TAKING LIBERTIES (4)
By:
July 12, 2018
The Statue of Liberty is a persistent presence in Marvel’s comics — sometimes just as a scene-setter to establish that a story’s taking place in New York, but more often as a physical presence with symbolic weight. This series spotlights some of the statue’s more interesting appearances in Marvel’s pages.
Marvel’s got a persistent trope of replacing the Statue of Liberty with a new statue of somebody else to indicate the rise of some abhorrent ideology or other. The earliest example seems to have been Thanos replacing Lady Liberty in 1991’s Silver Surfer #56, by Ron Marz, Ron Lim, Gavin Curtis and Tom Christopher. The 1995 “Age of Apocalypse” crossover featured a giant statue of Apocalypse, also seen in later callbacks to it, including 1997’s Tales of the Age of Apocalypse: Sinister Bloodlines #1, by John Francis Moore, Brian K. Vaughan, Steve Epting, Nick Napolitano and Al Milgrom (its line about “a new colossus” is a reference to Emma Lazarus’s sonnet by that title — the “give me your tired, your poor” one), and 2005’s Cable & Deadpool #15, by Fabian Nicieza, Patrick Zircher and M3th.
In 1999’s Captain America #15, by Mark Waid, Andy Kubert and Jesse Delperdang, Liberty has been replaced by a statue of the Red Skull; four years later, issue #17 of the subsequent Captain America series, by Dave Gibbons, Lee Weeks and Tom Palmer, one-upped that by replacing her with Adolf Hitler. And in 2016’s Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #3, by Ryan North and Erica Henderson, the statue of Dr. Doom in New York’s harbor is the first sign that something’s gone horribly wrong with the timeline.
One in a series of ten posts contributed by HILOBROW friend Douglas Wolk, whose ALL OF THE MARVELS tumblr documents what he’s been reading for his forthcoming book.
MORE DOUGLAS WOLK: TAKING LIBERTIES series | STERANKOISMS series | MARVEL vs. MUSEUM series | LIMERICKANIA series | WTC WTF series | THAT’S GREAT MARVEL series | CARBONA YOUR ENTHUSIASM: “Soft South Africans” | SERIOCOMIC: Frank in the River | QUIRK YOUR ENTHUSIASM: Family Fodder’s SAVOIR FAIRE | KIRB YOUR ENTHUSIASM: 2001: A Space Odyssey | 12 DAYS OF SIGNIFICANCE: Portable Hairdryer | HERC YOUR ENTHUSIASM: Busy Bee’s “Cash Money” | KERN YOUR ENTHUSIASM: Todd Klone | HERMENAUTIC TAROT: Dexterity | Plus: HILO HERO items on Alex Toth, Kool Moe Dee, Sheila E., Rakim, and many others.
CURATED SERIES at HILOBROW: UNBORED CANON by Josh Glenn | CARPE PHALLUM by Patrick Cates | MS. K by Heather Kasunick | HERE BE MONSTERS by Mister Reusch | DOWNTOWNE by Bradley Peterson | #FX by Michael Lewy | PINNED PANELS by Zack Smith | TANK UP by Tony Leone | OUTBOUND TO MONTEVIDEO by Mimi Lipson | TAKING LIBERTIES by Douglas Wolk | STERANKOISMS by Douglas Wolk | MARVEL vs. MUSEUM by Douglas Wolk | NEVER BEGIN TO SING by Damon Krukowski | WTC WTF by Douglas Wolk | COOLING OFF THE COMMOTION by Chenjerai Kumanyika | THAT’S GREAT MARVEL by Douglas Wolk | LAWS OF THE UNIVERSE by Chris Spurgeon | IMAGINARY FRIENDS by Alexandra Molotkow | UNFLOWN by Jacob Covey | ADEQUATED by Franklin Bruno | QUALITY JOE by Joe Alterio | CHICKEN LIT by Lisa Jane Persky | PINAKOTHEK by Luc Sante | ALL MY STARS by Joanne McNeil | BIGFOOT ISLAND by Michael Lewy | NOT OF THIS EARTH by Michael Lewy | ANIMAL MAGNETISM by Colin Dickey | KEEPERS by Steph Burt | AMERICA OBSCURA by Andrew Hultkrans | HEATHCLIFF, FOR WHY? by Brandi Brown | DAILY DRUMPF by Rick Pinchera | BEDROOM AIRPORT by “Parson Edwards” | INTO THE VOID by Charlie Jane Anders | WE REABSORB & ENLIVEN by Matthew Battles | BRAINIAC by Joshua Glenn | COMICALLY VINTAGE by Comically Vintage | BLDGBLOG by Geoff Manaugh | WINDS OF MAGIC by James Parker | MUSEUM OF FEMORIBILIA by Lynn Peril | ROBOTS + MONSTERS by Joe Alterio | MONSTOBER by Rick Pinchera | POP WITH A SHOTGUN by Devin McKinney | FEEDBACK by Joshua Glenn | 4CP FTW by John Hilgart | ANNOTATED GIF by Kerry Callen | FANCHILD by Adam McGovern | BOOKFUTURISM by James Bridle | NOMADBROW by Erik Davis | SCREEN TIME by Jacob Mikanowski | FALSE MACHINE by Patrick Stuart | 12 DAYS OF SIGNIFICANCE | 12 MORE DAYS OF SIGNIFICANCE | 12 DAYS OF SIGNIFICANCE (AGAIN) | ANOTHER 12 DAYS OF SIGNIFICANCE | UNBORED MANIFESTO by Joshua Glenn and Elizabeth Foy Larsen | H IS FOR HOBO by Joshua Glenn | 4CP FRIDAY by guest curators