Oct 02 2008
Putting real people — and the biggest real one — in your comics
There’s an interesting story on Newsarama — a Web site devoted to comics news — highlighting the role real presidents have played in comics.
The story even recounts the much-debated story where Captain America unmasks the shadowy Number One, leader of a vicious terrorist organization in the Marvel universe. In the comic, Captain America is utterly horrified at what he finds, even going so far as to drop the Captain America guise and become a new character called Nomad. And who is under that mask? Rumor has it, that the writers, though they never show it, had intended Number One to be Richard Nixon himself. (The president was stuck in his Watergate mess at the time the comic came out.)
The story’s a fun one to read. Who knew that FDR supposedly had a hand in creating the Justice Society of America? But it raises an interesting question: When your script calls for a president — or some other bigwig politico — to appear, do you create a fake one or a real one?
I suppose the answer depends on that president’s role.
In my series GEARZ, published by Bluewater Publishing, I used a president as one of my main villains. Now, because this president was so inept and so self-centered, many may figure that I based it on our current Pres. Bush. I’m no fan of our president — I think he’s a dangerous fool — but my president was fictional. He plays a large role in the story, and I didn’t want to distract readers by using a real-life political figure.
And that’s the key, I think. If your president or politician plays a large role in the story, and if that role may be controversial, stay away from real-life people. You’ll just tick off half your audience. The other half will be pleased, perhaps, but they will also be taken out of your fictional universe.
Be careful when inserting real people in your comics, then. They can become one big, unnecessary distraction.
3 Responses to “Putting real people — and the biggest real one — in your comics”
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Good advice. Famous faces are fine for cameo appearances in a comic or TV show, but not for substantial roles.
I remember a scene in Giffen & deMatteis’ “Justice League” with Ronald Regan. That was fine too, just a fun little moment with Regan and Superman talking.
What do you think of writers and artists putting themselves in their comics as characters?
Hi, Blackbird:
Hmmm… I can’t imagine artists and writers putting themselves in their comics in most instances. But, in a humorous context it can work. Brian Michael Bendis, for instance, has put himself into a comic of Ultimate Spider-Man to basically make fun of one of his storylines. That worked.
Dan
John Byrne, Chris Claremont and Stan Lee all put themselves in comics they were writing, all in humorous contexts, and I think Art Adams drew himself into an issue of “Excalibur”. John Byrne also put himself “seriously” in a story in “Fantastic Four”, although it was “Assistant Editors’ Month”