Comics versus Terrorism: Frank Miller’s HOLY TERROR...

Above: The cover to Frank Miller’s HOLY TERROR. HOLY TERROR is Copyright © 2011 Frank Miller, Inc.

Comics have the potential to be a powerful medium. This is a form of literature and entertainment that should say some things. Frank Miller addresses a certain something, Islamic terrorism, in his graphic novel, HOLY TERROR.

I could have done without the harsh language, though. Naughty words make me squeamish.



Frank Miller posted on his website:

My new comic book (or "graphic novel", I suppose it should be called, because it’s square bound) is naked propaganda.

And…

3000 of my neighbors were murdered. My country was, utterly unprovoked, savagely attacked. I wish all those responsible for the Atrocity of 9/11 to burn in hell. I’m too old to serve my country in any other way. Otherwise, I’d gladly be pulling the trigger myself.



In 2006, at the WonderCon convention in San Francisco, Miller shared a bit about how politics have played a role in comics:

It is, not to put too fine a point on it, a piece of propaganda... Superman punched out Hitler. So did Captain America. That's one of the things they're there for.



In an interview with NPR, Miller stated:

I schooled myself in the writings of Madison and Franklin and Adams and Jefferson. I came to love those noble, indestructible ideas. They were ideas, to my young mind, of rebellion and independence, not of idolatry.

And…

Then came that sunny September morning when airplanes crashed into towers a very few miles from my home and thousands of my neighbors were ruthlessly incinerated — reduced to ash.

And…

For the first time in my life, I know how it feels to face an existential menace. They want us to die. All of a sudden I realize what my parents were talking about all those years. Patriotism, I now believe, isn't some sentimental, old conceit. It's self-preservation. I believe patriotism is central to a nation's survival. Ben Franklin said it: "If we don't all hang together, we all hang separately." Just like you have to fight to protect your friends and family, and you count on them to watch your own back.