Analyse the view of communism as a threat displayed through propaganda in Marvel Comics from 1940-1970 - ESSAY

Propaganda is defined as ‘information, ideas, or rumours deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc.’ (Dictionary.com, undated). This resonates with the ideas presented in comic books; heroes, representing national ideals, triumph over evil, representing the enemy. This is specifically portrayed in Marvel Comics’, and its former monikers Timely Publications and Atlas Comics’, characters ‘Captain America’ and ‘Black Widow’.

Comic books have been a popular medium of entertainment since the early 20^th century. In 1935 these publications evolved from reprinting newspaper comic strips to printing original content with original characters. 1938 is regarded as the start of ‘The Golden Age of Comic Books’ (History Detectives, 2014), a year later the Second World War began, and superheroes took centre stage. Along with them came stories of patriotism and righteousness. On the surface, these stories are simple entertainment aimed at young people, heroes like ‘Captain America’ fighting for justice. Below the surface however, comics were being used as a propaganda machine aimed at the young. Never is this more evident than in the changing portrayal of the enemy between the Second World War and the Cold War. Heroes went from fighting the fascist threat to fighting communism and their former ally, the USSR.

Comics can be traced back as far as the early 19^th century, with publications such as ‘The Looking-Glass’ in 1820s Scotland, described as ‘an early example of topical graphic journalism’ (Grove, 2017, 24, cited in Fotheringham, 2017). From the birth of comics, we can see that they have a close relationship with world events. In 1929 the Belgian cartoonist Hergé began creating ‘Tintin in the Land of the Soviets’ as a weekly cartoon strip for the ‘Le Vingtième Siècle’. ‘Tintin in the Land of the Soviets’ was included in the newspaper’s children’s supplement and detailed the fictional reporter ‘Tintin’ and his ordeals in the USSR as he tried to expose the country’s secrets. ‘Tintin in the Land of the Soviets’ is a prominent example of anti-communist propaganda, a publication so popular that the collected volume is still in print today. The publication had ‘pedagogic aims’ (Farr, 2007, 55) and was created as anti-communist propaganda, following the death of Lenin and the beginning of Stalin’s control of the Soviet Union. When the Second World War began ‘sales of comic books increased markedly’, ‘they were cheap, portable and had inspirational, patriotic stories of good triumphing over evil’ (History Detectives, 2014). The world continued to see comic books mirroring real-world events and views. As the threat of fascism rose, the focus on communism shifted as the East and the West became unlikely allies to combat a new common threat.

The American government began encouraging political messages in popular culture during the Second World War. ‘Roosevelt encouraged official rhetoric in popular culture, thereby communicating political messages in a form that the American public were already predisposed to be receptive to’ (Murray, 2000). The American public, and American armed forces, were ‘predisposed to be receptive to’ comic books as by 1941, 25 million comics were being sold in the United States every month (Onyon, 2018). Comic books were a common commodity in the United States, to the US Army as ‘they were cheap, easy to carry, and the comic itself did not require a college education to read’ (Onyon, 2018).

Comic books such as ‘America’s Best Comics’ featured covers with heroes representing the USSR, USA, United Kingdom and China, all fighting together against Nazi Germany and the Axis powers (America’s Best Comics, 1944). After the Second World War the image of threat shifted back to communism as the Cold War began. In the USA propaganda appeared warning of the dangers of communism, such as Fred Schwarz’s ‘Communism: America’s Mortal Enemy’ (Schwarz, 1961), an anti-communist text which was delivered to the National Education Program in Arkansas in 1956.

One major view of communism portrayed through comic books of the time is that communists had betrayed the Allied Forces after the Second World War. In 1954, Atlas Comics, predecessor to Marvel, revived their standalone ‘Captain America’ comic book series under a new subheading, ‘Captain America… Commie Smasher!’. This revival showed a real change in the view of the enemy that was being fed to the American public, with the first story in this issue being titled ‘The Betrayers’. ‘Over the course of the 1940s and 1950s, the characters most associated with World War II were either retired or readapted to changing times’ (Scott, 2014). This change may have come in response to the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950, only four months after the original publication had stopped printing. By 1953 the Korean War was over, and the result had not been the reunification of a democratic Korea that the USA backed South Korean forces had aimed for. In the first page of this comic the reader is presented with the line ‘Communism was spreading its ugly, grasping tentacles all over the world.’ This view of communism and the USSR as the enemy, even as monstrous and grotesque, was being displayed to their audience. This was an audience which covered a large amount of people, though mostly children. In the Second World War ‘children used the comic book to keep up to date with what was happening through most of the war’ (Onyon, 2018) and this likely continued into the Cold War. Conventional news sources are considered to be aimed solely at adults, with presenters such as Edward Murrow who also tackled the issue of the Red Scare in 1954 (Musser, undated).

These publications would have been aimed at young men, as suggested by Atlas Comic’s other publication at the time ‘Young Men’, which also featured characters such as ‘Captain America’. These people would have likely been too young to have fought in the Second World War and would have been raised by veterans of the war. During the Second World War ‘the writers and publishers of these iconic figures were using their medium to promote unity and American ideologies’ (Stephens, 2011). This continued into the early stages of the cold war.

Though sales in comic books dropped and many super heroes disappeared from the shelves, the ones who remained continued to symbolise American ideals. In ‘Captain America Comics’ issue 76, the reader is fed a plot-line where ‘Captain America’ and his sidekick ‘Bucky’ re-join the army, with ‘Captain America stating ‘Bucky, there’s a war going on… a war of spies! We’re going to join in on that war… as soldiers in the army!’ (Marvel, 1954). Here, the reader is presented with heroes of the Second World War, re-joining the army as a Private and a Company Mascot. This could be interpreted as propaganda for the US Army, with heroes taking on low-level roles, like normal people. The references to the ‘war of spies’ may have also acted to spread fear within young people, likening the events in the comic to the messages they were being fed through other forms of propaganda, such as the comic book ‘Is this Tomorrow’ (Catechetical Guild Educational Society, 1947). ‘Is This Tomorrow’ was produced ‘To make you think!’ providing readers with figures of the amount of known Communist Party members in the USA, also insinuating ‘hundreds of additional members’ were working as ‘fifth columnists’ to undermine the government.

This was being combined with the anti-communist messages being fed to children through their schooling. ‘As the Cold War represented an ideological battle in which the United States and the Soviet Union sought to impose their respective worldviews domestically and internationally, indoctrination through education became a legitimized practice adopted by both nations’ (Hope, 2011). This combination would have made it difficult for young people in the USA to escape propaganda and find bare facts, their schooling and their entertainment were being used to ingrain ideals. This would have been effective for the US government at the time, who would have been aiming to minimise the amount of US citizens adopting communist ideas.

Another view portrayed in ‘Captain America’ comics is that anything unamerican is a threat. ‘Captain America’ was created as the image of American patriotism, ‘tailor made to support the overall war effort’ (Onyon, 2018) in the Second World War. This image remained largely unchanged into the Cold War. ‘Captain America’ was created as a hero to the American people and an inspiration, his costume and shield were a ‘patriotic red, white, and blue uniform and the ideals of American nationalism’ (Onyon, 2018). In contrast the views of communism in ‘Captain America… Commie Smasher!’ were the opposite of American, communists were presented as cowards, hiding behind others in plain sight or as monsters.

‘Captain America Comics’ issue 78, published in September 1941, introduces a new antagonist, ‘Electro’. ‘Electro’ is a glowing, green monster bearing the hammer and sickle of the USSR on his chest. It is never revealed whether ‘Electro’ is human, or simply a weapon created by the USSR. He is presented as a powerful threat; however, he lacks the intelligence of ‘Captain America’ and is easily outsmarted. The character design is opposite to that of ‘Captain America’, inhuman looking and visually unappealing. This may have been a direct choice from the artists, attempting to embody the American view of communism, ‘the red enemies of freedom’ (Marvel, 1954). In the story, ‘Electro’ subdues ‘Bucky’, a 12-year-old child, and threatens to kill him. This represents an unhuman act, an act without compassion. The instinct to protect a child and keep them from danger is regarded as being natural, ‘compassion is a natural and automatic response that has ensured our survival’ (Seppälä, 2013). Presenting communism as unhuman and uncaring would have made it almost impossible for the American public to find any way of empathising with ‘Electro’ and therefore communism. This could be seen as misinformation and propaganda as many countries which fell to communism did so for entirely human reasons.

However, ‘Captain America Comics’ did also play on the idea that the followers of communism were poorly educated and to be pitied. In issue 77 ‘Captain America’ is tasked with taking medicine to a Korean prisoner of war camp, where communist plotters have poisoned their own soldiers in order to ‘accuse the U.N. of mistreating them’ (Marvel, 1954). Here the American audience is presented with communists betraying their own people in order to spread misinformation about the U.N. and democracy. ‘Captain America’ is successful in curing the poisoned soldiers and remarks that he wishes the soldiers could be taught ‘the real truth’, that ‘the United Nations are the only ones who can cure what ails them… with freedom and democracy.’ Here the reader is being presented with the view that the Korean soldiers should be pitied for following communism. Communism is compared to poison, but the soldiers are portrayed as too unintelligent to know that the real enemies are ‘their own masters’. Here we see a differing view of communism in comic propaganda, the view that the poor were being exploited by communist leaders. Never in the comic is the possibility that people may follow communism due to perceived ideals discussed.

The followers of communism are only ever portrayed in one of two ways, as monstrous plotters or poor uneducated fools who have been misguided or brainwashed by communism. These comics fail to explore the possibility that many followers of communism were discontent with their lives and revolution occurred due to shared discontent. For example, the main supporters of the communist revolution in China were poor farmers, amounting to around 85 percent of the population (AllAbout Philosophy, undated). These people were not faceless monsters out to destroy democracy like ‘Electro’, these people followed communist ideals as a last resort to better themselves.

Another view of communism portrayed by Marvel, is as alluring and dangerous. On April 10th, 1959, Marvel Comics published ‘Tales of Suspense’ issue 52 and the first appearance of Black Widow (Marvel, 1964). In later editions and the current Marvel canon, ‘Black Widow’ is a hero and a member of ‘The Avengers’ alongside ‘Captain America’. But in 1959 she was ‘the gorgeous new menace’, a communist spy attempting to undermine ‘Iron Man’. She acts as a strategist and the mastermind behind the plot, she also uses her beauty to trick ‘Iron Man’, referring to him as a ‘gullible fool’. In recent years the character has been developed, revealing that she was brainwashed from an early age, however in this first issue this is not revealed. Without any back story ‘Black Widow’ represents an alluring beauty, perhaps symbolic of the attractions of communism. However, ‘Black Widow’ is ultimately unsuccessful in her attempt to undermine ‘Iron Man’, who takes pity on her. This may also be symbolic of the American view that communism would fail and that the countries that fall to communism were to be pitied, not punished and that the real threat were the people behind the movement.

In ‘Tales of Suspense’ issue 53, ‘Black Widow’ makes her return, once again as the antagonist to ‘Iron Man’. However, here the reader is presented with ‘Black Widow’ as the sole plotter in her attack. ‘Black Widow’ uses her charms to once again trick ‘Tony Stark’, who is ‘taken by a pair of limpid eyes’ (Marvel, 1964), even after ‘Black Widow’ was revealed as a communist spy. Here it could be interpreted that acting alone, ‘Black Widow’ is an intelligent and menacing threat. This could be reflective of the fear in America at the time of communist spies and insurgents as portrayed in ‘Is This Tomorrow’ in 1947. ‘Is This Tomorrow’ theorises that communists could infiltrate society and alter perceptions (Catechetical Guild Educational Society, 1947). This is similar to the way in which ‘Black Widow’ infiltrates the high society life of ‘Tony Stark’ and uses her charm to lure him into her plot. ‘Black Widow’ is the opposite of the monstrous and often dim-witted communists presented in ‘Captain America Comics’. ‘Black Widow’ is ultimately defeated after other communist henchmen intrude on her plans. She is presented as far more intelligent than her male counterparts whose actions lead her to a face-to-face confrontation of ‘Iron Man’. This shows communism as poorly organised, but also intelligent. This is a representation of communism as a real threat, but a flawed threat. In the final frames of the issue, ‘Black Widow’ is shown to be pondering how ‘Iron Man’ can risk his life to save his enemies, ‘what manner of men are these Americans, who can risk their lives for their enemies??’ (Marvel, 1964). This may have been presenting democracy as superior due to the implied inherent compassion. Alternatively, this may have been indicative to her future change of allegiances and therefore the superiority of democracy due to all that it offers.

It could be said that comics as propaganda were not as effective following the Second World War, as there were no active wars involving US personnel until 1950. Between 1945 and 1950, the number of active US Army personnel fell from over 8 million to under 600,000 (Infoplease, undated). During the Second World War, superheroes were presented as supporting the war effort, fighting the fascist and Axis threat. Many of them openly advocating the selling of war bonds. By 1955 the number of active personnel had once again risen to over 1 million, perhaps as a reaction to the Korean War. The Korean War ended in 1954 and between 1955 and 1960 numbers of military personnel had dropped again. Once the threat of fascism had been vanquished, heroes like ‘Captain America’ had lost their enemy and were retired. It could be interpreted that as the heroes were retired after the war, young people were no longer being presented with an active threat for the early years of the Cold War. Communism was represented by many faces, each with differing views. However, in ‘Captain America Comics’ never featured one of the main communist figures, Joseph Stalin. Stalin’s successor, Georgy Malenkov was also never featured in ‘Captain America Comics’ and wasn’t mentioned in any Marvel comic until 1994 (Marvel Database, undated). Comparatively, the first issue of ‘Captain America Comics’ showed ‘Captain America’ punching Hitler. This would have given readers an image for the threat of fascism and a face synonymous with it. However, the Cold War era issues of ‘Captain America Comics’ don’t feature any recognisable figures on their covers, instead opting for generic characters in communist themed outfits. Without this image or face representing threat, people may not have been driven to volunteer for the war effort. ‘Captain America’ relied on the character trait that he was an American hero. His character was an average, perhaps even scrawny, American man, but when the Second World war was raging, he became the symbol of America and freedom. When there was no single threat to present as the enemy, only an ideology, ‘Captain America’ could not have acted as effective propaganda.

In conclusion, whilst communism is presented as a threat in Marvel Comics, and its predecessors, between 1940 and 1970, it was too inconsistent to be an effective form of propaganda. Compared to the depiction of fascism as a threat in the 1930s and 1940s, the image of communism lacked a face, a single person for the readership to see as the enemy. Since comic books are a highly visual medium of propaganda, it may have been that without vivid and definite images of the threat the producers were unable to get the same reaction as they had in the years before. As superheroes were retired following the Second World War, popular comics shifted to different genres. ‘Exemplifying this shift, Kirby and Joe Simon, his old collaborator, re-established themselves in the post-war comics’ field by creating Young Romance #1’ (Scott, 2014). Jack Kirby and Joe Simon were to co-creators of ‘Captain America’, and as Cord Scott states in ‘Comics and Conflict’, this move from the creators of perhaps one of the most patriotic superheroes exemplifies the change in attitudes towards comics following the Second World War. The American public may have been looking for more light-hearted entertainment following the war, and perhaps ‘Captain America’ simply moving onto a new threat was not what the public were looking for after the atrocities the world had endured. Similarly, it may have been the mixed messages presented about communism that caused these comic books to be ineffective propaganda. ‘Black Widow’ was presented as smart and alluring, an actual threat to superheroes and indeed the American way of life. However, along with her poorly educated counterparts, ‘Black Widow’ was too easily defeated and never posed the same threat of communism which was being portrayed in other means of propaganda. Ultimately, sales in comics fell drastically following the Second World War. These factors combined to create a climate in which Marvel Comics were unable to produce the effective propaganda of previous years.

3139 Words

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