize hunters with guns; do these idiots really think bringing guns as security wouldn’t trigger traumas? And the kids who get powers after this shooting engage in acts of domestic terrorism. While they don’t kill anybody they do aggressively go after people they disagree with; not unlike extreme activist groups that shall go unnamed. For a series that’s supposed to be down-to-earth, this looks more like the stuff mainstream comics get criticized for.
Sure being teens means being emotional and doing stupid things but that doesn’t mean the adults should act as stupid. The adults (especially the school staff) act more like supervillain placeholders with their conspiracies. In other words the adults aren’t characters, they’re plot elements. What’s weirder is Waid and Osajyefo interview real school shooting survivors. But instead of depicting authentic struggles of PTSD, they use them as a base for tasteless power fantasies; all by retrofitting a superhero world into the real one. While series like Omni from the same universe are fine; Ignited is less an exploration of superheroes in the real world and more like how rioters views the world.
The Resistance Against Stereotypes
The Resistance in the mean time wastes no time in displaying its world. Many critics chock its success up to the unfortunate timing of the Corona Virus; but in terms of a realistic superhero world, Straczynski is a veteran of these kind of depictions with Supreme Power and Rising Stars. Instead of wish fulfillment or focusing squarely on the people with powers, it’s how the world forms that gets people’s attention. When a pathogen ravages the planet, everyone feels a sense of hopelessness. Despite the government and populaces’ best efforts an apocalypse is all but imminent.
Perhaps the best depiction of this state of the world comes from when a Chinese general decides to blow up a province to prevent the spread. The general’s wife is actually there; before the missile hits, he calls his wife to tell her he loves her. It’s all the more heartbreaking where despite the sacrifices, it was all for nothing. But then there’s another sacrifice, the first superhero takes her life to stop the infection and nobody will ever know. What’s worse, the powers that-be push for control afterwards. They’re spearheaded by a new American president who implements fascism.
This is not out of vanity however; the world as they know it is gone and they believe they’re doing the right thing. Even then the president is just a pawn for his backer. For the superhumans, this isn’t about moral superiority but survival against scapegoating.
How The Resistance Crushes Pre-Hickman X-Men
Compare the above to the X-Men of the Chris Claremont era. Claremont and his confidants try to show the titular team less as superheroes and more as people; the kind of people who audiences could relate a little more with. Magneto under Claremont becomes a holocaust survivor for example. This makes his attempts to ensure mutant survival just a little more relatable. But then there’s the X-Men themselves; not with how people view them as subjects of oppression, but the people against them. The best of which being William Stryker.
Reverend Stryker isn’t a villain solely because of his charming personality that stirs up anti-mutant tension. It’s how he is as a character. Stryker’s military and religious background had convinced him that everything bad in his life was because of mutants. Mainly because his then newborn son was believed to be a mutant based on his malformations. But in the end, mutants are just a scapegoat for Stryker to justify his horrific murder of his family. It’s those delusions that make him so villainous.
Most X-Men series afterwards however try to vainly recreate Claremont’s success; all with surface level plots of bigotry. For the most infamous example recall the plot to make Nightcrawler the Pope to turn the public against mutants. This is where social commentary turns into activism for profit.
Social Commentary in The Resistance
Now there are a number of parallels between The Resistance and the real world. Fans are quick to compare President Donald Trump to the fascist president in the series. Even if objectively speaking he’s more like Chinese President For Life, Xi Jinping in terms of military. Don’t forget the Corona Virus, which was a coincidence at the time of release. Comics are written and made months in advance. Given the scientific name of XV1N1, it likely has more influence from the Swine and Bird Flu outbreaks. If The Simpsons can predict the future by doing social commentary, why can’t this comic?
The Resistance Is The Political Comic Book
What separates The Resistance from comics with political themes is how it’s not really about taking sides. It’s about building a world and how it deals with situations economically, socially, and politically. It’s why some of the most successful serializations are speculative fiction with insight. Superheroes for the most part are wish fulfillment to provide hope towards the masses. But what makes them memorable aren’t their heroic deeds; it’s how they live as people and doing their part to help others.
People have layers to them and the most memorable times come from where they fit into something. Difficult subjects like how people live during a pandemic is just one way of looking at things. There’s a very big picture that gets painted with small strokes, in ways that make people human. Because if only one point-of-view is on display, creators alienate a significant portion of the audience. Or worse they make such complex situations feel cheap with dangerously simple solutions. Cracked has a list of infamous examples.
Social and political commentary are in comics’ blood. But using superheroes as mouthpieces is not the way to go. Super-heroics are irrelevant to the world at large. It’s how these characters live in their worlds and how they could relate to ours is what makes them important. So if you want to create a world of capes and masks, build the world and see how it affects the lives of others. In the most realistic way of course, not hormonal fantasies.
Thank you for coming to the end. I hope you have something to share with this. Once again, remember to look between the panels.