Art Spiegelman balks at Marvel's censorship of anti-Trump piece [View all]
Mr Spiegelman points out the double-standard given Marvel's ties to Trump...
Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of Maus Art Spiegelman was slated to write the introduction to a new Marvel collection, Marvel The Golden Age 1939-1949, but pulled his work after Marvel wanted him to remove a disparaging reference to Donald Trump.
As reported by Newsweek, Spiegelman, in an essay discussing the political background of Marvels offerings during and right after World War II, referenced Trump in a comparison to Nazism, saying, In todays all too real world, Captain Americas most nefarious villain, the Red Skull, is alive on screen and an Orange Skull haunts America, a pretty transparent reference to Trump.
In response, the Folio Society, who was handling publishing on this particular collection, asked Spiegelman to remove the topical reference, claiming Marvel was trying to be apolitical. So Spiegelman pulled it, and you can read the essay now in the Guardian.
A few things to note here, the first being that its quite odd to suggest that Marvel is trying to remain apolitical in a book which explicitly covers the relationship between the publishers output and the rise of early 20th century fascism. This is a book, after all, that prominently features Captain America punching Hitler in the face, in an era where, as Spiegelman points out, Jewish creators created heroes that were specifically anti-fascist in posture and action.
Another big consideration is that, as Spiegelman himself notes, theres an extant relationship between Marvel Entertainment and the Trump administration. As he writes in the final paragraph of the Guardian version of his essay,
Isaac Ike Perlmutter, [chairman of Marvel,] is a longtime friend of Donald Trumps, an unofficial and influential adviser and a member of the presidents elite Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. And Perlmutter and his wife have each recently donated $360,000 (the maximum allowed) to the Orange Skulls Trump Victory Joint Fundraising Committee for 2020.
Which seems not precisely apolitical, so far as Marvels involvement with current politics is concerned...
https://io9.gizmodo.com/art-spiegelman-withdrew-his-introduction-to-a-marvel-co-1837348403