Marvel writer Nick Spencer, the guy who uses his Twitter feed to say all Republicans are “evil,” recently made national headlines with the company’s “let’s turn Steve Rogers into a Hydra agent” gimmick. He somehow managed escape the media radar with his tenth issue of ‘Captain America: Sam Wilson,’ which creates a nameless, faceless group of racist cops — ‘Americops’ — for hunting down minorities.
The end of the issue even features “Rage,” who tells a group of black kids that it’s “time we start hitting back” against the racist, left-hand saluting police patrolling their streets.
Ask yourself this question about Marvel Editor Tom “capture the zeitgeist” Brevoort as the nation comes to grips with the Dallas shooting of 12 police officers by Micah Xavier Johnson, which killed five: Why is it off limits to “capture the zeitgeist” of Islamic terrorist groups — real evil — in Marvel comics due to fears about how it will reflect on all Muslims, but yet it is fair game to create “Americops”?
The vast majority of cops are good men and women, and yet every single time someone like Alton Sterling is killed in Baton Rouge or Philando Castile is killed in Minneapolis, the Nick Spencers of the world use the moment to rhetorically slime over 12,000 local police departments across the country.
Here is another question for you: Have you ever seen an issue where Nick Spencer’s Sam Wilson must combat super-powered gangs of black kids in Chicago or Detroit who deal drugs, murder innocents, and make life a living hell for the majority of good citizens (and cops) in the city?
Answer: Of course not.
The lesson at Marvel under Tom Brevoort is clear:
- If a writer wants to pen cartoonish versions of irrational and angry white men, then he or she can do that.
- If a writer wants to take the actions of a few to incite anger against the whole, then doing so against cops and law-abiding gun owners is permissible.
- Capturing the “zeitgeist” at Marvel is defined as, “Write or draw whatever inflammatory idea you have towards white people, but don’t you dare cover inner city violence or Islamic terrorism — even if you planned on handling the latter issues in a measured manner.
If you are sick and tired of Marvel hyper-politicizing its books while engaging in obscene double-standards, then stop buying any title that fills its pages with partisan bile. Sound off on social media and let everyone know exactly why you are walking away from the title.
