I was looking into some of the older batman comics and I wanted to know more about the personal politics of the writers. Frank miller, moore, etc, and needless to say I didn’t really find much in that regard.
I posted an article above; just as an example to what kind of info I could find about that subject. I’m not satisfied.
Like are superheroes just a right wing ideal? That issues in the world need (a few) very powerful people in order to solve instead of just systematically solving them?
Or is that the superheroes we do have are made by people with rightwing leanings?
The superhero genre emphasizes the idea that problems are solved by a single powerful individual rather than collective action. This is reactionary thinking.
Superheros often get their powers from genetic superiority. This is another right wing theme. Other superheroes get their power from being wealthy (iron man, batman) or being a nationalist (captain america, wonderwoman).
The supervillains are often portrayed as mentally ill or petty criminals or sometimes even activists.
Superheros never try to improve society, they only uphold the status quo. The most common plot of superheros is beating up petty criminals. The superhero plot revolves around stopping the villain and not actually trying to improve material conditions of working people. Superhero plots even sometimes value protecting property over human life.
The supervillains often try to change society. Villains are often portrayed in that they want to fix a problem, but are going about it in a wrong way.
With these 2 things in mind, we are given the narrative that trying to change the world is bad, but trying to prevent change is good.
What about villains that don’t try to change the status quo? Like they just want to wreck havoc on the lives of the innocent with no greater goal in mind. There are so many versions and variations of that within the genre. Joker comes to mind.
what is that but the image of the criminal, in the minds of reactionaries?
I think comic writers knows that they can’t actually write a villain that actually helps without making the hero look like they’re in the wrong.
You can’t kill billionaire vampire Theter Piel! You will become just like him! - super hero moments before villain violates the NAP justifying lethal response
I mean the Joker usually has a goal, even if it may be one that is hard to understand. They reboot and speculate Joker’s origin pretty often. It’s usually somebody either ordinary or someone with a mental illness being completely broken and humiliated by American society to the point of nihilism. With no coherent ideology or education, the Joker is typically somebody who is now only able to express themselves through bombastic violence and tries to mindfuck Batman into seeing himself in the Joker or something. Granted, these characters are shuffled through dozens of hands over the course of decades so this isn’t always accurate