Disclaimer for Readers, Players, Potential Players, and their Families

Comic Book History is Revisionist History, and it is Fictional

The superhero stories and comic book canons have largely become modern renditions of ancient mythologies. They mirror the tales of the Aesir and Vanir, the Primordials, the Titans, and the Olympians—even the biblical narratives of the Old Testament. Superman reflects Moses: a baby sent away in a basket to save a distant and doomed people, ultimately becoming their liberator and protector. Steve Rogers evokes an American Achilles: a man of high character, granted strength by others, who stands against the enemies of his people for the glory of a nation or its ideals. Even Thor and Hercules appear in many comic books. Like those ancient myths, magic remains integral to many heroes’ stories, now interwoven with science and technology to reflect modern sensibilities.

The longest-running comic universes, DC and Marvel, pulled heavily from pseudoscientific ideas and outdated superstitions. Marvel’s early publications, including Robert E. Howard’s Kull of Atlantis and The Sword of Conan, which were written before World War II and were steeped in themes of Ariosophy and ethnic nationalism. DC incorporated similar themes in Wonder Woman and Aquaman, drawing on Atlantis myths central to notions of a superior race that evolved separately from humanity. These concepts also influenced the fictional histories of the Eternals, Old Gods, and New Gods. Five or six years ago, this might have seemed inconsequential, but in light of recent events, it’s critical to clarify: science does not support these conspiracy theories, nor is there substantial evidence to justify these claims.

Ideas like Atlantis, Hollow Earth, Hyperdiffusionism, Ariosophy, the Illuminati, global satanic cabals, and similar fringe theories lack scientific or rational grounding. Let’s be clear: climate change is real, the Earth is round, it and seven other known planets orbit the sun, and our solar system is one of billions in the Milky Way Galaxy. Cryptozoology, extraterrestrial visitation, psychic phenomena, and other paranormal claims—while occasionally intriguing—are better suited to fictional narratives than to legitimate belief systems or models of reality.

So, here’s the tl;dr Disclaimer: If you subscribe to fringe theories—including but not limited to racial superiority, great replacement theory, ancient aliens building pyramids, satanic cabals trafficking children, vaccines causing autism, all GMOs being carcinogenic, NASA hiding cosmological truths, “Rothschild” space lasers, George Soros controlling governments, or lizard people running the world—then a superhero RPG is not for you. What you need is a therapist or a qualified psychiatric professional. Additionally, if you support the 45^th/47^th President of the United States, you’re not welcome here.

Yes, Virginia, There Are Conspiracies

Now, to say something that may seem contradictory: conspiracies do exist. People conspire to commit crimes—from hiring hitmen to engaging in political cover-ups. However, real conspiracies share a common trait: they unravel. Secrets leak because people are terrible at keeping them. Consider these examples:

• France, 1894: Jewish French Army captain Alfred Dreyfus was wrongly convicted of espionage after a janitor discovered documents linking a French officer to German intelligence. When Lt. Colonel Georges Picquart found evidence implicating Major Ferdinand Walsin-Esterhazy, he was removed from his post. Writer Emile Zola’s expose led to Zola’s conviction for libel. Even after a forger confessed, Dreyfus was re-convicted. Only a pardon from the French premier in 1899 freed him.


• Mid-1960s United States: Pete Buxton, a government social worker, uncovered internal reports about the Tuskegee Study, where African-American men unknowingly and without consent were infected with syphilis. After seeing no action, he leaked the information to the Associated Press, ending the experiment in 1972. Survivors later received a settlement and medical care for the rest of their lives.


• 1967 United States and Cuba: Journalists Drew Pearson and Jack Anderson linked President Kennedy’s assassination to CIA plots against Fidel Castro. The CIA’s omissions led a 1979 House committee to conclude the assassination of Kennedy and the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald were likely involved in a conspiracy.


• 1972 United States: The Watergate scandal began when an FBI informant overheard a White House Plumber bragging about illegal activities. The group’s subsequent break-in attempt, and President Nixon’s cover-up, led to Attorney General resignations, trials, and Nixon’s resignation.


• 1986 Soviet Union (Ukraine): Sweden detected radiation from the Chornobyl disaster, forcing the Soviet Union to admit the catastrophe weeks later. Intense criticism caused the lifting of information restrictions that exposed the failures, accelerating the USSR’s collapse.


• 2009 United Kingdom: The Guardian revealed that News of the World’s parent company had settled lawsuits over phone hacking. The scandal, which began with hacking Prince William’s voicemail, ultimately led to the tabloid’s closure. In 2023, Fox News, owned by the same parent company, settled a defamation lawsuit for $787.5 million after knowingly broadcasting false and defamatory claims against Dominion Voting.

Real conspiracies share a pattern: verifiable evidence surfaces. Whether through careless leaks, whistleblowers, or guilt-ridden confessions, the truth emerges. These plots, whether involving few or many, demonstrate one universal truth: people are terrible at keeping secrets.

The UAP Test - How to Judge the Legitimacy of an Alleged Conspiracy

If you find yourself falling down the conspiracy rabbit hole, ask yourself honestly, "Is this more likely than aliens from outer space visiting the Earth?" The answer, most often, will be yes. Is it more likely that there is an international conspiracy to control the world's governments and the global economy than extraterrestrial spacecraft in our atmosphere? Probably. Intelligent extraterrestrial life coming to Earth or strange lights in the sky that turn out to be alien spacecraft have been the subject of science fiction stories, major motion pictures, and award-winning television programs. Now, we know that the conspiracies that have been revealed to be true have been discovered by internal information getting out to the public, the media, and authorities. So, consider the following:

1. Some people are confirmed to be former insiders of Air Force investigations like Project Grudge, Project Sign, Project Bluebook, the Condon Committee, to the modern day have provided information regarding what they claim to be the government's cover-up of extraterrestrial UFOs/UAPs.


2. Documents of varying legitimacy have been leaked to investigators and declassified using Freedom of Information Act requests that supporters of the extraterrestrial UFO conspiracy claim are evidence of a government cover-up.


3. Some witnesses to have seen UFOs/UAPs and evidence of their extraterrestrial origins, also claim that they have been the victims of intimidation, defamation, and discredidation for trying to tell their stories publicly.

With that in mind, and knowing that these are the kinds of evidence that have exposed actual government conspiracies, ask yourself, "Does what I'm looking at, as plausible as it may seem, have the level of credible evidence that the UFO conspiracy has?" The answer to that question is almost certainly going to be no if you're truly being honest with yourself. Then take a breath and realize that there's more evidence of the things Stephen Speilberg, Chris Carter, H.G. Wells, Stan Lee, and Mort Weisinger tell stories about than this thing that seems like it could be plausible. And, perhaps, after that take stock in why this conspiracy feels plausible - is it a personal bias? Outdated belief systems? Social or political pressure? Psychological vulnerability because of a tragedy or some sort of natural disaster? Conspiracy theories feed on our vulnerabilities and our ignorance, and we are all victims of them. All of us, at least at one time or another.

If These Elements Are So Bigoted and Awful, Why Include Them?

I find that the works of Robert E. Howard and these early comic book stories that incorporate similar elements used by Howard, or even elements pulled directly from Howard's work, are often subversive. While they create historical and scientific inaccuracies in the storylines, they are a reflection of the collective human experience coming out of Africa and diversifying across the globe before encountering one another again. In reading the stories of King Kull of Atlantis and Conan the Cimmerian, I found that while Robert E. Howard did show a strong bias toward his own Irish-Gaelic ancestry but the behaviors of Kull and Conan are contrary to the concepts espoused by Ariosophy that eventually spawned the Nazi Party in Germany. Atlanteans are portrayed as barbaric tribes in Kull's time, not some super-advanced society, and Kull's embodiment of Atlantean values is unequivocally portrayed as superior to the "civilized" people on the Thurian continent, who engage in bigotry, nationalism, political schemes, and assassinations. In the following Hyborean Age, Robert E. Howard's Cimmerians are supposedly the most pure and direct descendants of Atlantis yet Conan is portrayed as having dark skin, brown eyes, and black hair. He is tactless, but he keeps his word.

Conan is a blatant hedonist, but he's loyal to his friends and lovers. He takes anything that he can, but he also respects those with strength who protect what's theirs. Conan has biases against the other peoples in the Hyborian Age, but he doesn't mistreat the people of the Black Kingdoms, Stygia, Shem, Turan, or elsewhere based on the color of their skin or where they're from. He even seems to have a certain admiration for the black people in the original stories. This flies in the face of the racist and anti-Semitic beliefs in Ariosophy that say that the Aryan supermen from Thulian society were the epitome of civilized and pure. If I had to guess, I would imagine that this was why these stories and themes were so appealing to the early geniuses who brought us the golden age characters of superhero comics. Because most of these creators were Jewish, they were likely subjected to prejudice based on these bigoted ideas from pseudoarchaeology and revisionist history, and they liked the idea that these supposed supermen who the bigots idolize were actually nothing like those bigots at all and would likely want nothing to do with them.

Those early creators carried on much of this tradition of subverting these stereotypes common among ethnic nationalists, bigots, and nativists of their era. Superman is largely considered to be the defining character of the genre, and he was designed in 1934 to be a character in a daily newspaper comic strip. In the throws of The Great Depression, Superman was a subtle embodiment of a socialist ideal and his most common enemies were wealthy robber barons who bankrupted workers and farmers to fuel their personal greed. He was an ever-watchful, almost omnipotent presence who swooped in to uplift and protect the little guy from those whose cups overflowed yet still bullied the defenseless for their lunch money. In 1940, Captain America Comics debuted with a cover that depicted the titular character punching Adolf Hitler square in the jaw. The creators of Steve Rogers originally considered making him Jewish but realized that he probably wouldn't go to print when even his creators couldn't use their Jewish surnames for credit. They instead made him another outsider class, an Irish Catholic who embodied the blonde-haired, blue-eyed ideal that the Germans prized, and yet there he was. Punching their beloved Hitler square in the mouth. Later, in the 1970s, Stan Lee, another Jewish comic book legend, acquired the rights to Robert E. Howard's works. Conan, Red Sonja, and Kull became an intrinsic part of the first iteration of Marvel's primary universe - Earth-616.

In conclusion, I decided to keep in the controversial elements from the early days of comic books and the works of authors like Robert E. Howard because the mythological canon of the universe would feel incomplete if I didn't, and because I feel like it's an intrinsic part of the voices that played such a huge role in my childhood. Especially the late greats - Jack Kirby, Joe Simon, and Stan Lee. Not to leave out Superman creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Even as the society that raved about their creations looked down their nose at the creators for the circumstances of their birth, or a difference in worship of ultimately the same God, these men gave Americans their own Übermenschen that embodied uniquely Western and particularly traditionally American values like egalitarianism, generosity, optimism, truth, justice, and freedom. They subverted the worst parts of our culture in their lifetimes to reveal the better angels of our identity behind them. They gave us men and women who fought impossible odds with no regard for whether they won or lost or what was in it for them but fought because it was the right fight to have. It was the good kind of trouble. Like the myths of the Greeks and the Romans, these characters often interacted with or represented real figures of our history but their lives and their accomplishments were embellished not to deceive to be a greater reflection of who we are as human beings. And as Americans. I don't want to risk losing any of that. So, I kept it in my universe while, at the same time, I felt it was responsible to address these elements given recent events in my country, the United States, and the precipitating and subsequent events now happening elsewhere. I hold on to this optimism. Captain America made me believe that we are all innately decent people when we feel like we're given the chance, and I will die on that hill.

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