Comics have a sort of universal language, and because of that, the U.S. military and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) have used them for instructional purposes. In one operation, famed comic book artist Jack Kirby found his artwork assisting the CIA.
1 How to spot a Jap! In 1942 the U.S. Army and Navy jointly put together a “Pocket Guide to China” for U.S. troops. In a comic strip initially included in the guide, famed cartoonist Milton Caniff (of Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon fame) drew a detailed examination of, well, how to “spot a Jap” (as opposed to someone from China). The whole thing was quite racist, as it involved statements like “the Chinese are about the height of an average American, while the Japanese are shorter and it appears as though their legs go right into their chests” and “Chinese eyes are set like any European’s or American’s—but have a marked squint. Japanese eyes are slanted toward his nose.” This was not uncommon at the time: Life magazine had an extensive pictorial on how to differentiate between Chinese and Japanese. They are equally abhorrently offensive.
2 How to tie down Marxist tyranny. In 1983, the CIA dropped comic-book-like manuals into Nicaragua to teach Nicaraguans how to fight back against what the United States termed “Marxist tyranny.” It gave them a good deal of advice on how to destabilize the government. The “Sabotage Manual” (as it came to be referred to) showed how to knock down telephone wires, break typewriters, and blow a fuse by putting a small coin in the socket. When the CIA involvement was discovered, President Reagan apologized and said that his administration would punish whoever was responsible. A few low-level CIA employees did receive letters of reprimand, but no other punishment for the distribution occurred.
3 Grenada. In 1984, the CIA dropped bundles of a twelve-page comic book into Grenada to tell the people the United States’ reasons for invading the country in 1983. The best part of the comic is inarguably where it shows the USSR and Cuba playing Grenada like marionettes.
4 Dignity and Respect. In 2001, the U.S. military released a thirty-two-page comic book titled Dignity and Respect that was an extensive elaboration on the guidelines behind the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy toward homosexuality in the military. It is very interesting to see the military’s view of how the whole thing would unfold: “Hello, I would like to inform you that I am a homosexual.”
As for the Jack Kirby–CIA connection…
In November 1979, Iranian students took over the American embassy in Tehran, Iran, taking fifty-two U.S. diplomats hostage for 444 days. A group of married couples managed to evade capture and eventually were given secret sanctuary in the Canadian embassy. The CIA tried to think of a way to get them out of the country. Faking passports would be easy; even passing them off as Canadians was simple enough—but explaining why six Canadians were in Iran during such a tumultuous time? Not simple at all. Eventually, CIA agent Tony Mendez came up with a plan—pass them off as film people scouting locations for a motion picture! Only, to make it look real, they needed to create a real motion picture. This is where Jack Kirby is involved. A fellow named Barry Geller had purchased the rights to Roger Zelazny’s science fiction novel Lord of Light and hired Jack Kirby to do design sketches for the film. Like a lot of films, the project fell through. The CIA hired makeup artist John Chambers (Oscar winner for his work on Planet of the Apes) to help in the plan. Chambers had worked on Lord of the Light, so he had access to the film’s documents, including Kirby’s design sketches. The terrain of Iran fit the setting of the story perfectly, so now the project had a film to work with! They renamed the film Argo and proceeded with the CIA plan, including placing an ad for the film in Variety. The Kirby art was used extensively. Eventually, the six embassy workers disguised as film workers (now also all passed off as Canadian citizens, thanks to the superheroic work of the Canadian government in this time of crisis) went to Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport and flew off to Switzerland. An amazing tale of ingenuity.