The Saga of White Will is a single issue white supremacy underground propaganda comic created in 1993 by William Luther Pierce, leader and founder of the white supremacist and Neo-Nazi movement The National Alliance, and author of the similarly politically-themed novels The Turner Diaries and Hunter (both written under the Pen Name Andrew MacDonald).
The story is about Will, a student at Metropolis High, where black students get away with everything from assaulting white students to robbing them, all for the sake of political correctness and multiculturalism. When a black student gropes Will's girlfriend, Lois Lane, and Will responds by knocking down him and his two friends, Will and his friends band together to open the eyes of their fellow students.
The comic used to be found in its entirety here at archive.org
, but has been taken down "due to issues with the item's content."
Tropes
- Abhorrent Admirer: Early in the comic, a black student gropes Lois, causing Will to beat up him and two of his friends.
- And Knowing Is Half the Battle: In the end, Will and his gang have derailed Izzy Rabinowitz's plans and, according to Will, have turned some of the students at the school towards their side. That alone is treated as a big victory.
- And the Adventure Continues: The comic ends with Will planning to continue his crusade against multiculturalism and join the National Alliance when he comes of age. However, while the ending hinted at a continuation, no other issues are known to exist.
- Arc Number: when Book and Will are out for a run together, Book is wearing a white t-shirt with the number 88 on the front and a clover on the back. The clover, also known as a shamrock, is often associated with the Aryan Brotherhood. The number 88 is sometimes used by Neo-Nazis to represent the phrase "Heil Hitler", H being the eighth letter in the alphabet.
- Artistic License – History:
- In-Universe, and, according to the comic, in real life. During a history class, the teacher names a number of influential "black" people throughout history. Rather than going with actual black historical figures like Martin Luther King, Fredrick Douglass or Booker T. Washington, he names Cleopatra, Hannibal, Beethoven and Eldridge Cleaver (the last of whom is drawn as a caricature with a Black Panther Party shirt and a "Kill Whitey" badge). Of the three who actually were not black, the claim that Beethoven was is explained by the teacher as being that some of Beethoven's ancestors were slaves imported by Holland.
- Some of these claims are actually made in Real Life by the Afrocentrism movement, which states that many famous people and events were black/happened because of black people. Afrocentrism's claims, of course, are not widely accepted in the scientific community.
- Author Avatar: Will's mentor Mr. O'Brien is very obviously meant to be a stand-in for Pierce himself.
- Author Filibuster: Some dialogue scenes, such as the one where Will and Books jog together or when they talk to Books' dad, really only serve to voice Pierce's personal views on race and his conspiracy theories.
- Author Tract: It was written by notorious white nationalist William Luther Pierce, and it shows.
- Berserk Button: When a black student grabs Lois' rear, Will goes ballistic and beats the crap out of him and his two friends.
- Big Bad: While the comic rages against a political/racial standpoint rather than a single person, a Jewish student, Izzy Rabinowitz, becomes something of a focal point for everything Will and his gang oppose and is the one who organizes the other side against them.
- Black-and-White Morality: In the world of the comic, you're either on the side of the righteous Will and his white supremacists, or on the side led by the scheming Izzy Rabinowitz. There is no middle ground and the whites who try to inhabit one find themselves on the business end of a baseball bat.
- The Conspiracy: The comic hints that Jews are somehow deeply involved in one, with Izzy Rabinowitz saying "his people" have already paid off the police to stay away from his followers. There is also a mention of a Government Conspiracy to "phase out American industry to make way for a New World Order".
- Conspiracy Theorist: In addition to what's noted under The Conspiracy above, Books and Will express doubt over the official account of "the so-called Holocaust".
- Easy Evangelism: Cuts both ways, too. Whenever somebody, be it on Will's side or the other, is holding a microphone, their audiences become instantly persuadable.
- Enemy Mine: Leroy X teams up with Will and his friends in order to sabotage Izzy's demonstration.
- Engineered Public Confession: "Engineered" being the operating word. To bring down Izzy Rabinowitz's movement, Will and Books modify the microphone they're gonna use during a speech at a protest and, during the key moments of the speech, take control of it, have Will impersonate the speakers and tell their real plans and motives behind their ideology.
- Gangbangers: Plenty of black students in the comics are shown moving in packs, assaulting white students on a whim.
- Greedy Jew: The comic claims Jews are among the wealthiest in the country and are in control of the media.
- Limited Wardrobe: Almost everybody, save for Will and Books, appear in the exact same outfits throughout the entire comic.
- Lighter and Softer: Despite being blatantly racist in message, this qualifies compared to Pierce's other works (one of which featured nuclear-induced global genocide). Here things are considerably less violent, the stakes are lower and there is marginally more nuance in how minorities are depicted (in the form of Leroy X betraying Izzy).
- Malcolm Xerox: Leroy X, one of the most militant black students. He eventually gets fed up with taking orders from Izzy, and helps Will and friends sabotage his demonstration.
- Meaningful Name:
- The name of the sycophantic high school principal is "Mr. Brownnose".
- The black student the principal gets to speak in favor of multiculturalism is named Roosevelt Washington, likely a reference to Booker T. Washington, a famed African-American educator and orator as well as an advisor to presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. The naming is likely meant as a Take That! to the historical figure since the comic character pretty much boils down to an easily bought Dumb Jock.
- Men Act, Women Are: Every single character in the comic that drives the plot forward is male. The only notable female character is Lois, whose biggest contribution to the plot is being groped.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Leroy eventually decides to help Will on the grounds that they're both "nationalists" who don't believe in the politically correct agenda.
- Political Overcorrectness: In case the list of influential "black" people named in the history class wasn't enough of an indicator of this, Books mentions that "all politically incorrect books" have been removed from the library.
- Protagonist-Centered Morality: Like the black students and "tolerance advocates" at the school, Will and his gang beat up students who oppose them, but the comic portrays Will's actions, however brutal or underhanded they are, as just and the other side's actions as evil and conspiratorial.
- Shout-Out: It's likely done to evoke images of Superman, but the town Will and the others live in is called Metropolis, his girlfriend is named Lois Lane, and there is a mention of a newspaper called The Daily Planet. (The fact that Superman was invented by two Jewish men, and that one of his earliest comics had him declare to Adolf Hitler "I'd like to land a strictly non-Aryan sock on your jaw", seems to have escaped the author's attention.)
- Straw Character: While the depictions of pro-multiculturalists in the comic seem more intended to be menacing conspirators or gullible sheep rather than outright strawmen, the history teacher seems really far around the bend and his arguments are set up to be shot down by Will.
- Symbology Research Failure: To get a punk's help, Izzy bribes him with drugs. Said punk is wearing an X on his shirt, which, in punk culture, represents that one is Straight Edge.
- Symbol Swearing: The comic sometimes uses this in lieu of actual cursewords. This is likely done for humoristic purposes rather than sensitivity, considering that the comic throws around racial slurs every chance it gets.
- Waving Signs Around: Both sides engage in this during protests.
- Yiddish as a Second Language: Izzy Rabinowitz sometimes accidentally lets slip some Yiddish terms.
