Friday, April 18, 2025

Flashback Friday: "American Carnage," Remains Disturbingly Topical

White nationalism running amock. Politicians stoking racial fires with hateful ideology. Government agents struggling to do their job amid everything falling apart. This was all in a comic from 2019? Yep, "American Carnage," was one of the last great Vertigo books (before the brand assumably returns from the dead soon) and I think of it often. d. emerson eddy over at Comicsbeat thinks it was great too, having recently spotlit the 9-issue series in their, "Classic Comic Compendium." It is quite unfortunate something that could be considered older/a classic is only now even more topical, but so is life.

The plot of, "American Carnage," follows an undercover FBI agent who infiltrates a white supremacist group with disturbingly close ties to a charismatic businessman running for congress. I loved the series so much I considered it one of the best comics of 2019 and discussed it a great deal in an interview with the writer, and friend of the blog, Bryan Edward Hill. Between Hill's writing and Leandro Fernandez stellar artwork, "American Carnage," is a pointed shot of noir that hits you like an ice-cold glass of your favorite adult beverage (if you drink)--burning on the way down and sitting in the pit of your stomach with sharp intensity as you take it in.

What's scary is how many people believe such things...

It upsets me to no end that, "American Carnage," remains as topical as ever in 2025 as it was in 2019. It also makes it all the more of a good reason to read the series if you haven't. Besides being a stellar story full of gorgeous artwork, it serves as a stark warning of where our nation is and could still be heading.

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