As some of you saw in the news on November 12th, Stan Lee passed away at the age of 95, leaving many comic book fans in a state of grief and sorrow. From the Golden Age of comic books to today’s Marvel Cinematic Universe, Stan Lee left an impact and mark on literature history for comic book fans of all ages and background. Roughly about a week later, political talk show host Bill Maher slammed Stan Lee after his passing. On his show Real Time with Bill Maher, Bill Maher covered Stan Lee’s passing stating that
“The guy who created Spider-Man and the Hulk has died, and America is in mourning. Deep, deep mourning who inspired millions to, I don’t know, watch a movie, I guess…but then twenty years or so ago, something happened – adults decided that they didn’t have to give up kids stuff. And so they pretended comic books were actually sophisticated literature. And because America has over 4,500 colleges – which we need more professors than we have smart people – some dumb people got to be professors by writing theses with titles like ‘Otherness and Heterdox in the Silver Surfer.’ And now when adults are forced to do grown-up things like buy auto insurance, they call it ‘adulting’ like it’s some giant struggle.”
As one can imagine, this stirred up anger in a large number of comic book fans, specifically those who supported and praised Stan Lee for his work. Through Social – from Twitter to Youtube – Bill Maher was verbally attacked, criticized and ridiculed for his choice of words, some claiming it was too soon or that he was heartless in his words. His response to this criticism was “for people to get mad at [my opinion] just proves my point.”
Before we move into the piece, I just want to clarify a few things: 1) Yes, Bill Maher has the right to an opinion, even if it is widely unpopular to the public or to his viewers. 2) You can agree or disagree with him, however, you may like, and 3) Simply disagreeing with a popular opinion does not mean criticism won’t arise, and 4) though he is a political talk show host, this post is not at covering politics. This is simply regarding his comments on Stan Lee and his legacy.
First Things First, Origins
To give context and a compelling argument, I want to give a brief background about myself and comic books. I grew up reading comic books, starting off with Spider-Man after watching Tobey McGuire’s first Spider-Man film, and eventually made my way to DC Comics in 2008 after the release of The Dark Knight that same year. Since then, I have been indulged in comic book literature, having a collection of over 300 comics, 20 graphic novels, 7 different video games, and countless movies and T.V. series’, both animated and live action. I often was asked in college why I read comics and why it was such a big thing for me. I simply responded that despite the stigma and stereotypes, there much to be found in comic books on philosophical, political, and even religious levels. Though some did not understand, others had their eye browsed raised when I stated my case. It was fun and enjoyable and still is to this day. Now that you know that about me, let’s jump right into it.
What Bill Maher Got Right
I want to start off first by stating that in one area, I agree with Bill Maher. In his response to criticism and threats where he says, “[my opinion] proves my point.” One of the difficulties that come with being a comic book geek and a geek, in general, is the toxic attitudes, behaviors, and personalities from other fellow geeks. This is not to say that I am better, because I am not, and because I used to be that toxic geek. I used to be that geek who would become easily offended if a comic book character or series was criticized or if people tried to implement politics or any other ideology. My thought was simply, “Can’t we keep that out of comic books?” Now, I realized the importance of those topics being in comics (but that is a separate topic for another time). Going back to toxic geeks, Bill Maher is right in that it just proves his point. Of course, we can criticize his opinion and disagree, but simple limited tweets, name-calling, or edgy remarks does nothing to bring an argument to the table. It does the opposite. Therefore, Bill Maher is right. We as geeks can be better and can tolerate different opinions about a subject matter. If someone doesn’t like comic books or see them as childish, then fine. We can still disagree and give our arguments, but resorting to childish makes us childish.
Bill Maher Criticism: Historical Context
Now, we get into the disagreements. Another full-disclosure comment: I have watched Bill Maher debate before on his show and to be honest, I enjoy some of his work. It’s entertaining and insightful. Do I agree with everything? Not at all, but it is always good to hear the disagreements than only the agreements. Sometimes, you find flaws in your own beliefs and opinions and corrections and direction should be made and encouraged. On his words for Stan Lee, it is hard to see eye to eye in comics just being for kids. Before we jump into that, let’s look at some historical context.
Along with classic animations like Looney Tunes, comic books publicly encouraged readers to buy war bonds and sold propaganda comic books during the Second World War, hence the famous cover of Captain America punching Adolf Hitler in the face. After the end of the way, comic books began to die down in popularity as they were primarily aimed towards children due to the Comics Code issued by the Government. This meant that comic books could not show explicit material – sex drugs, adult violence, etc. Because of this, the comic book industry began to die out, due to the audience being limited to children.
After the comic book industry’s Golden Age (1950’s) and Silver Age (1960’s), the Bronze Age came in. During this time, the comic book code began to slowly but surely become a thing of the past. Comics began to go down darker routes such as the death of Gwen Stacy in the Amazing Spider-Man comics and the Joker going into a more psychological and violent route in Batman comics. Some new had to be done to revive comic books and expanding its audience and readers was it. And then came the 1980’s, the decade where comics became darker and more adult themed. This includes some of today’s classics such as Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns, Batman: The Killing Joke, X-Men: Asgardian Wars, and much more. These comic books had very deep philosophical ideas such as Nihilism, Existentialism, Atheism, Human ethics, the Trolley Theory, and countless others. This greatly continued throughout the 1990’s, 2000’s, and continues to this day. All this to say is that comics have never always been for children. They have been violent, philosophical, and have even become classic parts of literature.
It is honestly really difficult to hear people criticize comic books of being childish, yet praise novels such as Chronicles of Narnia or Harry Potter for being classics and for all ages (full-disclosure: I love and respect those book series). Just because something has pictures or word boxes does not mean that they have any less value or meaning in the area of literature and entertainment. This can also be seen with animation and video games. If you look at how far these industries have come from being for children to being for all ages is absolutely fascinating. It is more than good vs. evil, riding off into the sunlight, or justice always prevailing. Comic books have played off of politics and philosophy for decades, whether it has endorsed the status quo or challenged it. And furthermore, it has inspired the creation of what we have today in animation, video games, and blockbuster films and has furthered the conversation of philosophy and ethics. After the release of Avengers: Infinity War this past year, countless articles and videos highly discussed the philosophy of Thanos and if whether or not his act of mass genocide was justified. That to me is anything but childish. The Dark Knight covered terrorism the philosophy of peace based on a lie. Captain America: Winter Soldier brought in the questioning of loyalty when even our own friends and government betray us. I could go on for hours on end on this topic, but those are just some of many examples that go back to comic book literature. Furthermore, comic books – like any other childhood memory – have left a large impact on thousands of people throughout the years. Why should something like comic books be seen as a childish memory compared to other forms of fiction, simply because it has pictures? It is not more important nor less important than any other childhood memory.
Final Thoughts
Bill Maher and others like him can say what they will and they have the right to. Comic books are not everyone, nor are video games, novels, animation, film, and more. Everyone has a different taste and geeks of all areas should respect that. And wherever you lie in the topic of what Bill Maher or others have said, just know that criticism applies to everyone, not just those you disagree with. I want to leave a quote from C.S. Lewis himself, one of my favorite growing up regarding this topic about childhood and child memories.
“Critics who treat ‘adult’ as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence, they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.” – C.S. Lewis
