Anarchy in the Comics

I figure if we want to combat the use of the term “anarchy” to mean violence and chaos, we need to start calling people on it when they so use it. Here, then, are two letters I just wrote:

Joe Casey
c/o Marvel Entertainment, Inc.
417 5th Avenue
New York NY 10016

Dear Mr. Casey:

In Zodiac #1 (which lists you as the writer), Zodiac says “I had a vision of a world where anarchy is a way of life.” Unless Zodiac’s vision is of a peaceful, egalitarian world without coercive authority, where all human relationships are voluntary, this is an inaccurate and defamatory use of the concept of anarchy.

Now I’m sure you can find a dictionary that supports your use of the term “anarchy” to mean violence and chaos – just as older dictionaries sometimes endorse defamatory uses of terms like “Jew,” for example. But the fact that dictionaries still promote negative stereotypes of anarchists and anarchism is no excuse for imitating them.

Etymologically, “anarchy” does not mean violence or chaos; it means “without a ruler” (an, without; arkhos, ruler). Those who equate the absence of a ruler with violence and chaos should ask themselves which group has caused more violence and chaos throughout history – rulers or the rulerless.

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Andrew Kreisberg
c/o DC Comics, Inc.
1700 Broadway, 7th Floor
New York NY 10019

Dear Mr. Kreisberg:

In Green Arrow/Black Canary #21 (which lists you as the writer), the villain says that “anarchy came swiftly.” Unless he’s referring to the advent of a peaceful, egalitarian society without coercive authority, where all human relationships are voluntary, this is an inaccurate and defamatory use of the concept of anarchy.

Now I’m sure you can find a dictionary that supports your use of the term “anarchy” to mean violence and chaos – just as older dictionaries sometimes endorse defamatory uses of terms like “Jew,” for example. But the fact that dictionaries still promote negative stereotypes of anarchists and anarchism is no excuse for imitating them.

Etymologically, “anarchy” does not mean violence or chaos; it means “without a ruler” (an, without; arkhos, ruler). Those who equate the absence of a ruler with violence and chaos should ask themselves which group has caused more violence and chaos throughout history – rulers or the rulerless.

Drop ’em a line of your own if you’re so inclined.

A couple of other comics-related notes:

• In Mighty Avengers #26, Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic) tells Hank Pym that Zeno of Elea’s paradox “states that a traveler must always cover half the distance towards a goal before reaching it. Then half again. And again. And so on to infinity.” While I’ve often see Zeno’s paradox misdescribed this way, the smartest man in the world should really know better. Zeno’s paradox is not that after covering half the distance he then has to cover half the remaining distance and so on. Rather, it’s that before he can cover half the distance, he has to cover half of that first distance, and before he can do that he has to cover half, and so on. In other words, it’s not that a traveler gets closer and closer but never arrives, it’s that he can’t even start.
   
• I dropped Mike Grell a note about his Atlantis story (got up in his grell, as it were) (sorry) and heard back from him! Cool, no? Given that I’ve been a Grell fan since age eleven.
   
• ALERT for Orson Scott Card fans: Marvel Comics has been adapting Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow in comic book form, but they recently came out with a brand new one-shot Enderverse comic titled Ender’s Game: Recruiting Valentine, which, while it takes place during the same timeframe as those books, is not based on any pre-existing story. The credits list Jake Black as the writer, but Card as Creative and Executive Director, so the story clearly has Card’s blessing and probably some degree of input.