The late
1960s/early
1970s were pretty crazy for the way politics and culture swirled around each other, and of course, comics books picked up on that, too.
At one point,
Leonard Bernstein hosted a high-society soiree and fund-raiser for the
Black Panthers. "
New Journalism" writer
Tom Wolfe was there, and wrote a fairly scathing piece on it for
New York magazine titled "
These Radical Chic Evenings," critiquing and satirizing the social elite for using support for radical causes as a means of gathering social cachet and notoriety.
And
Roy Thomas read it.
This New York Times article notes a letter in the
New York Public Library's Tom Wolf Archive:
A writer from Marvel Comics wrote to ask whether Mr. Wolfe would be
interested in collaborating on a comic book about “a fictitious bunch of
‘Radical Chic’ social leaders who align themselves with a militant
(nonblack) group which turns out to be bent on world domination.”
Man, I'd
love to read that letter. Anyone have a NYPL card? I would have also have loved to have seen the original concept, with New York's social elite getting duped into supporting
A.I.M. or
Hydra or
The Secret Empire or some such.
But whatever the
original idea and subsequent discussion were,
this comic was the result:
Yeah, it doesn't look particularly "
radical chic."
But then there's
this credit:
In the story, the
Hulk has come to New York, and he's sleeping on the
Statue of Liberty!! No one wants to drive him away, as they're afraid that the Hulk would damage the icon in any tussle.
Ah, but don't underestimate the abilities of New York's Cafe Society!
Well, it's not working, until their lovely daughter
Samantha sweet-talks the
Jade Giant:
And so...
The party is
ON!!
That blonde guy center background? That's Tom Wolfe!!
And the party is everything you could hope for!
(We'll talk about Tom Wolfe's
other Marvel cameo later today...)
I ran this page the other day, but here it is in context...
But the whole purpose of a fund-raiser is to raise funds, so...
Ungrateful cad!!
Any, at this point the
Enchantress transforms Samantha into the
Valkyrie, who attacks the Hulk for taking attention/money away from
her cause (women's' liberation).
You can read about that fight here.
And as the damage piles up in the swanky residence:
Tom Wolfe via Roy Thomas...sticking it to
The Man!! Who said comics were just for kids?!?!
From Incredible Hulk #142 (1971)