*COUPLE OF THINGS* 1) We have many more videos coming this week, so subscribe for those! 2) Apologies for the weirdness with Bert the Turtle. I just kept seeing if I COULD make it creepy and never asked if I SHOULD. 3) I promise I'll stop talking about politics eventually. Maybe. Eh, I take it back. I promise nothing! 4) I'm glad I get to hang with you wonderful nerds!
Please don't stop talking about politics. It is making for some of the best episodes to date. I was comparing these with your episodes in 2013-14, and it feels so much more genuine and intriguing. Back then I think Nerdsync didn't know what it wanted to be. Kind of like a poor man's Variant. Now Nerdsync is a wonderful piece of political/psychological/philosphical comic nerd dream.
The actual reason Flash never directly attacked his villains was because it was the silver age and the CCA didn't allow for excessive violence or for villains to be motivated by anything but greed. It's also why the Joker of that era became a bank robber and once even quit when he came into money. It's not propaganda, its a work-around to the pre-existing censorship.
Also some of the early villains of Spider-Man and Iron Man were russians. Kraven, Chameleon, Rhino, Titanium Man, Whiplash, Crimson Dynamo and many others. When they were first introduced, it was in the middle of the Cold War, in the 60's. It's quite amazing how the real life events can influence the comics so much
And the russians in armors are always defeated by Iron Man, who is american. An other propaganda to show that the american technology is superior to the russian one
And Spider-Man, who was a teenager in the 60's comics, always outsmarted and defeated his russian enemies like Rhino and Kraven. Something like, full grown russians get their ass kicked by an american teenager
I don't know if this is a joke Mateo, but I'll stil l explain. simple math. 5.9 means, he makes atleast 5 puns in his video(s) now what about the .9, well that means that there is a 90% chance of a 6th pun.. done. maybe you did joke, but there are some stupid people out there, well, not stupid, but they don't know elementary school stuff.
I feel superman is a better interpretation of freedom while characters like flash and green lantern are more so interpretations of American progress as they came from the space age which was all about breaking limits
Coye Reider true, I think that's absolutely what they represent, but I don't think the video is wrong either. Multiple creations cam have intersecting allegories while having some uniquely their own that distinguishes them. It's just coming from a slightly different angle.
"The Flash never really fought his enemies, he more sort of contained them." "You guys are all gearing up to fight, I've never been in a real fight before! I just sort of... push people and run away."
I think the interaction between comics, politics, and culture (be it purposeful or subconscious, historical or modern day) is fascinating. You do great work and I look forward to more videos on such rich topics!
Wow, the quality of nerd sync videos are really increasing at a notable rate! Great work Scott and the nerd sync team* keep doing what you do best. *Thanks zim
Lockjaw yea but he doesn't do everything in this channel alone he has a team of people to help him with editing the video and he said before he doesn't want the channel to only be him
Containment creeps into Batman as well. The Batman of the 40s might just throw a goon out a window to his death, but heading into the Silver Age and beyond, everyone just gets dumped into Arkham.
It’s very interesting pulling a deeper meaning from stories such as this, but sometimes I wonder if this is really what the creators intended. If you look anywhere deep enough, you’ll always find a connection between things, no matter if that was deliberate or not. For all we know they just wanted to make some slightly pacifist stories that just so *happened* to coincide with current events. Not to say that people like Scott are wrong to speculate about it, but only that the writers hadn’t considered it. They probably appreciate all these theories and whatnot even if it’s not necessarily “true”.
I think this is overthinking the Flash concept. Indirectly containing the enemies in Showcase #4 (1956) is a good way of getting around the CCA, est. 1954 (he doesn't solve his problems with violence, and the crooks see justice). Robbers are the most obvious bad guy that you can make short of murderers, and the CCA wouldn't like murderers. The Flash name was already around, and they were just rebooting it. And the freedom from bounds is a good way to show that much speed. Comics were used for Cold War propaganda, and you could probably find Flash comics that were, but the Flash comics as a whole were an escape from Cold War anxieties.
I agree. I think it's less a case of willfully inserting propaganda and more a case of subconsciously putting comforting ideas and themes into their stories. You could see it as propaganda, but it likely wasn't intended as such
I think there's a lot to this. One thing about the Silver Age revamp of superheroes, besides the fact that superheroes didn't engage in explicit violence the way 50's crime and horror comics would, was the general push towards science and science fiction. And nobody had sci-fi pseudoscience down pat more than the Flash and his rogues gallery of villains.
When you were talking about Flash representing the American Dream and prosperity it reminded me of when he become a Blue Lantern. So Flash really still shows hope and perspiration now like he did back then.
This is kind of interesting, when you consider that the modern rogues are considered the "blue collar" criminals, because of their bank robbing roots. They just want to get money, and go home to have booze, women, and other stuff (But not cocaine, really not cocaine). In fact, in the early new 52 stuff (I know, new 52, icky and gross, but this stuff was actually good) the rogues only do things for money, and when cold lets things get personal, the team goes agents him. I don't know when the shift happened, but the rogues have at some point become very capitalist.
its not a ice gun, it is a cold gun, very diferent "When an object is hit with a blast of absolute zero it's atomic motion is slowed down to a stop, this goes for any object that passes through the field." "It is a misconception that the Cold Gun actually fires ice, in fact it only fires beams of absolute zero. This temperature is so cold however that it turns the water in the air into ice, thus giving the illusion that he can "shoot ice"."
Great video, but you seemed to be talking faster than normal. Almost like you were trying to break through the barriers of RUclips and become your own Flash...
You could use the same analogy of the fear of technological progress with the stories where The Flash goes back in time and messes everything up because he can't control the speed force properly when he pushes the use of it that far.
Fun Fact: The duck and cover method is very ineffective against protecting yourself from a nuclear blast, as I'm sure you already know. It's true purpose is a bit more morbid and shares it with the tornado drills you probably did in high school, it's to keep track of the bodies.
I saw the title of the video and instantly got excited! I wrote my senior thesis in college on the Cold War’s influence in comics and this was a nice little throw back :-)
Is it just me or was this video put together extremely well? Great dialog, great delivery of said dialog, great translation, and great editing. You appeared to be talking a bit faster than normal too, but it was still clear and articulate. Very well done all around sir!
Hey Scott, great video. The parallels are definitely there to support your theory. The scariest time period of my life was definitely the Cold War. The constant threat of thermo-nuclear warfare breaking out at any moment weighed heavily on the world. When the Berlin Wall came down, it was an amazing feeling. It was as if the entire planet collectively breathed a sigh of relief. It's kind of cool to think comics may have played a role in the Cold War's end.
Hearing you call the comment section the doobly-doo got my heart feelin some things Scott, also makin me feel old as hell. I feel like I haven't heard anyone say that in years.
I love these politically themed videos we've been seeing lately. Comics have always had political subtext and it's fascinating to see you explore that.
I think that there’s something to be said about the reverse flash (Eobard Thawn)being one of his main villains. All the strategies and abilities of the flash (America) but the complete opposite (The Reds) and yet the Flash’s innovation and ingenuity also overcome him. And even Professor Zoom’s backstory of him becoming a speedster because he’s a fan of the flash could elude to how communism was trying to be an imitation of capitalist wealth except for the common man instead of just the elite. Even communist ideals such as every man will be wealthy and rich point towards this, and yet the Flash(again, America) was always able to overcome him. FYI I call communists ‘Reds’ just to clarify. Great Vid Scott! Keep up the good work!
I am not part of the notification squad. Im just your most supportive fan. Aah heck! Everyone thats a fan of you is amazing. Shoutout to all the Patreons for making this video possible! Have a great day, Scott!
So would someone like Weather Wizard be a personification of the adverse effects that nuclear weapons could have on the environment (i.e. nuclear winter)?
That's actually really cool cause oddly enough the same techniques for drawing the almos outside his own comic and like jumping across his panels is the exact same technique used today
Another big one is Flash's arch enemy is Reverse-Flash. Two similarly powerful characters but not quite the same, read also the US and Russia. each of the speedsters develop new techniques to one up each other just like the technological advancements of the cold war. Reverse-Flash, at least in much of the media I've seen him in portrays him as disappearing for long stretches of time before surprising Barry with a sudden attack, which symbolises the paranoia of the era, not knowing where your enemies are and expecting them to attack at any moment. And to further show how the two of them are alike but not the same they made the very deliberate choice to have them share the same colours, red and yellow but inverted. which takes on a whole new meaning when you realise that the Russian and American flags are both red, white and blue
It wasn't really a big part of the movie, but the Justice League New Frontier movie from like, 2010 or whatever, had some really need things to say about the Flash and Communism. The red scare really did a number on Barry in that story, and I love it. I wish the CW show had remotely this level of complexity in it's writing, rather than the bs retreading of plots and drama that it is. You're right Scott, and I think that's why the Flash was so huge, he kind of embodied a real need for hope in American culture, something even Sueprman couldn't do at the time.
In our defense, it wasn't that many generations ago when we had to fight for it tooth and nail. Although it feels like a long time ago to us, we're still by far the youngest first-world country.
I am kind of curious about something. On the American side we had comic book and cartoon propaganda, but what about the other side? What is the Soviet version of Superman (and I'm not talking about Superman Red Son)
Just wondering, what happened to comic misconceptions? No seriously, I found out about ya because of the series, still been my favorite series on the channel so far. Always love any content from you, but I’m just wondering...
Darn, awesome, i had a lil idea, it's something you do often anyhow, but, given all the analysis (quite good and balanced btw) of social and political ideas behind past and modern day superhero stories, there are some that are more, let's say, philosophical,ideas about hope and reality and violence and redemption are everywhere in superhero comics (Grant Morrison, i'm looking at you with that reality thing) so, what would you say about it? About how comics can and did and do reflect such ideas? That would be cool
How do you think comic books should handle political issues? Should they be up front about it like in Superman vs the KKK or what Marvel is currently doing with its comics or should they be more subtle about it like with the x men as allegories for minorities or the flash as a metaphor for the Cold War? Obviously the best option is when both subtlety and blatant political statements are balanced like in the Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen but not everyone is as talented as Frank Miller and Alan Moore so it is often either super subtle or not subtle at all.
Personal opinion: I preffer metaphors, but,let's get to it, it's sometimes funny to see Superman punch a nazi or Batman fighting KGBeast (that name tho)
I don't think this was propaganda, it was more likely inspiration. Then again, no form of media (at least the good ones) don't have an agenda, opinion or observation they're pushing forward, and the lines between propaganda and inspiration are very BLURRY (gettit, cos the Flash?)
I agree Tyler, also worth pointing out that there is not necessarily a line separating inspiration and propaganda. A lot of things are both and I've watched a few things that seemingly had neither. The second is worse.
I'm just going to put this out there they should have made a Flash movie back in 1994 they should have had Tom Cruise play him because he runs in every movie LOL
With very few exceptions, the Flash's Silver Age villains were non-powered men with fancy weapons and gimmicks. Perhaps a point was being made there. We Americans are exceptional (super-powered) while our enemies the USSR are nothing without their weapons. .
First of all, great video! It has a lot of interesting ideas in it and they are also well-presented. Secondly, I personally don‘t find this turtle film to be reassuring or anything positive like that - I find it very unsettling! But maybe that‘s because of the very strong association of such clips with things like WAR and BOMBS.
Might want to have a look at how the Cold War influenced the Marvel Age (as both the Fantastic Four and The Hulk had their origins tied to the Cold War).
Okay, this was almost as much of a stretch as one of *shiver* MatPat's Game Theories. But, on a side note, could you do a video on some of the great characters we got out of the Cold War, like the Crimson Dynamo, Titanium Man, and the Winter Guard? ...Wow, I never realized Marvel had such a monopoly on Russian supervillains until I started listing them.
Actually it’s not an ice gun. It’s a cold gun. There’s a difference. An ice gun would encase the subject in ice, like Mr. Freeze. That’s why Batman can break out by giving it a good crack; whereas the cold gun brings the temperature down to absolute zero. So yes, the cold gun can stop the Flash because when you go to absolute zero you stop motion. When Captain Cold shoots someones arm and cracks it open, he doesn’t destroy the ice casing, he takes off his bloody arm.
Darn am I tired of so many videos talking about media saying "its propaganda!!" when they really mean that something has subtext/it was written by a person with a worldview. shocking. Propaganda isn't hidden, if you find some that is hidden, it's doing a horrible job of being propaganda. good propaganda makes sure everyone who sees it knows what you're talking about, Y'know that's kinda important, if you want to emotionally manipulate mass amounts of people into believing something, them knowing what it is, is really important.
Michael Scott i did, it's still not propaganda, sure other comics may had pretty blatant propaganda, but the idea of 'hidden propaganda' is still stupid.
I was talking more generally, other books around that time had blatant propaganda in them. This one has more personal views in it than blatant propaganda but in a way those views are just the propagation of the propaganda itself but in a more artistic way. It's a total stretch but it's fun to overthink about things like this, go in a little deep into the makings of a comic book, it's what this channel does and has been doing since the beginning. This one happened to have political undertones others don't.
I don't know about the early appearances of the Pied Piper, whose whole deal was musical hypnotism. Is there any subtext concerning music as propaganda, or maybe as agitprop?
maybe I'm over thinking it but while the creations of nukes was deliberate no one thought about the world wide ramifications and everyone had to adapt quickly. Maybe flash suddenly getting such amazing power and using it to fight crime is like the idea of US suddenly getting so strong its makes it impossible to really fight back. barry running circles and not using real deadly force might show that while the power was amazing it made him inherently uncomfortable about going to far with it. the usa suddenly got a lot of power and was understandably reluctant to use the really deadly force or it and just used more the leverage that power gave them instead like how the usa and Russia fount building stuff but never actually fired. maybe flash's villians could be like all the surprised people and countries shocked by the new status quo but still going to try to beat the flash(or usa). the flash's villains get better weapons and ideas to beat him. improving the more they learn and watch him just like how other countries learned how to make nukes of their own. they are racing to find a plan or weapon to defeat the flash's might just as others raced to catch up with the US. the fact that barry's main rogue gallery have a code not to kill(at least deliberately) anyone during their fights just as Barry won't kill them kind of like how Russia and USA wouldn't actually hurt each other. it was a game of catch up just as Barry and the rogue would continue to steal and catch. Also Barry is red and communism is red so maybe it could have been a jab democracy (Barry) even within the confines of communism will rise. kind of like eventually berlin wall was destroyed the soviet union collapsed in on itself?
I think it's the tone of the character and the comic (1956 on) that counts. Central City,where Barry Allen resides, is no dark Gotham or self-important Metropolis. It's Mid-West, isn't it? A gleaming post-war city with suburbs, where Barry moves in Carmine Infantino'sclean moderne designs and has a well-off lover Iris West (later wife in 1966) with hardly a mugger or dirty hoodlum in sight. It's practically a billboard for the American Dream. As you point out, the Scarlet Speedster's abilities needn't involve any physical contact. He's no slugger like Batman or strong man archetype like Superman. But he is powerful - he can even travel into the future. Yet, he's an unassuming slim scientist who finds himself up against sneaky superior types like Captain Cold, the Mirror Master, the Pied Piper (subverting our kids no doubt) and Grodd the big ugly gorilla with the science degree. An image of freedom certainly and post-45 speed but always seeming to be at a disadvantage - an overweight giant one moment, a puppet version of himself the next. The perfect suggestive image of a mighty but unaggressive superpower.Oh, and by the way, there was one occasion when the Cold War turned hot - Vietnam.
Great, now I get to spend a perfectly wonderful Tuesday night racking my brain about what other "Flash" villains could have hidden Cold War imagery somewhere in their DNA. Fine, here are my kitchen-sink pitches. Reverse-Flash: terrifyingly modern technology (time travel, atomic bomb?) enables a seemingly completely opposite number to a wholesome American hero/lifestyle to come into direct conflict right where he could do the most damage to innocent lives; also, I suspect the name Eobard Thawne sounds vaguely Eastern European. Mirror Master: maybe the same opposite reasoning associated with Professor Zoom (evil mirror image), but with a heavy dose of subterfuge for good measure (he does use "smoke and mirrors" quite extensively, after all). Captain Boomerang: my reasoning might be a little flimsy here, but he's probably the closest they could get to an "evil foreigner" without making him overtly Russian, plus he's often in cahoots with Captain Cold, the more prominent Cold War-centric character of the bunch; is there any record of an Australia-Russia alliance of some sort that could somewhat hilariously close this vicious circle?
Odd side question, did anyone realize that Iris is the name for the goddess of the rainbow and the female equivalent to Mercury. She was married to Zephyrus, who is the god of the west wind. I wonder if this is coincidence or if the creators of Iris West knew this.
So is Barry Allen like 10 years older than Clark Kent? Because if he travelled back in time to stop his mother from getting killed, that happened when he was 10. Why would that effect where superman ship landed in the Flashpoint. Wouldn't he have landed at the Kent farm already prior to the Barry's mom being murdered. Same question with Bruce Wayne's parents. Wouldn't that even have happened before Barry's Mom's murder. Time travel should effect the past of the actual event that changes the timeline
*COUPLE OF THINGS*
1) We have many more videos coming this week, so subscribe for those!
2) Apologies for the weirdness with Bert the Turtle. I just kept seeing if I COULD make it creepy and never asked if I SHOULD.
3) I promise I'll stop talking about politics eventually. Maybe. Eh, I take it back. I promise nothing!
4) I'm glad I get to hang with you wonderful nerds!
NerdSync Great Vid Scott!
You do you Scott, it's great content!
NerdSync Politics or not, still love your videos.
Please don't stop talking about politics. It is making for some of the best episodes to date. I was comparing these with your episodes in 2013-14, and it feels so much more genuine and intriguing. Back then I think Nerdsync didn't know what it wanted to be. Kind of like a poor man's Variant. Now Nerdsync is a wonderful piece of political/psychological/philosphical comic nerd dream.
The actual reason Flash never directly attacked his villains was because it was the silver age and the CCA didn't allow for excessive violence or for villains to be motivated by anything but greed. It's also why the Joker of that era became a bank robber and once even quit when he came into money. It's not propaganda, its a work-around to the pre-existing censorship.
Also some of the early villains of Spider-Man and Iron Man were russians. Kraven, Chameleon, Rhino, Titanium Man, Whiplash, Crimson Dynamo and many others. When they were first introduced, it was in the middle of the Cold War, in the 60's. It's quite amazing how the real life events can influence the comics so much
And the russians in armors are always defeated by Iron Man, who is american. An other propaganda to show that the american technology is superior to the russian one
And Spider-Man, who was a teenager in the 60's comics, always outsmarted and defeated his russian enemies like Rhino and Kraven. Something like, full grown russians get their ass kicked by an american teenager
That's funny because The Flash wears the colors of the USSR.
And JYNA.
Joseph Wolfson or mustard and ketchup
This could go on forever.
Or of a Gryffinpuff.
That was a thing pointed out in the New Frontier comic and movie.
I've calculated there are an average of 5.9 puns per episode of Nerdsync
23 Limbs What is .9 of a pun like? Is it like, he started halfway but it falls flat and Scott decides to just move on? 🤔
I don't know if this is a joke Mateo, but I'll stil l explain.
simple math.
5.9 means, he makes atleast 5 puns in his video(s)
now what about the .9, well that means that there is a 90% chance of a 6th pun..
done.
maybe you did joke, but there are some stupid people out there, well, not stupid, but they don't know elementary school stuff.
DatAsianBoi It's a joke, the .9 is when he makes a pun accidentally so it doesn't really count as a full pun
...well, bad joke... since it interferes with my knowledge of math.
Wrong! It's 5.84, you rounded wrong!
I feel superman is a better interpretation of freedom while characters like flash and green lantern are more so interpretations of American progress as they came from the space age which was all about breaking limits
Coye Reider true, I think that's absolutely what they represent, but I don't think the video is wrong either. Multiple creations cam have intersecting allegories while having some uniquely their own that distinguishes them. It's just coming from a slightly different angle.
I agree completely.
Agreed$
"The Flash never really fought his enemies, he more sort of contained them."
"You guys are all gearing up to fight, I've never been in a real fight before! I just sort of... push people and run away."
No! I've been...propagated.
Today I learned how to solve all my problems: By running in circles or ducking.
I always found Iron Man and his armored foes the most noteworthy example of a Cold war arms race metaphor in superhero comics.
I think the interaction between comics, politics, and culture (be it purposeful or subconscious, historical or modern day) is fascinating. You do great work and I look forward to more videos on such rich topics!
Wow, the quality of nerd sync videos are really increasing at a notable rate! Great work Scott and the nerd sync team* keep doing what you do best.
*Thanks zim
Jackson Hellewell Scott *and* the other people in the nerd sync group
How is it improving?
Lockjaw yea but he doesn't do everything in this channel alone he has a team of people to help him with editing the video and he said before he doesn't want the channel to only be him
Jackson Hellewell you welcome
Containment creeps into Batman as well. The Batman of the 40s might just throw a goon out a window to his death, but heading into the Silver Age and beyond, everyone just gets dumped into Arkham.
It’s very interesting pulling a deeper meaning from stories such as this, but sometimes I wonder if this is really what the creators intended. If you look anywhere deep enough, you’ll always find a connection between things, no matter if that was deliberate or not. For all we know they just wanted to make some slightly pacifist stories that just so *happened* to coincide with current events. Not to say that people like Scott are wrong to speculate about it, but only that the writers hadn’t considered it. They probably appreciate all these theories and whatnot even if it’s not necessarily “true”.
I think this is overthinking the Flash concept. Indirectly containing the enemies in Showcase #4 (1956) is a good way of getting around the CCA, est. 1954 (he doesn't solve his problems with violence, and the crooks see justice). Robbers are the most obvious bad guy that you can make short of murderers, and the CCA wouldn't like murderers. The Flash name was already around, and they were just rebooting it. And the freedom from bounds is a good way to show that much speed. Comics were used for Cold War propaganda, and you could probably find Flash comics that were, but the Flash comics as a whole were an escape from Cold War anxieties.
I agree. I think it's less a case of willfully inserting propaganda and more a case of subconsciously putting comforting ideas and themes into their stories. You could see it as propaganda, but it likely wasn't intended as such
I think there's a lot to this. One thing about the Silver Age revamp of superheroes, besides the fact that superheroes didn't engage in explicit violence the way 50's crime and horror comics would, was the general push towards science and science fiction. And nobody had sci-fi pseudoscience down pat more than the Flash and his rogues gallery of villains.
I agree - OverthinkingIf Flash was such a representative of the US vs Russia, why would his costume be red and gold?
When you were talking about Flash representing the American Dream and prosperity it reminded me of when he become a Blue Lantern. So Flash really still shows hope and perspiration now like he did back then.
I here I thought it was propaganda for Adobe.
I'm glad to see that we're getting more regular videos from NerdSync! Keep up the great work, Scott
This is kind of interesting, when you consider that the modern rogues are considered the "blue collar" criminals, because of their bank robbing roots. They just want to get money, and go home to have booze, women, and other stuff (But not cocaine, really not cocaine).
In fact, in the early new 52 stuff (I know, new 52, icky and gross, but this stuff was actually good) the rogues only do things for money, and when cold lets things get personal, the team goes agents him. I don't know when the shift happened, but the rogues have at some point become very capitalist.
its not a ice gun, it is a cold gun, very diferent
"When an object is hit with a blast of absolute zero it's atomic motion is slowed down to a stop, this goes for any object that passes through the field."
"It is a misconception that the Cold Gun actually fires ice, in fact it only fires beams of absolute zero. This temperature is so cold however that it turns the water in the air into ice, thus giving the illusion that he can "shoot ice"."
Great video, but you seemed to be talking faster than normal. Almost like you were trying to break through the barriers of RUclips and become your own Flash...
You could use the same analogy of the fear of technological progress with the stories where The Flash goes back in time and messes everything up because he can't control the speed force properly when he pushes the use of it that far.
Fun Fact: The duck and cover method is very ineffective against protecting yourself from a nuclear blast, as I'm sure you already know. It's true purpose is a bit more morbid and shares it with the tornado drills you probably did in high school, it's to keep track of the bodies.
I saw the title of the video and instantly got excited! I wrote my senior thesis in college on the Cold War’s influence in comics and this was a nice little throw back :-)
Is it just me or was this video put together extremely well? Great dialog, great delivery of said dialog, great translation, and great editing.
You appeared to be talking a bit faster than normal too, but it was still clear and articulate. Very well done all around sir!
Hey Scott, great video. The parallels are definitely there to support your theory.
The scariest time period of my life was definitely the Cold War. The constant threat of thermo-nuclear warfare breaking out at any moment weighed heavily on the world. When the Berlin Wall came down, it was an amazing feeling. It was as if the entire planet collectively breathed a sigh of relief.
It's kind of cool to think comics may have played a role in the Cold War's end.
Hearing you call the comment section the doobly-doo got my heart feelin some things Scott, also makin me feel old as hell. I feel like I haven't heard anyone say that in years.
And by comment section I mean the description, the brains running a little slowly today.
I loved the Duck and Cover song during the intro.
OH MY GOD THAT DUCK AND COVER PSA i remember my apush teacher showing me it
I remember learning about Bert the Turtle in 7th grade history. Great vid Scott
Il y a des français parmit vous ? J'ai un devoir d'anglais ou je dois traduire ce qu'il a dit à propos de Flash
Oui il y a moi moi aussi je travaille la dessus
all I can think of now is the side reference Bernard makes to the Flash in Watchmen... "We had heroes back in my day like Superman and Flash-man"
This background makes the Flash more interesting.
Your content is always fantastic and you deserve more subscribers.
I love these politically themed videos we've been seeing lately. Comics have always had political subtext and it's fascinating to see you explore that.
Glad to see you've become a lot more active again Scott!
Wow why does this channel always enlighten me "Read between the panels" is just what Nerdsync is
I’m just gonna put this out there I really like your more recent videos they are a lot better than old ones
You called it a dooblydoo 💜
Someone has been watching philosophytube
Crash Course: Comics?
Thanks for the new channel recommendation :-)
I thought I was from WheezyWaiter
I know it from Paul Mason, he has a nerdcrafting vlog
I think that there’s something to be said about the reverse flash (Eobard Thawn)being one of his main villains. All the strategies and abilities of the flash (America) but the complete opposite (The Reds) and yet the Flash’s innovation and ingenuity also overcome him. And even Professor Zoom’s backstory of him becoming a speedster because he’s a fan of the flash could elude to how communism was trying to be an imitation of capitalist wealth except for the common man instead of just the elite. Even communist ideals such as every man will be wealthy and rich point towards this, and yet the Flash(again, America) was always able to overcome him.
FYI I call communists ‘Reds’ just to clarify. Great Vid Scott! Keep up the good work!
I am not part of the notification squad. Im just your most supportive fan. Aah heck! Everyone thats a fan of you is amazing. Shoutout to all the Patreons for making this video possible! Have a great day, Scott!
Great video, don't forget about nerdsync kitchen.
Scott, you're the reason I primarily make videos about anime instead of comics. The bar is just impossibly high.
Haha, I appreciate the kind words. But honestly, please make videos about all the things you want! There can't be too many comic book videos!
You know, you might be onto something...
So would someone like Weather Wizard be a personification of the adverse effects that nuclear weapons could have on the environment (i.e. nuclear winter)?
Mind Blown!!! Love this channel
Yay! I was waiting for this video!!!!
Another comment for the youtube stuff. Love you, Scott!
That's actually really cool cause oddly enough the same techniques for drawing the almos outside his own comic and like jumping across his panels is the exact same technique used today
Using the duck and cover animation was genius haha
Very informative, you have now opened My mind on the early comics
Master Class Gaming hello the bottom of the sea of the top comments have a nice day
zim you too
Master Class Gaming thank you
zim you're welcome
Master Class Gaming 😁
Scott I love you for always being like me and procrastinating on watching the show
Could you please do a video on Donna Troy. I'm kind of confused with her origins.
Another big one is Flash's arch enemy is Reverse-Flash. Two similarly powerful characters but not quite the same, read also the US and Russia. each of the speedsters develop new techniques to one up each other just like the technological advancements of the cold war. Reverse-Flash, at least in much of the media I've seen him in portrays him as disappearing for long stretches of time before surprising Barry with a sudden attack, which symbolises the paranoia of the era, not knowing where your enemies are and expecting them to attack at any moment. And to further show how the two of them are alike but not the same they made the very deliberate choice to have them share the same colours, red and yellow but inverted. which takes on a whole new meaning when you realise that the Russian and American flags are both red, white and blue
What awesome video. Thanks for this content.
Thanks for the video, I enjoyed the info.
It wasn't really a big part of the movie, but the Justice League New Frontier movie from like, 2010 or whatever, had some really need things to say about the Flash and Communism. The red scare really did a number on Barry in that story, and I love it. I wish the CW show had remotely this level of complexity in it's writing, rather than the bs retreading of plots and drama that it is. You're right Scott, and I think that's why the Flash was so huge, he kind of embodied a real need for hope in American culture, something even Sueprman couldn't do at the time.
That's pretty awesome. Never thought about how the Flash's design all went together.
I really like the political context you put these characters in. Keep up the good work!
You Americans really like your America xD
Weird, right?
Meh
In our defense, it wasn't that many generations ago when we had to fight for it tooth and nail. Although it feels like a long time ago to us, we're still by far the youngest first-world country.
@@JaelinBezel no you aren't
@@selahanany5645 Oh. I didn't know that.
Wow never thought of this...but it makes sooo much sense
Scott i love the flash. He is my favourite superhero. And my favourite tv show. Thank you for covering a video about him again. Good video☺
Shits deep brother keep up the great work!
Damn fine video! Great insight!
It's not an ice gun, it's a COLD GUN.
Great stuff!
I am kind of curious about something. On the American side we had comic book and cartoon propaganda, but what about the other side? What is the Soviet version of Superman (and I'm not talking about Superman Red Son)
PMW3 probably they had /have one. The Guardians arent the first Russian super heroes I think
Just wondering, what happened to comic misconceptions? No seriously, I found out about ya because of the series, still been my favorite series on the channel so far. Always love any content from you, but I’m just wondering...
Nothing happened to it. I just stopped using that name. The videos I make now are exactly the same, just without that label.
NerdSync Huh. Didn’t even notice lol! I guess since the editing and overall style does change slightly over time, I never noticed it.
Darn, awesome, i had a lil idea, it's something you do often anyhow, but, given all the analysis (quite good and balanced btw) of social and political ideas behind past and modern day superhero stories, there are some that are more, let's say, philosophical,ideas about hope and reality and violence and redemption are everywhere in superhero comics (Grant Morrison, i'm looking at you with that reality thing) so, what would you say about it? About how comics can and did and do reflect such ideas? That would be cool
Hey, Scott. How do you like that wonder woman book in the background? I heard it could be pretty dry as it was written more like a thesis.
How do you think comic books should handle political issues? Should they be up front about it like in Superman vs the KKK or what Marvel is currently doing with its comics or should they be more subtle about it like with the x men as allegories for minorities or the flash as a metaphor for the Cold War? Obviously the best option is when both subtlety and blatant political statements are balanced like in the Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen but not everyone is as talented as Frank Miller and Alan Moore so it is often either super subtle or not subtle at all.
Personal opinion: I preffer metaphors, but,let's get to it, it's sometimes funny to see Superman punch a nazi or Batman fighting KGBeast (that name tho)
HeatWave
Nuff said.
I don't think this was propaganda, it was more likely inspiration. Then again, no form of media (at least the good ones) don't have an agenda, opinion or observation they're pushing forward, and the lines between propaganda and inspiration are very BLURRY (gettit, cos the Flash?)
23 Limbs propaganda isn't inherently a bad thing. It's entirely dependent on how it's done and what it's messages are.
I agree Tyler, also worth pointing out that there is not necessarily a line separating inspiration and propaganda. A lot of things are both and I've watched a few things that seemingly had neither. The second is worse.
I'm just going to put this out there they should have made a Flash movie back in 1994 they should have had Tom Cruise play him because he runs in every movie LOL
He could still do it honestly
Every time i see a nuke go off i expect a t-1000's head coming at me *dundundun dun dun*
With very few exceptions, the Flash's Silver Age villains were non-powered men with fancy weapons and gimmicks. Perhaps a point was being made there. We Americans are exceptional (super-powered) while our enemies the USSR are nothing without their weapons. .
Epic video!
First of all, great video! It has a lot of interesting ideas in it and they are also well-presented.
Secondly, I personally don‘t find this turtle film to be reassuring or anything positive like that - I find it very unsettling! But maybe that‘s because of the very strong association of such clips with things like WAR and BOMBS.
Am I smarter? I feel smarter.
Nice underrated comment lol
Might want to have a look at how the Cold War influenced the Marvel Age (as both the Fantastic Four and The Hulk had their origins tied to the Cold War).
Okay, this was almost as much of a stretch as one of *shiver* MatPat's Game Theories. But, on a side note, could you do a video on some of the great characters we got out of the Cold War, like the Crimson Dynamo, Titanium Man, and the Winter Guard? ...Wow, I never realized Marvel had such a monopoly on Russian supervillains until I started listing them.
That video was shown in my us 1 class 2 years ago, the tune is just so damn catchy
Actually it’s not an ice gun. It’s a cold gun. There’s a difference. An ice gun would encase the subject in ice, like Mr. Freeze. That’s why Batman can break out by giving it a good crack; whereas the cold gun brings the temperature down to absolute zero.
So yes, the cold gun can stop the Flash because when you go to absolute zero you stop motion. When Captain Cold shoots someones arm and cracks it open, he doesn’t destroy the ice casing, he takes off his bloody arm.
Darn am I tired of so many videos talking about media saying "its propaganda!!" when they really mean that something has subtext/it was written by a person with a worldview. shocking. Propaganda isn't hidden, if you find some that is hidden, it's doing a horrible job of being propaganda. good propaganda makes sure everyone who sees it knows what you're talking about, Y'know that's kinda important, if you want to emotionally manipulate mass amounts of people into believing something, them knowing what it is, is really important.
Propaganda in comic books wasn't hidden lol. Do watch the video.
Michael Scott i did, it's still not propaganda, sure other comics may had pretty blatant propaganda, but the idea of 'hidden propaganda' is still stupid.
I was talking more generally, other books around that time had blatant propaganda in them.
This one has more personal views in it than blatant propaganda but in a way those views are just the propagation of the propaganda itself but in a more artistic way.
It's a total stretch but it's fun to overthink about things like this, go in a little deep into the makings of a comic book, it's what this channel does and has been doing since the beginning. This one happened to have political undertones others don't.
In various episodes you've recommended a range of books, have you complied a list of your recommended books/reading somewhere?
Man, I watched the duck and cover clip in history class in grade 10. That was a weird video from a weird time.
"Red is the color of communism."
-Bar customer (Justice League: New Frontier)
Scott im so excited and you need to watch alk of the cw superhero shows all of them
This is actually very interesting! I never knew thats what the flash could of meant
I don't know about the early appearances of the Pied Piper, whose whole deal was musical hypnotism. Is there any subtext concerning music as propaganda, or maybe as agitprop?
maybe I'm over thinking it but while the creations of nukes was deliberate no one thought about the world wide ramifications and everyone had to adapt quickly. Maybe flash suddenly getting such amazing power and using it to fight crime is like the idea of US suddenly getting so strong its makes it impossible to really fight back. barry running circles and not using real deadly force might show that while the power was amazing it made him inherently uncomfortable about going to far with it. the usa suddenly got a lot of power and was understandably reluctant to use the really deadly force or it and just used more the leverage that power gave them instead like how the usa and Russia fount building stuff but never actually fired.
maybe flash's villians could be like all the surprised people and countries shocked by the new status quo but still going to try to beat the flash(or usa). the flash's villains get better weapons and ideas to beat him. improving the more they learn and watch him just like how other countries learned how to make nukes of their own. they are racing to find a plan or weapon to defeat the flash's might just as others raced to catch up with the US.
the fact that barry's main rogue gallery have a code not to kill(at least deliberately) anyone during their fights just as Barry won't kill them kind of like how Russia and USA wouldn't actually hurt each other. it was a game of catch up just as Barry and the rogue would continue to steal and catch.
Also Barry is red and communism is red so maybe it could have been a jab democracy (Barry) even within the confines of communism will rise. kind of like eventually berlin wall was destroyed the soviet union collapsed in on itself?
I'm from India and I love the Flash. Period.
Mr IY you don't need to say that your from India
I think it's the tone of the character and the comic (1956 on) that counts. Central City,where Barry Allen resides, is no dark Gotham or self-important Metropolis. It's Mid-West, isn't it? A gleaming post-war city with suburbs, where Barry moves in Carmine Infantino'sclean moderne designs and has a well-off lover Iris West (later wife in 1966) with hardly a mugger or dirty hoodlum in sight. It's practically a billboard for the American Dream. As you point out, the Scarlet Speedster's abilities needn't involve any physical contact. He's no slugger like Batman or strong man archetype like Superman. But he is powerful - he can even travel into the future. Yet, he's an unassuming slim scientist who finds himself up against sneaky superior types like Captain Cold, the Mirror Master, the Pied Piper (subverting our kids no doubt) and Grodd the big ugly gorilla with the science degree. An image of freedom certainly and post-45 speed but always seeming to be at a disadvantage - an overweight giant one moment, a puppet version of himself the next. The perfect suggestive image of a mighty but unaggressive superpower.Oh, and by the way, there was one occasion when the Cold War turned hot - Vietnam.
Funny thing is, the Flash dawns the soviet colors and Captain Cold the American colors.
Great, now I get to spend a perfectly wonderful Tuesday night racking my brain about what other "Flash" villains could have hidden Cold War imagery somewhere in their DNA. Fine, here are my kitchen-sink pitches. Reverse-Flash: terrifyingly modern technology (time travel, atomic bomb?) enables a seemingly completely opposite number to a wholesome American hero/lifestyle to come into direct conflict right where he could do the most damage to innocent lives; also, I suspect the name Eobard Thawne sounds vaguely Eastern European. Mirror Master: maybe the same opposite reasoning associated with Professor Zoom (evil mirror image), but with a heavy dose of subterfuge for good measure (he does use "smoke and mirrors" quite extensively, after all). Captain Boomerang: my reasoning might be a little flimsy here, but he's probably the closest they could get to an "evil foreigner" without making him overtly Russian, plus he's often in cahoots with Captain Cold, the more prominent Cold War-centric character of the bunch; is there any record of an Australia-Russia alliance of some sort that could somewhat hilariously close this vicious circle?
Odd side question, did anyone realize that Iris is the name for the goddess of the rainbow and the female equivalent to Mercury. She was married to Zephyrus, who is the god of the west wind. I wonder if this is coincidence or if the creators of Iris West knew this.
When did you change the logo/profile pic thingy
Why are Captain Cold and Captain Boomerang both bestowed military ranks?
He cut off his little hair tuft
This video is in my English book 😂
So is Barry Allen like 10 years older than Clark Kent? Because if he travelled back in time to stop his mother from getting killed, that happened when he was 10. Why would that effect where superman ship landed in the Flashpoint. Wouldn't he have landed at the Kent farm already prior to the Barry's mom being murdered. Same question with Bruce Wayne's parents. Wouldn't that even have happened before Barry's Mom's murder. Time travel should effect the past of the actual event that changes the timeline
I'm going to be that guy: Captain Cold's weapon is a cold-gun, not an ice-gun. Otherwise, great video!