Underground Comics Sex Drugs and Nuclear Fallout (3 Points)

After reading a collection of underground comics including Monolith, Atomic Comics, Little Green Dinosaur, Mu The Land That Never Was, and Girl Fights, I have noticed a throughline of various recurring topics through all of them. The corruption of society and people seems the strongest, but other topics like overt sexuality and violence also persist in all except the Atomic Comics. 


“Atomic Comics” takes a textbook-like approach to storytelling, using its characters and actions to exemplify the dangers of over reliance on dangerous forms of nuclear energy. The drawings paired with the information make it easier to digest than just reading a paper on nuclear energy. 


“Little Green Dinosaur” is a satirical comic that inserts a dimension hopping stylized dinosaur into various time periods and stories. The dinosaur also has a penis and uses it. A lot. He is crafty and just kind of goes with the flow, ending up at the center of a whole slew of situations, where others reacting to him and him being a dinosaur generates humor.


“Mu The land that never was” is an interesting fantasy / sci-fi story of the origins of the moon. It features a greedy and power hungry Adlantian who after getting a fleet of gliders invented by an Adlantian elder sets his sights on conquering the world. Ultimately his quest for power is his undoing and he winds up stuck orbiting the earth with no way to get down, becoming the moon. The characters and world are both really interesting and show how betraying and sabotaging those who know how to do things in government because they threaten your total control, is foolish because when things go wrong they won’t be around to save you or your people.


“Monolith” is a Post apocalyptic story about an enclave of humanity slowly rotting away, preparing for an attack that never seems to be coming, while the rest of humanity is attempting to rebuild just across the horizon. The message for this comic seems to be to question the rules set before you rather than just ignorantly live according to them, and to constantly pursue knowledge since it can set you free of artificial restrictions you set on yourself. 


Girl Fights is a story very reminiscent of Wonder Woman, showing several “Amazons” interacting with society and people. The first woman, who goes by Fox has amnesia but eventually remembers that she is a crime fighter from Africa who protects people from getting swindled by big business. The second story has an Amazonian woman visit modern society for the first time. She has a few wacky encounters since she has a very different culture and ultimately decides to return home upon hearing about the patriarchy. I found it to be kind of interesting since all of her escapades like going around shirtless would have been fine had society not been dominated by men.

 

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