Comics for Anarchists

If you're a politically radical young lad or lass who doesn't read comics, well, you're missing out something dreadful. And no, I'm not going to tell you to run out and buy the latest issue of Batman. As much as a I love Batman, I wouldn't expect the average lay person to appreciate it, what with all the back story and history. Most other mainstream comics have the same problem, decades of built up mythos that rewards the veteran but scares and confound the new reader. I am going to give you a trio of recommendation that are all fully self contained works.

All three are written by Alan Moore, an avowed anarchist who happens to be the best living comics writer. All three have also been adapted into movies, but don't let that discourage you. These are hardy intellectual works. Real meat and potatoes for the brain.

The first is Watchmen, and yes it has super heroes. But these are superheroes like they would be if they really existed; psychosis ridden and violent. Murderers and rapists even. The story touches on a great many themes, the meaning of life for example, gets a a very good treatment, but the central message is the danger of allowing anyone power to save or protect you. The title comes from the quote Who Watches the Watchmen? If there are a group of Watchmen who protect us, like the government, who will protect us from them? Another group? Who protects us from the other group? The question is a paradox, ultimately, any group with the power to protect you has the power to abuse you, be it government or superheroes.

Watchmen is also masterfully written, imagines a fully realized sci-fi world and has great characters. Read it now. You can safely skip the movie.

The second work is V for Vendetta, a far more explicit anarchist text. The main character, V, a faceless masked terrorist, is an anarchist fighting against a quasi-Nazi English government headed by the fascist sounding Norsefire party. The work's central political statement and message is un-abashedly anarchist, although it is honest enough to not sugar coat anything. The characters aren't perfect, and the "hero" is both murderer and a freedom fighter, a revolutionary and a terrorist. It's also much more sophisticated than the movie, so read it and skip the movie.

Lastly, is From Hell, a story about Jack the Ripper. Well, kind of about Jack the Ripper. It's really about all kinds of other things too. In fact it's kind of hard to even summarize it. It's about patriarchy, why the 20th century is so fucked up, who really killed those poor girls in White Chapel and the nature of Hell, among other things. Seen the movie? It's a pale shade in comparison, the book, for example, has much more time travel. Read it yesterday.