Political topics in comics/novels?

[hjfsdh2222]

Anything is fine if you do it well.

I feel if you do comedy, if you are going to involve politics you need to do it with consistency. I. E. You cannot have a comedy about slice of life things and then just suddenly throw in political messages.

I feel if you do drama. You either have to go all the way with the political message, or not at all. But I feel the best way is when you can naturally fit in a political message. Life is politics in a way right?

[Luminosophy]

I feel for the most part, it's easier to enjoy when the politics are written in as in-world and relevant/ useful to the plot. You can be very subtle and create some interesting analogies to current world events, or even historical if you like. Where people trip up pretty much all the time is when they use characters as their personal mouthpiece and the opposing view is no longer a character/s anymore. It's just "the villain". Suddenly the world is extremely black and white, hearkening back to the old 50's superheroes that everyone is already tired of. If you absolutely refuse to research the other side and what logic/ experiences they used to arrive at their conclusions, no matter how twisted, politics really isn't going to be your strong suit. (It probably means you also didn't research the side you were trying to prop up as the 'good guys', either.)

[Progg]

Thank you all for your thoughtful and relevant replies! This will hopefully help me avoid the most blatant pitfalls of political commentary.

[Zaboem]

I see a strong history of political commentary in both prose and comics. Guliver's Travels reads better as Thomas Swift's satire of European political pettiness than as a fairy tale.

That said, I think it is not a topic suited for every story. Shoehorning political commentary into an established series has soured more than one comic. VG Cats was a fun and popular web comic about cats and video games -- until the creator decided to alienate half of his fan base suddenly with purposefully offensive comics featuring abortion jokes.

Don't even get me started on Cerebus the Aardvark.

[djwaglmuffin]

Art has been commenting on politics since time immemorial.

Even fantasy and sci-fi, two genres that SEEM as if they are not commenting on actual world facts, turns out to be a good way to talk to people ABOUT what's happening around you. Problem is: Sometimes the message gets lost and since art interpretation can be relative, not everyone is going to walk away understanding the same message.