Politics and Comics

Well, #Comicsgate is a thing now. With prominent figures like Marsha Cooke (Darwyn Cooke's widow) and Ethan Van Sciver (comics artist) have made their positions clear and brought the debate to the forefront. Though there is a discussion on that alone, I think the major issue is how politics work in comics.

Historically speaking, they have been an integral part of the media since its beginning. Action Comics #1 has a story about political corruption and another of domestic violence. Captain America #1's cover is a heavy political message on itself. Even earlier pulp stories have this. Doc Savage, for example, is a representation of the ideal man, a concept of perfection that the reader should look up at.

Yet, there's always have been a duality on how much politics, or which ones, should and should not be represented. One of the earliest examples is the short story "Day of Judgement", from EC Comics. As usual with EC's stories, it had a heavy political message about racial equality. Yet, because the main character was revealed to be black in the last page, its editor edited said page on the ground it was "sending the wrong kind of message".

Today, we're on a similar situation. Comics, as a social art, can't be really separated from making a message about society. Even ignoring it, or staying apolitical, is a message on itself. Specially if many modern characters have roots on socially relevant messages. The obvious example are the X-Men, or the current Miss Marvel. There's also John Stewart and Falcon. It goes as far back as Wonder Woman. Characters whose identity on itself is a message makes their story also a message about it.

However, the debate remains and I'd like to bring it here, among fans. How should comics handle politics?