Tyrant on a toilet: Grant Morrison’s scatalogical mockery of Adolf Hitler
Published by DC Comics in 2015, The Multiversity: Mastermen #1 explores a parallel Earth where an infant Superman arrives in WWII-era Europe; raised by the Nazis, he becomes the costumed superhuman Overman, helping Germany conquer the world. In the comic’s opening pages, writer Grant Morrison collaborates with artist Jim Lee to depict Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler on the toilet, in agony from constipation, when he first receives news of the alien child. This scatalogical mockery is not the first time Morrison has used toilet humor to poke fun at Hitler in a comic, and reflects historic evidence of the dictator’s constipation and embarrassing flatulence, ailments that may have impacted the course of history.
Morrison first portrayed Hitler suffering from constipation in the satirical comic strip The New Adventures of Hitler. In 1989, the strip debuted in the pages of the Scottish arts magazine Cut; written by Morrison, with art by Steve Yeowell, the strip is based on Hitler’s alleged visit to Liverpool in 1912. Morrison opens the strip’s fifth chapter — entitled “Serious Constipation” — with an anguished Hitler sitting on a toilet.
Morrison’s toilet humor transforms one of history’s most evil despots into a miserable, laughable figure. In a critical examination of the use of Nazi iconography for comedic purposes, writer Daniel A. Gross observes that such humor helps audiences cope with the horror of Hitler:
“It can be comforting to laugh at Hitler. Laughter helps audiences feel that they’ve overcome evil — that a mass murderer is not only safely locked away in the history books, but also somehow defanged. During World War II, anti-Nazi propaganda aimed to make Hitler look either incredibly evil or utterly ridiculous.”
Used for comedic effect in The New Adventures of Hitler, Hitler’s constipation is rendered with more humorous detail by Lee in The Multiversity: Mastermen. Teeth bared, sweating profusely, veins bulging — Hitler is in agony. The dictator is unable to enjoy his bathroom reading, a copy of the American superhero comic Superman. (This comic, among others, would later inspire Hitler to turn his new alien super-child into a costumed champion, a nod to Showcase #4, in which DC character Barry Allen is inspired to become Silver Age superhero The Flash due to his reading comics featuring the Golden Age Flash.)
Morrison’s portrayal of a constipated Hitler was likely influenced by historic evidence of the dictator’s digestive ailments. From childhood, Hitler suffered from painful stomach cramps; his condition worsened as an adult, with alternating bouts of constipation and diarrhea, as well as embarrassing, uncontrollable flatulence. Hitler was so concerned about his flatulence that he supposedly became a vegetarian hoping to make his farts smell better (although his high-fiber diet did not help to diminish their frequency).
While modern readers laugh at Hitler’s digestive troubles, Hitler took them quite seriously, turning to quack doctor Theodor Morell for relief. Morell prescribed anti-gas pills that contained strychnine as an ingredient. Some speculate that strychnine poisoning, along with other harmful drug injections administered by Morell, may have impacted Hitler’s health and judgment, leading to irrational decisions that were disastrous for Germany’s war effort and hastened the end of World War II.
In two separate comics, both depicting an anguished tyrant sitting on a toilet, Morrison mocks Hitler and undercuts his fearsome image by exposing the historic truth of Hitler’s embarrassing digestive problems.
NOTES AND FURTHER READING:
“How Hitler’s Flatulence May Have Helped End WWII Earlier Than It Otherwise Would Have”; todayifoundout.com, July 18, 2016
“Scent of a Führer”; by Tony Perrottet, thesmartset.com, October 24, 2007
“Führer Humor: The Art of the Nazi Comedy”; by Daniel A. Gross, theatlantic.com, December 20, 2015
The New Adventures of Hitler; written by Grant Morrison, art by Steve Yeowell, lettering by Gordon Robson, colors by “Brian, Dougall and Mr. Rusty,” Crisis, issue 47, Fleetway, July, 1990; reprints, in color, (and later continues) the strip that first appeared in the magazine Cut.
The Multiversity: Mastermen #1; written by Grant Morrison, pencils by Jim Lee, inks by Scott Williams, Sandra Hope, Mark Irwin, and Jonathan Glapion, colors by Alex Sinclair and Jeromy Cox, DC Comics, February 18, 2015.
“The story that inspired Grant Morrison and Steve Yeowell’s ‘The New Adventures of Hitler’”; by Reed Beebe, medium.com/meanwhile, January 15, 2020.
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