Marvel Civil War: The Crumbling of a Paper Topic
I had an idea for my 299 paper. It was to be a glorious, powerful, and in-depth journey through the history of American comic books, busting at the seams with verbose language and thoughtful, colorful research. It was to cover the Marvel Civil War, while simultaniously weaving politics, civil rights and the allegory into a tapestry of literary gold.
Sadly, that paper will never see the light of day.
Perhaps a bit melodramatic. The fact is, I wanted to write my paper on the Marvel comic book event, Civil War, a 7 issue mini-series that sees the U.S. Government flexing its dictatorial muscles by requiring any and all superheroes to register themselves with the powers that be, or risk arrest and detention. Some heroes, led by Iron Man, champion the cause of registration, while others, led by Captain America, choose to go underground and fight what they see as a breach of civil liberties. All in all, a pretty solid story with enough modern day allegory to write an entire book on, let alone a paper.
But Civil War was released only a year or two ago, making the historical narrtive a bit stunted, if not totally impotent. So I had to scrap the Civil War idea. I’ll have to admit, it hurt initially. But I have moved on.
And have arrived at my new paper topic: The Depiction of the Government Agency S.H.I.E.L.D. During the Reagan Years, 1981-1989.
S.H.I.E.L.D., it must be said, is a covert agency set in the Marvel Universe, that conducts special opts, coordinates superhero teams, and monitors any and all threats from big time villians bent on world conquest. You know, like the CIA, except with a modicum of ethical standards. Well, sometimes anyway.
And I chose the Reagan Era because I was interested to see just how favorably (or unfavorably) a secret government agency like S.H.I.E.L.D. was portrayed during the ’80’s, at the height of American Conservatism, trickle down economics, and Thatcher-supported Apartheid.
You know, the good ‘ole days.
September 8th, 2008 at 2:42 am
This is so brilliant, both ideas are actually. I am dying to read your research. I’m a Marvel comic fan myself, and look forward to your work with great interest.
September 10th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
Hey Eric, it’s Ben Roth. Professor Fernsebner told me about your project, and it seems that you’re looking at Marvel comics during a timeframe I’m interested in as well (early to middle eighties). In case you hadn’t heard from Prof. Fernsebner, I am writing my senior thesis on Asians in Marvel Comics during the Bronze Age of the comic book, with the end goal of showing how depictions of Asian characters changed during the Bronze Age due to political, economic, social, and pop culture influences, and how the aforementioned comics are a unique historical source due to their bringing together several fields of study and analysis into a single widely dispersed medium (how’s that for a run-on sentence).
Anyway, let me know if there’s something about comics during the early 80’s which you need more info on, and I can see what I have (my rather large comics collection regretably does not contain any S.H.I.E.L.D. issues, but may have stories featuring particular characters or storylines you are interested in). In return, I would greatly appreciate it if you let me know when/if you come across some information particularly germaine to my research. I’m specifically thinking about issues prominently featuring the character Johnny Woo, who to the best of my knowledge is the only Asian individual in S.H.I.E.L.D., but things like storylines set in China or Japan would be fantastic as well. You can reach me at Bobchillingworth@gmail.com.
Thanks for your time.