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only ever read that amazing spidey one…wouldn’t have picked up a book that dealt with 9/11 i don’t think except for i collect that book and it was part of the trade regardless. thought it was dealt with tactfully, it obviously came from a very personal place.

George’s response has been right out of a comic book… some crazy ass mad villain.

I’ll have to go with the Amazing Spiderman issue as well. I don’t like JMS, but it’s pretty much one of the only 9/11 comics that I read, and it was extremely affecting, IMO.

“This Is Information” by Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie

One of the few I read that still holds up years later, and that doesn’t seem at all exploitative. It uses the 9/11 attacks to deliver a personal and important message, rather than sticking to the simple and emotionally-manipulative logic that a lot of others used at the time.

I hate that issue of Amazing Spider- Man, and I think it’s ridiculous that Marvel has written 9/11 into it’s continuity. I find most of the 9/11 material to be a little sad; It’s a shame that writers and artists don’t have a better means of expression than the superhero in dealing with real world tragedy.

My favorite is the story Peter Milligan did in “Human Target” that had a guy faking being in the Twin Towers that day.

Of course, I’m sure Frank Miller’s “Batman vs. Osama” story will blow them all away, he said sarcastically….

Have there been many worthwhile ones, other than Ex Machina, which isn’t really about 9/11 per se, anyway?

“Have there been many worthwhile ones, other than Ex Machina, which isn’t really about 9/11 per se, anyway?”

Well, there were also like 3 trades (2 by DC and 1 by someone else) that collected short stories (in which the aforementioned Alan Moore story was found). Plus all of Marvel’s issues.

I personally found the Alan Moore story to be even more exploitative than the others because it was using this event (and the personal tragedy surrounding it) to make his own point, rather than to express sympathy. Not that that’s a bad thing. However, in comparison to the songs that play on the radio and are still being written today about it (”Boot in yer ass” anyone?) aany of the comic stories written is extremely altruistic.

But really, I didn’t like any 9-11 story. Maybe it’s because I’m several thousand miles detached and knew no one whose lives were personally affected by it. It didn’t change my life apart from increased airport security.

I’m not unsympathetic to the victims, but this event really had no impact on my life, so none of these stories really had any impact either.

That was me – computer logged me out.

Not really a story per se, but I remember being particularly struck by the simplicity of Frank Miller’s piece for 9/11: Artists Respond. Of course, his current stance is seemingly completely at odds with the one put forward by that piece, but still, it doesn’t change the power of the original work.

I just realized that I should probably clarify, I (the Dave who mentioned Frank Miller) am not the same Dave who mentioned the Alan Moore/Melinda Gebbie piece earlier.

After 9/11 I was sadened but didn’t think the event had profoundly affected me. However, when I read the issue of Ex Machina, and turned to that last page depicting that one of the Twin Towers had survived, right then it all hit me, and I realized that 9/11 had a deeper effect on me than I thought.

That Spiderman issue friggin’ killed me. Doctor Doom crying? WTF?

The last page of the first issue of Ex Machina keeps coming back to me, personally.

“This Is Information” by Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie

One of the few I read that still holds up years later, and that doesn’t seem at all exploitative. It uses the 9/11 attacks to deliver a personal and important message, rather than sticking to the simple and emotionally-manipulative logic that a lot of others used at the time.”

Agreed. Best thing Alan Moore’s ever done, ‘cording to me. I like that his reaction wasn’t this kind of shellshocked “Holy Shit,” but that he actually tried to process and learn from what happened.

(Not that a shellshocked “Holy Shit,” wasn’t a COMPLETELY appropriate response.)

Yeah, Dr. Doom crying was ridiculous. Kingpin maybe, but Doom? He’d either be laughing his ass off or jealous that someone so obviously inferior to him pulled it off.

Personally, I’m dissapointed that the twin towers were made part of continuity in Marvel comics. I want to believe that in a word with characters like Thor, Iron Man, and Reed Richards that they would have found a way to save all those lives.

But hey, that’s just my opinion.

I also liked that Human Target story.

I also did not like that amazing Spider-Man issue, primarily because of the Dr.Doom scene. Hasn’t he personally done much worse stuff than what the terrorists did?

I think Art Spiegelman’s “In the Shadow of No Towers” is really good, although it is probably more about people’s (and countries’) reactions to the events and what transpired afterward than about the event itself. More recently, I thought Rick Veitch’s “Can’t Get No” was very good, and had a lot to say about America, and what has happened in our country since 2001. And Ex Machina #1 was also good, even though the event was mostly used to create setting for the characters and story.

Lots of excellent choices here, but I’d have to go with the Human Target story arc as well. Just strong writing that didn’t seem preachy like JMS’ Spider-Man issue. Don’t get me wrong, I thought Marvel did a fine job but it felt like a monologue from Babylon 5 or something.

Most entries in the Heroes vol.1 and 2 were touching tributes, as well as the small press one.

In an issue of Cable, it was on a news report while Nathan was in Europe. During that run (which I liked) I wondered how Cable would’ve done if he was in NYC at the time….

Although it wasn’t about 9/11, I liked the way Moore incorporated it into Promethea.

Can’t Get No is a strong second.

Hasn’t [Dr. Doom] personally done much worse stuff than what the terrorists did?

That’s a problem I’ve had with trying to incorporate 9/11 into comics. On one hand, you have to. A comic where 9/11 didn’t happen is alternate history.

The problem isn’t incorporating the attack itself. It’s incorporating the impact it had on America, US foreign policy, and the world. In the DC or Marvel universes, worse than 9/11 happens on a monthly basis, even in the first world. Something like “Our Worlds at War” should have had far more lasting consequences to the DCU than 9/11 did.

I wrote an essay five years ago about the challenge of trying to work 9/11 into a shared comic book universe. This thread inspired me to repost it.

I think Ex Machina is the best way to respond in a medium of fiction to such a real world tragedy.
The altering of events sets the world apart but the exact same issues arising from such an act of violence can be dealt with. For the purposes of using the event and looking at its consequences it doesn’t matter that only one tower fell, the tragedy, the sense of threat, and the reange of reactions can all be the same – as they likely would have been had only one tower been hit.
Putting his protagonist directly at the centre of the event allows Vaughan to deal with many other themes and ideas but the central alternate reality premise is really good.

Also liked the Human Target issue must go dig those up again from the box.
Having the villains help with the disaster seemd pretty silly really but then I’m not living in NY like virtually all of Marvel. In a real world with the number of superpowerd people that Marvel NY has the towers would not have fallen. Sue Richards and Iron Man and a bunch of telekenetics could have kept their frames from buckling
for instance.
I see why it was done but I think it was a poor decision in retrospect. Marvel NY is not real NY, it never has been, it never will be.

That close after 9/11, I think getting caught up in things like ‘Doom Shouldn’t Have Cried’ etc when we talk about the JMS issue is a little petty. When we look back at the issue now, it sticks out, and it threw me offguard at the time too, but it didn’t seem like a big problem when the issue came out.

For me, that JMS Spidey issue was all about the kid whose dad died- which was the first time the big, gargantuan 9/11 ‘event’ ever actually stopped being about statistics and amateur video and hit home with me, living in Australia and all- and the image of the Marvel heroes lined up behind the real-world heroes.

Yes, there are some things in that issue that don’t totally ring true, and Doom is at the forefront of that. (Having said that, Doom isn’t a complete dick- didn’t he try to help out against Onslaught?) And I totally agree with Kelson’s comments that, from a continuity perspective, the residents of the Marvel Universe have been through some pretty heavy stuff without even factoring in 9/11.

But that issue had to be done, IMO.

None. They all tend to be emotional slavering wastes of comics. Spidey #25 was almost decent but still doesn’t make the cut.

The Spidey story for the immediate emotional reaction, Ex Machina for the reaction of a storyteller given time. I read bits and pieces of the big tribute books, but they failed to stick with me…

–yo
doesn’t care if Dr. Doom cried or not

These spambots are awfully complementary.