Raising anti-drug awareness in comics no longer having impact?

[Captain Nostalgia]

Sorry. I believe I am asking the wrong question. Perhaps the more appropriate question I should ask is "should comics attempt to raise drug abuse awareness today as they did decades before?"

I don't think a comic book is going to save a kid who is going to die from a future fentanyl or crystal meth overdose.

At best, maybe a well depicted room full of dead people from a fentanyl overdose....or a hero with rotting teeth and brain damage from meth, might implant the "stay away" seeds into a kids sub conscious?

[Zelena]

I don't think a comic book is going to save a kid who is going to die from a future fentanyl or crystal meth overdose.

At best, maybe a well depicted room full of dead people from a fentanyl overdose....or a hero with rotting teeth and brain damage from meth, might implant the "stay away" seeds into a kids sub conscious?

Something like that, you mean:


Although the state of the young was also the result of their meeting with Luke Cage…

[newparisian]

Something like that, you mean:

What issue is that?

[shooshoomanjoe]

What issue is that?

I believe it's Uncanny X-Men #122

[MajorHoy]

I believe it's Uncanny X-Men #122

Even though it has "Uncanny" on the cover, it looks like the book just went by The X-Men #122 for the indicia.

Also, that issue was cover-dated June 1979.

What was the average age of the readership then, and what would be the current average age for readers of the main X-Men title(s)?

If you really want to aim for reaching a pre-adult readership, wouldn't a manga series make more sense than trying to send such a message through a mainstream DC or Marvel comic book?

[Zauriel]

A painkiller addiction is natural material for a superhero or action story.

I do think the reasons for not wanting to do it are different.

In the 70s, when Speedy and Harry Osborn had their drug problems, or Iron Man drank too much, comics were seen as material for children, so that was the context of those discussions.

Now the main reason not to do the story is that it could piss off fans of the characters, or hurt a brand.

Teenagers also read the comic books in 1970's but yeah there were a lot of children that read comics in the 1970's. Depictions of drug abuse in Dennis O'Neil/Neal Adams' Green Arrow/Green Lantern issues may have been too graphic to children.

I always thought it was kind of odd to see anti drug messages in comics. I know people go nuts on the Gren Arrow Green Lantern comic being so great about it. But they also have Speedy getting over it in like a page or two. So doesnt really so many of the harmful effects of long term with draw and craving and such. But it was a good attempt.

I think The Osborn Arc in Spiderman did a better job of the long term effects with harry continuing to crave his pills, and falling back off the wagon.

But seeing as so many of the heroes and villains got their powers through drugs or chemicals Seemed kind of odd to say

"Well Steve Rodgers drug is great. But This drug is bad." But the Streets of Poison story arc did a decent job of pointing that out.

Streets of Poison story arc was a good read. Super soldier serum is basically a steroid drug. I remember having watched an episode of NCIS a long time ago. It was about a marine who was actually previously rejected by the marine corps for failing the physical tests and resorted to using steroids in order to pass the physicals and join the marine corps. When the Corps discovered his secret, they not only denied him the Medal of Honor for risking his life to save two fellow marines, but they also discharged him quickly

A skinny Steve Rogers was able to build his muscles from steroids, and he was allowed to join the US Army. A steroid user was not allowed to join the US Marine Corps.

President FDR sanctioned the use of this super-soldier serum. Yet the US military doesn't approve of steroids.

[shooshoomanjoe]

Teenagers also read the comic books in 1970's but yeah there were a lot of children that read comics in the 1970's. Depictions of drug abuse in Dennis O'Neil/Neal Adams' Green Arrow/Green Lantern issues may have been too graphic to children.



Streets of Poison story arc was a good read. Super soldier serum is basically a steroid drug. I remember having watched an episode of NCIS a long time ago. It was about a marine who was actually previously rejected by the marine corps for failing the physical tests and resorted to using steroids in order to pass the physicals and join the marine corps. When the Corps discovered his secret, they not only denied him the Medal of Honor for risking his life to save two fellow marines, but they also discharged him quickly

A skinny Steve Rogers was able to build his muscles from steroids, and he was allowed to join the US Army. A steroid user was not allowed to join the US Marine Corps.

President FDR sanctioned the use of this super-soldier serum. Yet the US military doesn't approve of steroids.

The US military doesn't do routine tests for steroids and since they have bodybuilding competitions with military personnel that are obviously using, I dont think the military cares.

[Zauriel]

Even though it has "Uncanny" on the cover, it looks like the book just went by The X-Men #122 for the indicia.

Also, that issue was cover-dated June 1979.

What was the average age of the readership then, and what would be the current average age for readers of the main X-Men title(s)?

If you really want to aim for reaching a pre-adult readership, wouldn't a manga series make more sense than trying to send such a message through a mainstream DC or Marvel comic book?

Uncanny X-Men was the most popular superhero comic book in 1979. What better comic to preach the message to than the highest selling comic book title?

I think Marvel published a manga-art style comic book featuring the Power Pack years ago. Maybe they could use a manga-esque comic book featuring Power Pack to send such a message.

[ed2962]

I always thought it was kind of odd to see anti drug messages in comics. I know people go nuts on the Gren Arrow Green Lantern comic being so great about it. But they also have Speedy getting over it in like a page or two. So doesnt really so many of the harmful effects of long term with draw and craving and such. But it was a good attempt.

I think The Osborn Arc in Spiderman did a better job of the long term effects with harry continuing to crave his pills, and falling back off the wagon.

But seeing as so many of the heroes and villains got their powers through drugs or chemicals Seemed kind of odd to say

"Well Steve Rodgers drug is great. But This drug is bad." But the Streets of Poison story arc did a decent job of pointing that out.

Oh yeah, the Green Lantern/Green Arrow just barely makes sense. I think it's more important on a historical level as it ( and the Spiderman story) came out at a time when the mere mention on drugs was forbidden, rather than being informative or even a good comic.

[ed2962]

On an almost slightly sorta similar note...I remember some years ago on Comics Alliance website where some anti-drug group gave Rise of Arsenal an award and they contacted the group and told them, "Um, why did you give this comic an award? It actually kinda bad." And the group was like, "Well we just like the anti-drug message" For folks who don't know, this is the comic where after Roy Harper's daughter is killed by a villain, he starts using drugs again and beats up thugs with a dead cat...

[shooshoomanjoe]

Uncanny X-Men was the most popular superhero comic book in 1979. What better comic to preach the message to than the highest selling comic book title?

I think Marvel published a manga-art style comic book featuring the Power Pack years ago. Maybe they could use a manga-esque comic book featuring Power Pack to send such a message.

Power Pack would be a good choice. They used to use them for child abuse awareness back in the 80s.

[ed2962]

Another interesting thing is this PSA comic from the 80's. Supposedly someone from the Reagan administration got ahold of the "Runaway's" arc in New Teen Titans #25-26 and thought NTT would be a good vehicle to promote Nancy Reagan's Just Say No Campaign. What's really interesting is that it was a licensed comic so they couldn't use Robin since his rights were tied up in other TV and movie projects, so they had to swap him out for a new character called "the Protector".

[Jim Kelly]

I remember Batman and Green Arrow went hard on fighting drug kingpins in the 1970s. Especially in THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD 100 (February-March 1972), the Caped Crusader involves Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Black Canary and Robin in his war on drugs.

In hindsight, Bruce and Ollie were going about it all wrong. Cutting off the supply is not going to solve what is really a health issue. Drug dependency is an illness and we need compassionate solutions. Sure a toxic drug supply makes a bad situation much worse--but it's hard to stop China from exporting carfentanyl which is 100 times stronger than fentanyl and 100,000 times stronger than morphine--so just a tiny amount on the streets can kill thousands.

People who are dependent on drugs cannot be easily taken off them. They may actually need to have a safe supply, regulated by the health authority, for their survival. Obviously, if no one never tried drugs (or had them prescribed) then they wouldn't be dependent on them. But once a drug is taken, people become dependent and they can't just say "No."

Bruce Wayne should have set up a needle exchange program and a monitored injection site in the middle of Gotham City. He should have had Barbara Gordon help to pass legislation that made it legal for health authoriites to provide drugs to those dependent on them. And have testing of drugs to assure users that they aren't taking something toxic that is going to kill them.

Saying that drugs are bad and everyone involved in drug use is a criminal doesn't actually stop drugs from being used or save people from dying from drug use. You just end up with prisons full of drug users who still manage to get their fix despite being inside a guarded institution.

[Malvolio]

Another interesting thing is this PSA comic from the 80's. Supposedly someone from the Reagan administration got ahold of the "Runaway's" arc in New Teen Titans #25-26 and thought NTT would be a good vehicle to promote Nancy Reagan's Just Say No Campaign. What's really interesting is that it was a licensed comic so they couldn't use Robin since his rights were tied up in other TV and movie projects, so they had to swap him out for a new character called "the Protector".

Also, while you can't see it on the cover, they also had to change Starfire's costume to cover up her cleavage, lest they offend Nancy Reagan and the other conservatives promoting the Just Say No campaign.

[MajorHoy]

Uncanny X-Men was the most popular superhero comic book in 1979. What better comic to preach the message to than the highest selling comic book title?

That was then.

Forty+ years later, what's the average age of people buying X-Men comic books, and how do sales in 2022 compare to sales in 1979?