The New Revolution Will Be Advertised in Four Colors

Since its proto-era, cartoons and comics books have embraced social and political agendas (often of the left-leaning variety). Exploding WWII propaganda across its pages in the 40s; cowering in the corners of the Red Scare and hogtied by religious and right wing political fervor in the 50s [The CODE! The dreaded CODE!]; earnestly addressing social issues in the 60s (mostly thanks to Stan and the "King"); embracing subculture and sneakily promoting elements of universalism in the 70s (partly thanks to one of my favs, Tony Isabella); flipping the bird at the establishment in the 80s; sucking its thumb in the 90s [Worst. Decade. Ever.]; commercializing the idea of the “Other” in the Aughts; and, I suppose, galvanizing itself in the teens: Something is now brewing in mainstream comic books... something akin to a REVOLUTION. A more overt sense of resistance is expressing itself in many Marvel, some DC, and quite a few Image books. My daughter (and her dad with a horrifying “case of arrested development” (-- Hemingway)) still reads some of the best of these books and the new _X-Men: Red_ is the ideal representation of what “conventional” comics can inspire in readers. The most recent issue, #5, by Tom Taylor and Mahmud A. Asar reminds my genes (the part that is European and Russian Jew), my ideology (ummm… far left), and my (lack of) belief structure (pluralistically plural with a heaping dose of Pope Francis) that the fight is on! I’m beyond thrilled that my 16+ year old daughter can find an ideological similitude in the comic books she’s reading. The New Revolution is in four colors. As Jean Grey(-Summers) (a.k.a., Phoenix) says in the last panel of the most recent issue, "We're going to crush the lies. We're going to weaponize the truth." Check it out: