Polite Dissent

This comic was put out by Target in 2004 as a PSA comic as well as an ad for the Marvel Comic collections they were selling at the time. The kids on the cover manage to save the world from the evil machinations of Loki — but only because everyone else in the comic, including Loki — are total idiots.

As the story begins, a group of school children are at a local amusement park when Loki strikes ¹. He reads a spell from a scroll that causes everyone in the park to be instantly unable to read. This leads to mass confusion and panic as people are suddenly unable to count change or golf without hitting others ². The amusement park personnel’s inability to read makes them unable to stop the rides the kids are on ³.

Several of the students realize that the spell doesn’t really prevent people from reading as much as it turns reading material into anagrams. They also discover that the spell has no effect on words viewed through a digital camera⁴. The kids take a picture of Loki’s scroll and are able to read and cast the final spell that reverses all of Loki’s previous magic⁵. The super-heroes, who until this point have been horrendously ineffective, manage to capture the now powerless Loki.

(I certainly don’t expect PSA comics written for children to be perfect, or even particularly good — and I like the idea that the kids save the day in this story — but I suspect even a six or seven year-old child would be able to notice the plot holes in this comic. On the other hand, I guess that makes it about equal with The Civil War.)

Notes:
¹Loki must somehow know how smart those three kids are and is therefore launching a pre-emptive strike to catch them. Why else would a near-omnipotent Norse god choose a small amusement park in New York to attack?
²I’m not really sure what these have to do with reading. I guess you could argue that one reads a cash register display to arrive at the correct change — but then how is Peter Parker able to read his phone well enough to dial it? And what does any of this have to do with hitting a golf ball?
³Because apparently ride operators have to constantly read the directions to remember how to work the equipment.
⁴It seemed like a clever idea when I first read it, but then I realized that the kids still have to read the words off the camera screen.
⁵Brilliant idea to have your magic scroll in English, Loki.