I am Kyle's self-indulgence

The guy has a reputation for creating very subversive comic books. In the 1980s he wrote and drew Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, which, aside from being one of the first comics to question the morality of the superhero vigilante, contained biting criticism of the Reagan-era United States.

Fifteen years later, he revisited this theme with The Dark Knight Strikes Again, which was even more blatantly critical of American politics and media. The September 11 terrorist attacks, which occurred after Miller had already begun the story, lent it even more poignancy. Even if it wasn't originally envisioned as a criticism of the Bush administration's post-9/11 policies, it certainly looks that way in retrospect.

Miller took the opportunity to express his personal views on the terrorist attacks, unfiltered, in one of many benefit comic books published about the event. His two-page comic is as shocking as it is blunt.

Now I read in Newsarama that Miller is writing yet another Batman story. This time, he describes it as a propaganda story about Batman fighting terrorists: "And not to put too fine a point on it, it is a piece of propaganda. Batman kicks al-Qaeda’s ass."

Is this really Frank Miller talking?

Here's the discussion that then takes place between Miller and the panel moderator:

CB: Alright – so in calling it propaganda, how do you want your art to impact the war effort?

FM: I want us to win the war…

[very minor applause]

FM: Oh, only a couple? I know this is San Francisco, but come on! What, you want to lose?

I must say I'm surprised to hear this kind of reductionism coming from Frank Miller. He just doesn't seem to be the type that would buy into the rhetoric that we're in an inevitable war, and that the only possible outcomes are victory and defeat.

I think that a modern propaganda comic book is an interesting idea. It would be neat to see a story that simultaneously spoofs and pays homage to WWII-era propaganda comics. It would also be a cool opportunity to create some satire of current events (Team America: World Police comes to mind). But I simply can't believe that Frank Miller can make an earnest and sincere attempt at creating mere propaganda, and nothing more. Our world is too complex for that. Frank Miller is too complex for that. Either he's been seriously overestimated all these years, or he's got some surprises up his sleeve with this "propaganda" project.