History MisaimedFandom / ComicBooks

** ''Series/Watchmen2019'' takes this in-universe. Rorschach's journal was ultimately published by the ''New Frontersman'', a hard-right publication associated with cranks and fanatics. The ''Frontiersman'' was also popular with racists, alt-righters and white supremacist groups: a lot of these sympathised with him, leading to the creation of the "Seventh Kavalry" movement in Tulsa. [[AllThereInTheManual On "Peteypedia",]] Special Agent Dale Petey speculates on why these people were so driven to the story of Rorschach, and that he served as a symbol of distrust in the government, the need to protect "the safety of their persons and belongings" in the face of a race "far less morally advanced", and as a way to "challenge an orthodoxy that makes them feel marginalized and obsolete" by imposing their own ideology through a costume.

* ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'': Some people read it just because they like the [[NinetiesAntiHero antiheroes]]. This is missing the fact that ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'' was written as a criticism of that kind of character. Others miss the idea that a big part of the story is that Superman and the new League trying to bring about world peace works horribly [[spoiler:and ends up getting everyone nuked,]] and wholeheartedly support/condemn them as [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] nostalgia.

* ''ComicBook/LexLuthorManOfSteel'' is taken by some as an excellent argument for why ComicBook/LexLuthor is a hero, or at least believing that it brings up some intriguing GrayAndGreyMorality and humanistic traits to the character because he honestly thinks that he is a hero and Superman is a villain. Many also agree with Lex's arguments against Superman's LawfulGood ChronicHeroSyndrome, which sees him rescuing Toyman from an angry mob, in this story a [[KickTheSonOfABitch pedophile who had just (seemingly) blown up a daycare centre.]] Except for the fact that it is ''strongly, strongly'' implied that ''Lex himself'' blew up that centre, and is behind a bunch of other horrible things in the comic, and the real point of the story is that Lex is deluded and insane to boot.

* ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' is a more innocent example than most, but the rapid transformation into the sort of MerchandiseDriven juggernaut it was originally meant to parody had a lot to do with this. The creators and later licensees seem to have decided to run with the misaimed version instead of trying to fight it. That fandom mostly came from the TV series, which was entirely intended as such, so it's not so much Misaimed Fandom as it is ExecutiveMeddling that took. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools The franchise has become pretty popular since becoming a franchise too]].

** Rorschach is also a criticism of right-wing ideology in general. For context, Moore himself identifies as a Marxist but votes for the Labour Party out of pragmatism. Rorschach is an avatar for their blind devotion to "law and order". says things like “Goddamn liberals have gone and let another rapist off. If I had my gun…". He sees the world in black and white the way Moore thinks conservatives do. Notably in 2015, Ted Cruz wrote an article with Rorschach as one of his top five superheroes while he was running for president.

** ''ComicBook/DoomsdayClock'' also plays with this; Malcom Long's son is fed a deeply skewed image of what Rorschach was actually like....which leads to him having a breakdown when he learns what Rorschach was actually like. Notably, what gets him out of his breakdown is the realization that while Walter Kovacs was a violent lunatic he doesn't have to be and that he can remake it into something better (which leads to him sparing Ozymandias so that he can stand trial for his crimes.)
** ''ComicBook/Rorschach2020'' is another meta-{{Reconstruction}} of Rorschach and the complicated moral legacy he left behind both in-universe and out. The antagonists of the series are a group of radicalized {{Conspiracy Theorist}}s who -- thanks to a muddling of various theories created before and after the squid invasion of '85 -- believe some of themselves to be reincarnations of Rorschach, and that the only way to save the world is to assassinate a presidential candidate under his name. Drawing upon the 30+ year gap from his death, the characters end up picking and choosing how they interpret him and [[UnscrupulousHero his well-meaning, but insane absolutist philosophy]], ironically reinforcing both how mentally disturbed they fundamentally are, and how Rorschach's brutal [[AntiHero antiheroism]] was symptomatic of an ugly detachment from humanity, which -- while sadly an inevitability for some -- [[AntiRoleModel is absolutely not meant to be admired and sought after.]]

** DoomsdayClock also plays with this; Malcom Long's son is fed a deeply skewed image of what Rorschach was actually like....which leads to him having a breakdown when he learns what Rorschach was actually like. Notably, what gets him out of his breakdown is the realization that while Walter Kovacs was a violent lunatic he doesn't have to be and that he can remake it into something better (which leads to him sparing Ozymandias so that he can stand trial for his crimes.)

* SelfDemonstrating/{{Lobo}} started as a generic mercenary before being retooled by creator Keith Giffen as a parody of eighties "grim and gritty" heroes like ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} and ComicBook/ThePunisher in a series of mini-series books. Needless to say, Lobo became a big hit with fans who took the satire at face value.

* ''ComicBook/ChickTracts'' readers are supposed to agree with everything the protagonists say, but there is a significant "fandom" that finds the over-the-top nature of these tracts [[{{Narm}} unintentionally hilarious]]. In addition, on first reading them, many people assume that the tracts are intended as a parody of TheFundamentalist. [[PoesLaw They are totally serious]]. Even so, some people still insist that the tracts are all written as a massive StealthParody. While Jack Chick was notoriously hard to get info on, he was sincere about what he was trying to say, by all accounts. (Besides, considering that [[AuthorExistenceFailure Chick died in October 2016]], if the tracts ''are'' a parody, it's one that Chick kept going to his dying breath, which is extremely unlikely.)

** A lot of the unintended heroism of the character stems from the writers not really understanding their own context. A murdering vigilante in real life is unambiguously a bad thing, but in a world where even the heroes rack up body counts in the dozens or hundreds per year, the villains are worse, and the only punishment you get for burning a hundred people to death is a month of brooding from Batman and six weeks in a revolving-door prison, being the one guy at least attempting to solve problems permanently gives you a lot more social utility than murdering criminals would in the real world.

* [[Creator/JackKirby Jack Kirby's]] son, Neal Kirby, was "appalled and disgusted" by the use of [[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica Captain America's shield]] being used on t-shirts and shields [[https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/14/us/captain-america-riot-trnd/index.html during the Capitol Hill riots in 2021.]] [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment He stated that, in his opinion,]] [[https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1349553898172928002 the character of Steve Rogers would have hated the political beliefs that the rioters stood for.]] (At the very least, [[CaptainEthnic as his duty is to represent all of America,]] Cap has shown distaste for the idea of standing for any political party.)

* V from ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'', to the point where the live-action adaptation made it so that he was obviously meant to be the hero. V is a fanatical terrorist whose main motives are revenge and his methods include physical and psychological torture (of both enemies ''and allies''), the bombing of public monuments, and brutal murder. An argument can be made for a case of ALighterShadeOfGrey, given that V is also a charming and charismatic NobleDemon and his enemies are a brutal, genocidal and largely irredeemable fascist regime, but V was intended to be a lot more ambiguous than many ultimately view him as being. The work has also helped spread a HistoricalHeroUpgrade to Guy Fawkes, who was not an anarchist but a fanatical Catholic who simply wanted to swing the balance of power to the Catholics over the reigning Protestants.

* [[Creator/JackKirby Jack Kirby's]] son, Neal Kirby, was "appalled and disgusted" by the use of [[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica Captain America's shield]] being used on t-shirts and shields [[https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/14/us/captain-america-riot-trnd/index.html during the Capitol Hill riots in 2021.]] [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment He stated that, in his opinion,]] [[https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1349553898172928002 the character of Steve Rogers would have hated the political beliefs that the rioters stood for.]]

* ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'': Mina Mongoose uses a concert to rally the people of Mobotropolis to start standing up for themselves and stop taking everything the Freedom Fighters say on faith alone.[[note]]Specifically, her main concern was to ensure that NICOLE couldn't wind up BrainwashedAndCrazy again.[[/note]] Thanks to [[EvilSorcerer Ixis Naugus']] manipulations, instead of the debates and civilian empowerment she was hoping for, the result is a divided and even more fearful kingdom and [[ArtificialIntelligence NICOLE]] eventually being evicted from the city.

* ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'' has an in-universe example: The Sons of the Batman, a group of vigilantes inspired by Batman using incredibly violent methods against mostly petty criminals (ie, stopping a three card monte game with napalm, pumping a couple shotgun shells into a shoplifter[[note]]And cutting off the fingers of the poor clerk, for not defending the store.[[/note]]). Needless to say, when Batman finally meets them, he sets them straight.
* An in-universe example from ''ComicBook/ExMachina''. An artist is tired of being judged so does a big piece intended to lash out at her critics. Instead, they rave about it. So, the artist decides to put out what her friend calls "the most inane, hateful piece of cliched taboo you could imageine": A portrait of Abraham Lincoln with a racial slur painted over him. But (once more as the assistant nicely sums up) "instead of catching onto your little prank, they ''fell'' for it and hung it in a museum where it's currently delighting pretentious critics and alienating the real people you set out to reach when you started."

** Rorschach is also a criticism of right-wing ideology in general. For context, Moore himself identifies as a Marxist but votes for the Labour Party out of pragmatism. Rorschach is an avatar for their blind devotion to "law and order". says things like “Goddamn liberals have gone and let another rapist off. If I had my gun…". He sees the world in black and white the way Moore thinks conservatives do. Notably in 2015, Ted Cruz wrote an article with Rorschach as one of his top 5 superheroes while he was running for president.

* UsefulNotes/TheBechdelTest (which originated in a comic) was conceived as a deliberately easy-to-pass test (passing merely required that a work have more than one female character, that the female characters have a conversation, and that this conversation not revolve around men) in order to demonstrate just how little effort movie directors and screenwriters put into developing female characters, but has since been co-opted by others as an all-purpose feminist-credentials test.

** Furthermore, [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bf/Dykes_to_Watch_Out_For_%28Bechdel_test_origin%29.jpg the original comic]] (which appeared in ''ComicStrip/DykesToWatchOutFor'' and was described by the author as "a little lesbian joke") was more about compulsory heterosexuality in media - obviously, it's next to impossible to find a movie that depicts a romantic relationship between women if there's barely any movies that depict them in ''platonic'' relationships. That most people don't know this ''really'' speaks about the degree of misaiming that's occurred.

** Furthermore, [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bf/Dykes_to_Watch_Out_For_%28Bechdel_test_origin%29.jpg the original comic]] (which appeared in ''ComicBook/DykesToWatchOutFor'' and was described by the author as "a little lesbian joke") was more about compulsory heterosexuality in media - obviously, it's next to impossible to find a movie that depicts a romantic relationship between women if there's barely any movies that depict them in ''platonic'' relationships. That most people don't know this ''really'' speaks about the degree of misaiming that's occurred.

* An in-universe example from ComicBook/ExMachina. An artist is tired of being judged so does a big piece intended to lash out at her critics. Instead, they rave about it. So, the artist decides to put out what her friend calls "the most inane, hateful piece of cliched taboo you could imageine": A portrait of Abraham Lincoln with a racial slur painted over him. But (once more as the assistant nicely sums up) "instead of catching onto your little prank, they ''fell'' for it and hung it in a museum where it's currently delighting pretentious critics and alienating the real people you set out to reach when you started."

** A better example from the pages of Batman might be Harley Quinn. Although she is the girlfriend and accomplice of ComicBook/TheJoker, and is often shown to be almost as AxeCrazy as he is, fans often seem to forgive her actions, hold her up as something of a heroic or anti-heroic figure, and she is often a KarmaHoudini in the actual stories.

** Controversial British politician Enoch Powell, well known for his anti-immigrational "Rivers Of Blood" speech, owned a lot of cartoons starring himself and had them framed at the wall. But this was mostly done by his wife. In the BBC documentary "Enoch Powell: Odd Man Out" Powell even expressed feeling embarrassed by some of this cartoons, but his wife very staunchly defended him on the matter. Many of this drawings were critical of his ideas, but the couple didn't seem to grasp this.
** ''ComicBook/{{Superdupont}}'' by Jacques Lob and Creator/{{Gotlib}} (and also Alexis and Jean Solé) is a French comic parodying the superhero genre ''and'' a satire of French jingoism. The title character is an over-the-top stereotypical FrenchJerk with ''Superman''-like powers (which he loses when he hears the French anthem played in reverse) and battles "Anti-France", a shadowy group of people who all speak with a mix of all foreign accents at once and target French core values -- such as replacing French wine with Italian wine and mass-producing berets made in China. The French extreme right-wing nationalist party Le Front National took Superdupont as their icon, which caused the authors of the comic to put it on hiatus for a few years. French far right politician Jean-Marie [=LePen=]'s approval was the main reason for the creators to do this.

** Crumb has also drawn quite some controversial comics in his life. His Angelfood [=McSpade=] comics about a stereotypical African tribeswoman and the highly controversial two-parter comic strip "When the Goddamn Niggers Take Over America" and "When the Goddamn Jews take over America" have understandably been accused of racism, the latter two predictably being used by Neo Nazis and far-right supporters. Crumb himself was absolutely horrified by this, because all his comics are meant as {{Satire}}. He is also a huge admirer of {{Jazz}} and {{Blues}} and drew many comic strips and album covers promoting his love for these Afro-American musical genres. Crumb also has many black and Jewish friends, including Creator/ArtSpiegelman, and is married to a Jewish woman, Aline Kominsky-Crumb.

** This actually gives rise to an in-universe example. In ''ComicBook/BatmanChildOfDreams'' the Batman must go up against a series of imposters of his rogues gallery, created by a MadScientist out of self described "pathetic losers." Where does he find these people? Answer: the INTERNET. It seems that Batman never noticed that the years had given rise to Joker Appreciation Societies and Riddler Fanclubs...

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' in general isn't necessarily immune to this. Mark Waid's ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmericaTowerOfBabel'' was designed to criticize the character's [[CrazyPrepared prep time paranoia tendencies]] by [[spoiler:showing that he'd secretly been thinking up ways to kill or incapacitate his Justice League allies for years, only to have them fall into the wrong hands, thus placing the entire world in jeopardy]]. This was intended to show that such a man would be the worst kind of team member who would be impossible to trust and work with since his plans involved torturing them. But unfortunately all some fans came away with was "BATMAN'S THE SMARTEST, MOST BAD ASS HERO EVER!!!" It was intended to show that Batman had at least the right idea: every superhero has at least one mind-controlling villain, at least one villain with the same power(s) as the hero, and at least one instance of losing their way and going at least a ''little'' too dark. Knowing what you'd do if you had to fight one of your teammates is defensible, but actually writing the manual and failing to keep it out of the bad guys' hands is another story, as well as personally insinuating yourself with them to carefully finagle their weaknesses is also a pretty low thing to do.

** Vasquez has also mentioned on more than one occasion how awkward it was to receive fanmail from young children that enjoyed ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' and subsequently started reading his decidedly ''not'' child-friendly [=JtHM=] comics.
* V from ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'', to the point where the live action adaptation made it so that he was obviously meant to be the hero. V is a fanatical terrorist whose main motives are revenge and his methods include physical and psychological torture (of both enemies ''and allies''), bombing of public monuments, and brutal murder. An argument can be made for a case of ALighterShadeOfGrey, given that V is also a charming and charismatic NobleDemon and his enemies are a brutal, genocidal and largely irredeemable fascist regime, but V was intended to be a lot more ambiguous than many ultimately view him as being. The work has also helped spread a HistoricalHeroUpgrade to Guy Fawkes, who was not an anarchist but a fanatical Catholic who simply wanted to swing the balance of power to the Catholics over than the reigning Protestants.

** As an '80s superhero deconstruction, Creator/AlanMoore heavily based the character Rorschach on Steve Ditko's Objectivist superheroes, specifically The Question and Mr. A. However, Moore had no affinity for their ideology, calling Mr. A "an absolute insane fascist" and Objectivism "laughable," and he wrote Rorschach as his own take on what an Objectivist hero would probably be like, a short, ugly, murderous sociopath. Despite this, readers saw Rorschach's uncompromising persona as endearing, and he became the most popular character of a landmark comic series. Additionally, as pointed out on the UnbuiltTrope page, Rorschach and the Comedian were intended to deconstruct the NinetiesAntiHero, and ended up popularizing it instead. Apparently, the series's beginning with the horrific death of the Comedian and ending with [[spoiler:the even more horrific death of Rorschach]] wasn't enough to make people realize that ''these were not admirable characters''.

** Furthermore, [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bf/Dykes_to_Watch_Out_For_%28Bechdel_test_origin%29.jpg the original comic]] (which appeared in ''ComicBook/DykesToWatchOutFor'' and was described by the author as "a little lesbian joke") was more about compulsory heterosexuality in media - obviously, it's next to impossible to find a movie that depicts a romantic relationship between women if there's barely any movies that depict them in ''platonic'' relationships. That most people don't know this ''really'' speaks about the degree of mis-aiming that's occurred.

*** Her relationship with the Joker is also very prone to this. The tragedy of her love for him is that she thinks he's a decent person on the inside and she can redeem him by making him love her back, but that's simply not true. He's a coldhearted psychopath and he will always be one, and he views her as nothing more than a tool to manipulate. Basically, DracoInLeatherPants as reality. However, Harley also happens to be living out the fantasy of an unfortunately large subset of female comic readers, who tend to take her side.

** Some of that has to do with the concepts that Waid and Ross came up with being popular enough with writers that [[{{Retcanon}} they were made]] [[CanonImmigrant canon]]. A few characters like Irey West, Jakeem Thunder and the female Judomaster ended up crossing over into the DCU, while Comicbook/{{Cyborg}} temporarily got his golden skin and Roy Harper became Red Arrow. Seeing as how those characters were generally not shown to be outright asses though, it's somewhat understandable.

* ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' storyline ''ComicBook/RedDaughterOfKrypton'' has the titular heroine becoming a [[Franchise/GreenLantern Red Lantern]] after a severe breakdown. Her becoming a Red is in no way treated as a positive change but as a sign that Kara Zor-El had severe psychological issues dragging her down which she needed to overcome. Nonetheless, a number of fans chose to focus on how badass she looked, complained when she left the team, and later demanded a Red Lantern arc in [[Series/Supergirl2015 her live-action show]].

* ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' is a more innocent example than most, but the rapid transformation into the sort of MerchandiseDriven juggernaut it was originally meant to parody had a lot to do with this. The creators and later licensees seem to have decided to run with the misaimed version instead of trying to fight it. That fandom mostly came from the TV series, which was entirely intended as such, so it's not so much Misaimed Fandom as it is ExecutiveMeddling that took. [[TropesAreNotBad The franchise has become pretty popular since becoming a franchise too]].

* In the infamous ''ComicBook/ChickTracts'', readers are ''supposed'' to agree with everything the protagonists say, but there is a significant "fandom" that finds the over-the-top nature [[{{Narm}} unintentionally hilarious]]. In addition, on first reading them, many people assume that they are intended as a parody. [[PoesLaw They are serious.]] The sheer number of times he has [[StrawCharacter Straw Secularists/Liberals]] (especially in schools), such as the dystopia in "Last Generation" which has the security and language of [[Literature/NineteenEightyFour Oceania]], the religious politics of ''Literature/LeftBehind'', and the social politics of Straw Liberal states, with a touch of "concentration camps" for parents who discipline their children -- it makes it difficult for one to accept them as serious arguments unless one realizes that [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Phelps there are more extreme people out there]].