50 Word (Comic) Review: The Astonishing Ant-Man #1- Ants, the Ultimate Collectivists

Writer: Nick Spencer
Artist: Ramon Rosanas
Publisher: Marvel/Disney
Released: 21st October 2015



A tonne of exposition, dialogue from Ant-Man, sounds child-like, nothing adult about his words. Is this book for pre-teens? Art lacks detail, appears 2D, static, not impressed. Villains are businessmen, tech industry, inventors, innovators, and ‘libertarian.’ Oh dear, another book for the collectivist youth brigade then. I’ll pass. Goodbye Pants-Man.


Rating: 1/10

It took me a couple of pages to realise that this comic book isn’t really for adults. There’s something very simplistic, and childlike about the dialogue, almost like it has been designed for children under the age of thirteen. But would I give it to a kid? No, I wouldn’t. Here’s why. The main protagonist is a loser father, a man portrayed as loving, but inept, and the main villains are businessmen, the kind of people who actually create, innovate and make the world a better place. They are the villains because they are selfish, because they want to make money with the things that they have created, and thus you are getting the message that business innovation is villainous, and that you need to join the collective and stop being so darn selfish. It’s the same idea that is explored in ‘Atlas Shrugged’ by Ayn Rand, the big difference being that in ‘The Astonishing Ant Man #1’ businessmen are the villains, whilst in Atlas Shrugged they are the heroes. Why are mainstream comic books pushing collectivism onto the developing minds of young children? Why are they indoctrinating them into the cult of collectivism, programming them with the idea that innovation, business and money making itself is a bad thing? Do you know what particular group despises making money and inventing new things? In one word- Communists. Why would a writer be pushing Communist ideology in a 2015 comic book? He either believes in it, or he doesn’t even know that he’s doing it. It’s one of the two, and I just hope that it’s the former because at least then he’d still be thinking with his own mind. I would strongly advise against any parent buying this poisonous comic book for their young children. This is horrible, but am I surprised that Marvel/Disney is pushing this? No, not really. They don’t want any competition, they want to maintain the status quo that serves them so well, and that’s exactly what is being pushed within the pages of this comic book. Welcome to the era of corporate/state/collectivism. You can call it ‘globalism’ or ‘the New World Order,’ if you like.

Politically Correctness and the 2000AD Sci-Fi Special- Is the tide beginning to turn?

This article will reference the following comic strip:

Title: Robo Hunter- Iron Sam, by Alec Worley, Mark Simmons & Ellie De Ville

In: 2000AD Sci-Fi Special, Summer 2015.

Released: 24th June 2015

Publisher: Rebellion



I couldn’t believe what I was reading today. A comic book strip that was actually pointing out the totalitarian censorship mindset of the social justice warrior brigade. There it was, tucked away, sneakily within the pages of my favourite rebel comic book, the 2015 sci-fi special of 2000AD.

Robo-Hunter- Iron Sam, by Alec Worley goes where other PC comic books fear to tread, taking subtle digs at the Internet thought Police. The narrative involves a murderous ‘Sentient Social Media Virus’ running rampage and murdering anybody for crimes against (a very contemporary definition) of feminist liberal political correctness. This virus has contaminated killer robots, and they are going around town looking to murder anybody not sufficiently PC.

Have you ever had an online encounter with the Marxist, feminist, liberal, politically correct crowd? They are young, straight out of university and determined to ‘educate’ the world about the evils of racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamaphobia and white male, rape culture patriarchy. I have had a few encounters with these lovely people, and it’s quite the experience.

Robo-Hunter

I thought that I was supposed to be the ‘conspiracy’ nut around here, but these purple haired whack jobs are the biggest conspiracy loons going. Everything is the fault of white men and patriarchy. I apparently have the huge benefit of ‘white privilege’ which is news to me, especially as I go to my minimum wage night-shift job for my latest ten-hour shift. Forget reality though, as these people always know best, are never wrong, and as they are ‘victims’ you are just a ‘troll’ if you throw nasty things like facts at them.

The PC brigade are not too keen on facts, and reality, but the one thing they hate more than anything else, is people disagreeing with them. Try it. They have two responses: 1- They will scurry for the ban hammer, and attempt to censor you. 2- They will call you a racist, sexist, homophobic bigot (without evidence) and refuse to debate the issue you are supposed to be talking about. These people are absolute darlings. They hate debate, love censorship and are never wrong about anything, and if you upset them with different opinions or facts you are oppressing them.

It’s a sad state of affairs today, because these feminist Marxist PC Internet moral crusaders have almost completely infiltrated mainstream comic books, and it is difficult to find ANY comic book that is brave enough to take them on.

I think that it’s fair to say that the majority of comic book writers working today are left leaning, ‘progressive’ and liberal in their political belief systems. How do I know this? Look at my blog. I read their comics, lots of them. Because of this one-sided political outlook they are happy to embrace the loony PC brigade and give them exactly what they want, and the result is a lack of diversity in contemporary comic books.

'Dust' in 2000AD SS 2015 has a great twist at the end.

Do we really need another book about a punk-haired feisty female protagonist battling against a Christian preacher, or some other random evil white man? What exactly is that achieving? And do I even have to mention what Marvel and DC are doing right now with their PC obsessed messing around with the race and gender of their long-running characters?

That’s fine, if you want to write about strong independent 1970’s punk girls then do that, and if you want to write about a lesbian dwarf albino with bi-polar issues then do that as well, some people will like it, but what about the rest of us? Surely there should be a bit of diversity in comic books? That’s a good thing, right? I’m not asking for sexist, racist, homophobic monstrosities of tastelessness, but please, please, please, at least give me something that isn’t coming from a feminist liberal, Marxist, politically correct point of view.

Imagine my delight then when I read a comic strip that mocked the totalitarian, censorship mentality of the feminist Marxist loon brigade. I was starting to give up hope. I was starting to think that comic books had been completely infiltrated, that the red flag was here to stay, and that my days of reading them would soon be numbered, but then I read Robo-Hunter, and wow, what a shock that was.

So, the entire point of this article (and he probably won’t even read it) is just to say thank-you to writer Alec Worry.

I don’t know how you did it mate, but you’ve done something out of the ordinary here. You’ve used satire to illustrate the logical endgame where the Internet PC thought police finally get what they really want, that being the power to legally murder anybody that disagrees with them. I know it’s satire, but all good satire cuts close to the bone, telling truth that would not be tolerated in a straight narrative format.

Rogue Trooper in 2000AD SS has a strong message about war propaganda

After all, Marxists have a history of murdering those that disagree with them.

‘The highest death tolls that have been documented in communist states occurred in the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin, in the People's Republic of China under Mao Zedong, and in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge. The estimates of the number of non-combatants killed by these three regimes alone range from a low of 21 million to a high of 70 million’ 
(‘Mass killings under Communist regimes’ from Wikipedia, sorry, but that’s what people look at now)

The ridiculous situation that occurs in Robo-Hunter, with PC robots killing anybody that disagree with their social justice warrior virus, though silly and over the top, is a lot closer to the truth than people might want to admit. The left is all about collectivism, and if you don’t want to be a part of the collective, they are more than happy to put a bullet through your head. That’s not my opinion. It doesn’t matter what I think, it’s historical fact that communism always ends up with piles of corpses. We need to stop bowing to Internet fools with red flags and useless degrees in the liberal arts, and start getting some real diversity back-into our comic books.

Thanks, once again to Alec Worley. Nice job mate. Thanks for sending me into the weekend on a high. It’s very brave of you to go up against the red tide, and that is what you have done here. Good luck, you have a supporter over here.

Is this the beginning of a truth revolution in comic books? To quote Muse, ‘You can revolt, you can revolt.’ It’s true, we can, and it begins by telling the truth about what is going on right now, and if truth isn’t very PC, well sod it, tell it anyway.



Mass killings under communist regimes:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_killings_under_Communist_regimes

Liberalism, reality, nihilism and depression

‘If you really care, wash the feet of a beggar.’

Some clever bloke said that. Indoctrinated and educated within the feminist neo-liberal/Marxist UK education system he got a bit depressed because he realised that people only really act out of self-interest.

Before he threw himself off a bridge (probably) he looked at the world, saw lot’s of dirty beggar feet and realised that no matter what people said, their actions demonstrated that they didn’t really care about anybody other than themselves.

That can be very depressing for the ‘liberal’ mind-set as it’s a wake up call to reality, and that’s one thing that liberals hate more than anything else, more than people like me actually.

It’s difficult to deal with reality when you come from the ideological prison known as the ‘left.’  It angers you, it makes you throw insults, and it makes you accuse people of alleged social justice warrior ills.

Oh, he’s just a racist, sexist, homophobe, bigot, right?

As long as you keep accusing those that disagree with you, you don’t have to examine the truth behind your own shaky ideological foundations.

So, will you wash a beggar’s feet tonight?

Will you do something to prove that you really care?

Or will you drink a beer, fill your belly, ignore reality and find a politically incorrect thought criminal to criticise?

Liberalism is collectivism, and collectivism is a lie.

It requires you to ignore human nature, to ignore reality and to live a repressed life of self-delusion.

Liberalism is about individual weakness, backed-up by the gun of the state.

Reject self-hatred.

Reject weakness.

Reject statism.

Reject neo-liberalism.

Comic review: Wynter #1- The Girl with the Punky Haircut

Writer: Guy Hasson
Artist: Aron Elekes
Publisher: New Worlds Comics
Released: 26th February 2014
Get a FREE PDF of Wynter #1 by sending an email to:
NewWorldComics@gmail.com


Wynter #1 immediately reminded me of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, but in place of a disaffected male protagonist there is a pierced, leather jacket wearing punky young girl. The girl (Wynter) feels very familiar to me. She’s one of those girls that you want to meet, but outside of fiction they seem to be a bit thin on the ground, at least in my own personal experience.

Our protagonist, Liz Wynter.

Physically, at least, Wynter is pretty much identical to the Lisbeth Salander character in Stieg Larrson’s ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.’ She’s young, has a crazy haircut, is full of attitude, pierced, leathered up, and a bit of a male fantasy figure. She’s basically Lara Croft with face piercings.

It would be great if these rebellious girls actually existed, but in 41 years of life I’ve yet to meet one of them. I have however met lots of girls who are interested in money, status, television and empty consumerism. I guess that’s the appeal of these fantasy girls? Men want girls with a sense of rebellion about them, but as they don’t appear to exist in any great numbers in the real world then they have to find them in their fictional material instead? What do you think? Do I have a point here, or perhaps I just need to get out more?

I also get the feeling that these rebellious (fictional) girls do a disservice to real life rebels, as they make rebellion appear to be about a youthful longing for individuality and identity, when rebellion isn’t really about that at all. Rebellion is not about youth, it’s about pointing out what is wrong with the world and then doing something to change it. It’s not about looking ‘cool,’ it’s not about fashion, it’s not about nose piercings. It’s about understanding that the current neo-liberal political consensus in the west is completely corrupt and that if we care at all about the human race then we better do something to change it.

Having said all of that, there are a few things in this book that DO resonate strongly with what is going on in the world today. It deals with the horrifying consequences of collectivism merged with technology, and presents a future where the entire human race is imprisoned within a hive mind high tech Police surveillance system. Protest is not possible, because individualism is not possible. The book is essentially looking at a communist collective and asking how protest within the collective is even possible if everybody is the same.

The book has some good gimmick ideas as well, especially when it comes to the futures of apps, and how they will inevitably be used to control, rather than free the human race. I like their story-line idea that corporate/state surveillance technology can be used by hackers as well, as that is exactly what is happening now, with groups like Anonymous fighting back against the government/corporate slave masters. The book also mentions forced pharmaceutical drugging of populations in order to pacify rebellion, and it has a moment of law breaking activity where the cops are using DNA behavioural models to correctly identify how to arrest anybody daring to break from the societal norms. That is good sci-fi, dystopic material. It’s well thought out, and very well used within the narrative structure of this comic book.

I know I said a lot of negative things about the main character, but she is very well written. The book develops her naturally as a flesh and blood human being, exploring her sense of wanting to become an individual in a society of clones. The narrative, as I envision it, is going to follow her as she develops spiritually and morally as a person, eventually culminating in a crystallising moment where she will stop being driven by selfish egoism and begin to care about what is happening around her, not just what is happening to her. The girl is on a journey, and that is exactly how you should be writing fully formed characters in any work of fiction.

One thing I didn’t like about the book, and I have to mention this because it’s very important, was how the rebellious protagonist’s father was portrayed within the narrative. He was a cowardly, grovelling useless lump who wanted his daughter to comply with authority, and that’s not the role that a good father should be taken in a contemporary narrative that is in touch with what is happening in the world today. There is a political agenda at work right now with the neo-liberal controllers trying to get rid of father’s in the lives of their children. This is because a strong father is a threat to the state. A strong father figure in a child’s life is essential, as without one they are easy prey to the state and all of their control systems. The vital role of father’s in the lives of their children needs to be reinforced in contemporary anti new-world order narratives, and that was not the case here in this comic book.

I liked the artwork, even though at times it felt a bit too dark, a bit too confusing and not as easy to follow as I would have liked. It was stylised, made to look ‘cool,’ and it looked and felt like a comic book that I would have read in the late 1990’s. Together with the look of the main protagonist that did give the book a somewhat dated feel that was a bit odd, especially when the characters were talking about apps and other things that have only existed in the past few years. That’s not a big criticism though. It’s just the feeling I had when reading the book, that it has a LOT of things in it, that it’s taking ideas from the past, but putting in apps, italk and hacker references to make it seem more original than it actually is.

So, was it a fun read? It was okay. I get a bit fed up of the ubiquitous punky female protagonists, so that wasn’t doing it for me, but the story was clever, it reminded me of Brave New World and even though I wasn’t a fan of the protagonist she was very well written, and future issues of the comic should offer a lot of scope for her character to mature and develop into a fully rounded adult, rather than just another teen who wants to be special.

It could be my age that’s holding me back from really enjoying the book, because if you take away all of the background dystopic future stuff the heart of the story is about a teenager trying to find her individual identity in a conformist world. I can empathise with that, but as a forty-one year old man I don’t really want to read about teenagers anymore. I’d recommend the book for teens and young adults, as it’s a much better version of the irrelevant stuff they get in Marvel and DC, and it might just get them to think about bigger issues like state surveillance, and the dangers of collectivism as well.

Wynter #1 is a good book, it looks very cool, and it has a bucket load of good ideas in it, but for me personally it’s another one of those teens finding themselves books. I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more if it had a boring middle-aged protagonist, somebody like the Bernard Marx character in Brave New World, or Neo in The Matrix would have worked better for me. I can see how the book would appeal to a young comic book reading male, but I’m not that bloke any more. The twenty year old version of myself would have loved it, but the older me, whilst recognising the book’s qualities, has to admit that it’s probably just a bit too young for him.

Rating: 7/10 (I would have loved it in the 90’s)