476 POST-APOCALYPTIC NARRATIVES
of the United States, and Iron Man took a turn as Secretary of Defense. Brian K.
Vaughan’s ongoing series E x M a c h i n a (2004–) off ers a more sophisticated take on
superheroes in politics; it stars Mitchell Hundred, also known as the superhero the
Great Machine, who fi nds himself serving as mayor of New York after he successfully
defends one of the World Trade Center towers from Al-Qaeda. Ex Machina deftly
complicates the distinction between the superhuman action of costumed adventurers
and the all-too-human process of politics. Perhaps the highest profi le mainstream
comic book to tackle politics in recent years is Marvel’s 2006 miniseries Civil War. Its
central confl ict, involving a law requiring superhumans to register with and become
agents of the government after a disastrous accident, has been widely interpreted as
an allegory for the ongoing debate over the role of civil rights in a time of war. Not
every comic to deal with politics in recent years has been so grimly serious, however.
In early 2009, comic book enthusiast Barack Obama made an appearance in the pages
of Amazing Spider-Man #583, in a story in which Spider-Man thwarts his old foe the
Chameleon’s attempt to disrupt Obama’s inauguration—and gets a fi st bump from the
President in return.
Selected Bibliography: Costello, Matthew J. Secret Identity Crisis: Comic Books and
the Unmasking of Cold War America. New York: Continuum, 2009; Danky, James, and
Denis Kitchen, eds. Underground Classics: Th e Transformation of Comics into Comix.
New York: Abrams ComicArts, 2009; Estren, Mark James. A History of Underground
Comics. San Francisco: Straight Arrow, 1974; Rosenkranz, Patrick. Rebel Visions: Th e
Underground Comix Revolution. Seattle: Fantagraphics, 2008; Sabin, Roger. Comics,
Comix and Graphic Novels: A History of Comic Art. New York: Phaidon, 1996; Savage,
William, Jr. Commies, Cowboys, and Jungle Queens: Comic Books and America, 1945–
1954. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan, 1998; Wiater, Stanley, and Stephen R. Bissette.
Comic Book Rebels: Conversations with the Creators of the New Comics. New York: Donald
I. Fine, 1993; Wright, Bradford. Comic Book Nation: Th e Transformation of Youth Cul-
ture in America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 2003.
Brannon Costello
POST-APOCALYPTIC NARRATIVES. Th ough “apocalypse” or “Armageddon” originally
refers to the Christian concept of the end of the known world as a result of the war
between the Anti-Christ and Jesus Christ, a post-apocalyptic narrative is not necessarily
spiritually derived. While some stories invoke Christian motifs and theology, others do
not. Typically, the term “post-apocalyptic” refers to a world that has suff ered a single
or multiple cataclysmic events. Th erefore, post-apocalyptic narratives speculate about
life after a civilization’s destruction and how the survivors attempt to rebuild civiliza-
tion. Th ese narratives often refl ect the fears and anxieties of the times that produce
them; projecting the concerns and anxieties in question into an extreme all-destructive
power or event. Th e civilization’s destruction can be a result of internal or external
threats. Common triggers can include any one or more of the following: environmental
