Conservative Stories to Read on Free Comic Book Day

Whether comic creators have realized it or not — many superheroes have conservative origins.

Characters such as Batman and Superman embrace the clear and simple ideas of right and wrong, of serving justice and protecting innocent Americans from those with no regard for civil liberties.

Related: Five Novels Every Conservative Needs to Read

Superheroes often act as vigilantes outside the authority of the government and are celebrated by common men and women; they’re also usually opposed by corrupt elitists who benefit from a broken system.

Over the years writers and artists have tried to push more social agendas with their comic stories; but at the core, these characters fight for freedom.

[lz_ndn video=32322293]

Some stories are more conservatively friendly than others. Free Comic Book Day is officially May 6, a day to give comics a try and to support the art form — so here’s a look at three comics that conservatives would have a hard time rejecting.

“Holy Terror.” Writer and artist Frank Miller got hit with a lot of backlash from the politically correct for this graphic novel. Though he originally intended it as a Batman comic in which the caped crusader would take on radical Islam, Miller eventually abandoned that concept in favor of an original character, referred to as The Fixer, who unapologetically takes on Al-Qaeda in the wake of 9/11.

A lifelong New Yorker, Miller was shaken by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. He not only became more outspoken about his conservative views, but he also took his anger and frustration and put them into the pages of the “Holy Terror” book. Because it was a fast-paced revenge tale that didn’t feel the need to pander to its audience and present examples of good Muslims to combat its depictions of evil terrorists, Miller was accused of racism and xenophobia.

[lz_third_party align=center width=630 includes=https://youtu.be/P7IMNtmxWZw]

The creator rightly defended the book as an homage to some of the original Captain America stories, in which the shield-carrying patriot took on the Nazis. “Holy Terror” is not a book that attacks Muslims, but one that has no sympathy for terrorists and extremists who mean harm to Americans. It’s a powerful read — and one can feel the pain and anger that came as a gut-punch to this country on 9/11, pulsating from each page.

“Jonah Hex.” There’s a good chance Jonah Hex will never ride again for DC Comics; he rode off into the sunset in 2014. In today’s world, “Dukes of Hazzard” reruns are pulled for showing a car with the Confederate flag — so Hex has little chance of surviving the frothing-at-the-mouth, social justice warriors of today.

Hex was a character modeled after Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name from the spaghetti-western “Dollars” trilogy. He’s an anti-hero with a disfigured face who fought for the South during the Civil War and refuses to shed his uniform. It’s not that he believed in slavery — just that he doesn’t like the government telling him what to do, as one character appropriately put it in a 2010 movie based on the character.

[lz_third_party align=center width=630 includes=https://youtu.be/f6HeCCBrVRc]

The “Hex” comics went through many iterations, but perhaps the best introduction to the character would be the 2010 graphic novel “No Way Back,” written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray with art by Tony DeZuniga. The story is a visually stunning and unforgiving western. Hex is a character with a strict moral code — he’s unapologetic in his distrust of authority and his acceptance of the necessity of violence to combat evil.

[lz_third_party align=center width=630 includes=https://youtu.be/_l0zSd_DQQ4]

“The Dark Knight Returns.” This is arguably the most influential Batman run ever created. Frank Miller took the character and morphed him into the tortured crime fighter we know so well today.

Before independent outlets and common-man politicians railed against the elites in politics and media, Miller was doing so in the pages of comics.

“Dark Knight Returns” presents a near-Ayn Rand creation — a hero unappreciated by the accepted culture and power structures around him. Batman not only has to fight villains on the street threatening his city, but also the elitists in power who abhor his moral code and the rise of the common man.

[lz_third_party align=center width=630 includes=https://youtu.be/unhgxn9dhGs]