![by rory midhani](https://www.autostraddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Drawn-To-Comics_Rory-Midhani_640px.jpg?resize=640%2C429)
by rory midhani
I freaking hate Nazis. I feel like that should just be an obvious thing, but apparently in modern day America be a Nazi and just call yourself “Alt-Right” and a lot of people will think you’re ok. It’s ridiculous and offensive and just about the worst thing I can think of. A freaking Nazi is a freaking Nazi no matter what. They’re still evil, they still deserve every punch to the face and kick to the groin they get. Even in comic books, they’re so evil that they’re routinely tossed in next to vampires and outer space aliens and demons to say, “yeah, these look about the same.”
But that doesn’t only show how evil they are; it also also shows how ridiculous their ideas are. Comic books compare their viewpoints to those of the Joker, Doctor Doom and Satan himself, showing their outsized villainy. If you’re getting tired of watching the news try to make them mainstream again, here are six comics to remind you just how great it feels to see a good guy beat up someone from the Alt-Right. There are going to be some spoilers, but it’s just so that you know the Nazis get what’s coming to them.
Wonder Woman: The Circle
This run of Wonder Woman was written by Gail Simone, one of the leading feminist comic book writers of the modern age. There’s a lot going on in this run, but part of it involves the supervillain Captain Nazi who’s trying to take over Themyscara (the island where the Amazons live) to make a new Nazi homeland. And it is freaking great watching Wonder Woman kick his ass.
Ms. Marvel: Super Famous
In the first three issues of this trade, Ms. Marvel, a Pakistani-American, Muslim, teenage girl takes on Doctor Faustus, who had previously led the neo-nazi group National Force, and is currently trying to gentrify the part of Jersey City that she lives in. This story is full of Faustus brainwashing kids, using Ms. Marvel’s image to make propaganda, having his spokesmen say things like “pull up their bootstraps” and “free of undesirables” and generally being a literal Nazi trying to get immigrants, people of color and poor people out a a neighborhood so that upper class white people can move in. But he doesn’t succeed; instead he gets beaten up and his gentrifiers get kicked out of town.
Hellboy: Seed of Destruction and Wake the Devil
If you’ve seen the Hellboy movie, you know that he loves beating up Nazis, whether it’s in the past or present, and that’s most evident his first two collections. Some Nazis make this thing called Project Ragna Rok, which is meant to help them use occult powers to take over the world. In the modern day part, Hellboy fights Rasputin and a bunch of Nazis who are still trying to do this. In the second trade, we focus more on the Nazis who are still trying to take over the world in the 90s, and still getting their butts kicked. Few comic book characters hate Nazis as much as Hellboy.
Atomic Robo and the Dogs of War
This deals with a superhero fighting Nazis during actual World War II, but still, it’s always good to see that happen. Atomic Robo is a sentient robot created by a fictional version of Nikola Tesla in 1923 who goes off and fights science monsters and stuff. In this story, Robo, a British spy named the Sparrow and a soldier named James Milligan fight Nazi “weird war” projects.
Punisher War Journal Vol 2: Goin’ Out West
Punisher has always been one of the most violent Marvel heroes, and here he spends a lot of his time being violent toward neo-nazis led by the Hate Monger in New Mexico. They’ve been patrolling the border and being horrible racists, you know, as Nazis do. He disguises himself as a racist so he can infiltrate the previously mentioned neo-nazi group National Force and take down their leader. There are lots of gross Nazis in this run and there are lots of dead Nazis in this run. This is pure anti-Nazi violence.
Hawkeye Vol 6: Hawkeyes
I like this story because it largely focuses on Kate Bishop Hawkeye, one of my all-time favorite superheroes, fighting against Hydra, which, I remind you, is a Nazi organization. This takes place in several time periods, with Kate Bishop as a kid, a young adult and a middle aged woman, and in all of them she’s protecting a group of kids from Hydra. Let me try to find a real-life parallel for what’s going on… so, it would be like if a powerful person believed that you should kidnap children and torture them because they were different from others. And Hawkeyes stop that from happening. It’s a great story with great art and some appearances from everyone’s favorite hero, America Chavez.
New Releases (November 30)
X-23 Complete Collection Vol 2 TP
Welcome to Drawn to Comics! From diary comics to superheroes, from webcomics to graphic novels – this is where we’ll be taking a look at comics by, featuring and for queer ladies. So whether you love to look at detailed personal accounts of other people’s lives, explore new and creative worlds, or you just love to see hot ladies in spandex, we’ve got something for you.
If you have a comic that you’d like to see me review, you can email me at mey [at] autostraddle [dot] com.
I love you so much right now it hurts, Mey. Thank you! :D
Wow. I needed this. Thank you.
There’s also DC Bombshells, which is set during WWII and therefore has everyone’s favorite lesbian crimefighter, Kate Kane, fighting lots of Nazis, naturally. It even gave us this beautiful line, where Catwoman teaches a young, aspiring hero the way to a girl’s heart:![](//66.media.tumblr.com/790a3052a7c3e3a28201c24eed009da2/tumblr_o5a0dwNqkB1qgc425o1_500.png)
Ack. Not sure why that image didn’t work. But anyways, it’s this one: https://66.media.tumblr.com/790a3052a7c3e3a28201c24eed009da2/tumblr_o5a0dwNqkB1qgc425o1_500.png
Pretty much everyone in this series is super gay, it’s fantastic. Also Kate Kane is Jewish (in this and all continuities) so it’s extra satisfying.
Hi! Long time lurker first time commenter here.
Thanks for compiling this awesome list. I just had a quick question, if anyone happens to know: could someone read and enjoy the Miss Marvel comic without having read anything else with Miss Marvel?
I was thinking about getting that comic for a cousin of mine, but I don’t know a whole lot about comics or what superheros she already has comics about.
Thanks!
Kamala Khan started out as “Ms. Marvel” in 2014. The first volume you’d want to get is called “No Normal”. “Super Famous”, mentioned in the article, is the fifth volume of Kamala’s adventures. With the exception of a few crossovers/events, you don’t need any context outside of the series to understand what’s going on.
Yes, she can just read Ms. Marvel and enjoy it. There may be crossover events that are missing part of the story, but those aren’t really related to Kamala’s own story and are just designed to make you buy more. I usually hate “events” because they get in the way of the flow of things and they’re just a gimmick.
Mey, I messaged you in private, but on this, a grey rainy awful bleh day, I just want to reiterate: I needed this list, thank you, I love you.
This is awesome, you’re the coolest!
So so great!!