Michael Rutschky
Published: March 8, 2006
Last month at WonderCon in San Francisco, comic book creator Frank Miller unveiled his plans for a 200 page graphic novel which will bring Batman into the war on terror. The project will be titled “Holy Terror, Batman.”
Miller, who’s popular comic book series Sin City was recently adapted into a hit movie, has written several Batman stories since the mid-1980s. The majority of the stories have focused on Miller’s interpretation of Batman, who is decidedly more brutal with definite fascist undertones. This project sees Miller taking those qualities to a new extreme.
“Not to put too fine a point on it, it is a piece of propaganda,” Miller said in an interview with Charles Brownstein at the convention. “Superman punched out Hitler. So did Captain America. That’s one of the things they’re there for. These are symbols of our people, of our country.”
The story brings Batman face to face with al-Qaeda, the terrorist faction that claimed responsibility for the attacks against the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001. Once Batman’s home of Gotham City falls victim to a similar act of terrorism, Miller’s Batman diverts his crime fighting efforts towards fighting terrorism abroad. The concept has it’s origins in the comic books of the World War II era, which saw many heroes created for the purpose of boosting national morale by giving the public a nigh-invulnerable icon to combat the current enemy.
No matter whose interpretation of the character it is, writing Batman into a propaganda comic is sure to leave fans upset. Batman has never had a hand in global politics before, and no matter how dark and gritty creators like Miller intend to portray him, children still make up a great portion of his fan base. Solidifying a children’s icon as representing a specific school of political belief, be it conservative or liberal, is certain to make people uneasy.
“It just seemed to be kind of silly to be chasing around the Riddler when you’ve got al-Qaeda out there,” Miller said at the convention. According to an interview with Miller conducted by the Canadian TV channel SPACE, the writer/artist sees his graphic novel as being “a relic from the first years of World War III.”
Miller’s contribution began in the late 1980s when he wrote two of the most important Batman stories ever published. The first, “Year One”, served as the basis for the most recent movie adaptation of Batman. The second, “The Dark Knight Returns”, saw the inception of Miller’s version of Batman. Currently Miller is writing “All-Star Batman and Robin: The Boy Wonder,” which is a darker version of the origin of Batman’s sidekick, Robin.