Uncle Sam – Special Election Edition
Writer: Steve Darnall
Artist/Co-Plotter: Alex Ross
Letterer: Todd Klein
Publisher: DC Black Label – Abrams ComicArts
Uncle Sam was originally a two-part prestige comic published by the DC imprint Vertigo in 1997, written by Steve Darnall, with artwork by comics legend, Alex Ross, and lettering by another comics legend, Todd Klein. The book got a new Special Election Edition this month, a nice tall hardcover put out as a collaboration between DC Black Label (which has the rights to the old Vertigo stuff) and Abrams ComicArts. And upon revisiting this book in its new format, I was struck first and foremost by just how timeless it all feels.
In fact, the book reads like such an evergreen parable of America — both its potential and its problems — that I had to double-check to make sure it was in fact first published back in 1997. Obviously, 1997 was a very different time in the country. Politics were a little more subdued, a little less splashed everywhere, and yet the book’s central thesis — “The dream is under fire, burning down from the inside” — feels just as relevant today as when it was first published, if not more so .
Not only that, but I came away suspecting that if you read this book in a vacuum, you could convince yourself it was born of the post 9/11 era…or maybe after the ’08 recession…or maybe during the Reagan years. There’s just something so relevant about the story and how it’s told, that it feels essential to and informed by all eras of modern American history.
If you’re not familiar, this story spans roughly 90 pages of comic book art. The main character is Sam, who, of course, is a personification of Uncle Sam. Uncle Sam as a guy who walks around. But when we meet him in the book, he is suffering, wandering the streets of a big city as his perspective flashes through time and space to experience visions. In these visions, Uncle Sam is confronted with poor, oppressed, and disenfranchised Americans. He’s seeing horrific moments in American history, and he’s seeing them via people who have been abused by the so-called American dream, cheated by it, beaten by it, or just plain ignored by it — and his mental and emotional state is all the worse for it.
The writing in the book is analytical, incisive, and even poetic, from the individual snippets of dialogue, to the way that the plotting not only manages to humanize Uncle Sam, but to send him on an emotional journey, complete with setbacks and growth and ultimately a level of abstract change. A book of this nature perhaps runs a risk of tipping into a proscriptive and didactic space where it becomes so heavy-handed as to no longer be entertaining. But Uncle Sam never even really gets close to that. It’s too bold and too well-done.
But, of course, a big part of the book’s timelessness is the artwork by Alex Ross. Ross’ painted comics have always felt dislodged in time to me, clearly influenced by classic comics but pushed to a level of quality so high, they reach a level all of their own. And Ross has smartly chosen interior comics projects where that timelessness serves the story, from Marvels to Kingdom Come. Uncle Sam is right at home on that list, bouncing between modern America and historical America. The result is a book that feels appropriate for today’s America as well.
So yes, if it’s not yet clear, I found a lot to appreciate in this comic within the context of the new edition, and by extension within the context of this year’s election. And, I’d imagine, if I were to re-read it in 2028, 2032, 3036, and on and on, I’d feel the same way. The last thematic ingredient I think it’s worth noting as I wrap up is that the book — while critical — also seems to deeply believe in America wanting to address its flaws, wanting to continue examining its missteps, and ultimately wanting to get closer to the potential of the dream, rather than the pitfalls. It doesn’t sugarcoat how challenging that is, and what people who believe in it are up against it, but it does believe that awareness and contrition makes progress possible.
And isn’t that something we could all do well to remember, not just this year but in the years to come?
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