Civil War and Batwoman are far from the first comics to deal with social issues, according to the Daily Record in Morris County, N.J. In an article this weekend, they talked to John Ostrander, writer of Batman: The Seduction of a Gun, about how the former governor of Virginia used the book to push a gun-rationing law:
Former Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder used the graphic novel “Batman: The Seduction of a Gun,” to push a gun-rationing law in the state Legislature.
The story was based on research conducted by writer John Ostrander of Roxbury, who discovered that Virginia had become a gun-buying destination for street gangs from New York and other states.
Ostrander said one of Wilder’s aides pointed out the story to the then-governor, who sent copies of the novel to other legislators, saying, “Look, even Batman is saying it.”
Ostrander said he was pleasantly surprised, and that the novel had achieved its purpose.
“In that case, we were writing something to express concern about the proliferation of handguns, and you like to think your writing has some significance,”Ostrander said.
The former governor was also quoted on the comics medium:
“Yes, topical issues can be expressed meaningfully in comic strips because the wholeness of the thought can be put in simplified terms so it can be understood,” Wilder said through his press secretary, Linwood Norman, on Wednesday.
“We shouldn’t underestimate the seriousness of the matter simply because it’s being expressed in comics, because it can be expressed very clearly.”
June 26th, 2006 at 10:27 am
I remember hearing an interview with Denny O’Neil in which he said this was the single comic he was proudest of as an editor (or something to that effect).
June 26th, 2006 at 5:08 pm
I really liked this book, it’s one of my favorite Batman stories.
June 27th, 2006 at 10:35 am
[...] There is an interesting article from a local American paper, the Daily Record, which I picked up via Blog@Newsarama. The mainstream press seem to have woken up lately to the fact that comics can address ‘real’ world problems and issues (witness the press inches on Marvel’s Civil War or the lesbian Batwoman character for DC’s 52). Of course, we all know that this isn’t something new, even if the mainstream media don’t. The Record article has a nice slant on comics-real world interaction in the shape of a Batman tale by John Ostrander, Seduction of a Gun, which was used by a politician in Virginia to effect some gun control legislation. [...]
June 27th, 2006 at 12:55 pm
I love it when I see a picture of the comics shop I go to every week turn up on someone’s blog. =)