795 words

Greg Johnson & Gregory Hood, eds.
Dark Right: Batman Viewed from the Right
San Francisco: Counter-Currents, 2018
222 pages

Hardcover: $30

Paperback: $16

Why is Batman a staple of Right-wing discussions and memes? The entire superhero genre is inherently anti-liberal, for even though superheroes generally fight for liberal humanist values, they do so outside the law. They are vigilantes, and vigilantism only becomes necessary when the liberal system breaks down.

But the character of Batman, particularly after being rebooted in Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns and developed in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy, is not just anti-liberal, but decidedly Right-wing. The essays in Dark Right show us why, focusing on Traditionalist, masculinist, and New Right themes in Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy, but also exploring other films, comics, and graphic novels.

Dark Right includes essays by the leading cultural critics of the New Right, including editors Greg Johnson and Gregory Hood, plus Trevor Lynch, Jason Reza Jorjani, Christopher Pankhurst, Will Windsor, James J. O’Meara, Zachary O. Ray, Jonathan Bowden, Spencer J. Quinn, David Yorkshire, and Andrew Hamilton.

In Praise of Dark Right

“Few on the Right understand the importance of engaging popular culture like Dr. Greg Johnson and Gregory Hood. This collection of essays is not just a reminder of why their work is so vital, but also why they represent two of the most stalwart leaders and thinkers of the Dissident Right.”

—Paul Kersey, Stuff Black People Don’t Like

“Dark Right is a landmark collection, demonstrating the power of New Right ideas for understanding popular culture—and the power of popular culture for inspiring Right-wing thought and action. Read this book, and I guarantee you will want to join the League of Shadows.”

—Jeff Costello, author of The Importance of James Bond

Table of Contents

 Editors’ Introduction—Gregory Hood & Greg Johnson — 1

The Dark Knight Trilogy

Batman Begins—Trevor Lynch — 11

The Dark Knight—Trevor Lynch — 15

The Dark Knight Rises—Trevor Lynch — 27

The Order in Action: The Dark Knight Rises—Gregory Hood — 39

Conservatism’s League of Stupidity: Christopher Nolan as Fascist Filmmaker?—Gregory Hood & Luke Gordon — 50

Gotham Guardian: Will the Real Batman Please Stand Up?—Jason Reza Jorjani — 67

Superheroes, Sovereignty, & the Deep State—Greg Johnson — 83

Caesar Without Gods—Christopher Pankhurst — 95

A Dark Knight without a King—Will Windsor — 105

The Ponderous Weight of the Dark Knight—James J. O’Meara — 116

Batman vs. Superman

Man of Steel—Trevor Lynch — 126

Superman & the White Christ: Man of Steel—Gregory Hood — 131

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice—Trevor Lynch — 141

Justice League—Trevor Lynch — 146

Comics & Graphic Novels

The Alt Knight: A Retrospect of Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns for the Current Year—Zachary O. Ray — 150

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns—Trevor Lynch — 161

Batman & the Joker—Jonathan Bowden — 165

Arkham Asylum: An Analysis—Jonathan Bowden — 169

Batman as Comedy—Spencer J. Quinn — 176

Tim Burton’s Batman Movies

Tim Burton’s Batman: Putting the Gothic into Gotham—David Yorkshire — 181

Batman Returns: An Anti-Semitic Allegory?—Andrew Hamilton — 191

Index — 203

About the Authors — 217

About the Contributors

Jonathan Bowden (1962–2012) was the author of Pulp Fascism: Right-Wing Themes in Comics, Graphic Novels, & Popular Literature (Counter-Currents, 2013), Western Civilization Bites Back (Counter-Currents, 2014), Extremists: Studies in Metapolitics (Counter-Currents, 2017), and many other books.

Luke Gordon writes for Counter-Currents/North American New Right.

Andrew Hamilton is the author of many essays and reviews, principally for Counter-Currents/North American New Right.

Gregory Hood is the author of Waking Up from the American Dream (Counter-Currents, 2015) and many essays and reviews. He is a staff writer for American Renaissance (amren.com).

Greg Johnson, Ph.D. is the Editor-in-Chief of Counter-Currents Publishing and the author of Confessions of a Reluctant Hater (Counter-Currents, 2010; second, expanded ed., 2016), New Right vs. Old Right (Counter-Currents, 2013), Truth, Justice, & a Nice White Country (Counter-Currents, 2015), In Defense of Prejudice (Counter-Currents, 2017), and You Asked for It: Selected Interviews, vol. 1 (Counter-Currents, 2017).

Jason Reza Jorjani, Ph.D. is the author of Prometheus & Atlas (2016), World State of Emergency (2017), Lovers of Sophia (2017), and Novel Folklore (2018). His website is https://jasonrezajorjani.com/.

Trevor Lynch is a pen name of Greg Johnson and the author of Trevor Lynch’s White Nationalist Guide to the Movies (Counter-Currents, 2012) and Son of Trevor Lynch’s White Nationalist Guide to the Movies (Counter-Currents, 2015).

James J. O’Meara is the author of The Homo & the Negro (Counter-Currents, 2012; second, embiggened ed., 2017), The Eldritch Evola … & Others (Counter-Currents, 2014), End of an Era: Mad Men & the Ordeal of Civility (Counter-Currents, 2015), and Green Nazis in Space: New Essays on Literature, Art, & Culture (Counter-Currents, 2015), as well as many other essays and reviews.

Christopher Pankhurst is the author of Numinous Machines (Counter-Currents, 2017).

Spencer J. Quinn is the author of White Like You (Counter-Currents, 2017) and Reframing White Nationalism (Counter-Currents, 2018).

Zachary O. Ray writes for Counter-Currents/North American New Right. His blog is Plugging Out, http://plugging-out.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-alt-knight-retrospect-of-frank.html

Will Windsor writes for Counter-Currents/North American New Right.

David Yorkshire is the editor of Mjolnir Magazine, https://mjolnirmagazine.blogspot.com, and the author of many essays and reviews.