In particular reference to the idiocy of the Nazi claims of there being a superior Aryan race, the piece ridicules Hitler and his cronies, for not even being physically like the Aryan ideal that they promoted. The story was reprinted and distributed as a propaganda pamphlet. Even though there was still endemic racism and segregation in the United States at the time, Hecht was someone who used his position to spread an anti-racism message in order to try and educate young readers of True Comics.

Tackling race relations issues through the medium of board games, on the one hand seems a perfectly reasonable if a bit touchy-feely liberal way of educating people about social issues. However on the other hand, it's a potential recipe for cringe inducing disaster. Involving embarrassingly naive stereotypes, there games that have been produced with all the right intentions, but have ended up being nothing short of shocking examples of how something as simplistic as a board game cannot in anyway express the deeply complex issues of race relations, or being part of a ethnic minority group within society. 

And that's only the start of how "black and white" the attitude of this game is. Players all start as 18 year old black males either in Glamourwood, Black University, the Military, or in the Ghetto. Church provides strength and guidance. Crime has consequences, and while lucrative, it also leads to frequent encounters with police and ultimately, prison. The first person to reach the Freedom space at the top of the board wins. The game attempts to deliver its political message through satire, that falls flat, and just ends up as a litany of racial and social stereotypes. Who the game was supposed to be aimed at is an utter mystery.

The game essentially blamed racial inequality on housing issues and made it impossible to win the game if you chose to play as a black player. Needless to say, it turned out to be one of the most controversial board games of all time and even merited an article in Time magazine: "The game, produced by Psychology Today Games (an off shoot of the magazine) now on sale ($5.95) at major department stores, was developed at the University of California at Davis by Psychology Department Chairman Robert Sommer. It was conceived as a painless way for middle-class whites to experience — and understand — the frustrations of blacks. In Sommer’s version, however, the black player could not win; as a simulation of frustration, the game was too successful. Then David Popoff, a Psychology Today editor, redesigned the game, taking suggestions from militant black members of 'US' in San Diego. The new rules give black players an opportunity to use — and even to beat — the System."

Quite frankly the whole thing is utterly bizarre, that rather than informing readers of the horrors of the regime in Libya, it ridicules and parodies in a juvenile and often puerile way. Who the target audience was for this one-off comic book is anyone's guess. But it has become a cult comic book collectible. 

Overall, a game that promises so much, but delivers nothing but disappointment. And a feeling that you've been duped. Particularly with a storming 9.95 price tag. Unfortunately this wasn't the first ever British political election based game. In 1983, Mastertronic released a game by Orion Software called, The Election Game. Which was a text based strategy game. Also in 1987 Mosaic Publishing released another election themed game, "Yes, Prime Minster", based on the popular satirical BBC TV show.

Kim Jong-il was an obsessive movie fan, said to have thousands of movies he watched avidly. He even had propaganda painting done of him directing movies, and in 1973 wrote a book called On The Art Of Film. Shin San-ok and in 1978 his then ex-wife Choi Eun-hee had been the darlings of the early South Korean movie industry. He'd been described as "the Orson Welles of South Korea." Eun-hee travelled to Hong Kong to discuss a part in a movie she'd been offered, but simply disappeared. San-ok, worried for his ex-wife followed after her, and fell into the trap set-up by the North Korean regime. The couple wouldn't be reunited for another 5 years.

Eventually brought back together at a dinner in Pyongyang, after San-ok had spent years in a North Korea prison for an escape attempt, Kim Jong-il lavished money and resources on them, under his plan to make the North Korean movie industry a great propaganda machine for his country. In total San-ok made seven movies under the watchful eye of Kim Jong-il, who acted as executive producer. But the one movie that stands out is the 1985 Godzilla style monster movie Pulgasari. Loosely based on medieval Korean folklore, it tells the story of a giant monster that leads a farmers revolt on the king. But the monster eventually turns on the people, until a peasant girl pleads with him to stop. Finding his conscience, Pulgasari explodes into a thousand pieces, and gives birth to a new "regime". Sorry I mean, "monster". There is an allegory hidden in the wonderfully terrible movie. It can be read, that even under the strict "guidance" of Kim Jong-il, San-ok was making a political statement about the North Korean regime. That the monster Pulgasari was a metaphor for the Kim dynasty in the country.

So much so, that in 1986 Shin San-ok and Choi Eun-hee were allowed to travelled overseas to promote the movie. They went to the Vienna film festival, and a plan of escape formed in their heads. With the help of a Japanese film critic friend who they met for lunch, they managed to abscond from under the watchful eye of North Korean agents, and make it to the United States embassy. Thus ended the ambitions of Kim Jong-il to create a movie industry of international standing in North Korea, and Pulgasari disappeared into the shadows of cult film history. Eventually in 1998 it was briefly released, after campaigning from another Japanese film critic, and likely Kim Jong-il's secret desire to see this "master piece" seen by a wider audience. The movie bombed, but has since become a cult film among fans of monster movies. Personally I love Pulgasari, it's probably my favourite movie of the Kaijū genre. As terrible as it is, it holds a certain fascination, which is enhanced by the knowledge of how its production came about. And much better than the South Korean equivalent movie Yongary, from 1967.

Weird Retro Fact: Read the side-by-side comparison of the two Korean movie monster, in our article Yongary Vs. Pulgasari: The Korean Movie Monster. 

Download Atom Bomb Baby here.

I've been reading, watching and listening to the news all day, regarding the utterly abhorrent murders in France of the staff at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. I have in the past often posted their front covers on facebook, and probably would be posting now on facebook if I hadn't been banned for a month. I've always been a great believer in free speech, and in particular the use of satire as a weapon for good, by ridiculing people and institutions that attempt to oppress or force their opinions onto others. I just thought I'd share some of the tweets I've seen over the day.