Comments on: So are swastikas verboten in Marvel comics all of a sudden…?

By: calvin frank

calvin frank — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 19:42:03 +0000

Wow, this is a problem that most people today face.Thanks for your great post.

By: Vinnie Bartilucci

Vinnie Bartilucci — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:44:52 +0000

The part that I like is not only is the image edited, it’s edited poorly – they removed a different leg of the swastika on the first pic, making it look like the thing’s rotating throughout the story.

Apparently Marvel does not know how to make a Nazi cross.

By: gohanwinner

gohanwinner — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:23:41 +0000

Nazis are used too much in comics anyway.

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 10:50:48 +0000

To be honest, I don’t know how it’s handled nowadays in Germany as I swichted completly to US-Comics a few years ago. But to my recollection the english comics are never censored. The swastikas the in german editions however were sometimes completly removed or edited (Marvel & DC – I remember the first german “Danger Girl” TPB being recalled for leaving one unedited) and some times not at all (“Maus”, although a ad for Maus was erroneously confiscated in the 1990s)
Normally, the german publishers are playing it safe by editing the Us-comics themselves – maybe Marvel wants to do their work?
For the german legislature concerning swastikas see Dr. W. Pedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strafgesetzbuch_%C2%A7_86a

By: Evan Waters

Evan Waters — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 22:52:05 +0000

The rule about not displaying swastikas in Germany is waved for artistic works. It gets censored in video games but I’m not sure how it would work in comics.

By: Guy Smalley

Guy Smalley — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:46:24 +0000

Rapping & murdering a women is bad enough, The swastika in modern times represent a rape & murder of over 6 million people. The half rendition is lame and Marvel should know better.

By: Joe S. Walker

Joe S. Walker — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 15:59:04 +0000

“a cover reproduction of the 1940s Captain America #1 (the one where he’s punching Hitler in the face) had to have the swastika in the background removed…”

Did they think people might not know that Hitler was a Nazi??

Equally, if you choose to remove a swastika, why only remove PART of it? Bizarre choices.

By: sroman

sroman — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 14:44:27 +0000

This isn’t the first time this happened. Back in the ’90s, there was also a mandate to remove all swastikas from Nazi iconography–I believe it was just after Carl Icahn bought the company, and he didn’t like the notion of Marvel “promoting” Naziism in its comics.

That made it difficult for some of the Captain America merchandise that was being created at the time–a cover reproduction of the 1940s Captain America #1 (the one where he’s punching Hitler in the face) had to have the swastika in the background removed, and use of the Red Skull in anything was…er, verboten. (Sorry.)

That mandate was reversed after Icahn sold the company.

By: Robert Frost

Robert Frost — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 05:26:20 +0000

Wasn’t this one of the one shots done by international creators? If so, I would assume Marvel plans to sell these books abroad.

Maybe Marvel wants to sell the book in Germany. It is illegal to display a swastika in Germany. I don’t know how rigid the law is with respect to interior content and something as minor as a costume emblem, but I remember reading a story about a book about the holocaust that was stopped by German customs because it had a swastika on the cover.

P.S. When are you guys going to fix this site so that it will accept posts on the first try?

By: Ortiz

Ortiz — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 05:21:37 +0000

@Ortiz

“The back-up, with the altered swastika shirt in it, is the story of Wolverine stopping three rapist/murderers from attacking a woman in a cave full of skulls.”

Sounds like it happened in the same story.
———————————————————–
Yeah, you are right, I didn’t read carefully the article, I thought you were talking about a similar scene (the gang rape)
in a MAX title (Foolkiller), but considering this, it was stupid erase the swastika. Peace.

By: Shaun

Shaun — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 04:17:11 +0000

Gang rape’s OK, making deals with the Devil is OK, but smoking cigars (even though the character in question had smoked them for decades), having two characters divorce, and swastikas on bad guys are all not.

Whatever, Marvel.

By: Adam

Adam — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 02:51:02 +0000

That’s… just stupid.

I need to go make a comic with lots of Nazis then. Hmmm…

By: Alexa

Alexa — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 02:08:09 +0000

@Ortiz

“The back-up, with the altered swastika shirt in it, is the story of Wolverine stopping three rapist/murderers from attacking a woman in a cave full of skulls.”

Sounds like it happened in the same story.

By: Ortiz

Ortiz — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 00:53:44 +0000

@Alexa: The first scene you are mentioning was in a MAX title, the second one don’t, IMO that’s a big difference. Peace.

By: Alexa

Alexa — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 23:07:03 +0000

So to clarify. In Marvel Comics, it is acceptable to portray bad guys about to gang rape and murder a woman, but it is NOT acceptable to show them wearing real swastikas.

You stay classy, Marvel.