Encyclopedia of Opinion
Question
Should comics be political?
Position1 of 3›
Yes, comic books should be political.
Argument‹2 of 3›

Politics make comics relatable

By putting politics in comics, characters are better developed.

The argument

Politics are inherently opinion based. People relate and get to know one another based on opinions. The more one knows about a person's values and beliefs, the closer one tends to be with that person. Comics are meant to mirror the real world, and politics are a large part of the real world. By giving superheroes and other fictional characters political ideologies, they become more believable and less one dimensional. Thus politics should be a part of comics as a literary tool. Stan Lee employed this tool with great effect with the X-Men.

Premises

[P1]People come to know and relate to one another through their opinions and values, and politics is inherently opinion-based. [P2] Comics are meant to mirror the real world, of which politics is a large part. [P3] Giving fictional characters political ideologies makes them more believable and less one-dimensional, a literary tool Stan Lee used to great effect with the X-Men. [C] Therefore, because politics make comics relatable, comic books should be political.

Counter-arguments

While knowing the opinions of a character may make them more understandable, it does not inherently make them more relatable. Their political opinions may alienate some of the readership. Simply knowing someone's political opinions doesn't necessarily mean the reader will agree with those opinions and relate to the character.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P2] Understanding other people's opinions does not make them more relatable.