Category: Comics

Batman is not gay, but Grant Morrison is liberal

April 27, 2012May 22, 2012by Douglas Ernst18 Comments

Seemingly out of nowhere, writer Grant Morrison decided he was going to issue a decree: Batman is gay. Morrison is a powerhouse of a comic book writer, so I assume that he thinks he could start the editorial ball rolling in that direction. And that very well could happen, even if he was eventually given some sort of “alternate universe” gay-Batman story to write. As he told Playboy:

“[Bruce Wayne is] very plutonian in the sense that he’s wealthy and also in the sense that he’s sexually deviant,” Morrison told the magazine. “Gayness is built into Batman. I’m not using gay in the pejorative sense, but Batman is very, very gay. There’s just no denying it.” … Morrison adds, Batman’s “gayness” is actually part of the character’s near-universal appeal: “I think that’s why All these women fancy him and they all wear fetish clothes and jump around rooftops to get to him. He doesn’t care — he’s more interested in hanging out with the old guy and the kid.”

If Grant Morrison was named John Boehner or Kurt Cameron this story would be plastered on cable news shows for the next 48 hours. Since Grant Morrison has sturdily planted his feet in liberalism’s camp the generally-bigoted explanation he gives will go largely unnoticed.

If a conservative comic book creator coupled sexual deviance and “gayness” there would be hell to pay. When Grant Morrison does it, complete with allusions to what Bruce would do with “The Boy Wonder” … nothing. According to Grant Morrison, Batman really should be called The Caped Sandusky. Where is GLAAD when you need them? Probably monitoring conservative websites, I guess.

Let it be known that Grant Morrison is a guy who pumped himself up with so many drugs in Katmandu that he claims to have had a discussion with hyper-intelligent silver blobs from the fifth-dimension. Perhaps the fifth dimension exists, or…perhaps the trip melted parts of Grant’s brain.

With that said, the universal appeal of Batman doesn’t stem from his sexuality, but from his constant struggles with his inner demons, and his obsessive drive to root out evil. Or, as I said in regards to The Dark Knight Rises:

“Bruce Wayne, like all of us, is fallible. Like many Americans, he doesn’t want to believe that The Batman has to exist, but “he must.” He must because there are evil men.”

Bruce is wealthy, and most people would like to be wealthy. He’s fallible, and all of us are fallible. He’s conflicted, and all of us are conflicted. And he strikes fear into the hearts of of very bad men. What’s not to like?

If you’re still wondering why someone would decide that it would be okay to switch a character’s sexuality out of nowhere, look no further than the writers of Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man, who created a half-black, half-hispanic version of the ol’ web head:

Italian artist Sara Pichelli, who was integral in designing the new Spider-Man’s look, says, “Maybe sooner or later a black or gay — or both — hero will be considered something absolutely normal.”

As I said before, it is normal! It’s only not normal when it’s shoved in our faces. It’s only not normal when political points are shoe-horned into a story for no other reason than to make readers adopt a Progressive worldview. Instead of creating a likable gay character with mass appeal, guys like Morrison wish they could just say, “Batman is gay” and have one. It doesn’t work that way, and all it does is annoy people.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to watch The Dark Knight Rises trailer for the 100th time.

Iron Man 3 gets the Tom Clancy treatment

March 27, 2012March 27, 2012by Douglas ErnstLeave a comment

The word is out: Iron Man 3 is going to have more Tom Clancy and less Rock ’em Sock ’em Robots. Robert Downy Jr. is almost always amazing and so is the character of Iron Man (when he’s done right), so this is probably good news. The problem is, Marvel has a track record of sometimes allowing liberal claptrap to soak into its products. Sometimes, as with Summer 2011’s Captain America, they succeed despite their best efforts at self-sabotage. Due to this, let us revisit a Tom Clancy interview with Charlie Rose to get an accurate glimpse of who the man is and what he’s stands for:

Tom Clancy on Iraq: I think we won. Look, the real world is not digital, it’s analog. That means it’s fundamentally untidy. And so, the Iraq situation is going to remain untidy for quite some time to come. At the end of it Iraq is going to be a free democratic society, and that’s a win for us and for the whole world…. Democracy works. America has proven that to the world. Now some parts of the world are a little retarded on that, like China, North Korea and a few others. But democracy and the American model works better than any system in the world.

Tom Clancy on The French: [They’re] like a big sister. They think they know better than us, but we’re the one’s who made the money. They’re offended we don’t take their advice. Well, tough world. We’ve grown beyond that. … They eat McDonald’s, but they burn the places down. They ask Walt Disney to invest in their country, but then when it’s done they call it a cultural Chernobyl. … It’s a love/hate relationship. When the Germans are making noise, they love us.

Tom Clancy on terrorism: The first line of defense against any foe, particularly terrorists, is intelligence information, which means human intelligence, which means the operation starts with the CIA … that was hammered by Frank Church in the early 70’s and then the Jimmy Carter administration in the late 70’s. … Our ability to do [gain intelligence] was gutted almost 30 years ago … The CIA is an agency of about 17,000 people, of whom maybe 500 are field spooks. That’s a big tail on not a big dog. We threw away a lot of our human intelligence capabilities over 20 years ago, and although we’re just now starting to hire people and bring those people back it takes awhile to bring that capability back, it takes upwards of five years for these guys to be effective officers. Just because we’re funding it now, it’s not like flipping on a light switch. It takes time. Some terrorists organizations are actually family members, and it’s kind of hard to infiltrate a family. And the other thing that members of Congress have trouble with is, quite simply if you want to go down a rat hole you better have some whiskers, and they don’t want any good, upstanding Americans to have whiskers. …

The FBI had an agent named Joe Pistone who infiltrated the mafia. And he wrote a book about it titled Donny Brosco … and he got in so far that he almost became a made man, at which point there was a collective panic when the Director looked up and said, “How do we tell a federal district court judge that a sworn Special Agent in the FBI is now a made man in the mafia?” And that’s when they had to cut the information off, and we got a lot of useful information. That’s what the CIA does, but on an international basis…and it’s vital to get that information. The way you get that information might not be aesthetically pleasing, but the real world, contrary to what a lot of people on the political left think, is not the Olympic skating championships.

Got that, Marvel? Tom Clancy is not liberal. He’s a very successful writer who doesn’t fill books with politically correct pap. If you’re going to allow Director Shane Black go on record with the Clancy-plan, then there’s no going back. However, since Black also directed Robert Downy Jr. in Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (a severely underrated movie), I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.

For all of us who can’t wait for Iron Man 3, at least The Avengers will tide us over.

The Man of Steel’s One Weakness: Political Hacks

August 4, 2011August 5, 2011by Douglas Ernst2 Comments

Henry Cavill Man of Steel — Is Henry Cavill's Superman the kind that fights for "Truth, Justice, and...All That Stuff", or will he fight for the American Way? The intensity in his eyes says director Zack Synder has the Man of Steel back on track.

The first images of Henry Cavill as Superman are up and about. He looks good. Case closed, which frees us up to ask the more important question: Who is the Man of Steel? Underneath all those bulging biceps—deep down inside—what’s really making him tick? What motivates him? Who is he at the center of his being?

Not too long ago moviegoers were asking the same thing about Captain America, and it turned out that despite the director’s best efforts at self-sabotage, it turned out to be a good film.

Because Superman is an American icon, writers and directors worth their salt need to have a firm grasp on America’s core principles. Superman should exude our highest ideals, which is why doing him “right” is extremely difficult. Placed in the hands of a confused writer or pseudo-intellectual, the character will collapse under his own weight. Writer Grant Morrison (who can be brilliant at times) misses the mark when he says:

“Each decade, these characters represent our own best idea of what we’d like to be, our own big idea…Superman started out as a socialist fighter for the oppressed in 1938, but that was the time of the Depression. In the ’80s, he’s a yuppie,” (H/T Four Color Media Monitor).

Wrong. Only bad writers are so lured by a sign of the time that they’d boil a character down to something that can be summed up in pithy pejoratives or political talking points. Only bad writers mistake universal rights for international opinion. Only bad writing essentially creates FDR’s Superman and Reagan’s Superman. Good writing transcends the kind of political sniping Grant Morrison sets the stage for.

So when Henry Cavill says he wants to “[be] as true as I can be to the original character and who the character is,” someone needs to follow up with the soon-to-be Clark Kent. They need to poke and prod his muscles with something deeper than, “How cool is it to put the big ‘S’ on every morning for work?”

I have confidence that Zack Snyder will do Superman proud. In fact, I would argue that his spot-on understanding of Dr. Manhattan (an awesome, yet cynical, take on what Superman would end up like if he existed) has prepared him for the task. He’s ready.

And now, it’s time to watch Rorschach die in all his awesomeness.

Marvel’s New Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Is Your Spider-Sense Tingling?

August 2, 2011September 25, 2011by Douglas Ernst1 Comment

In Marvel Comics’ Ultimates line, the new Peter Parker is Miles Morales. Miles is a half-black, half-hispanic boy. Of all the angles to this story, his race is one of the least noteworthy aspects—even more so than Marvel’s continued use of alliteration. (Will the next Spider-Man be named Guillermo Guillen?) Since I’m sure there are conservatives who will be annoyingly offering “unhelpful” comments about this new character, someone needs to set the record straight:

The original Peter Parker is right where he’s always been. Unfortunately, liberal writers and editors had their way with him and he now makes deals with (for all intents and purposes) the Devil. If Spidey fans are upset, their anger should be directed at what is quite possibly the worst editorial mistake in the history of the character. That’s saying a lot, since Marvel has botched him for years.
The Ultimates line is completely separate from the universe casual fans know about.
Everyone’s seen and experienced the black Nick Fury. It worked. Big time. Sometimes switching it up is a good thing.

With that said, here’s where the story gets interesting:

Italian artist Sara Pichelli, who was integral in designing the new Spider-Man’s look, says, “Maybe sooner or later a black or gay — or both — hero will be considered something absolutely normal.”

Note to Sara Pichelli: It is normal! It’s only not normal when it’s shoved in our faces. It’s only not normal when political points are shoe-horned into a story for no other reason than to make readers wear a Progressive worldview. There’s a difference between crafting a story that has—or requires—a black, gay hero, and crafting a story with a black, gay hero just so you can have one. Or so you can play sociological experiments with your readers.

As a business, it makes sense that Marvel would want to reach out to a growing demographic of young, multi-ethnic readers. As the pigment of our population changes, so will the color of our fictional heroes. And there isn’t anything wrong with that—as long as they’re fighting for Truth, Justice, and the American Way. Would you rather have a black Superman who fights for the American Way, or Brian Singer’s white Superman who fights for “all that stuff”? The answer is simple.

Fact: future generations of Americans will be increasingly brown. And no one in their right mind should care. What they should care about are the principles that will guide those future Americans. Will they be the kind of people who consider balanced budgets an “extremist” position, or will they be fiscally sane? Will they believe in limited government and the increased personal liberties that come with it, or will they allow an ever-expansive entitlement mentality to eat away at their entrepreneurial spirit? Will they believe in American Exceptionalism, or will they believe that America’s rightful place in the world is as an also-ran (or worse) with Belarus?

Welcome to the Marvel Universe, Miles Morales. Best of luck to you. I just wish the same could be said for those penning your exploits.

Image Comics’ Mark Sable: Zombies Would Totally Unite America and The Taliban.

June 18, 2011by Douglas Ernst1 Comment

Captain America will be coming out this summer, but fans will tell you that for the past ten years he’s essentially been MIA on the War on Terror. In fact, the industry as a whole has shied away from any accurate portrayals the threat posed by Sharia Law. Captain America has spent more time hunting the Tea Party movement in recent years than he has engaging in the kind of Black Ops that have made Seal Team Six famous. For the longest time, fans of the medium have wondered when they were going to get their hands on war stories. Image Comics has stepped up to the plate. Unfortunately, there’s only one problem: American soldiers ally themselves with the Taliban.

Graveyard of Empires, written by Mark Sable, probably isn’t about Sharia Law’s incompatibility with the universal rights enshrined in our Constitution. It probably isn’t about an enemy determined to set the stage for a return of the Ottoman Empire. It probably isn’t about what makes an inordinate amount of men in that part of the world prone to chopping off heads and strapping bombs to their chest over religious differences. Instead, it is about the the one thing that can bring infidels and Islamic terrorists together: zombies!

Prior to their arrival, Sable and Azaceta spend a great deal of time developing the grim setting and violent characters that populate both sides of the war. Among them, a new commanding officer whose hopes of endearing himself to his entrenched troops are slim-to-none; an opium-abusing Explosive Ordinance Disposal specialist, driven to drugs by the stress of dismantling bombs; a treacherous Afghan cop; a mutinous American sniper; a Female Engagement Officer whose job is to work with the grotesquely oppressed women of Afghanistan; and an Afghan surgeon forced by the Taliban to implant bombs inside of people.

The Four Color Media Monitor puts it beautifully:

“So let’s see if I have this right: they acknowledge/allude to Afghanistan’s Islamic shariah oppression of women (or do they?), but damage all that with ridiculous ideas like a drug-addicted [bomb disposal expert], and a U.S. sniper who’s mutinous…” (italics added).

Is this a book I’m going to pick up? Sure. It’s piqued my interest, a testament to Mr. Sable. I also want to be able to write a thorough review. However, the seeds of moral equivalency seem to have been planted. My gut (and his twitter feed) tells me Mr. Sable—a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts—is liberal. Even if he’s not, his interview for Graveyard of Empires (perhaps the evil “American Empire” will be the latest casualty?) doesn’t give me hope:

Metaphorically, the zombies represent a force not unlike the Taliban. A foe with inscrutable motives that doesn’t seem to need to eat or sleep, and no matter how many you kill…they just keep coming.

I’ll cut Mark some slack, but for a guy who went to NYU and USC I wish he would have thought about his metaphor a bit more. The reason why the Taliban keep coming is because we refuse to crush them! The Mark Sables of the world would have said the same thing about the Japanese had we opted for a full-out invasion instead of dropping nukes during World War II. Can you imagine urban warfare in a city teeming with the Bushidō mentality? I’m not saying that we drop nukes on the Middle East…but I am saying that the United States needs rules of engagement that allow the military to do what needs to be done. You must be willing to have civilian casualties—especially when your enemy hides behind them. You have to win the war of information—something that’s increasingly hard when liberal writers always have to include “violent characters that populate both sides of the war.” You have to be willing to make “the international community” (largely composed of thug-despots, anyway) angry. In short: you have to fight for American interests, knowing that they are in the world’s interest, instead of some nebulous idea of what would get approval from a bunch of diplomats in Brussels.

I will be reading Graveyard of Empires. If it ends up defying expectations, I’ll say so. I did just as much with Superman: Earth One. But if it’s more liberal claptrap… this alienated fan will move one step closer to casting off the industry all together. Fight on!

Hat Tip: Four Color Media Monitor.

Marvel’s Fear Itself: You’re Safer in Iran than New York City.

May 21, 2011April 21, 2016by Douglas ErnstLeave a comment

Spider-Man Fear Itself — According to Marvel, Iranian immigrants in New York City are “used to living in fear.” Not because of the real fear societies they came from in the Middle East…but because you never know when a mob of New Yorkers might use any excuse to pummel a Muslim. Dear Marvel: Google “Neda” and see what you find (besides the realization that you’re a bunch of ignorant clowns).

Back in December I wondered if Marvel’s next “big” event, Fear Itself, would be just another round of liberal claptrap force fed to us for $4.00 and issue. I was partially right—the claptrap was there, but it only cost me $2.99!

Let me set the stage. Something is very wrong in New York City. Citizens have been taken with fear, and they’re acting out in irrational ways. Spider-Man is working overtime (what else is new?) to keep the city from tearing itself apart. Cue Naveed Moshtaghi, a taxi driver and Iranian immigrant. Naveed’s vehicle is hit by an angry white guy, who then blames the accident on Naveed: “He’s one of the terrorists. He wants to kill us all!” says the aggressor. A mob swarms around Naveed, swallowing him whole until Spider-Man saves the day.

At this point I’m willing to give writer Chris Yost a break. Maybe the “God of Fear” is really behind it all. I’m even willing to shrug off a narrator who begins, “Naveed Moshtaghi is afraid of the same thing he’s been afraid of for ten years,” (i.e., Americans are just itching for an excuse to bum rush Muslims post-9/11 to infinity and beyond), right before the story unfolds that way.

But then something interesting happens. All alone on a rooftop, Spider-Man tells the man he’s dealing with the crisis very well. Naveed responds:

“I’m a second generation Iranian in New York City. Living in fear, that’s what I’m used to. What is happening down there, sometimes I think it was only a matter of time.”

Has Marvel been reading DC’s Superman (the kid from Krypton with a super-sized crush on the United Nations, even though they put countries with the worst human rights records on human-rights councils)? What’s with the Iranian love fests as of late, whereas police state goons respond to Superman’s “peaceful protest” by handing flowers to protesters, and Marvel Universe’s New York City stokes more fear than an actual fear society?

Dear Naveed (or should I say Chris Yost and Matt Fraction and Joe Quesada?),

You’ve probably never heard of Neda. And I’m not just saying that because she’s dead, murdered by police state thugs. Or because you couldn’t recognize her as she went into shock. Or because her eyes rolled into the back of her head as she died. Or because she was covered in blood as her friends cradled her in their arms.

No, my liberal writer friends at Marvel, you don’t know Neda because you apparently don’t want to know. You stay willfully ignorant, creating fictional universes imbued with a liberal interpretation of what you think the world is really like. In the limited panel space you have, you chose to highlight an immigrant whose family left the Middle East so they could walk on eggshells in New York City. You write characters whose deepest darkest fears about what really lurks in hearts of Americans end up being true! Meanwhile, officers at West Point have to deal with a civilian population that increasingly doesn’t understand (or was that “fear”, Mr. Yost?) their mission. I wonder why that is, Marvel.

While I certainly don’t want a sanitized Marvel Universe any more than I want the “C” in DC Comics to stand for “Chomsky,” I find it just a little bit distasteful how often the liberal worldview is shoved down my throat by the “creative officers” and “talent” with each publication.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to watch video of Neda dying again. In Iran. In the real world. Where there isn’t a Spider-Man to save her or a Superman to sit idly by in peaceful protest. Perhaps it will remind me how much different America is from the authoritarian black holes littering the world.

Frank Miller Drops Batman from Holy Terror. DC PC Police Offer Sigh of Relief.

July 31, 2010July 31, 2010by Douglas Ernst2 Comments

Frank Miller is a gem. He’s not perfect (e.g., The Spirit), but he’s certainly something rare that should be highly regarded, as I’ve explained before. He already has Ahmadinejad’s panties twisted into a knot, and with Holy Terror he’s going to have a fatwa or two placed on his head. And, like the South Park creators, we should honor our modern day defenders of Western Civilization. Decades from now we’ll look around at Europe, a hollow husk due to moral relativism. We’ll look at what happens when headstrong Islamic extremism butt heads with a Europe that won’t stick its neck out to stand up for itself, only to have its cultural head ironically severed with Taliban-esque precision.

And at that time writers like Frank Miller will be admired that much more for their contribution, no matter how small, to the defense of Western Civilization and American Exceptionalism.

For those of you who don’t know, Frank Miller was supposed to write a book featuring Batman, who would go on a search and destroy mission for al Qaeda terrorist scum operating in Gotham. This was years

globaltest — Marvel Comics and DC now tend to op for the John Kerry Global Test when crafting stories. Sad. Thank God Frank for Frank Miller.

ago…and it’s not nearing completion until now. While I admit that Frank has been busy for the last decade or so, I can’t help to think that the hangup over the story had more to do with political correctness than a creative epiphany. Here, Frank talks about his decision to replace Batman with a different character, named The Fixer:

“I had a talk with [former DC president and publisher] Paul Levitz and I said, ‘Look, this isn’t your Batman,'” Miller said. “I pushed Batman as far as he can go and after a while he stops being Batman. My guy carries a couple of guns and is up against an existential threat. He’s not just up against a goofy villain. Ignoring an enemy that’s committed to our annihilation is kind of silly, It just seems that chasing the Riddler around seems silly compared to what’s going on out there. I’ve taken Batman as far as he can go.”

Frank knows as well as anyone else who loves comics that there once was a time when Captain America knocked Hitler’s lights out. And it was awesome. And it still is, because it’s cathartic to see pure evil bashed and punched and kicked and yes—killed—when existential threats face the nation. Both DC and Marvel Comics seem to have decided that modern day superheroes need to abide by the John Kerry “Global” smell test, which, while sad, I’ll deal with (by exposing it in this blog). However, we should all be worried when the two biggest comics publishers out there shy away from using al Qaeda as a punching bag for their casts of heroes.

If DC sat Frank down in a quiet room and said, “We love you Frankie, but we can’t just pull the trigger on this whole “Batman vs. Terrorism” story line you got going on inside your head,” then readers should be livid. Why should DC be scared to pull the trigger when our enemies show no hesitation to pull out the box cutter, or the dull knife, or…Foot Locker hijacking shoes with Semtex plastic explosive soles! (How scary would Jordan have been in his prime if he was running around the court with some plastic explosives in his shoes?)

At the moment the only good thing about naming this character The Fixer is that my favorite liberal band, Pearl Jam, has got to be upset. Eddie, you still haven’t responded to my blog post regarding The Mullah Baradar Curiosity. I guess I’m just a Nothingman to you, huh…

In short: I’m reading Frank Miller’s comic when it comes out, and I hope you give it a shot too, if for no other reason than to send Marvel and DC’s weak-kneed editors a message. God bless ya, Frank. And if I was Anne Rice I’d say, “God Bless…Me.”

FrankMillerHT — Frank Miller stands up for Western Civilization. He's a rare breed, my friends. I tip my hat to the man.

Wonder Woman’s Duds Aren’t the Problem: “World Community Woman” Is.

July 3, 2010July 3, 2010by Douglas ErnstLeave a comment

If you’ve read this blog before you know I’m a comic nerd. And you know that I’m a fan of exposing the industry’s liberal bent, usually as it pertains to Marvel Comics. I’m also inclined to point out why certain characters embody the best of America, despite liberal writers’ uncanny ( X-Men-ish?) ability to ignore such traits.

So, although I’m not a “DC” type of guy, I feel as though the Wonder Woman costume hubbub needs to be addressed:

“The American-ness of her costume really dates from World War II, and it feels like it’s part of her roots, even if she is supposed to have come from an island full of Amazons,” Anders told FOX411.com. “I think making her look more ‘globalized’ isn’t necessarily a bad idea, but you have to be careful not to sacrifice what makes her distinctive and thrilling in the process,”…

“This new sleek and fashionable Wonder Woman will translate well to a film franchise centered on a female action hero. That wouldn’t have worked as well with the bright and flashy red, white and blue costume, and it definitely wouldn’t have played in the very lucrative international markets,” said the artist, who wished not to be named because of ties to DC. “

I think the question that needs to be asked is this: As comic books become more popular and are distributed around the globe, how will editorial decisions be affected by concerns of “international” readers?

I’ve talked about this before, but how many Captain America comics are in

lassojihad — Lasso of Truth around a jihadi nut? Naaaah. But Lynda Carter wants one around Bush. What a surprise.

existence of Black Ops in Afghanistan? During World War II Cap was punching Hitler’s lights out. Today? He’s scared of the Tea Party movement. Part of this has to do with the industry’s artists and writers liberal dominance, but over the past few years I think many editorial missteps are due to a desire not to offend the sensibilities of a more “globalized” readership.

One would think that in the wake of the September 11th attacks that Captain America could find some jihadi heads to crack overseas, possibly saving some American servicemen or innocent civilians in the process…but I guess not.

In the case of Wonder Woman’s new duds, I’m willing to cut DC some slack simply because Jim Lee was involved. Wonder Woman’s potential, for whatever reason, has never been realized, and a costume shake-up now and again is an easy way to generate interest (at least in the short term). Spider-Man sometimes dons his black costume—which happens to be very cool—but he always goes back to the classic red and blue. I’m more interested in the quality of the stories than Wonder Woman’s outward appearance…but then again, I am a writer. When the Justice League of America starts wondering if they should get the United Nations’ approval before acting to stop pure evil that threatens the world I’ll be concerned. Oh, wait, that sort of thing already happened…

Finally, the thing that’s most misleading about the Wonder Woman costume story isn’t in the analysis of the character or her history, but the lack of context for Lynda Carter’s attitude toward the controversy in the first place:

Lynda Carter, the actress who portrayed Wonder Woman on TV in the 1970s, declined to answer Fox 411.com’s question about the removal of the American flag from the Wonder Woman costume. In a previous interview, Carter said she thinks Wonder Woman would want all the upset fans to just “get over it.”

“She’s got an attitude, and if this is the new thing she wants to wear, well by God she’s going to wear it,” Carter said. “And I like that. And I hope somewhere in the story someone mentions, where’s the old one? And she says, ‘Get over it.’”

What isn’t noted is that Lynda Carter is a liberal.

Lynda Carter says she’s never used the Wonder Woman Lasso of Truth on her two children, now teens. “I don’t think it would work on them.” But, referring to President Bush, the talkative actress adds, “I’ve often thought how nice it would be during this administration if it worked,” (Heller, Billy. Kicking Heroine: 70’s Star Turns to Cabaret. New York Post.)

We all know how liberals feel about proudly displaying the flag. The ignoramuses (myself included) unabashedly displaying the Stars and Stripes on any old day of the week are a hinderance to the “international community” the Beltway intelligencia believes we should defer to as we chart out our nation’s future. (Because, who doesn’t want dysfunctional nation states essentially run by warlords on equal footing with the United States?)

Of course Lynda Carter doesn’t care about the muted-flag aspect of Wonder Woman’s new costume. Just as there are a lot of liberals who wish Captain America would simply don a smurf blue helmet and call himself Captain Appeasement, there are a lot of liberals who wish Wonder Woman was Moral Relativist Woman, substituting the Lasso of Truth for the Lasso of Whatever.

In the end, I predict the new costume will disappear. Liberal stories, however, aren’t going anywhere…unless more people take notice.

PS: Great PR move, DC, at having this story hit right before the Fourth of July weekend.

wonderwoman — Lynda wishes you would "get over it" when it comes to symbols of American strength and character. I couldn't get hold of her because she was counting the royalty checks her old (flag inspired) costume made possible.

Stallone, Barack Obama, Marvel Comics and the Very Real Secret War.

June 5, 2010June 11, 2014by Douglas ErnstLeave a comment

Do I write a post about Stallone’s new flick The Expendables, or do I cover the Obama administration’s Secret War tactics in the War on Terror? How about…both!

In the new trailer The Expendables, Stallone’s voiceover begins:

“We are the shadows…and the smoke in your eyes. We are the ghosts…that hide in the night.”

What does this mean? It means that the world is a dangerous place, and sometimes we need people to go in an clean up messes the civilized world would like to pretend don’t exist. Think the BP oil spill is a threat to humanity? Okay. But oily terrorists operating in lawless regions around the world can also cause messy explosions, gushers (of blood) on city streets, and black-charred coatings where beautiful things used to stand…

Sometimes, someone like George Bush comes around and is willing to openly talk

about the world’s scum buckets and dirt bags who’d like nothing better than to make Americans take dirt naps in densely populated urban areas. And people get angry, because if you acknowledge how susceptible free societies are to jihad nuts with a desire to return to the dark ages…it means you have a lot of tough decisions to make.

Even liberal writers like Brian Michael Bendis seem to know (really, really, deep down) that we live in a world where a Secret War or two or three or more…is being waged between competing visions for humanity’s future. The only problem is, when guys like George W. Bush are in office, liberal comic book writers come up with weird Bush-Gitmo allegories that inadvertently make the case for conservatism!

Can someone tell me when Brian Michael Bendis is going to lampoon Barack Obama in the comics for the very real “Secret War” that he’s apparently taken to another level? Don’t hold your breath:

Beneath its commitment to soft-spoken diplomacy and beyond the combat zones of Afghanistan and Iraq, the Obama administration has significantly expanded a largely secret U.S. war against al-Qaeda and other radical groups, according to senior military and administration officials..Obama, one senior military official said, has allowed “things that the previous administration did not.”

How many young voters pulled the lever for Barack Obama under the liberal auspices that we can live in harmony with jihadi head choppers if we just try really hard to “understand” and “reach” them? (My favorite is Richard Gere’s infamous post-9/11 suggestion that guys like Osama Bin Laden just need to be loved.)

It’s all a lie. The world is a dangerous place. Evil exists, despite what the Neal Gabler moral relativist Mole Men tell you. And it’s better to be honest and frank about that, because otherwise you create bizarre realities where “peace activists” (who try to slice through your liver with gigantor-knives when their cargo is about to be inspected) can play the victim-card. You also have scenarios play out where young people say, “Umm…what happened to all that hopeandchange?” (Yes, that’s one word):

The Obama administration has rejected the constitutional executive authority claimed by Bush and has based its lethal operations on the authority Congress gave the president in 2001 to use “all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons” he determines “planned, authorized, committed, or aided” the Sept. 11 attacks.

Many of those currently being targeted, Bellinger said, “particularly in places outside Afghanistan,” had nothing to do with the 2001 attacks.

Weren’t there a lot of Democrats that voted for that? Hmmm. Nevermind.

The hopeandchange never materialized because it was never there. I bet the kiddies are feeling pretty numb, right now. It’s okay Thunder Kiss, conservatism will welcome you with open arms when the reality hits that it’s a strange, strange world (incompatible with “planned” economies and Youtube Diplomacy).

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a Stallone trailer to watch.

nickfury — Hey Bendis, do you mind telling me when you’re going to roast Barack Obama for his Secret War? Want to weigh in, Marvel? Didn’t think so. Hypocrites. Deep down, all of these guys are furious that George W. Bush is going to be largely vindicated.

Iron Man is America.

May 5, 2010March 28, 2016by Douglas Ernst4 Comments

While it might seem odd to comment on a movie before it comes out, I can’t contain myself with Iron Man 2. John Nolte has forced my hand:

Though the highly anticipated “Iron Man 2” qualifies as a hilarious, entertaining, irreverent, and openly patriotic summer blockbuster well worth the price of admission (and then some), like most sequels, the continuing story of Tony Stark and company does falls short of its predecessor…

Hilarious: Check. Entertaining: Check. Patriotic: Check.

That’s all I needed, John. Thanks. And now I’d like to take a moment to

ironmanamerica — Iron Man is America. Liberals refuse to accept how cool that is. Their loss.

describe why Iron Man is such a great character (despite the best efforts of liberal writers to ruin him with sad attempts at Bush/Cheney warmonger allegories)

The same thing that makes Iron Man great is the same thing that makes America the most Kick Ass country the world has ever seen. The Christian elements of our nation’s founding guarantee that the innate creativity of man is encouraged to blossom. God gave each of us gifts, and wants us to take full advantage of them. Capitalism, Science, and The Rule of Law fused in America to produce a system that churns out ideas and innovation and entrepreneurs at an astounding rate—when the government gets out of the way. The spirit of America is embodied in the character of Tony Stark: He’s big. He’s bold. He shoots for the stars, and he’s unapologetic about his accomplishments.

However, like America, Tony Stark has his flaws. His same strengths can, at times, cause him to lose sight of himself. Success can be a double-edged sword (or, ummm…malfunctioning repulsor ray?), but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s still inherently a hero. And that’s exactly where so many movies written by liberal Hollywood self-loathers get it wrong. They’re so concerned about offending France’s cheese eating elitist lecture circuit and the sensitivities of cultures that won’t even play Western movies, that their heroes come across as weak-kneed nincompoops. When you stand for everything you stand for nothing. And that makes for a horrible superhero movie.

Stan Lee, a living legend most non-comic fans have heard of, once said something to the effect: I wanted to take a character that was almost impossible to like and make him popular.

To a liberal like Lee (creative genius he may be) the idea that an entrepreneur like Tony Stark would be a hard sell is, quite frankly, politically tone deaf. As much as liberals like to bash successful businessmen, the American people want to be them. As I said before, most people know that they have God-given talents and seek ways to cultivate them for the benefit of themselves and their family. Work is a virtue. Work is a gift. Giving to other people through our creative efforts is a satisfying and just endeavor, and profiting off of those efforts is equally as righteous. And that is something that liberals, for whatever reason, just don’t seem to understand.

This week I will see Iron Man 2. And I will most-likely enjoy it. And even if I don’t, I can take heart that a character who personifies American ingenuity gets to step into the limelight yet again.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go listen to that out.freakin’.standing. crooner Robert Downy Jr. And then watch…Lego Star Wars awesomeness. I suggest you take part too. You’ll thank me later.