Obscure
Comic of the Month is a column where I take a look at a comic or
series that hasn't really been talked about. This covers independent
comics, zines, weird spin-offs, webcomics and more.
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20th Century
Men by Deniz Camp and Stipan Morian - Image Comics 2023
Contains
Mild Spoilers
I wasn't
expecting to write about 20th Century Men for this column. I had
already seen quite a bit of buzz about it within the general comics
community and expected that it would explode into the mainstream as
soon as the series had hit critical mass. Instead, however, it
doesn't appear to have reached the wider audience I was expecting it
to. So, here I am, doing my part to try and evangelise a comic that
far more people really should have heard about.
20th
Century Men is, in short, a riff on Alan Moore's Watchmen. The story
takes place in an alternate cold war where super-science and
adventuring heroes turned the tide of history and their legacy causes
a chain of events that dooms us all. The twist this time is that it's
the Soviet Union who got the immortal supergod this time around and
it is through communist eyes we experience most of the story.
If that
makes it sound like 20th Century Men is a simple 'what if' then stay
with me a little longer, because while Camp displays the Watchmen
influence pretty proudly it is very much not trying to do a simple
palate swap. The Dr Manhattan analogue only plays a minor role in the
plot, more homage than anything, while the main crux of the story is
centred around Platonov, a sort of analogue Iron Man if Tony Stark
was a communist and also a Warhammer 40'000 Space Marine Terminator.
While Watchmen was a murder mystery, with most action taking place in
flashback, 20th Century Men is set during the Soviet expansion into
Afghanistan, and the blood soaked conflict is very much front and
centre.
The chosen
perspective is definitely an interesting one, giving the Soviets a
somewhat sympathetic point of view during a conflict that pop culture
has frequently painted them the villains of. Depicted far more
villainously in this story is US foreign policy, embodied by
President Goode, part Captain America, part Lex Luthor, part Gary
Busey, an institution and character more interested in proving their
superiority as opposed to a utopian ideal.
Still,
while not apparent at first, it quickly is made clear that it is
Afghanistan itself that is the true protagonist of the story. The
so-called 'Graveyard of Empires,' home to people deserving of life
just as much as their American and Soviet counterparts, yet treated
as little more than pawns by those who see themselves as the 'true'
civilisation. It is at this point the meaning of the title becomes
clear, and that it is the 'civilised' world's failure to treat
Afghanistan as anything other than a tile on a game board to be
fought over that has condemned us to the doom in which we now find
ourselves.
The comic
is blisteringly harsh in that regard. A real road to hell paved with
good and not so good intentions. The line "A million of us dead
and millions more to come because you couldn't imagine a civilisation
without flush toilets," is particularly scathing and will
probably stay with me for the rest of my life. Camp aims high with
what he wants to do with this comic, and frankly, he hits every
target he shoots for. 20th Century Men is a comic that left me with
literal chills and made me ask things about myself that I'd rather
not ask.
Which
brings me on to Stipan Morian's art. It feels like the ultimate
combination of 1990's Vertigo at it's best with the contemporary grit
of current generation 2000ad all wrapped up slickly to the kind of
standard Image comics is known for these days. Simultaneously retro
and modern, Morian has to tackle a lot over the course of this
comic, from blood soaked battlefields to utopian communist farmland
to sleazy boardrooms and the dusty streets of Afghan villages that
feel more real than real. Morian slips between the majesty of a
techno-future past that never was and the grime between our
fingernails of a tragic present that probably is.
That 20th
Century Men hasn't become one of our seminal texts already is
unconscionable but also probably unsurprising. As a Watchmen riff it
already finds itself in the company of a billion other superhero
comic deconstructions that we have seen in the years since. As a
condemnation of the western world it covers subjects that one can
easily find all too popular YouTube know-nothings arguing about for
hours on end. In a lot of ways 20th Century Men has become
lost in the shuffle, struggling to find a niche in areas already
stuffed to the gills with diluted and far inferior products.
So here I
go, ranting about it in the humble way as best I can and trying to
sell it to my motley collection of followers. 20th Century Men is a
monumental piece of work. You can feel the sheer force of will from
Camp, Morian and letterist Aditya Bidikar bringing it to life. It
should be a shoe in for every 1001 Comics to Read Before you die list
and frankly if I don't see it enter on the 2024 edition I'll 'insert
humorous self-deprecating action here.'
There's
probably a billion other things I could string out to try and
convince you to read it, but I dunno, I guess I'm just hoping my
words can burst out of the page even a fraction as strongly as they
do in 20th Century Men. Even holding the book in my hands feels like
I'm carrying the weight of the world within it. It's a tome that
almost refuses to be ignored as our civilisation spirals once more
towards it's darkest impulses.
It's a good
comic you should read it.
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Jack
Harvey 2024. 20th Century Men (c) 2023 Deniz Campbell, Stjepan
Mihaljevic, and Aditya Bidikar. Images used under Fair Use.
