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US-French comic book tackles mass shootings with superheroes
LOS ANGELES, Oct 18, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Two US authors have found a novel way
to address the mass shootings that regularly plunge their country into
mourning — comic-book superheroes.
The daring “Ignited” series, penned by former Marvel and DC writers Mark
Waid and Kwanza Osajyefo and released by legendary French publisher Humanoids
Associates, tackles the politically controversial topic head-on.
It tells the fictional but tragically familiar story of six teenagers who
survive a shooting at their high school in Phoenix, Arizona.
Under immense shock and stress, the teens develop superpowers. They view
their newfound strengths as an opportunity to “make a difference” in their
violent world, “because otherwise we went through all our pain for nothing.”
In addition to giving a voice to real-life shooting survivors, “Ignited”
was a chance for scriptwriters Waid and Osajyefo to address a range of
sensitive, highly topical issues in the United States — while drawing on
their backgrounds with Captain America, the X-Men, Batman and Superman.
Topics featured in the first few issues include gun control, immigration
police raids on Latino families, militias and growing calls from ultra-
conservatives for teachers to be armed with guns.
“The ‘Ignited’ shared universe is different because it’s not really
superheroes — to me, having written a million superhero comics, superheroes
are about masks and capes and powers, and super villains,” said Waid.
Here the real “villains” are extremists and the National Rifle Association
(NRA) gun lobby.
The books’ heroes are “dealing with things on a more realistic and a more
human level,” added Waid, 57.
– ‘Make some waves’ –
Publisher Humanoids Associates was founded in Paris in 1974, and is the
only French-language comic book publisher to have successfully entered the US
market.
It remains one of the top players in the European market, where it is first
became known for wildly popular sci-fi comic anthology “Metal Hurlant”
(“Heavy Metal”) — which Ridley Scott said partly inspired “Blade Runner.”
The publisher’s owner Fabrice Giger said superhero comics are “a first for
us.”
“Our logic was to approach (mass shootings) from another angle … What can
we say that hasn’t already been said by others?”
The series, which had its US launch this summer and will be published
monthly, has “the taste and look of American comic books but is something a
little bit different.”
“We started from the basis that Marvel, DC Comics and even smaller American
publishers are all politically correct … whereas we have always dealt
freely with all subjects,” said Giger from his Los Angeles office, where the
company has operated since 1998.
Scriptwriter Waid agreed that “because American comics are corporate owned,
they have to cater to all political stripes.
“We’re a smaller company. We can afford to make some waves,” said Waid, who
is director of creative development at Humanoids, the US branch of Humanoids
Associates.
“It’s a timely book because, clearly, it’s about the madness that’s
happening here in America.”
Could a project like “Ignited” have been created at Marvel or DC?
“Not a chance — not to this degree. We would have had to dress it up as
‘both sides are OK.’ No, listen, both sides are not OK. This is ridiculous,”
Waid said.
His co-writer Osajyefo also started at Marvel and DC, but had to turn to
crowd-funding to publish his controversial series “Black.”
The critically acclaimed work imagines a world in which only black people
develop superpowers — which the authorities seek to stifle by all means.
– ‘Speak up’ –
“Ignited” is drawn by Philippe Briones, a French comic book virtuoso who
worked for a decade at Disney.
Briones applauded the “courageous” decision to tackle a subject as
political — and taboo — as shootings in the United States.
“Living in Los Angeles, I see how important it is here,” he said, comparing
it to the idea of writing comic book stories about the Bataclan terror
attacks back in France.
“That would be really tricky, personally I wouldn’t want to deal with this
kind of subject,” he said.
“The most important thing is for people to speak up, and comics is a good
way,” Briones added.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1050 hrs