Uncle Sam (comics)
"Uncle Sam" is a graphic novel created by Steve Darnall and Alex Ross, first published in 1997 under the DC Comics Vertigo imprint. The story follows an elderly man dressed in a tattered Uncle Sam outfit, wandering an unnamed American city, grappling with his identity and haunted by the darker chapters of American history. Throughout the narrative, he experiences flashbacks to significant events, hears echoes of historical words, and encounters various national symbols, including Columbia, who serves as a guiding figure.
The central conflict arises between the real Uncle Sam and a polished, false version of himself, who embodies a more contemporary, commercial representation of American ideals. The novel critiques the disconnect between the idealized vision of America and the realities of its history, exploring themes such as the complexities of the American Dream, the importance of confronting past injustices, and the struggle for true freedom.
Artistically, Ross employs a photorealistic style, often referencing iconic American imagery to heighten the emotional impact of the story. Despite its heavy-handed liberal perspective, "Uncle Sam" concludes on a note of renewed optimism, as the protagonist reclaims his identity and purpose. While the work did not significantly alter the comic book landscape, it has been generally well-received by critics and remains a poignant exploration of American identity and values.
Uncle Sam (comics)
AUTHOR: Darnall, Steve; Ross, Alex
ILLUSTRATOR: Alex Ross (illustrator); Todd Klein (letterer)
PUBLISHER: DC Comics
FIRST SERIAL PUBLICATION: 1997
FIRST BOOK PUBLICATION: 1998
Publication History
Prompted by their concerns about what they felt the United States had become in comparison to what they thought it should be, Steve Darnall and Alex Ross used the comic book form to create a fanciful but fact-based exploration of the American experiment. Uncle Sam was originally published under the DC Comics Vertigo imprint in 1997 in magazine format as Uncle Sam issue 1 and Uncle Sam issue 2. Both hardcover and softcover trade collections were issued in 1998. A deluxe edition with an expanded gallery of Alex Ross artwork was published in 2009.
Plot
An old man in a dirty, tattered Uncle Sam outfit (without the hat) wanders the streets of an unidentified American city. He does not know who he is, but he has a vision of himself during colonial times, and a woman named Bea calls him Sam. In addition to his flashbacks to the Revolutionary War, Sam hears voices in his head echoing words spoken throughout American history and is plagued by images of some of the most disgraceful and violent incidents in American history, sometimes reliving an event as a participant and other times experiencing a rapid montage of images. He seems to be a broken-down old man who cannot distinguish fantasy from reality.
At a victory rally for Senator Louis Cannon, Sam encounters a younger, more polished version of himself who tells him, “It’s over, old man. Let it go.” Sam attacks the man, declaring, “He’s not Uncle Sam!! I’m Uncle Sam!” He is arrested for attacking the false Uncle Sam, who to everyone else seems to be simply an actor on stilts, but his bail is posted by a woman who appears to be an older version of Bea.
At various times Uncle Sam receives advice from other national symbols, all of whom are only shadows of their former selves. His most significant encounter is with a fellow American symbol, Columbia, whom he has previously known as Bea. In her presence Sam is more focused and more confident that he is the true Uncle Sam.
As he stands in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty and hears Columbia say, “And the only way to know how freedom works is to work at it,” Sam begins to grow until he dwarfs the statue. Reminiscent of the images that appear on the covers of the 1940’s comic books featuring Uncle Sam as a superhero, Sam strides out across the water to face his opponent. He follows a cacophony of television sound bites to Washington, D.C., where he finds the false Uncle Sam sprawled on his media throne. The real Uncle Sam says he has come to get his hat back.
The false Uncle Sam begins pummeling the real Uncle Sam, who does not fight back. Every time he is knocked down the real Uncle Sam rises to his feet. The false Uncle Sam becomes fatigued and frantic. As the real Uncle Sam hears the words of the Declaration of Independence, the false Uncle Sam shouts conservative catchphrases (“It’s morning in America!”) and begins to disintegrate into dust and blow away in the wind.
As the dust clears, Uncle Sam is once again a tattered old man on the street. For a moment he thinks the confrontation was just another hallucination, but then he sees his hat on the sidewalk next to him. He puts his hat on his head, begins singing “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” and strides down the street with a renewed optimism and sense of purpose.
Characters
•Uncle Sam, the protagonist, is an apparently homeless, elderly man dressed in a dirty and tattered Uncle Sam outfit. He does not know who he is, and he fears he is losing his mind because he is bombarded with images and sound bites from some of the most shameful episodes of American history. Eventually, he realizes he is truly Uncle Sam, the spirit of the United States of America.
•Bea, a.k.a. Columbia, a woman with close ties to Sam, appears in various incarnations throughout the book. During the Revolutionary War she appears to be Sam’s wife. Later she appears to be the proprietor of an antiques store specializing in Americana. Toward the end of the book, Bea is revealed to be another symbol of America, Columbia. She is Sam’s companion, confidant, and, to an extent, his conscience. She helps the befuddled old man find his way again.
•The False Uncle Sam, the main antagonist, is a somewhat younger and more polished version of Uncle Sam. He initially appears as an actor on stilts in Senator Cannon’s victory parade. He is first seen in his true form reclining on a throne of television screens with his feet propped on the Capitol Building and smoking a fat cigar of rolled money. He is the idea of Uncle Sam remade in the spirit of modern America.
•Senator Louis Cannon, an antagonist, is a newly reelected conservative senator. He is depicted as overweight, smiling, and always spouting conservative platitudes, vaguely resembling Rush Limbaugh as he looked during the 1990’s.
•Britannia, the personification of Great Britain.
•The Russian bear, national symbol of Russia.
•Marianne, the symbol of the French Republic. Britannia, the Russian bear, and Marianne provide Sam with lessons about other experiments that failed.
Artistic Style
Alex Ross uses a painting style that relies heavily on live models and photo reference. His panel compositions are clearly influenced by the comic books he grew up reading. Ross combines the photorealistic style of Norman Rockwell with the dynamic postures of Jack Kirby and the dramatic perspectives of Neal Adams.
The work has many visually interesting panel compositions and page layouts, but they do not always seem to be in service of the story. There are a number of overlapping panels or full-page panels that provide a background for smaller inset panels, but these layouts have no clear motivation and do not enhance the reading experience.
One of the most effective techniques is the blending of widely separated historical events into a single image in order to make a visual analogy. For example, in one tier of three panels that are linked by figures that cross panel borders, militiamen in 1786, Chicago policemen in 1886, and National Guardsmen in 1970 all seem to be shooting into the same crowd of American citizens.
Darnall and Ross make extensive use of intertextual references. To evoke significant moments from American history, Ross mimics famous paintings (Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix) and photographs (the Kent State shooting). There are four full-page collages of atrocities and betrayals of the American Dream. All of the images are based on actual events, and some of them re-create news photos or footage. The climax of the story, the confrontation between the two towering Uncle Sams, draws on imagery from the 1940’s Quality comic books featuring Uncle Sam as a superhero.
The work has an unabashedly liberal point of view, and the presentation of the message is often heavy-handed. The villains are associated with conservatives, and the false Uncle Sam’s conversation consists primarily of quotes from well-known conservatives. Senator Cannon, a caricature of a self-serving and manipulative politician, is associated with “Contract II” (the Contract with America was a Republican initiative of the early 1990’s) and bears a resemblance to conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh. Cannon’s opponent, presumably a Democrat, is presented as having too much integrity to succeed in politics. To the still befuddled Sam, he appears to be Abraham Lincoln.
Themes
Most of the graphic novel presents a bleak picture of a failed American Dream. Yet, at the core of the work, there seems to be a belief in the concept, if not the reality, of America; a belief that amid all the hatred, greed, and hypocrisy there is something at the core of this nation that is worthwhile and enduring; and a belief that the current spirit of the nation, represented by the false Uncle Sam, is not the true spirit of America.
The two versions of Uncle Sam seem to represent two options for dealing with the complicated and troubled history of the nation. The false Uncle Sam denies the atrocities of the past and clings to a vision of American righteousness and exceptionalism. The true Uncle Sam is plagued by the sins of the past but ultimately resolves to learn from those mistakes and continue the struggle to make freedom work.
On the surface the story seems to end on a hopeful note. On the final page, Sam regains his hat (thus, truly taking on the mantle of Uncle Sam once again), begins singing “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” and walks down the street with more spring in his step. However, the final panels have a couple of problematic details. Sam walks under a store sign with the Eye of Providence symbol and Latin phrases that appear on the back of the U.S. dollar bill. As he walks away, Columbia, who had been nowhere in evidence a moment before, reaches into the panel and picks up a dollar bill that has fluttered out of Sam’s hat. The book ends with purposeful ambiguity, leaving the reader to develop a personal meaning of Uncle Sam (both the concept and the graphic novel).
Impact
Uncle Sam was not widely reviewed, but the critical response was generally positive. It had little impact on the comic book industry or the careers of its creators. The two magazine format issues sold fairly well; according to The Comics Chronicle’s John Jackson Miller, the first issue ranked twenty-third in preorders. The orders were mostly likely the result of Ross’s emergence as a fan favorite for his work on superhero books such as Marvels and Kingdom Come. Ross’s popularity continued to rise as he returned to working on mainstream superhero titles. Darnall did not write anything else for DC Comics. In fact, Darnall did little comics work other than a few issues of his self-published Empty Love Stories and contributing short pieces to a few benefit anthologies.
Uncle Sam as a superhero has since been utilized for guest appearances and a few short-lived series, but the incarnation of Uncle Sam appearing in this graphic novel has not appeared in comics again, except arguably in Unknown Quantities, the 1999 benefit anthology for the Kensington Welfare Rights Union, a progressive advocacy group based in Philadelphia.
Further Reading
Chaykin, Howard. American Flagg! State of the Union (1989).
McCloud, Scott. The New Adventures of Abraham Lincoln (1998).
Seagle, Steven T., and Teddy Kristiansen. It’s a Bird . . . (2004).
Bibliography
Lewis, A. David. “New Jerusalem Postponed: Revelation and Darnall and Ross’s Uncle Sam.” International Journal of Comic Art 12, no. 1 (Spring, 2010): 337-354.
Marcus, Greil. “The Man on the Street.” In Give Our Regards to the Atomsmashers! Writers on Comics, edited by Sean Howe. New York: Pantheon, 2004.
Ross, Alex, Chip Kidd, and Geoff Spear. Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross. New York: Pantheon, 2003.